John Crackstone and son John

John Crackstone married Catherine Bates on 9 May 1594 at Stratford St. Mary, co. Suffolk, which is just six miles north of Colchester, co. Essex.  Catherine was baptized at Stratford St. Mary on 5 October 1567, the daughter of Thomas and Agnes Bates.

John Crackstone first appears in Leiden records on 19 May 1617, when he witnessed the betrothal of Henry Collet to Alice Howarth.  On 12 December 1618, Leiden records show that his daughter, Anna, was married to Thomas Smith.  Attempts to trace the descendants of Thomas and Anna (Crackstone) Smith in Leiden records have thus far been unsuccessful.

William Bradford reports that John Crackstone came on the Mayflower with his son John.  Baptism records for his two known children, Anna and John, have not been discovered, nor is it known what happened to his wife Catherine.

John Crackston, the father, died the first winter at Plymouth, sometime likely between January and March 1621.  Son John, who was perhaps an older teenager at the time (he did not sign the "Mayflower Compact"), took up residence with the Isaac Allerton family.  He died shortly after 1627, when he lost himself in the woods, became frozen, developed a fever, and died.