The Mayflower Society
Encyclopedia
The General Society of Mayflower Descendants (also known as the Mayflower Society) is a hereditary organization of individuals who have documented their descent from one or more of the 102 passengers who arrived on the Mayflower
in 1620 at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts
. The Society was founded at Plymouth in 1897.
. There are Mayflower societies in all 50 United States
, the District of Columbia, and Canada
.
Today, tens of millions of Americans
have at least one ancestor who was among this group of early settlers. The following are the names of the 29 adult Mayflower passengers currently known to have descendants.
In 1941 the Society purchased the Edward Winslow House in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The mansion home was originally built in 1754 by the great-grandson of Edward Winslow
, third Governor of Plymouth Colony. The Society operates the home as the Mayflower House Museum
, an 18th century historic house museum with period decorations and furnishings. The offices and library of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants are located behind the mansion.
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
in 1620 at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts
Plymouth (town), Massachusetts
Plymouth is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Plymouth holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklore and culture, and is known as "America's Hometown." Plymouth was the site of the colony founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims, passengers of the famous ship the...
. The Society was founded at Plymouth in 1897.
Organization
A primary goal of the Society is to educate the public about the role of the Pilgrims in the early history of what would later become the United States of AmericaUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. There are Mayflower societies in all 50 United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the District of Columbia, and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Today, tens of millions of Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
have at least one ancestor who was among this group of early settlers. The following are the names of the 29 adult Mayflower passengers currently known to have descendants.
- John Alden
- Priscilla Alden (née Mullins)Priscilla AldenPriscilla Alden , , noted member of Massachusetts's Plymouth Colony of Pilgrims, was the wife of fellow colonist John Alden . They married in 1623 in Plymouth.-Biography:...
- Isaac AllertonIsaac AllertonIsaac Allerton was one of the original Pilgrim fathers who came on the Mayflower to settle the Plymouth Colony in 1620. Allerton is an ancestor to Presidents of the United States Zachary Taylor and Franklin D. Roosevelt....
- Mary (née Norris) Allerton
- John BillingtonJohn BillingtonJohn Billington was an Englishman who was convicted of murder in what would become the United States, and the first to be hanged for any crime in New England. Billington was also a signer of the Mayflower Compact....
- William BradfordWilliam Bradford (1590-1657)William Bradford was an English leader of the settlers of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, and served as governor for over 30 years after John Carver died. His journal was published as Of Plymouth Plantation...
- Love Brewster
- William BrewsterWilliam Brewster (Pilgrim)Elder William Brewster was a Mayflower passenger and a Pilgrim colonist leader and preacher.-Origins:Brewster was probably born at Doncaster, Yorkshire, England, circa 1566/1567, although no birth records have been found, and died at Plymouth, Massachusetts on April 10, 1644 around 9- or 10pm...
- Peter BrownePeter Browne (Mayflower Pilgrim)Peter Browne , often modernized as Peter Brown, was a Pilgrim Father, a Mayflower passenger on its 1620 voyage that initiated the settlement of New England, and a signer of the Mayflower Compact, the first document of democratic and republican governance in the future United States of America.-...
- James ChiltonJames ChiltonJames Chilton was an English Separatist who came to America aboard the ship Mayflower. He was a signer of the Mayflower Compact, and was probably the oldest Mayflower passenger.- In Canterbury :...
- Francis CookeFrancis CookeFrancis Cooke was one of the 102 passengers on the Mayflower. This early settler is one of the twenty-six male Pilgrims known to have descendants.- Early life and family :...
- Edward DotyEdward DotyEdward Doty was a Mayflower passenger, a signer of the Mayflower Compact, and a permanent settler of Plymouth Colony. His surname sometimes appears as Doten, Dotey, or Day....
- Francis EatonFrancis EatonFrancis Eaton was a passenger on the Mayflower and also a signer of the Mayflower Compact. He traveled from England with his first wife, Sarah, and their "sucking" child, Samuel...
- Moses Fletcher
- Edward FullerEdward Fuller (Mayflower)Edward Fuller crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower...
- Samuel FullerSamuel Fuller (Mayflower physician)Samuel Fuller was an English doctor and church deacon. He is remembered as one of the Separatist Pilgrims who together formed the colony in North America at Plymouth, Massachusetts.-Early life:...
- Stephen HopkinsStephen Hopkins (settler)Stephen Hopkins , was a tanner and merchant who was one of the passengers on the Mayflower in 1620, settling in Plymouth Colony. Hopkins was recruited by the Merchant Adventurers to provide governance for the colony as well as assist with the colony's ventures...
- Elizabeth (née Fisher) Hopkins
- John HowlandJohn HowlandJohn Howland was a passenger on the Mayflower. He was an indentured servant who accompanied the separatists, also called the Pilgrims, when they left England to settle in Plymouth, Massachusetts...
- Richard MoreRichard More (Mayflower passenger)Richard More was a passenger on the Pilgrim Fathers's ship, the Mayflower. Richard More was born in Corvedale, Shropshire and baptised at Shipton church on November 13, 1614. As a child, Richard More was at the centre of a seventeenth century controversy in England...
- William Mullins
- Degory PriestDegory PriestDegory Priest was a signer of the Mayflower Compact, and one of the original 102 Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. Alternate spellings of his name were: "Digory" "Gregory", "Degorie", or "Digorie" Priest.Little information remains regarding Degory Priest's...
- Thomas RogersThomas Rogers (Mayflower Pilgrim)Thomas Rogers, a Mayflower Pilgrim and one of forty-one signatories of the Mayflower Compact, was among those who did not survive that first harsh Plymouth, Massachusetts winter of 1620-1621....
- Henry Samson
- George SouleGeorge SouleGeorge Soule was a signer of the Mayflower Compact, and one of the original 102 Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620.-Biography:...
- Myles StandishMyles StandishMyles Standish was an English military officer hired by the Pilgrims as military advisor for Plymouth Colony. One of the Mayflower passengers, Standish played a leading role in the administration and defense of Plymouth Colony from its inception...
- John TilleyJohn Tilley (Pilgrim)John Tilley was one of the Pilgrims who traveled from England to North America on the Mayflower and signed the Mayflower Compact. Tilley died shortly after arrival in New England.-Overview:...
- Joan (née Hurst) Tilley
- Richard WarrenRichard WarrenRichard Warren was a passenger on the Mayflower in 1620. He settled in Plymouth Colony and was among ten passengers of the Mayflower landing party with Myles Standish at Cape Cod on November 11, 1620...
- William WhiteWilliam White-Politics:*William White , MP for Clitheroe in 1660*William White , North Carolina Secretary of State, 1798–1811*William White , elected member of the 1st Council of the Northwest Territories, 1883–1885...
- Edward WinslowEdward WinslowEdward Winslow was an English Pilgrim leader on the Mayflower. He served as the governor of Plymouth Colony in 1633, 1636, and finally in 1644...
Museum
Edward Winslow
Edward Winslow was an English Pilgrim leader on the Mayflower. He served as the governor of Plymouth Colony in 1633, 1636, and finally in 1644...
, third Governor of Plymouth Colony. The Society operates the home as the Mayflower House Museum
Mayflower House Museum
The Mayflower House Museum is an 18th century period historic house museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts operated by The Mayflower Society, also known as the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. The Society purchased the Edward Winslow House in 1941. The mansion home was originally built in 1754...
, an 18th century historic house museum with period decorations and furnishings. The offices and library of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants are located behind the mansion.
External links
- The Mayflower Society
- The University of Texas at San Antonio houses a collection of records for the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Texas. The collection spans the years 1931 through 2003 and documents the activities of the state chapter and the duties performed by the Society's officers. Records include correspondence, legal documents, articles of incorporation, constitution and bylaws, membership ledgers and index cards, photographs, newsletters published by the Connecticut Society and some material connected with the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.