ALLERTON, ISAAC (1583?-1659), one of the American Pilgrims, was born probably in England about 1583. The first record concerning him is as a merchant in Leyden, Holland. He was a member of the English Separatist Church there and was made a freeman of the city in 1614. On the first voyage of the "Mayflower" in 1620 he came to Plymouth, Mass., and was the fifth to sign the historic "Mayflower Compact" (see MAYFLOWER). One of the most enterprising members of the colony, he took a prominent part in the conduct of its early affairs. As the colony's first assistant or agent he made several voyages to Eng land and also carried on negotiations with the Indian chief Massasoit. A disagreement in 1631 led to his separation from the colony. He went first to Marblehead, Mass., and later, about 1635, to New Amsterdam, now New York, where in 1643 he was made a member of the council. His latter years were spent at New Haven, Conn., where he died in 1659. His daughter Mary, whose death occurred in 1699, was the last survivor of the original "Mayflower" company.
See William Bradford, History of the Plymouth Plantation (Boston, 1856, 1898) ; Annie A. Haxton, Signers of the "Mayflower Compact" (1896-99) ; Edward Beaman Patten, Isaac Allerton, First Assistant of Plymouth Colony (1908), and George E. Bowman, The "Mayflower Compact" and Its Signers (Boston, 1920) .