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Shaking Your Family Tree

November 26, 1998
	LINKING UP WITH MAYFLOWER ANCESTORS by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.
Only 23 Pilgrim families or individuals survived the first winter of 1620-21 and left American descendants. However, it is estimated by Gary Boyd Roberts, of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, that there are probably more than 30 million descendants of the Mayflower families. Roberts bases his figures on an average birth year of 1590 for the 23 Mayflower sires, at 30 years per generation, 13 generations of descendants (three now living) and slightly more than three children per family in each generation. The numbers, however, probably are an underestimation. The Mayflower passengers Howland, Doty, Alden, Warren, and Soule together had more than 250 grandchildren. Most families with Mayflower ancestors will find their roots traceable to the following sires: John Alden (son-in-law of William Mullins), Isaac Allerton, John Billington, William Bradford, William Brewster, Peter Brown, James Chilton, Francis Cooke, Edward Doty, Francis Eaton, the brothers Edward and Samuel Fuller, Stephen Hopkins, John Howland, Richard More, Degory Priest, Thomas Rogers, Henry Sampson, George Soule, Myles Standish, Richard Warren, William White, and Edward Winslow. Of these, John Alden and Priscilla Mullins probably have the largest number of descendants, but descendants of Richard Warren and John Howland are also plentiful. A vast amount of genealogical data about the Mayflower families exists, in print and on the Web. An impressive site created and maintained by Caleb Johnson can be found at:http://members.aol.com/calebj/mayflower.html It includes a list and genealogical information about all of the Mayflower passengers, plus: -- Brief history of the Mayflower -- U.S. presidents with Mayflower ancestry -- Names of pilgrims who died in the first winter -- List of all Mayflower passengers with descendants living today -- Pilgrims with criminal records -- The Pilgrims' 1621 Thanksgiving -- False and Faked Mayflower Genealogy -- Common Mayflower myths There are dozen of links from this colorful and interesting site to keep you busy most of the weekend. For historical information about ``The First Thanksgiving,'' visit the website created by Plimoth (sic) Plantation of Plymouth, Mass., at: http://www.bri-dge.com/focus/focus3.html. The General Society of Mayflower Descendants is a hereditary society based strictly on blood descent from a Mayflower passenger. Its address is P.O. Box 297, Plymouth Center, MA 02361. This is the umbrella society made up of individual state societies, which exist in every state, plus the District of Columbia and Canada. One of the benefits of submitting an application to this society is you will receive a thorough check by an impartial authority on how well your line is proven. You may not carry the surname of one of the 23 Mayflower sires, yet you may discover that descend from one or more of these families who are credited with initiating what has become our annual Thanksgiving Day. Millions of Americans do, and until you have done some genealogical research you may not be aware of your connection to these families. (c) 1998, Los Angeles Times Syndicate Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Julie Case are co-editors of Missing Links, a free weekly genealogy e-zine. To subscribe, send your request to: Missing Links Newsletter Return to Myra Vanderpool Gormley Main Page Return to Columns Main Page
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