Humility Cooper was born circa 1619 in Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands to Robert Cooper (1591-) and Joan Gresham (c1592-1619) and died after 1638 England, United Kingdom of unspecified causes.
Biography
Humility Cooper was born to English Separatists in the Pilgrim colony in Leiden, Holland. But as a baby was placed in the charge of John Tilley (1571-1621) and his wife Joan Hurst (1568-1621). It is probable that her mother recently died and this couple was her uncle and aunt.
Humility was born about 1619 in Holland to Robert Cooper and his wife Joan (Gresham) of Henlow in Bedfordshire, England. They are known to have been in Leiden with English Separatists as in a 1618 his name appears on a Leiden business agreement. She was a niece of Edward Tilley’s wife Ann, and with Humility’s father Robert Cooper apparently being Ann’s brother, who may have been a resident of Leiden, Holland at the time of Mayflower sailing.[
This couple sailed to America in 1620 on the Mayflower, but the John and Joan died that first horrible winter at Plymouth Colony. Humility was first placed in the care of Edward Winslow (1560-1620) and family (next to her cousin Henry Sampson (1604-1684)) (1623 land records) and then in the family of William Brewster (1567-1644) (1627 land records).
Humility eventually sailed back to England in about 1638 (age 19). From William Bradford’s 1651 writing, she “was sent for into England” – by whom it is not known, possibly her father. Her return to England may have occurred sometime about 1638 or prior to that. She was baptized at Holy Trinity of the Minorities in London on March 17 or 19, 1638/9 with the record stating she had been born in Holland. Bradford also states that she had died by the year 1651.
Siblings
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Humility Cooper (1619-1638) | 1619 Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands | 1638 England, United Kingdom | |
Vital Records
Bradford's 1651 Journal
"Edward Tillie, and his wife both dyed soon after their arrivall; and the girle Humility their cousen, was sent for unto Ento England, and dyed ther But the youth Henery Sampson, is still liveing, and is married, & hath .7. children. John Tilley and his wife both dyed, a litle after they came ashore."
References
- Humility Cooper - Wikipedia