Degory Priest — Mayflower passenger, Leiden hatter and early Plymouth signer

Early life and Leiden years

Records indicate Priest was born about 1579. The surname and its variants were common in southwest England and London. Like several other Separatists who fled religious restrictions in England, he relocated to Leiden in the Netherlands where a sizable English-speaking community lived in the early 17th century. In 1611 he married Sarah (Vincent) Allerton, a widow who was the sister of Isaac Allerton, another prominent Mayflower passenger and fellow Leiden resident.

Occupation and civic records

Priest worked as a hat-maker and household records and legal documents from Leiden survive that link him to other members of the English expatriate community. He became a citizen of Leiden on November 16, 1615, together with Isaac Allerton and Roger Wilson, which confirmed his settled status in the town. Several municipal notations and sworn statements record Priest acting as a witness, participant and landlord in local affairs.

Legal incidents and community involvement

The Leiden documents give glimpses of daily life in the expatriate community. On June 28, 1617, Priest had a minor altercation recorded in which he stated he had not struck a man named John Cripps but had merely "touched his jabot," referring to the lace or frill at the front of a shirt. He was also a witness on a statement signed by tailor Isaac Allerton on January 18, 1618, concerning the cost of a crimson coat. On April 9, 1619, Priest and Samuel Lee signed a behavior bond for Nicholas Claverly, a tobacco-pipe maker who had lived in a house owned by Priest. On May 3, 1619, Priest testified in a statement by Richard Tyrill that Nicholas Claverly was not involved in the murder of John Tyrill.

Voyage on the Mayflower and Plymouth

Priest sailed with the group that left England on the Mayflower in 1620 to establish a colony in New England. He was one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact, the document through which the ship’s adult male passengers agreed to form a civil body politic and abide by local laws for the common good of the settlement. After arrival, Priest lived in Plymouth until he died during the colony's first severe winter of 1620–1621, a period when disease and hunger claimed many settlers.

Legacy and notable facts

• Priest's presence among the Compact signers gives him a permanent place in early American colonial history.
• Leiden municipal records provide rare, concrete details about individual lives in the English Separatist community before emigration.
• His marriage linked him to Isaac Allerton, an influential figure in Plymouth's leadership and later colonial commerce.
• There are no known records of children of Degory and Sarah Priest surviving in the Plymouth colony.

Selected references and records

Primary and archival references to Degory Priest are preserved in Leiden records and Mayflower-era documents. See the entries and transcriptions in collections of Leiden municipal records and Mayflower passenger lists for further detail:

• Mayflower passenger list and context
• Signature and related Compact records
• The Mayflower Compact text and interpretation
• Surname occurrences in Devon records
• Surname occurrences in Cornwall records
• London parish and trade records
• General background on English surnames
• Separatist movement overview
• Leiden English community history
• Dutch religious tolerance in the 17th century
• Hat-making and trades in early modern England
• Leiden municipal archives
• Marriage and family records
• Isaac Allerton biography and records
• Contemporary clothing: jabots and shirts
• Witness statements from Leiden
• Tailoring and trade documents
• Textiles and dyeing (crimson cloth)
• Clothing inventories and purchases
• Tobacco trade and pipe making in Leiden
• Court records and criminal inquiries referenced