Plymouth Colony’s most hated family produced the first official execution in American history

John Billington, the First Convicted Murderer in America

John Billington sailed to America on the Mayflower with dreams of a new life. Instead, he became the first person executed for murder in colonial America.

This troublemaker from day one shot and killed a teenage boy in 1630, earning himself a date with the hangman. His story shows how violence followed settlers even to the New World.

Here’s what happened at Plymouth Colony, now preserved as a place you can visit today.

The Billingtons Weren’t Real Pilgrims

John Billington boarded the Mayflower in London with his wife Eleanor and teenage sons, but they weren’t religious refugees.

The Billingtons were “strangers” hired by London businessmen to fill the ship. Governor William Bradford called them “one of the most profanest families” among the 102 passengers.

When the ship anchored at Cape Cod instead of Virginia, Billington joined other non-religious passengers making angry complaints about their work contracts.

A total of 41 adult men signed the Mayflower Compact on November 11, 1620.

Francis Nearly Torched The Mayflower Completely

Before anyone stepped ashore, 14-year-old Francis Billington almost ended everything.

The boy was playing with homemade fireworks and his father’s musket when he set off a gunpowder barrel. Flames shot through the wooden ship while everyone scrambled to put out the fire.

Bradford wrote that “by God’s mercy, no harm was done,” but the blaze could have killed everyone aboard. The Billington boys were completely out of control.

John Earned Plymouth’s First Criminal Conviction

Three months later, John Billington refused military orders from Captain Myles Standish and insulted him with harsh words.

The court sentenced him to have his neck and heels tied together, but when Billington begged for mercy, the leaders forgave his “first offense.”

This became Plymouth Colony’s first recorded crime. Billington had already marked himself as the troublemaker who would keep testing everyone’s limits.

Young John Vanished Into The Wilderness

That summer, 16-year-old John Billington Jr. wandered into the woods and disappeared for five days. He survived on berries while the colony searched frantically.

The boy finally stumbled into Wampanoag territory, whose leaders delivered him to the Nauset tribe on Cape Cod.

Ten Plymouth men had to sail out and retrieve him, finding the teenager covered with beads and well cared for by the native indians.

The incident tested the fragile peace treaty but strengthened relations when both sides honored their agreements.

Billington Dodged Charges In Political Conspiracy

Three years later, Billington got mixed up in Plymouth’s first revolt when Reverend John Lyford and John Oldham began secretly undermining Bradford’s government.

They held hidden meetings and sent treasonous letters to England. When Bradford intercepted the correspondence, Lyford named Billington as a supporter during his trial.

But Billington denied everything and claimed complete ignorance. Lyford and Oldham were banished forever while Billington escaped punishment through his denials.

Bradford Declared Him A Lifelong Scoundrel

By 1625, Bradford had reached his breaking point with Billington’s constant opposition.

In a letter to England, the governor vented his frustration: “Billington still rails against you and threatens to arrest you.”

Then came Bradford’s harsh verdict: “he is a knave, and so will live and die.” The insult meant untrustworthy and hostile.

Bradford’s hatred showed in practical ways too: Billington received the smallest land grant and was banned from holding any public office.

Death Struck His Family Hard

Five years passed as Plymouth grew into a stable colony. The Billingtons had been given land and cattle, but tragedy hit when John Jr. died around age 25.

The cause remains unknown, though other colonists also died during this time from illness.

Losing his eldest son likely pushed the elder Billington deeper into anger about his outsider status. Already shut out of church and politics, he now faced the heartbreak of burying his firstborn.

A Deadly Quarrel Erupted With Newcomen

In 1630, Billington got into what records call a “former quarrel” with John Newcomen, a recent arrival.

Colony secretary Nathaniel Mourton later claimed Billington caught Newcomen stealing from his hunting traps. The men were enemies—Billington nearly 50 years old, Newcomen just 17.

Their conflict had been building in the small community where everyone knew everyone else’s business, and it was about to explode.

Billington Ambushed And Murdered His Enemy

Bradford wrote that Billington “waylaid” Newcomen and “shot him with a gun, whereof he died.”

When Newcomen saw his enemy approaching with a weapon, he ran but couldn’t escape before Billington fired. John Newcomen became the first white settler murdered by another white settler in Plymouth Colony.

The gunshot may have been survivable, but infection and gangrene killed him days later. The murder shocked the community where such violence between English colonists had never happened.

Plymouth Consulted Neighbors Before The Execution

The colony faced its first murder trial with careful deliberation.

Bradford recorded that both grand and petit juries “found guilty of willful murder by plain and notorious evidence.”

Understanding the gravity, Plymouth’s leaders consulted Governor John Winthrop and other Massachusetts Bay authorities, who “concurred with them that he ought to die, and the land be purged from blood.”

This would be their first execution, making it “a matter of great sadness unto them.”

America’s First Murderer Died On The Gallows

On September 30, 1630, John Billington was hanged at age 50, becoming America’s first person executed for murder. His burial location remains unknown.

The execution established how English settlements would handle their worst crimes. Among his descendants are actor Richard Gere and President James Garfield, who was assassinated by gunshot in 1881.

The first American murderer became ancestor to the only Mayflower descendant president to die by violence.

Visiting Pilgrim Hall Museum

America’s oldest museum at 75 Court Street houses the actual Mayflower Compact that John Billington signed in 1620.

You can see Edward Percy Moran’s famous 1900 painting “Signing the Mayflower Compact” showing Billington among the 41 signers.

The museum displays authentic 17th-century Pilgrim artifacts including William Bradford’s Bible and original household items from families like the Billingtons.

You can touch a piece of Plymouth Rock and explore the research library’s manuscripts about colonial crime and justice by appointment.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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