How far back can you trace your family tree? Did your ancestors come over on the Mayflower? While it’s always interesting to learn more about your ancestors, it might be especially exciting at this time of the year to learn that you are a descendant of the people who came to American on the Mayflower. If so, then there might be certain genealogy groups that you can join.
The Mayflower is, of course, the name of the ship that the English Separatists traveled on from England to America. Today, we refer to this group of people as “The Pilgrims”, especially right around Thanksgiving, when we start seeing decorations everywhere that include images of pilgrims. The people from the Mayflower ship landed, and eventually set up a colony in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
There is a genealogy society called The General Society of Mayflower Descendants. It was first founded in 1897, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, but there are chapters in each of the 50 states today. If your genealogy research has led you to discover that your ancestor was one of the people who came here on the Mayflower, you may want to find out more about joining this society. You need to go through the formal documenting process in order to be accepted. It’s not quite enough to be fairly certain that your ancestor was a pilgrim; it must be backed up with records and information from good sources.
Diana Walker Lee is the Governor of the Utah chapter of The General Society of Mayflower Descendants. She has documented that she is a tenth generation descendant of John Alden, who sailed on the Mayflower as a cooper. What is a cooper? It is the name of a person who makes barrels, casks, churns, and other items out of wooden staves. Since this discovery, she has found other ancestors who were from other Pilgrim families.
Image by Clyde Robinson on Flickr