BORN: c. 1570s/Sturton-le-Steeple, Nottinghamshire, England
DIED: May or June 1621/Plymouth

John Carver was probably born in England, perhaps around 1585. He and his wife Katherine (sometimes spelled “Catherine”) were members of the Leiden Separatist community and first definitively appear in the records of Leiden in 1615.

John Carver was a deacon of the Leiden congregation. He was one of the prime organizers of the Mayflower voyage, arrangements for which were begun as early as 1617.

Katherine (White) Leggatt Carver was the daughter of Alexander White of Sturton-le-Steeple, Nottinghamshire, England. She was born probably in the 1570s. She is believed to have first married (George?) Leggatt before 1599.  In 1599, Alexander White refers in his will to his “daughter Leggett.”  In 1604, Katherine’s sister Bridget married John Robinson, who later became the Pilgrims’ pastor; and in 1605, her sister Frances White married Francis Jessop. The White, Jessop, and Robinson families were among those who moved to Leiden, Holland. There, in 1611, another sister, Jane White, married another Leiden church member, Randall Thickens.

At some point (whether before or after the move to Holland is unknown), Katherine’s husband died and she remarried to John Carver before May 23, 1615. The Carvers buried a child in November 1617 in Leiden. They had no other surviving children.

John and Katherine Carver voyaged to Plymouth together on the Mayflower. John Carver was one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact and, immediately thereafter, he was elected first governor of the Colony. He took part in the exploring expedition on Cape Cod which resulted in the “First Encounter.”

Governor Carver died in April 1621 and his wife shortly thereafter. We do not have wills or inventories for either. The memorials written to John Carver note that he had considerable personal wealth and had spent most of his estate in furthering the interest of the Plymouth experiment.

Pilgrim Hall Museum displays a significant early artifact that relates to John Carver: the Carver Sword, on loan from the Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society.