George Soule

  General Notes:

George Soule's will was probated in 1679.

George Soule came as a servant of the Edward Winslow family. He was a Plymouth volunteer for the Pequot War in 1637.

The parentage of George Soule remains unknown. Several publishedancestries have subsequently been disproven, such as that in The English Ancestry andHomes of the Pilgrim Fathers, by Charles Banks, 1929.

There are three George Soule baptisms listed in the I.G.I. parishregister abstractions:

9 February 1595, Tingrith, Bedford (son of William)
21 April 1605, All Saints, Sudbury, Suffolk (son of Robert)
28 February 1615, Flitwick, Bedford (son of George)

The Tingrith, Bedford record is subject to further investigation. It should be noted that George Soule Jr named his second son William--perhaps after his grandfather. The 1605 and 1615 record are certainly not those of theMayflower passenger, because George Soule would have been of legal age when he signed the Mayflower Compact in 1620.

George Soule was the teacher to the children of the Mayflower Compact.

SOURCES:

Robert S. Wakefield, Mayflower Families in Progress: George Soule for Four Generations, (Plymouth: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1992).

Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins 3:1704-1708 (Boston:New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1995).

Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and Its People,1620-1691 (Ancestor Publishers, Salt Lake City, 1986).

Will of George Soule



In the Name of God Amen

I Gorge Soule senior of Duxberry in the Collonie of New Plymouth in NewEngland being aged and weake of body but of a sound mind and Memory praised beGod Doe make this my last Will and Testament in Manor and forme following Imprimis I comitt my soule into the hands of Almighty God whoe Gave it and my body to beDecently buried in the place appointed for that use whensoever hee shall please totake mee hence; and for the Disposall of my outward estate which God of hisGoodnes hath Given mee first I have and alreddy formerly by Deeds under my hand andseale Given unto my two sonnes Nathaniel: and Gorge All my lands in the Township ofDartmouth; Item I have formerly Given unto my Daughters Elizabeth and Patience allmy lands in the Township of Middleberry Item I Give and bequeath unto my Daughters Sussannah and Mary twelve pence a peece to be payed by my executer heerafter Namedafter my Decease; And forasmuch as my Eldest son John Soule and his family hath inmy extreame old age and weaknes bin tender and carefull of mee and veryhealpfull to mee; and is likely soe to be while it shall please God to continew mylife heer therfore I give and bequeath unto my said son John Soule all the Remainder of myhousing and lands whatsoever to him his heires and Assignes for ever Item I Give andbequeath unto my son John Soule all my Goods And Chattles whatsoever Item INominate And appoint my son John Soule to be my sole Executor of this my last Will andTestament; and lastly I Doe heerby make Null and voyde all other and former willsand Testaments by mee att Any time made; and Declare this Instrument to be my last Willand Testament In Witnes wherof I the said Gorge Soule have heerunto sett myhand and seale this eleventh Day of August in the year of our Lord one Thousandsix hundred seaventy and seaven;

Gorge Soule and a seale

The above Named Gorge Soule Did signe seale and Deliver this Instrumentto be his Last Will and Testament in the prsence of us

Nathaniell Thomas

The Marke D T of Deborah Thomas

Item the twentyeth Day of September 1677 I the above Named Gorge Soule Doe heerby further Declare that it is my will that if my son John Soule abovenamed or his heires or Assignes or any of them shall att any time Disturbe my DaughterPatience or her heires or Assignes or any of them in peacable Posession or Injoymentof the lands I have Given her att Namassakett allies Middleberry and Recover the samefrom her or her heires or Assignes or any of them That then my Gift to my son JohnSoule shall shalbe voyd; and that then my will is my Daughter Patience shall have allmy lands att Duxburrey And she shalbe my sole executrix of this my last Will andTestament And enter into my housing lands and meddowes att Duxburrow, In Witnes wherofI have heerunto sett my hande and seale;

Gorge Soule and A seal

The above Named George Soule Did Signe and seale to this addition in theprsence of us Nathaniel Thomas

The Marke D T of Deborah Thomas



George Soule's will was probated in 1679.


General Notes: Soule; English. "Dweller at or near a muddy pond".

From the George Soule and his Descendants for 4 generations book : He married prob. Plymouth, Massachusetts, before 1626 prob. Mary Bucket/Becket who died in Duxbury, Massachusetts in Dec. 1676. She has not been identified. The 22/May/1627 Division of Cattle includes George Sowle, Mary Sowle and Zakariah Sowle. In 1651, Gov. Bradford wrote "But his man George Sowle is still living, and hath 8 children." George Soule was in Duxbury, Massachusetts as early as 27/Sep/1642 when he was on a Duxbury committee. The will of George Soule Sr. of Duxberry dated 11/Aug/1677, codicil dated 20/Sep/16777, inventory 22/Jan/1679, gave lands in Dartmouth to sons Nathaniel and George; mentions lands in Middleberry formerly given to daughters Elizabeth and Patience; names daughters Susanna and Mary; eldest son John to have the remainder of his housing and lands. The codicil warned son John that if he disturbed daughter Patience, then Patience was to have the house and lands at Duxburrow. The account of John Soule mentions "since my mother died which was three yeer the last December."

George was orphaned when fire destroyed his home. He was brought up by his brother, Robert Soule of Selter Co. He came to America on the Mayflower and was a signer of the Mayflower Compact. He came as a teacher to Edward Winslow's children. Mary Beckett came on the Anne and they were married in Plymouth. George Soule, Miles Standish and John Alden laid out the first town, Duxbury, and are buried there. He has been tentatively identified as son of John Soule of Eckington, Co. Worcester, and problably kinsman to Robert Soule, a wealthy London salter, who died in 1590 a native of Eckington. Robert Soule had a son Miles and a grandson of George, the Emigrant, also bore that name. All other George Soules found in England at that period have been satisfactorily eliminated. Fuller particulars of this identification will be found in the recently published Soule Genealogy for which a special extensive search covering a number of years was made by the compiler of this book. The Winslow family from which Edward was descended lived in the nearby parish of Kempsey, Co. Worcester, and it is probable that this early neighborhood association explains the apprenticeship of George Soule to the Governor. It is supposed that George Soule was in London when he joined Winslow on the voyage. Droitwich, the family home of the Winslows at that time, was a salt mining place connected in a business way with the Salters' Company of London in trade, and thus the Winslow-Soule association was extablished. The name of Mary Bucket, his wife, who came in the Anne, should be looked for in the parish of St. Botolph, Aldersgate, London. It is probably a variation of Beckett. The marriage is established through the sale by George Soule of that acre of land granted to her as a passenger, which he could do as her husband. Deputy To General Court, Duxbury, Mass.

George married Mary Becket. Mary was born about 1592 and died in Dec 1676 in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

The Soule Kindred is a non-profit organization incorporated in 1972. For a small yearly fee one may subscribe to an excellent newsletter connecting to many other Soule researchers. The Soule Kindred historian has additional microfilms and information on George Soule the immigrant. The Soule Kindred also host annual reunions in different cities each year.

George married Mary Bucket. (Mary Bucket was born in 1602 in England and died on 16 Dec 1676 in Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachussetts, USA.)

George next married Mary (Bucket) Becket. (Mary (Bucket) Becket was born on 17 Jan 1590 in England and died in 1676 in Duxbury, Plymouth Colony, Mass..)