Staggs Family History

My ancestors in the United States

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    Joan Hurst (1568-1621)

    BIRTH: 13 MAR 1568, Henlow, Bedfordshire, England
    DEATH: 11 JAN 1621, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA
    FATHER: William Hurst
    MOTHER: Rose Marshe
    SPOUSE: John Tilley (1571-1621)

    Joan Hurst was born on March 13, 1568, in Henlow, Bedfordshire, England. She married John Tilley in 1596 in Henlow, Bedfordshire, England. They had five children in 10 years. She died on January 11, 1621, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, at the age of 52, and was buried there.

    Her story

    Joan Hurst was born and baptized on March 13, 1567/8, in the quiet Bedfordshire village of Henlow, England, the daughter of William Hurst and Rose Marshe. She grew up in a small rural parish where family, faith, and community life revolved around the parish church—St. Mary’s of Henlow.

    In her mid-twenties, Joan married Thomas Rogers on June 18, 1593, also in Henlow. Their union was brief; only one child is recorded from that marriage, a daughter named Joan Rogers, baptized in May 1594. Nothing certain is known of the younger Joan’s later life, suggesting that she may have died young.

    This plaque commemorating John Joan, and Elizabeth Tilley is located at St. Mary the Virgin Church in Henlow, Bedfordshire, England. This is the parish where the John and Joan were married and where their daughter Elizabeth was baptized.

    After Thomas Rogers’s death, Joan remained in Henlow, and three years later, on September 20, 1596, she married John Tilley, a local man of similar background. Together, they would form one of the families that helped bridge England’s late Tudor world and the early English settlement of America.

    Joan and John’s early married life was settled and typical of village tradespeople in Bedfordshire. Several children were baptized at St. Mary’s Church: Rose, John, Robert, and Elizabeth, among others. The Tilleys lived through an age of religious questioning and social change that would eventually give rise to the Separatist movement and the Pilgrim migration.

    By the late 1610s, the Tilleys had joined those drawn to the idea of a fresh start in the New World. Whether for religious conviction, opportunity, or family connection, Joan and John decided to leave England behind. In 1620, they and their teenage daughter Elizabeth boarded the Mayflower at Plymouth, England, alongside over one hundred other passengers bound for the uncertain promise of the American wilderness.

    After a harrowing ten-week voyage across the Atlantic, the ship landed at what became Plymouth Colony in December 1620. The new settlers faced a brutal first winter marked by cold, hunger, and disease. Joan and her husband John both fell ill in the months that followed, and died early in 1621, among the many lost that first season.

    Their daughter Elizabeth Tilley, barely thirteen years old, survived. She was taken in by fellow passenger John Howland, and in time, she married him. Together they raised a large family, becoming ancestors of many thousands of Americans today. Through Elizabeth’s long life and many descendants, the story of Joan Hurst—the Englishwoman who left her home in Henlow to seek a new beginning in a distant land—endures.

    Legacy of Joan Hurst

    Married

    Married 1st: Thomas Rogers (1560-1592) on June 18, 1593, in Henlow, Bedfordshire, England

    Married 2nd: John Tilley (1571-1621) on September 20, 1596, in Henlow, Bedfordshire, England

    Children

    • 1st marriage to Thomas Rogers
      • Joan Rogers (1594-?)
    • 2nd marriage to John Tilley
      • Rose Tilley (1597-?) died young
      • John Tilley (1599-1636) married Edith
      • Rose Tilley (1601-?)
      • Robert Tilley (1604-1638) married Mary Hawkins (1603-1660)
      • Elizabeth Tilley (1607-1686) married John Howland (1602-1672)

    Documents

    • Birth Records
      • Mayflower Increasings > Joan was baptized 13 Mar. 1567/8, Henlow, the daughter of William and Rose and died between 11 Jan. – 10 Apr. 1621, Plymouth.
    • Marriage Records
      • 1st marriage to Thomas Rogers
        • Mayflower Increasings > John married 1st, 18 June 1593, Henlow, Thomas Rogers who died c 1594-95 (they had a daughter, Joan, Bpt. 26 May 1594, Henlow).
      • 2nd marriage to John Tilley
        • Mayflower Increasings > John married 20 Sept. 1696, Henlow, England, Joan (Hurst) Rogers.
        • England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973 > Name: Joan Rogers; Gender: Female; Marriage Date: 20 Sep 1596; Marriage Place: Henlow, Bedford, England; Spouse: Jn Tylly; FHL Film Number: 826473, Q942.565 B4E V. 26
        • U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900; Name: Joan Hurst; Gender: Female; Birth Place: En; Birth Year: 1567; Spouse Name: John Tilley; Spouse Birth Place: En; Spouse Birth Year: 1596; Marriage Year: 1596; Marriage State: En; Number Pages: 1
    • Death records
    • Other
      • Colonial Families of the USA, 1607-1775 > Joan Hurst
      • Mayflower Increasings > Children of Joan Hurst and John Tilley
      • The Snow-Estes ancestry > Vol I. II. Appendix. Elmer John Snow descent. John Tilley Family
      • U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s > Name: John Tilley; Age: 47; Birth Year: abt 1573; Arrival Year: 1620; Arrival Place: Plymouth, Massachusetts; Primary Immigrant: Tilley, John; Family Members: Daughter Elizabeth 13; Wife Joan Rogers; Source Publication Code: 6604; Annotation: Date and port of arrival. Mainly extracted from The Mayflower and Her Log … by Dr. Azel Ames (indexed in PILI, first edition, source no. 108). Occupation and names of relatives are also provided.; Source Bibliography: “PASSENGERS ON THE MAYFLOWER.” In The Mayflower Quarterly (General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Plymouth, MA), vol. 46:4 (Nov. 1980), pp. 177-182.

    Relation of Joan Hurst to Steven Barry Staggs: 10th great-grandmother

    Page last updated November 24, 2025

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