Edward Doty came in the Mayflower in the employ of Stephen Hopkins. He h ad been apprenticed to a London tanner and was called a servant, meaning a pprentice in the Plymouth records. Hopkins was a tanner. Doty was among t he signers of the famous compact drawn and executed aboard the Mayflow er at Plymouth. He was of the party that set forth to explore the countr y, Dec. 6, 1620. That Doty and his fellow apprentice were not at the ti me thoroughly Puritanic in their views may be judged from the fact that th ey fought a duel. The English disapproved of the duel, but the Pilgrims s aw fit to punish the combatants. They fought with swords and one was wound ed in the hand, the other in the thigh. They were adjudged by the whole co mpany "to have their heads and feet tied together, and so to be for 24 hou rs, without meat and drink, which was begun to be inflicted, but with in an hour because of their great pains, and at their own and their master 's great request, upon promise of better carriage, they are released by t he governor." His later disputes he took to court and his name appear ed as plaintiff or defendant often in civil court. In 1624 he was grant ed land on Watson Hill, Plymouth for a home lot. He had joined the chur ch and was admitted a freeman before March 7,
1636-37.
One of his first deeds on record is dated July 12, 1637, Edward Doty to Ri chard Derby, signed with a mark. He had many real estate transactions a nd his rates show he was in late life a man of property.
His occupation is given as planter, indicating that he did not find much o pportunity to follow his trade. In 1652 he was one of the purchasers of t he Dartmouth tract. The name of his first wife is unknown. The oldest hou se in Plymouth is the Doten house; the oldest wharf was named Doty or Dote n.
First wife, unknown. He married, second, at Plymouth, January, 1634/1635, of 16 years Faith2 Clark (Thurston). She had married, second, John Phillip s. Nine children by his second wife, Faith. . His origins are unknown. A lthough Bradford refers to Faith as his second wife, there is no reco rd of his first. He married at Plymouth, 6 Jan 1634/5 Faith Clarke, da u. of Thurston Clarke who was buried at Marshfield, 21 December, 1675. [ MD 1:16 citing Bradford's List of Passengers: "Edward Doty, & Edward Litst er the servants of mr Hopkins. Litster After he was at liberty, went to Vi rginia, & there dyed. But Edward Doty by a second wife hath .7. children a nd both he and they are living."]
From the website of dotyproductions.com 4/17/09 |