PILGRIMS’ PRIDE
The Pilgrims’ “voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia,” as the Mayflower Compact called it, didn’t turn out quite as planned. For one thing, the party landed not in “northern Virginia” (present-day New York), but in modern Massachusetts. And for another, roughly half of its passengers wouldn’t survive their first winter.
Still, the arrival of the Mayflower in November 1620 sparked the first wave of major English settlement in New England—an important benchmark in the history of Colonial North America.
If you find Mayflower roots in your own family, you’re in good company. According to the General Society of Mayflower Descendants <www.themayflowersociety.org>, an estimated 35 million people worldwide are believed to be descended from the group. Among them are some of the best and brightest Americans, from John and John Quincy Adams (through the Alden and Mullins lines) to Sally Field (through the Bradford line). This article will help you find and document your Mayflower ancestry.
HISTORY OF THE MAYFLOWER
The historical context behind the migration could fill several volumes. Indeed, Robert Charles Anderson’s (New England Historic Genealogical Society) is one great resource for those’s history. And, in 2020, NEHGS also published a special 400th anniversary edition of William Bradford’s famous (a recounting of the colony’s first 30 years from Bradford’s perspective). But what follows are the most important pieces for genealogists.
