Mary Beckett Research

The Mary Buckett initiative, part of the Women of the Mayflower Female Surname Research Project, was led by Caleb H. Johnson, a leading genealogist and historian.  It was funded jointly by the Women of the Mayflower Committee of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants and Soule Kindred in America as part of an effort to learn more about the origins of Pilgrim women.  Johnson is the editor of The Mayflower Descendant, and has uncovered the English origins of several Mayflower passengers.

Research completed in 2013 on the origins of Mary Buckett, wife of Mayflower Pilgrim George Soule, reveals that her family name was probably Beckett, and that she may have been born and raised in Hertfordshire, England.  Using English parish baptism records during the period 1602 through 1607, the most likely years of her birth, Caleb identified six Mary Becketts.  By systematically examining each, he eliminated all but one Mary Beckett who was baptized at St. Mary's Church in Watford, Hertfordshire, on February 24, 1605.

The above was exerpted from "Possible English Origins Of Mary Beckett" by Marcy Kelly Brubaker, Chair of the Soule Kindred Research Committee (Soule Kindred Newsletter, Vol. 47, No. 4 - Fall 2013).

In 2015, Soule Kindred requested that Caleb Johnson pursue a more in-depth look at the previously identified Mary Beckett of Watford, build a comprehensive picture of her family, and explore relationships among the Beckett, Alden and Warren families of Hertfordshire.  The latest round of their research continues to point to this Mary Beckett as George Soule's wife.  Names, dates, ages, geography and chronology are all consistent with what is known of the Anne passenger who married George Soule in about 1626.  However, it still cannot be proven conclusively.  (Exerpted from "Mary Beckett -- Found?" by Marcy Kelly,  Soule Kindred Newsletter, Vol. 50, No. 2 - Summer 2016).

Caleb Johnson's full 2013 report

Caleb Johnson's full 2015 report