Christopher Jones (Mayflower captain)

Master Christopher Jones Jr. (c. 1570 – about 5 March 1622) was the master of the 1620 voyage of the Pilgrim ship Mayflower.

Christopher Jones is believed to have been born in Harwich, Essex, around 1570, although baptismal records are blank for his parish church for the period of time between April 1565 and June 1571.

He was the son of Christopher Jones Sr., of Welsh descent, and his wife Sybil, of English descent. The senior Jones was also a mariner and ship owner who died in 1578, leaving to his young son, bearing his name, his interest in the ship Marie Fortune when he should attain the age of eighteen years. Jones' mother Sybil married Robert Russell after his father's death and continued to reside at the Jones family home on Kings Head Street in Harwich, which is presently a visitor attraction. The family home of Christopher Jones' first wife Sara Twitt is across from the Jones home on Kings Head Street and is now a hostelry, the Alma.

Christopher Jones married twice:

1. Jones married Sara Twitt at St. Nicholas Church, Harwich on 27 December 1593. She was aged 17 and had been born about 1576. She was Jones' neighbour, living opposite each other on Kings Head Street, Harwich; both residences still exist as visitor attractions. Sara had a wealthy father, Thomas Twitt, who had strong shipping interests. At his death, her father provided considerable funds for her and a 1/12 share in his ship Apollo. The two families combined their shipping interests to mutual advantage.

Within a year of his marriage to Sara, they had a boy named Thomas, after Sara's father. But the church burial register records the infant's death on 17 April 1596. Sara had no more children and died at age 27. She was buried in Harwich on 18 May 1603.

2. Jones married his second wife, Josian Gray (née Thompson), widow of Richard Gray, age 19, at St. Nicholas Church in Harwich a few months after his first wife's Sara's death in 1603. Josian had seafaring relatives and her late husband was a noted mariner with friends among the captains of the 1588 Armada Fleet and which included 'treasure hunting' in the Indies; this have may included attacks on Spanish treasure ships. Josian probably brought a substantial marriage portion and had inherited her late husband's house in Church Street, Harwich together with other land and property. One of his ships was named Josian, in honour of his wife.

It is believed Josian may have remarried in 1626 as in that year a 'Joan Jones', widow, married one Thomas Bartelmore at Stepney, London, directly across the Thames from Rotherhithe.