1625 on the 'Jacob' to Plymouth. Reported as the sister of Bridget Lee, wife of Samuel Fuller, both passengers on the Mayflower, not certain.
Who was Tryphosa/Trifasa Lee(Le)
She was the wife of Stephen Tracy--their betrothal is recorded in the records of Leyden.(Image) Beyond that the intriguing record of her life invites a lot of speculation--even that she couldl have been related to the vanished Nicholas Lee.
First of all, the targetted list of Pilgrim marriages (see below) shows that the Pilgrim Lees were associated by marriage with Samuel Fuller. (He married Bridget Lee, daughter of Josephine Lee and sister of Samuel Lee.) There is also a John Lee and a Jane Lee in Leyden.(See the marriage and guarantor lists.) Tryphosa Le is not known to be related to the other Lees.
The mystery of Tryphosa is enriched by the research of Robert Wakefield who presented an interesting scenario in "The Adventurous Tryphosa (Lee) Tracy", TAG:51, 71,242. Wakefield suggests that Tryphosa and her husband Stephen Tracy may have manipulated the system whereby cattle and land were allotted to Pilgrims in Plymouth Colony. According to his article, Tryphosa only pretended to sail to New, England in 1623--and really stayed behind sending her husband to American with another woman. Tryphosa later stowed away, so to speak, on a supply ship with Edward Winslow. Wakefield attributes this ruse to the fact that she the Tracy's baby was only three months old when Stephen set sail for America and Tryphosa did not want to subject the infant to such a hazardous voyage. But of course this scenario leaves the door wide open to other speculation. The lives of all those related to the Pilgrims were precarious--especially if loved family remained behind in, England. Covert activities must have been necessary to survival--but such conditions makes the pursuit of Pilgrim genealogy more challenging.
