The Mayflower & The Pilgrim Fathers: An Astonishing Statistic.

[mawnansmiff]

Approaching the end of Nathaniel Philbrick's excellent 'Mayflower: A Voyage To War' (2007) I just read something that made my jaw drop.
"In 2002 it was estimated that there were approximately 35 million descendants of the Mayflower passengers [102/132 including crew, some of which stayed] in the United States, which represents roughly 10% of the total US population".
This I find quite amazing considering all of the deaths through illness, injury and war. This leads me to wonder if any forum members have any evidence of direct lineage to these brave settlers?
Regards,
Jay.

 

[philobeddoe]

It seems that they really took that whole "be fruitful and multiply" thing seriously!

 

[dmcmtk]

Not as far back as the Mayflower, but my Maternal Grandfather was a direct descendant of someone who fought in the Revolutionary War, and we still have his musket as a family heirloom.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I have no idea of my family's background, but if I have inherited their best qualities, some forefather of mine, probably got aboard the wrong ship and ended up here by accident.
I have heard of country clubs in New England that require a direct ancestry from the Mayflower riders. But, I cannot remember where I saw that.
Me? Nope, I still picture one of my redheaded great great greats walking up on a card game, and next thing he knows... his folks at home are wondering why he didn't show up for dinner.

 

[woodsroad]

My paternal line goes back to pre-revolution (b.1758) Philadelphia. I'll need to do more legwork to get further back than that.

 

[tbradsim1]

My Family came over on The Amistead, but we were on the top deck. : ::

 

[skraps]

I can trace each of my great Grandparents back to the old countries, all around the turn of the 19th century. Italy, Scotland, or Ireland.
No Mayflower for us.

 

[Chasing Embers]

A lot of mine are those red skinned fellows you see in the Thanksgiving pictures with the Pilgrims.

 

[pitchfork]

Generally speaking, the further you go back in time, the more likely you are to be related to someone from the distant past -- just because more family trees get tied together as successive generations of people marry into families not their own. Or, going backwards, each of your 4 grandparents had 2 parents and 4 grandparents and so on. I think someone figured out that almost every living European is descended from Charlemagne!

 

[jpmcwjr]

On my father's side we are proudly descended from disposed Scottish squatters. Went or sent to Ireland to work on a plantation, and 30 years later somehow got on a ship to NY ca 1770. Mom's side earlier from England->New England for many generations then migrated West.

 

[sittingbear]

Yup. I'm descended from John Howland and William Denison. I used to be a member of the John Howland Society, the Denison Society, and the Mayflower Society until my grandmother, who signed me up and paid my dues, passed away. I believe Denison was the passenger who decided to take a liesurly stroll on deck during a storm and got swept overboard. He had to hang onto a rope for a couple hours before someone figured out he was missing and hauled him back on board. Genius runs in the family. :roll:

 

[ericusrex]

My wife is a direct descendant of William Brewster who was on the Mayflower.

 

[mso489]

No Mayflower people so far as I know, but a few notables -- Colonel Prescott, Roger Williams (the 17th Century religious reformer and founder of Rhode Island, not the piano player) -- if those names mean anything to anyone. I assume there were many other interesting personalities that for some reason are not celebrated or were too colorful for family vanity. I'm always amused by the idiom "old families." Everyone is from an old family, all the way back to Lucy; how do people think we all got here?

 

[tuold]

I just started researching this, but my 10th great grandfather was John Ellis who was one of the founders of the Dedham, Massachusetts colony in 1636. I haven't yet found out which ship he was on for the voyage over. Still looking into it.
John Ellis (1596 - 1676)

10th great-grandfather

Ann Ellis (1619 - 1678)

daughter of John Ellis

Joshua Culver (1642 - 1713)

son of Ann Ellis

Joshua Culver (1684 - 1730)

son of Joshua Culver

Stephen Culver (1722 - 1789)

son of Joshua Culver

Amos Culver (1748 - 1830)

son of Stephen Culver

Stephen Hopkins Culver (1773 - 1849)

son of Amos Culver

Miles Culver (1816 - 1867)

son of Stephen Hopkins Culver

Mary Elizabeth Culver (1858 - 1923)

daughter of Miles Culver

Joseph Simon Starke (1880 - 1961)

son of Mary Elizabeth Culver

John Norman Starke (1911 - 1994)

son of Joseph Simon Starke

John Norman Starke Jr (1931 - 1996)

son of John Norman Starke

Michael Jeffrey Starke

You are the son of John Norman Starke Jr

 

[drwatson]

In 2002 it was estimated that there were approximately 35 million descendants of the Mayflower passengers [102/132 including crew, some of which stayed] in the United States, which represents roughly 10% of the total US population".

That seems kinda high to me also. I think alot of people love to listen to grandma tell her stories.
As for me my people came over in a crude homemade boat, all while battling giant sharks and sea monsters. :D

 

[mawnansmiff]

"On my father's side we are proudly descended from disposed Scottish squatters."
Dispossessed surely John? But then again, if they were squatters then they possessed nothing other than their clothes on their backs. Or do you mean they were simply disposed of in the highland clearances?
My own genealogy, which I have spent a good ten years working on only gives me (in American terms) many of the Mormon Pioneer Settlers who eventually settled in Utah though some did move on later to a place called Modesto in California.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[mayfair70]

Viking, Scottish, British, French, Native American and so on and so forth. My Mother and her sisters qualified to be in the D.A.R., so there is at least one line back to late 18th century. Daniel Boone was a cousin. My Father's Father's side is French/Native and had MANY trappers and furriers as the go to profession before farming was forced upon them. So, a couple lines watched whitey show up to the New World. I wonder what they would have said watching Europeans row up to shore? "There goes the neighborhood." ? :rofl:
Jay, you could be the next Pharaoh.

Interesting fact from DNA evidence...

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oukoe-uk-britain-tutankhamun-dna-idUKTRE7704OR20110801

 

[drwatson]

Actually Jay I was just making light, in that seems to be the new fade to have been descended from something special. My joke fell flat. Lets' try this again.
I'm am a decedent of Judas, my great grandmother still has the silver.

 

[danno44]

William Brewster as well, dads mothers side, works out to my 10th great grandfather

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

I'm a direct descendant of this guy who pulled a sword out of a stone.... well, afraid he was going to get in trouble for thievery or some such, he put it back! And so when this young fellow named Arthur found it later, it had already been loosened, and by then was easy for him to then pull the same sword from the same stone! Of course my ancestor wasn't aware that pulling the sword would make him King of all England, and went back to scrubbing pots and pans in the kitchens in the castle where the other guy became a king and a legend....