Peter Browne (Mayflower Pilgrim) - Peter Browne, Death, Estate and Burial

Peter Browne, Death, Estate and Burial

Peter Brown had health issues which became serious in late 1632. He died later in 1633, possibly in early fall from a probable infectious disease. The inventory of his assets was taken on October 10, 1633. He had apparently been attended to by Dr.Samuel Fuller and his inventory shows a debt by Browne’s widow of Dr. Samuel Fuller for one peck of malt and some purgative, and a debt for “letting her man bleed.” His estate also owed Kenelm, brother of Mayflower passenger Edward Winslow, twelve shillings for building his coffin. Browne’s estate inventory detailed such as grain, animals, a firearm, tools, household goods, clothing, etc.. Ironically, his attending doctor Samuel Fuller also died from the same disease at that time, as did fellow Mayflower passenger Francis Eaton and others.

Following Browne’s death, his widow Mary was made administrator of his estate on November 11, 1633. She was ordered by the court to pay 15 pounds to John Doane to assume custody of Browne’s daughter Mary and the same amount to William Gilson for the custody of Browne’s daughter Priscilla with the court placing Mary with Doane for nine years and Priscilla with Gilson for twelve years until both were age seventeen. Mary retained custody of her two children by her first husband and was allowed the rest of Browne’s estate for her own third for raising her own two children.

At age seventeen, Mary and Priscilla Browne asked the Plymouth Court to assign their custody over to their uncle, John Browne, a weaver then residing in Duxbury. Browne was a brother of their father Peter Browne.

Peter Browne died shortly before October 10, 1633, when the after-death inventory of his property was taken. His death was not recorded in the records of Plymouth County. Both he and his first wife Martha were both buried at Burial Hill in Plymouth.