List of Mayflower passengers who died in the winter of 1620–21
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Forty-five of the 102 Mayflower passengers died in the winter of 1620–21, and the Mayflower colonists overall suffered greatly during their first winter in the New World, chiefly from lack of shelter, scurvy, and general conditions on-board ship. They were buried on Cole's Hill.
People marked * below were probably buried in unmarked graves in the Cole's Hill Burial Ground in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In 1921, some of the remains of persons buried on that hill were collected into the sarcophagus that is the Pilgrim Memorial Tomb on Cole's Hill in Plymouth. Many of the people listed here are named on the Tomb.
Men
John Allerton*
Richard Britteridge*, December 21
William Butten/Button, November 6/16 on board Mayflower. Buried either at sea or later possibly ashore. Memorial in Provincetown. (a young man)
Robert Carter*, after February 21
James Chilton*, 8/18 on board Mayflower in Cape Cod Harbor. Most likely buried ashore.
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