EDWARD ROSSITER
(11th Great Grandpa)

Edward and his family came to America on the ship Mary and John in 1630. On 20 March 1630, the ship Mary & John sailed from Plymouth, England with 140 passengers aboard. The Rev. John White of Dorchester, Dorset, recruited all the families. Nearly all of them came from the West Country of England, which included the counties of Somerset, Dorset and Devon. The ship landed in New England on 30 May 1630, two weeks before the Winthrop Fleet arrived. These people founded one of the first towns in Massachusetts, Dorchester, in 1630, and one of the earliest in Connecticut, Windsor, five years later.

Edward's name is found in English records as early as 1597 as paying taxes on his father's property. He was last taxed in 1628/9. He and his household left Plymouth March 20, 1630 on the 'Mary and John' as a settler and stockholder in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Edward was to receive 50 acres of land for each person he brought with him. The total of 13 persons including 5 children (all except Dorothy), the wife of Bryan, and the wife and children of Nicholas. Edward died within a month of arriving in Massachusetts, his death being reported by Thomas DUDLEY (future governor) thus: "Within a month after, died Mr. Rossiter, another of the associates, a godly man and of good estate." It is believed he died from "this disease grew from ill diet at sea and proved infectious."

Winthrop records that on Thursday, 17 June 1630, "We lay at Mr. Maverocke's, and returned home on Saturday, as we came home we came by Nataskett, and sent for Capt. Squib ashore (he had brought the west country people, viz. Mr. Ludlowe, Mr. Rossiter, Mr. Maverock, etc. to the Bay who were set down at Mattapan)" [WP 2:264].

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/4232/Ross5.html
www.winthropsociety.org
http://www.maryandjohn1630.com/passengerlist_a.html