America’s First Murderer

In 1620 the Mayflower left Plymouth, England and sailed across the Atlantic, and with it went the Pilgrims. But did you know that it also carried America’s first person to be convicted of murder? His name was John Billington.

Billington was not one of the separatist Puritans, the so called “Saints.” Rather, he belonged to the group of passengers who became known as the “strangers.” It is thought he left England to escape from his debts. His wife Elinor, and his teenage sons John, Jr., and Francis joined him on this voyage to the new world.

From the very beginning this family was trouble. One of his sons tried to blow up the Mayflower when he fired a musket near an open barrel of gunpowder. Had the barrel ignited we’d be reading another story about the first Pilgrims in our history books today. Historian George F. Willison believed, without question, that Billington was involved in the mutiny on the Mayflower which erupted when some passengers challenged the governing authority in their new land. This was preempted by the adoption of the Mayflower Compact, for which Billington was one of the signatories.

Shortly after the Mayflower arrived in Plymouth, John Billington was charged with “contempt of the Captain’s lawful command and opprobrious speeches.” His sentence was to have his neck and heels tied together. But Billington was later pardoned. He was implicated in the Oldham-Lyford scandal, a failed revolt against the Plymouth colony. Charges were later dropped due to insufficient evidence.

During the first winter in Plymouth, the typhus epidemic wiped out half the Pilgrim population. The Billingtons were the only family to not lose one family member in the epidemic. In fact, Elinor, John’s wife, was one of five women that survived. John and his teenage sons wreaked havoc in the colony and were notorious for their nefarious activities.

After 10 years in the colony, John’s crimes caught up to him. John got into a quarrel with John Newcomen, possibly over a woman, and shot him with a musket. This time the charges stuck. He was tried and found guilty “by plain and notorious evidence.” On September 30, 1630 John Billington became the first Englishman to be hanged in New England.

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