Anyone a descendent of someone on the Mayflower?

[Anonymous]

PP here who is directly descended from Mayflower voyagers -- we have all the documentation. I have not pursued Mayflower Society but have kept docs and also my family is very interested in genealogy. Direct descent is rarely urban legend but perhaps distant cousin claims are. I actually am pretty close-mouthed about this because I think it can come across as pretentious; I was okay with listing it here anonymously though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do any PP's actually have proof? I feel like its an urban legend in most families. I mean there are a lot of ppl saying their family was on here and it seems like a lot.

I only have proof that one side was here in 1630s.

Very few people are descendents from the original Mayflower that came over in 1620-1621. Of the 102 people on board, only 53 survived the first winter - and of those only 5 were women. Then a second ship also called the Mayflower sailed 5 times in the 1930s before being lost at sea on its 6th voyage.

We have documentation that my ancestors came over on the 3rd or 4th trip of the Mayflower.

[Anonymous]

Jamestown poster here -- it's more than a family rumor as people have traced it back.

That's really interesting about the original Mayflower.

[Anonymous]

As far as documentation, we have a family member who loves genealogy and has been researching our family for almost 20 years. I haven't seen any of the original documents, but he does cite his sources in his big "log" and it seems legit.

It was a neat feeling yesterday thinking about our (possible) ancestors participating in the first Thanksgiving.

[Anonymous]

We have one branch of the family that dates their time in the U.S. to 1635 and another branch, "the latecomers" who didn't show up until about another hundred years later. All this means for me is that some of my family comes from New England (where early colonialists in family trees are a dime a dozen), and we're not Native American (whose time in these parts goes back farther than any DAR dame can imagine).

[Anonymous]

My first cousin recently uncovered through some geneological research that we are directly related to Stephen Hopkins from the Mayflower. He was not a member of the Pilgrims, but a merchant-adventurer.

[Anonymous]

I am a direct descendent of some of those folk, don't want to name which ones because they are in all the history books.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it's important to recognize and understand that we are not born into a world fully formed just for us, and that we owe everything to those who came before us.

On the other hand, my grandmother was a daughter of the confederacy (or something like that), and she was a racist b%^&ch, and that's the nicest thing I can say about her. She was in the Social Register, and she felt that anyone lacking a pedigree equal to hers, was not worthy of her attention, or to be her daughter's friend or husband. Unfortunately, my mom didn't agree with her mother, ran off with a man beneath her station, and my grandmother gave my mom and my whole family sh#t for it for her entire life.

I've told my kids that they are related to these famous people, and they like that they see these names in history books and know they can trace their ancestry back (I have the family bible, and copies of genealogy records) to before our country was founded. But I have not told them that this ancestry accords them any status nor does it increase their worth to anyone. It's just part of who they are, and they accept that.

Does anyone still value this stuff? I guess the Social Register exists, but do people really think it means anything? Just curious. I thought my grandmother was a sick puppy, so I think people who believe in the value of whom one's ancestors are may be illin' in the head.

[Anonymous]

Unbelievable re the racist grandmother. The pilgrims were the freakin outcasts from England! Think if the Native Americans had been as racists as some of these persecuted so called religious people were. The pilgrims could have ended up killed or enslaved. She would have been outraged about The National Day of Mourning:

is an annual protest organized since 1970 by American Indians of New England on the fourth Thursday of November, the same day as Thanksgiving in the United States. It coincides with an unrelated but similar protest, Unthanksgiving Day, held on the West Coast.

The organizers consider the national holiday of Thanksgiving Day as a reminder of the democide and continued suffering of the Native American peoples. Participants in the National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today.

(wikipedia)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a direct descendent of some of those folk, don't want to name which ones because they are in all the history books.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it's important to recognize and understand that we are not born into a world fully formed just for us, and that we owe everything to those who came before us.

On the other hand, my grandmother was a daughter of the confederacy (or something like that), and she was a racist b%^&ch, and that's the nicest thing I can say about her. She was in the Social Register, and she felt that anyone lacking a pedigree equal to hers, was not worthy of her attention, or to be her daughter's friend or husband. Unfortunately, my mom didn't agree with her mother, ran off with a man beneath her station, and my grandmother gave my mom and my whole family sh#t for it for her entire life.

I've told my kids that they are related to these famous people, and they like that they see these names in history books and know they can trace their ancestry back (I have the family bible, and copies of genealogy records) to before our country was founded. But I have not told them that this ancestry accords them any status nor does it increase their worth to anyone. It's just part of who they are, and they accept that.

Does anyone still value this stuff? I guess the Social Register exists, but do people really think it means anything? Just curious. I thought my grandmother was a sick puppy, so I think people who believe in the value of whom one's ancestors are may be illin' in the head.

I find it "cool", but pretty worthless. It's cool that I can actually look back and see who I'm descended from. Being descended from famous people (ie: William Bradford as I mentioned earlier, Robert the Bruce, etc) is cool. But it in no way makes me a better person or with better genes and I have no doubt that there are some shameful family members in my family tree.

Racist/bigoted family members exist, unfortunately. There's a couple in my family too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unbelievable re the racist grandmother. The pilgrims were the freakin outcasts from England! Think if the Native Americans had been as racists as some of these persecuted so called religious people were. The pilgrims could have ended up killed or enslaved. She would have been outraged about The National Day of Mourning:

is an annual protest organized since 1970 by American Indians of New England on the fourth Thursday of November, the same day as Thanksgiving in the United States. It coincides with an unrelated but similar protest, Unthanksgiving Day, held on the West Coast.

The organizers consider the national holiday of Thanksgiving Day as a reminder of the democide and continued suffering of the Native American peoples. Participants in the National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today.

(wikipedia)

Ah yes, but back then (and as holds true today) there are myopic folks that don't understand treating one group of (dark or different skinned) people badly is akin to religious or other persecution they face.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do any PP's actually have proof? I feel like its an urban legend in most families. I mean there are a lot of ppl saying their family was on here and it seems like a lot.

I only have proof that one side was here in 1630s.

Very few people are descendents from the original Mayflower that came over in 1620-1621. Of the 102 people on board, only 53 survived the first winter - and of those only 5 were women. Then a second ship also called the Mayflower sailed 5 times in the 1930s before being lost at sea on its 6th voyage.

We have documentation that my ancestors came over on the 3rd or 4th trip of the Mayflower.

This is not true! Which is one reason it is so puzzling why people are so uncomfortable about being descended from pilgrims/the people on the Mayflower. We aren't talking about the King here! It doesn't make you US royalty, lol, but it isn't anything to be ashamed of...anymore than any other colonial period anyway. The colonists did do some shameful things to be sure...but that's people for you.

But it is an interesting part of history and I think it's fun to know where your family was, and if they were involved in notable periods of history, even if by this point any of us related to them are probably only marginally moreso than the rest of humankind, lol. But it is actually not at all rare to be descended from someone who was on that 1620-21 Mayflower! See below from the history network, George Mason U

Of the 102 passengers of the Mayflower, 24 males produced children to carry on their surnames. And although approximately half of the Mayflower passengers died at the plantation during the harsh winter of 1620-21 (one passenger had died at sea while another was born before landing), today, a staggering 35 million people claim an ancestral lineage that runs all the way back - sometimes through fifteen generations - to the original 24 males. That number represents 12 percent of the American population. A relatively small number of the descendants of one of those males, Governor William Bradford, met at the Major John Bradford House in Kingston in August.

[Anonymous]

Dems some breeders!

[Anonymous]

Yes, we have traced our relatives back to the mayflower. I joined the mayflower society and about 20 yrs ago I went to some of their events. It was a lot of retired/older people and not at all an "upscale" group. Maybe it's changed, but it was kind of dull and I had very little in common with anyone at the events. Btw-the relatives that are connected to the mayflower all settled in Midwest farming communities and were hardworking, but certainly not glamorous farmers. There is not necessarily any connection between the social register and being a mayflower descendent. I think it's interesting, but it doesn't affect your social class.

[Anonymous]

I think it is cool --- my own family all came over around World War I or a bit later, and their families in Europe were wiped out during the Holocaust. So other than knowing country of origin, our family tree starts and ends in the US and barely goes back 100 years. It's fascinating to me that others can trace their ancestors back 300 years and more. But the US is so determinedly anti-class, and the rags-to-riches immigrant story so ingrained, that I can understand why people might feel strange about being one of those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As far as documentation, we have a family member who loves genealogy and has been researching our family for almost 20 years. I haven't seen any of the original documents, but he does cite his sources in his big "log" and it seems legit.

It was a neat feeling yesterday thinking about our (possible) ancestors participating in the first Thanksgiving.

That's very cool. In fact, it was a neat feeling even for me, whose ancestry absolutely, positively doesn't qualify for the Mayflower Society, to reflect on this thread and think about the fact that those involved in "The First Thanksgiving" have numerous descendants one might know today.