As we celebrate Thanksgiving, we should remember the Pilgrims who settled Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts in December 1620. After being exiled in Holland, and to escape religious persecution in England, these courageous emigrants sailed on the Mayflower for the New World from Plymouth, England. Upon arrival in the New World, they wrote the Mayflower Compact, a document that established a democratic form of government. The Pilgrims established the first permanent European settlement in the New England states.

At Plymouth, Massachusetts, the Pilgrims—sometimes known as Separatists—encountered hardships, cold, starvation, death, disease, and crop failure. Determined to survive, they joined together with neighboring Indians in 1621 to mark the first Thanksgiving—a celebration of their survival and friendship. On Thanksgiving Day, we now celebrate and remember the determination of the early Plymouth Colony Pilgrims.

Genealogists can remember the Plymouth Colony Pilgrims through several valuable books, journal articles, indexes, compact discs, and Internet sites that chronicle the early settlers’ lives and genealogies. Some of the major sources are highlighted here.

Printed Sources
Eugene Aubrey Stratton has written the definitive genealogical study of this period, entitled Plymouth Colony: Its History & People, 1620-1691 and published by Ancestry. This work includes historical background and many biographical sketches. Another major historical reference for this subject is William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647, which is available in several reprint editions. Also of general interest is Stepping Stones: The Pilgrims’ Own Story, compiled by Adelia and Robert Carver Notson (Binford & Mort Publishing).

The General Society of Mayflower Descendants maintains a large research library in Plymouth that houses colonial books, society application papers, and many other genealogical resources (P.O. Box 3297, Plymouth, MA 02361). Its Web site has a list of male passengers on the Mayflower known to have left descendants. One of the Society’s major publications is the multi-volume Mayflower Families through Five Generations, which contains documented, compiled genealogies of early Plymouth Colony families.

One the most comprehensive works on the topic, Robert Charles Anderson's multi-volume The Great Migration Begins is a scholarly study of the early immigrants to New England, beginning in 1620. This study has also been created as an online database at Ancestry.com, and it can also be purchased on CD. It gives detailed biogrpahical sketches of nearly 900 immigrants who came to New England between 1620 and 1633.

Among the many books published by Genealogical Publishing Company are two reference sources for this subject: Genealogies of Mayflower Families from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register (three volumes) and Mayflower Source Records.

Major sources include the Mayflower Descendant (a periodical published by the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 100 Boylston Street, Suite 750, Boston, MA 02116-4610). Earlier issues are available on compact disc from Ancestor Publishers in Arvada, Colorado, and also from Broderbund. Other important titles are The Mayflower Ancestral Index; The Bowman Files; Plymouth Colony Marriages to 1650; Vital Records of Plymouth, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850; Plymouth Colony Probate Guide; Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England; and the periodical The MayflowerQuarterly.

Several other printed works are also valuable for early New England studies. James Savage's Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England contains brief genealogies of early New Englanders. Clarence Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700 covers a broad time period and includes references to those who married abroad but settled in New England before 1700. The Greenlaw Index of the New England Historic Genealogical Society is a massive card index in book form that indexes thousands of early New Englanders in printed sources.

There are other printed sources available to those who want to research all of New England. To find some of these, see "New England Sources for Genealogists."

Online Sources
There are many Internet sites for those researchers doing Mayflower, Plymouth Colony, and New England states research. In addition to those sites listed above, below is a sample listing:

• Caleb Johnson's Mayflower Web Pages
  Caleb Johnson has created a comprehensive Mayflower Web site that contains historical material, passenger lists, documents, bibliographies, links to other related sites, and more.

• The Pilgrims & Plymouth Colony, 1620

• Plimoth on the Web
  Plimoth on the Web provides links to several “Thanksgiving” topics, including Plimoth Plantation, a living history museum that recreates 17th-century life in New England. It also highlights the Mayflower II, a replica of the original ship, and gives instructions on how to visit a recreation of an authentic 1627 Pilgrim village. When visiting New England you should plan to spend a day at these historic sites.

• America’s Home Page
  See a virtual tour of the 1627 Pilgrim village and get an overall guide to Plymouth.

• USGenWeb
  A major Web site for Plymouth County, Massachusetts research

• Pilgrim Hall Museum

• Mayflower and Early Families

• The Colonial Gazette: Mayflower

• Plymouth County Genealogists
  Located in Brockton, Massachusetts, this society’s Web site includes links to resources in Plymouth County, Massachusetts.

• Genealogy Resources for the Mayflower

• New England Historic Genealogical Society
  The New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston is the premier genealogical research library in the New England states and has many sources for Plymouth Colony and colonial New England.

• Welcome to Visit New England

One final source: Researchers interested in tracing their Mayflower and Plymouth Colony roots should always search the Family History Library Catalog and catalogs of other libraries for related titles.

Kip Sperry is an associate professor of family history at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.