Moses Fletcher

Moses Fletcher (c.1564–1620/1) was a passenger on the Mayflower in 1620 and was one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact.^[1][2]

Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall (1882)

Fletcher was born in Sandwich in England. He married Mary Evans in 1589 and had 10 children. Fletcher worked as a blacksmith.^[1][3][4]

Fletcher did not want to be a member of the Church of England. He did not follow some of the Church rules and told others that he did not believe in the teachings of the Church.^[1][5] On June 12, 1609, Moses Fletcher, along with the wife of future Mayflower passenger James Chilton and several other persons were excommunicated from the church for the illegal burial of a child.^[1][5]

Fletcher became a Separatist.^[1] This religion was illegal in England. He and his family left England with the Chilton family and moved to Leiden in Netherlands. His wife Mary died and he married Sarah, a widow from Leiden.^[1][5]

On the Mayflower

Signing the Mayflower Compact 1620, a painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris 1899

Fletcher came on the Mayflower without his family.^[6][7]

The Mayflower left Plymouth, England on 16 September 1620. There were 102 passengers and 30–40 crew. On 19 November 1620, they spotted land. The Mayflower was supposed to land in Virginia Colony, but the ship was damaged and they were forced to land 21 November at Cape Cod now called Provincetown Harbor.^[8][9] They wrote the Mayflower Compact, which made rules on how they would live and treat each other.^{[10] [11]}

Plymouth Colony

Fletcher died in the winter of 1620–1621 in the general sickness.^[12]

Fletcher was buried in the Cole's Hill Burial Ground in Plymouth. His name is on the Pilgrim Memorial Tomb.^[13]