These occasional "misdemeanors" in the Hopkins household were slight
compared with the records against "the black sheep" of the colony, the
family of Billingtons from London. The mother, Helen or Ellen, did not
seem to redeem the reputation of husband and sons; traditionally she
was called "the scold." After her husband had been executed in 1630,
for the first murder in the colony, for he had waylaid and killed John
Newcomen, she married Gregory Armstrong. She had various controversies
in court with her son and others. In 1636, she was accused of slander
by "Deacon" John Doane,--she had charged him with unfairness in mowing
her pasture lot,--and she was sentenced to a fine of five pounds and
"to sit in the stocks and be publickly whipt." [Footnote: Records of
the Colony of New Plymouth.] Her second husband died in 1650 and she
lived several years longer, occupying a "tenement" granted to her in
her son's house at North Plymouth. Apparently her son, John, after
his fractious youth, died; Francis married Christian Penn, the widow
of Francis Eaton.

Their children seem to have "been bound out" for service while the
parents were convicted of trying to entice the children away from
their work and, consequently, they were punished by sitting in the
stocks on "lecture days." [Footnote: The Pilgrim Republic; Goodwin.]
In his later life, Francis Billington became more stable in character
and served on committees. His last offense was the mild one "of
drinking tobacco on the high-way." Apparently, Helen Billington had
many troubles and little sympathy in the Plymouth colony.

As companions to these matrons of the pioneer days were four maidens
who must have been valuable as assistants in housework and care of the
children,--Priscilla Mullins, Mary Chilton, Elizabeth Tilley and