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Welcome to how I found my personal Pilgrim ancestor’s history.

One day I asked my father about our family lines. He told me he thought we were related to Peter Brown of the Mayflower. I decided to join ancestry.com and that’s how my genealogical journey started. Soon I was hooked. Completely addicted to researching family lines. After much research, I discovered I had deep New England roots. Roots that went all the way back to the year 1620!

I was elated when I discovered: John Howland, a man servant to the first governor in the new world, was my 11x great grandfather. Howland had fallen overboard during the Mayflower journey, but was rescued by the crew. He later became a fur trader on the Kennebec-river and married another Mayflower passenger Elizabeth Tilley whose parents died in the first winters sickness when half the pilgrims died.

As I continued to research: I discovered a total of 10 lines to 10 men who signed the Mayflower Compact. Along with wives, future wives and children who were also aboard the Mayflower on the Pilgrims journey, in total 19 passengers are my ancestors. This was quite astonishing to me. Considering there were 102 passengers aboard the Mayflower, 18.62% are my ancestors. By proving my ancestral lines, I was able to join the Mayflower Society and the John Howland Society as a life member. Ironically however, I never did find a line to Peter Brown.

My Mayflower Ancestors:

John Howland                   Giles Hopkins                                  

George Soule                     Mrs. Brewster

Elizabeth Tilley                  Richard Warren                                              John Alden

John Tilley                          Edward Fuller                                                  Priscilla Mullins

Joan Tilley                          Mrs. Fuller                                                        William Mullins

Stephen Hopkins              Samuel Fuller                                                  Alice Mullins

Constance Hopkins          Thomas Rogers                                               William Brewster

https://www.ancestry.com/                                       https://themayflowersociety.org/                            https://pilgrimjohnhowlandsociety.org/index.php