Historical Gold in Charts of Mayflower Ancestors

In 1651, William Bradford, the Pilgrim leader, governor of the Plymouth colony and author of the famous “History of Plimmoth Plantation,” wrote, “. . . and seeing it hath pleased Him to give me to see 30 years compleated since these beginnings. And that the great works of His providence are to be observed I have thought it not unworthy my paines, to take a view of the decreasings and increasings of these persons, and such changes as hath passed over them and theirs in this 30 years. It may be of some use to such as come after. . . .”

It certainly has been. Bradford’s work has been used by Colonial historians and genealogists for centuries.

Probably more has been written about the Mayflower families than any other group in America. For genealogists, finding a Mayflower line is like discovering gold--historical gold.

In the past, there was a bit of snobbery involved in saying you descended from one who came on the Mayflower in 1620. However, today’s genealogists are more interested in the historical aspects of their families than in trying to impress someone with their ancestors. There are millions of descendants of these Mayflower families today, so it is hardly an exclusive club.

Several U.S. Presidents have Mayflower lines, which, in turn, may make you a distant cousin of one or more Presidents.

For example, John Adams and John Quincy Adams descended from Priscilla Mullins and John Alden, Zachary Taylor from William Brewster and Isaac Allerton, Ulysses S. Grant was a descendant of Richard Warren, and James Garfield of John Billington. Franklin D. Roosevelt had several Mayflower lines, as does President George Bush, who descends from Francis Cooke, John Tilley and John Howland.

Proving your connection to a Mayflower ancestor is hard work, because you must trace your family through more than 350 years of American records.

In her new book, “Mayflower Increasings (for Three Generations),” Susan E. Roser has compiled an outstanding reference book. It is presented in an easily followed format, with information about the Mayflower immigrant, his wife (or wives), children and grandchildren. (The book is available from Genealogical Publishing Co., 1001 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, Md. 21202, $21.45 pp.)

For example, John Alden and Priscilla Mullins--probably two of the best known Mayflower progenitors--had 10 children, and their eldest child, Elizabeth Alden, lived to a ripe old age. She married William Pabodie and they had 13 children. Her brother, John Alden, who married twice, also had 13 children.

John Howland sired 10 children, and several of his children produced large families of 9, 10, 11 and 12 children.

Roser has compiled genealogical information on 27 of the Mayflower lines, listing them alphabetically by surname. Sources for information is given in parentheses and then listed in abbreviated form at the end of each of the genealogies. A spouse index contains more than 600 names of the men and women who married children and grandchildren of the Mayflower passengers.

If you are interested in Francis Cooke, for example, you will find that he was born after August, 1583, in England and died April 7, 1663, in Plymouth, Mass.; that he married Hester Mahieu in July of 1603 at Leyden, Holland; that she died after June 8, 1666, in Plymouth, and that they had five children.

Sources for all the genealogical data is given. Source of Cooke’s birth date is given as MD 3:95, which refers to Mayflower Descendant (a periodical, Volume 3, page 95).

“Mayflower Increasings” is a first-rate source book--a fine example of the outstanding scholarly work being done by today’s genealogists.