The White sisters were from Sturton-le-Steeple - Katherine married John Carver, the first Governor of Plymouth colony in America, making her the first Governor's wife, and Bridget married John Robinson who helped lead the Pilgrims from Nottinghamshire to Holland. The Wray sisters were from a wealthy Lincolnshire family - Frances & Isabel married well, and became important benefactors for local Puritan leaders by paying for their education in Cambridge.
The WHITES & The WRAYS
Only nineteen women sailed on the Mayflower to America. Although both the White sisters fled to Holland to escape persecution, only Katherine made the voyage.
They both belonged to the English Separartist church in Leiden. Katherine married John Carver after the death of her first husband George Leggatt. They both died early on in the history of the new colony in America and had no surviving children, so less is known about them. Bradford wrote that Katherine died of a broken heart a few weeks after her husband succombed to the heat whilst working in the fields. Bridget stayed in Leiden, never sailing to America - and her husband dying in 1625. Her son Isaac travelled to the colony in Plymouth in 1631 - so there are descendants of the Robinsons in America today.
The Wrays were an acristocratic family from Lincolnshire who were sympathetic to the Puritans. Sir William Wray and his sisters Isabel and Frances helped create a network of like-minded people through their wealth and connections. They helped support the education of men like John Smyth at Cambridge University, who later went on to form a Separatist group in Gainsborough.