Before 1700 at least one Concord family, and quite likely another, had ties to Pilgrim families of Plymouth Colony. These were the Wheeler brothers who married the two Peregrine White daughters, and Roger Chandler, very likely a Chilton descendant. More on those below.
THE WHEELERS AND THE WHITES
[MF 2, p. 121.]
ROGER CHANDLER AND THE CHILTONS
Roger Chandler, bachelor from Colchester England, married in Leiden, Holland on 21 July 1615 Isabella Chilton, older daughter of Mayflower passengers James and Susanna ( ) Chilton. The senior Chiltons both died during the first winter. Their younger daughter Mary survived to marry John Winslow by 1627. Roger and Isabella likely arrived in Plymouth in 1629 or 1630 along with the rest of the Leiden group.
Only four children of Roger and Isabella have been identified, 1) Samuel, born before 15 October 1622, n.f.r., 2) Sarah, born before 15 October 1622, 3) Mary, born after 1622, and 4) Martha, born after 1622. The husbands of the three daughters have been identified. Part of the evidence for that is a deed from Plymouth Colony to the daughters dated October 1665 in which Roger Chandler is reported to be deceased.
With the exception of a list of Duxbury men attributed to the year 1658, Roger last appears in Plymouth Colony records in 1645 in regards a lawsuit he brought against Kenelm Winslow. [MF 2:5-6.]
But a "Roger Chandler of Plymouth Colony" does appear in a Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1658. At this time it appears that the original document is lost, so all we have is its notice by Lemuel Shattuck in his History of Concord (1835). This document was a petition from twenty men for a grant from the town of Concord of a special section of undivided land in Concord's North Quarter. This grant was usually called The Twenty Score or sometimes The Twenty Men's Score.
From Shattuck's brief statement about it, it has been suggested that ALL twenty men were from Plymouth Colony. This is not the case. I have identified most of the owners as Concord men. Only Dolor Davis and possibly John Barker, in addition to Roger Chandler, were from the Old Colony. And this Roger Chandler was in Concord because Dolor Davis had proceeded him. Davis' 1672 will implies a business relationship regarding these moves. (Davis was an appointed selectman for the new town of Groton in 1655. Though he seems not to have lived there, he must have retained some land rights as one of his sons did settle in Groton.)
This Roger Chandler can not be the Roger Chandler, husband of Isabella Chilton and deceased by 1665, because Dolor Davis directs his son John in his 1672 will to get a 5 pound debt from the Concord Roger. The Roger of the Davis will also cannot be the Roger Chandler, singleman, who is part of the Cambridge trained band in 1664, as the former Roger had had a son named Joseph who had "attended" Davis at some point well prior to the date of the will. The Roger of Cambridge is most likely the Roger who settles there after marrying, in the North Quarter on land abutting Dolor Davis'.
Too many Rogers! Yet all these Roger Chandlers are associated with each other, Plymouth Colony and Dolor Davis. My theory at this point is that there are THREE Roger Chandlers. The first is the Roger Chandler who married Isabella Chilton. The second is their son Roger born after 1622 whose only appearence in Plymouth Colony records is in the Duxbury list attributed to the year 1658. This is the same Roger who had moved to Concord by 1658 or 1659 and was alive in 1672 when Dolor Davis made his will. This Roger is the father of Roger, the Cambridge singleman, who marries in Concord.
Finding specific evidence to confirm this may be impossible or it may rest in wills and deeds of the third Roger's children or grandchildren. If this theory is correct, then all the descendants of the Roger Chandler of Concord MA who died there in 1717 have Mayflower Ancestry through Isabella Chilton.
SOURCES:
Robert M. Sherman, ed. Mayflower Families vol. 2 (Plymouth, Mass., 1978)
Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration, 1634-1635, vol. 1, "Roger Chandler" and "Dolor Davis".