= new reply since forum marked as read
and her parents John and Joan (Hurst) Tilley.
John Howland was in his early twenties and Elizabeth 13 when they arrived on the Mayflower. They married four or five years later.
Elizabeth's parents John and Joan Tilley & her aunt and uncle Edward and Agnes Tilley had all died the first winter in the New World, leaving her an orphan.
Through John and Elizabeth I am related to Dubya and his dad, and to Sarah Palin. I am also related to Dubya through a Salem "witch." Cool, huh? 
John Howland in this interesting article about him:
http://spyhollywood.com/2-million-americans-trace-roots-to-pilgram-john-howland/
Oh, and look at what else I found – a children’s book about him.
http://www.amazon.com/Fell-Mayflower-John-Howlands-Fortune/dp/0763665843
From what I’ve gathered on the internets:
Pilgrim John Howland arrived on the Mayflower as an indentured servant but in later years became executive assistant and personal secretary to Governor John Carver. John Howland’s true age in 1620 is unknown, but because he signed the Mayflower Compact and helped found Plymouth Colony, he is thought to have been at least 18 years old. Most historians put his age at between 18 and 21 in 1620 – so he probably was a young man when he fell overboard, not a boy as the book title says.
EDIT: A cousin who's a genealogist said the photo isn't of our ancestor who fell overboard but of his grandson or great-grandson named John Howland. 
Unfortunately, Henry didn't come over until a few years after John. I think I read that Henry came on the Anne ~1623. So I'm not a Mayflower descendent but I am a descendent of Pilgrims. And a distant cousin to you.
Stephen was one of the "Strangers" (not the religious "Saints"
. He was an adventurer and a truly colorful character. Was the only one in history to have been both at Jamestown and at Plymouth. On the way to Jamestown in 1609 the ship he was on was shipwrecked near Bermuda and the crew stayed there for about 10 months before getting to Jamestown, which was in a very bad state by then. A couple years later Stephen went back to England because he got word that his wife had died there. In 1620 he set out again for the New World on the Mayflower with his new wife and 2 children (Constance and Giles) from 1st marriage and another from the 2nd marriage. His wife gave birth on that wretched ship on the way over, to a child they named Oceanus. Stephen and his wife and children were the only family that survived the devastating first year with no one dying. (Only 4 women made it.) The account of the 1609 shipwreck at Bermuda had gotten back to England and Shakespeare heard of it and used it as the basis for his play "The Tempest", which has a character in it called Stephano.
I have learned so much history in researching my genealogy. It really makes it come alive.
