Deacon John Carver’s place of birth or early life is not known, but he
     was an Essex County man, and was probably not, until in middle life,
     a member of Robinson’s congregation of “Independents.”  His age is
     determined by collateral evidence.

Mrs. Katherine Carver, it has been supposed by some, was a sister of
     Pastor Robinson.  This supposition rests, apparently, upon the
     expression of Robinson in his parting letter to Carver, where he
     says:  “What shall I say or write unto you and your good wife, my
     loving sister?” Neither the place of Mrs. Carver’s nativity nor her
     age is known.

Desire Minter was evidently a young girl of the Leyden congregation,
     between the ages of fourteen and seventeen, who in some way (perhaps
     through kinship) had been taken into Carver’s family.  She returned
     to England early.  See ante, for account of her (probable)
     parentage.

John Howland was possibly of kin to Carver and had been apparently some
     years in his family.  Bradford calls him a “man-servant,” but it is
     evident that “employee” would be the more correct term, and that he
     was much more than a “servant.”  It is observable that Howland
     signed the Compact (by Morton’s List) before such men as Hopkins,
     the Tilleys, Cooke, Rogers, and Priest, which does not indicate much
     of the “servant” relation.  His antecedents are not certainly known,
     but that he was of the Essex family of the name seems probable. 
     Much effort has been made in recent years to trace his ancestry,
     but without any considerable result.  His age at death (1673)
     determines his age in 1620.  He was older than generally supposed,
     being born about 1593.

Roger Wilder is also called a “man-servant” by Bradford, and hardly more
     than this is known of him, his death occurring early.  There is no
     clue to his age except that his being called a “man-servant” would
     seem to suggest that he was of age; but the fact that he did not
     sign the Compact would indicate that he was younger, or he may have
     been extremely ill, as he died very soon after arrival.

William Latham is called a “boy” by Bradford, though a lad of 18.  It is
     quite possible he was one of those “indentured” by the corporation
     of London, but there is no direct intimation of this.

“Mrs. Carver’s maid,” it is fair to presume, from her position as
     lady’s-maid and its requirements in those days, was a young woman of
     eighteen or twenty years, and this is confirmed by her early
     marriage.  Nothing is known of her before the embarkation.  She died
     early.