But maybe you…?
The Legal Genealogist is not a Mayflower descendant.
In fact, as far as I can tell, I have no ancestors — none — not even a single one — even born north of the Mason-Dixon line, much less linked to New England.
My German-born father and his German-born parents didn’t arrive in the United States until 1925,1 so no chance on the paternal side.
And as far as my research has taken me to date, my mother’s various lines arrived in southern Maryland and northern Virginia in the 1600s2… and they kept moving south.
So the wonderful story in my family about our Bakers — all documented Virginians — being descended from a Mayflower family? It’s just a story. Not a shred of evidence to support it whatsoever, and some really powerful DNA evidence to disprove it.3
And nobody trying to sneak in, at least not so far, in the brand new database you can find at FamilySearch.org/Mayflower if you want to see if maybe you are a Mayflower descendant.
Getting the data online was a cooperative effort among FamilySearch, AmericanAncestors.org (New England Historic Genealogical Society) and the General Society of Mayflower Descendants (GSMD). A news release from FamilySearch today explains:
(I)n concert with the 400th Anniversary of the Mayflower, … tens of thousands of Mayflower Society member applications (over one million images) and documented descendant family trees of the Mayflower passengers are now freely accessible online. There are an estimated 35 million descendants today of the 26 Mayflower couples that survived the first winter. The deceased generations in the applications are available online. …
The free online collection was created from two data sources—the 30-volume publication “Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims Who Landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, December 1620” and the documented applications for membership in the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, submitted from 1896 to early 2019.
The data was merged to create a single representation for each pilgrim and their descendants for the time period of the late 1500s to 1910.
Working together since 2017, the collaboration between FamilySearch, American Ancestors, and the GSMD has digitized over 113,000 Mayflower Society member applications and documented family trees for about half of the 26 Mayflower couples with surviving posterity (the remainder should be added by year end).4
Now I realize the database still has some data to be added, so I can’t say for sure none of my Virginians snuck in before the DNA evidence would have ousted them, but so far at least it’s looking good: no stray Virginia Bakers in amongst the Massachusetts Winslow descendants.
So, really, I’m not a Mayflower descendant. Don’t get me wrong — I wouldn’t mind it, not one bit. It’s just that I kind of want documentation for my ancestors rather than fictional flights of fancy.
As far as Mayflower ancestry, I have to say … nope, not me.
But maybe you are…?
And you might find out — thanks to FamilySearch, AmericanAncestors, and GSMD — in this new online database…
Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “Nope, not me…,” The Legal Genealogist (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : posted 16 Sep 2020).
SOURCES
Image: William Halsall, “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor” (1882); Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Mass., via Wikimedia Commons.
- Manifest, S.S. George Washington, Jan-Feb 1925, p. 59 (stamped), lines 4-6, Geissler family; “New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957,” digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 Sep 2020); citing National Archive microfilm publication T715, roll 3605. ↩
- See e.g. Judy G. Russell, “More serendipity,” The Legal Genealogist, posted 9 Aug 2014 (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : accessed 16 Sep 2020). ↩
- See ibid., “The cousin who isn’t,” posted 8 Feb 2014. ↩
- “FamilySearch and Partners Digitize Mayflower Descendant Records,” FamilySearch News (https://media.familysearch.org/ : accessed 16 Sep 2020). ↩
Please note that the FamilySearch press release line “…of the 26 Mayflower couples that survived the first winter.” is wrong. For example, Moses Fletcher and James Chilton did not survive the first winter, and both have living descendants.
I have multiple Mayflower lines and all on my maternal side, none on my paternal. I used FamilySearch Massachusetts town records (both the original and transcript forms) to document the lines. Interestingly enough, my Thomas Rogers line is a straight maternal, 8 generations until it switches to my 8th maternal grandmother’s paternal great grandmother was the granddaughter of Thomas Rogers – and, one of my hardest to prove.
No Mayflower ancestors. But I do have multiple Jamestowne ancestors and to date none of my lines came to America after 1740. I do still have a few brickwalls to get past the late 1700’s.
When I started researching I thought I would have my ancestors out of the country in no time. 43 years later, I’m still searching.
Not me either, as a large proportion of my ancestors were Mennonites who immigrated to Pennsylvania seeking religious freedom. But I’ve discovered that my sister-in-law, my college room-mate and a close friend, former colleague and long-time neighbour here in Ottawa all have Mayflower roots. Their ancestors moved north to Nova Scotia as pre-Revolutionary “New England Planters” or “United Empire Loyalists.” I’ll pass your posting on to them.
Until I started doing genealogy I had no idea that I had any Mayflower ancestors. I have 5! My daughter has 9. Moreover, I have 5 ancestors who were in Jamestown by 1610, I was flabbergasted to find all this out. The one thing I can said is that if you family has been in the USA from the beginning it is easy to do research Most the Mayflower and Jamestown families have been well documented. I help many elderly people here in rural Nebraska with their trees. It is so much more difficult when there are only 3 generations here in America.
If you descend from a family that has been well and accurately documented, yes, it can be easier.
I have 18 Mayflower ancestors, with my paternal gf line through ME, and my paternal gm line through upstate NY, and my maternal gm line through NYC.
My wife, with her deep Southern roots, as some problematic Mayflower linkages like you. For example, a NC ancestor who likely has Maryland-born father, who somehow had parents born and died in Rhode Island??
Well, well, well. I’ve known for a long time that I descend from Elder William Brewster and joined MSMD. Interestingly, this new database does not include me. On further research, I discovered I have two paths to him, but one is to his sister, which would not be a direct line. Turns out, FamilySearch looked at the second line and ignored the first, which is the proven line of descent. I will have to pursue this with them. Thank you for giving me something different to think about this election year:).