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This last among the Bates-Sickels ancestral lines is of course most prominent in terms of prestige, even though some have estimated that as many as thirty-five million living Americans are descended from Mayflower passengers.  Since this Mayflower ancestor, Edward Doty, was an indentured servant to Stephen Hopkins, some consider Doty to have been a "lesser" Pilgrim.  Nevertheless, he did sign the Mayflower Compact, and was fortunate (no doubt in large part due to his youth and vigor) to survive the horrific first winter of 1620-21.  He was a freeman by 1633, and permitted to bear arms by 1643.

In 1635 Doty married Faith Clarke, who arrived at Plymouth on the "Francis" in April 1634, and they had a number of children, our ancestor Joseph Doty among them.

Needless to say, much has been written about these Pilgrim ancestors.  As with others, there is in fact a "Pilgrim Edward Doty Society,"

formed to perpetuate the memory of Edward Doty, a passenger on the Mayflower in 1620. The Society was founded in October 1982 in Wilmington, Delaware by Mary Lee Merrill. The 20th anniversary was celebrated at Plymouth, Massachusetts in September 2002. Over the last 120 years, more than 92,000 descendants of Edward Doty have been identified. To give you an idea of the span of family history, the youngest descendants may be 14 generations (and 400 years) removed from their progenitor.

A Wikipedia article contains a useful summary of facts known about Edward .  The major 19th century work about Edward Doty and his descendants is "The Doty-Doten Family in America," by Ethan Allen Doty (1897) (hereafter "Doty Family").

Our Doty line of descendants reads:  Edward Doty (1595-1655), Joseph Doty (1651-1732), Ellis Doty (1677-1728), Elijah Doty I (1717/18-1803), Elijah Doty II (1761-1822) and Susannah Doty (1791-1881), who married Joshua Whitney Cobb, and were my 3x great grandparents.

Naturally, the most is written about Edward Doty, sometimes referred to as "Edward (Mayflower) Doty."  I set forth at length below extracts about the early days and years of the Plymouth colony, including significant mentions of Edward, taken from Doty Family. 
 

.... (John Howland is also my direct ancestor.)

If the foregoing seems excessively long, it simply reflects America's fetishistic pre-occupation with its Pilgrim heritage.

A usable summary of some of the foregoing's highlights will be found here.

Memorials to Edward Doty may be found at Burial Hill, and one to Faith (Clarke) Doty at Winslow Cemetery, both in Plymouth:

Joseph Doty was Edward and Faith's youngest son, born in 1651 (so, 31 years after the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth).  Doty Family says:
 

Other specifics found:

• According to one source, citing Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs, "he was a farmer and surveyor, and was one of the original purchasers and proprietors of Rochester, Massachusetts, where he was a man of importance. He was ensign, treasurer and large land owner."
   

• Another source:  "In 1697 he mapped out the main roads for the towns of Rochester & Wareham, MA. He was Treasurer for Rochester in 1698 and 1700."
   

• Doty Family above refers to an October 27, 1674, dispute:  "Being bound over in a suit, which appears to have been amicably settled later, ...."  Then, a few pages later, "A complaint made by [Elizabeth Warren] in October, 1674, in which Joseph Doty was first placed under bonds of 80£, but from which his bondsmen were shortly released, leads to the supposition that the suit was amicably settled, and very probably by the marriage of the principals.  Assuming this to be correct, and that Elizabeth Warren to have been his first wife, ...."
  
  Ethan Doty with typical 19th century obtuseness skirts the obvious:  Joseph got a woman pregnant out of wedlock.  However, Doty's conclusion that therefore Elizabeth Warren was his first wife, is disputed.  Joseph's marriages, their sequence, and identities of his three or four wives are all in question.  As said here, "He did not marry Elizabeth Warren as Ethan Allen Doty believed: despite the indiscretion ..., she married William Green about 1683."  Put simply, Joseph fathered an unidentified illegitimate child by Elizabeth Warren, but he was not forced to marry her.
  
  I'll not further revisit the controversy here, except to mention that as to our ancestor, Joseph's son Ellis, both of Joseph's purported wives Deborah Hatch and Deborah Ellis are recorded as mother to Ellis (in case it's thought they might be the same person, each has an entirely separate and distinct set of parents); looking at Ancestry.com's record for Ellis, however, it universally records Deborah Ellis as his mother (circumstantial evidence of the name "Ellis" suggests the same).  Doty Family does not help much, confusing the matter just as much as current records. 
  
  Another source says:

  [T]he first two marriages [to Warren and Hatch] are refuted by [an article] cited with evidence showing that Elizabeth Warren m. William Green, and removing her from the picture causes problems since Deborah Hatch would have been 12-13 when Joseph's first son was born. Joseph's wife was named Deborah in her death record of 1711, and "strong circumstantial evidence" suggests her maiden name was Deborah Ellis.

We don't know where Joseph is buried.

As to Joseph's eldest child and son, Ellis Doty, fortunately there's no question as to his birth, its date (probably April 16, 1677), or his legitimacy.  As to records of his life, from Doty Family:
 

Additional notes:

• "he was living in 1728/9 when court records indicate he and his brothers were sued by their father and step mother for non-support. No probate records for either Ellis or Elinor Doty have been found in Plymouth County."  (Source)
   
• Ellis died age 50, quite young by my family's standards.  We don't know where he is buried.

Elijah Doty I was Ellis's youngest child.  We know relatively little about him.  From Doty Family:
 

We do have a letter Elijah's wife, Susannah (Ferris) Doty, wrote her son Elijah Jr., in 1815, shortly following close of the War of 1812, which is remarkable for its description of the privations suffered and death of her son Ambrose in the war.

Again, with Elijah Doty II, we have little information.  Doty Family says that Elijah and wife Eve Teachout lived for awhile in Canada, but in 1812 lived near Fort Niagara, NY.  Their house was burned during the War of 1812.  He was elected Collector and Constable of Carmel, NY, at a town meeting on April 7, 1795. 

He and Eve, of course, were parents of the last in our line of name Doty, Susannah Doty.  Doty Family tells us the bare minimum, and the story of course continues within the Cobb line upon her marriage to Joshua.  Susannah is the only one of her line of whom we have a photograph, which may well be one of the very few photographs extant of a named Doty descendant of her generation:

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