Degory Priest

Very little was known about Degory Priest (B c1579-1582 D 1621). Alternate spellings of his name were: "Digory" "Gregory", "Degorie", or "Digorie" Priest. He was one of the Pilgrim passengers on the Mayflower in 1620. His wife, Sarah Allerton, and children Mary and Sarah stayed behind in Leyden Holland in where some of the Pilgrims had moved to escape religious persecution in England. However, they came to North America on the Anne almost two years after the death of Priest in 1623.

Degory Priest's lineage and his activities as a Mayflower passenger were judged to be unreliable. Nevertheless to proceed Priest was born between 1579 and 1582 in London, England. Furthermore his wife, Sarah Allerton was born in 1588 in London, England. She was the sister of Isaac Allerton. Degory Priest and Sarah Allerton were married in 1611. Sarah Allerton married Degory Priest when she was twenty-three years old. At least one of his grandchildren was an early resident of Nantucket Island. Sarah Allerton's brother Isaac Allerton and his family were also passengers on the Mayflower. Degory Priest died in Plymouth in January, 1621, fourteen months after the Mayflower landed in America.

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Descendants

Degory and Sarah have many notable descendants including Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Maria Mitchell, Pete Seeger, Richard Gere, Dick Van Dyke, and Orson Scott Card.