In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I honor my Mayflower ancestor Stephen Hopkins (I’m a 13th generation descendant).
An interesting side note on Mayflower lineage by Jim Faber of Family Tree Magazine:
“A quarter of Americans believe that they are descendants of the 26 Englishmen who came over on the Mayflower, survived a harsh winter and celebrated the first Thanksgiving at Massachusetts' Plymouth Colony in 1621, according to a recent Scripps-Howard News Service/Ohio University poll. But fewer than half of those who think they're descendants of the original Pilgrims can possibly be right. According to the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, the best estimates indicate that more than 35 million people worldwide can count at least one of those 26 Pilgrims as an ancestor. That's a huge number of descendants. But consider that one-quarter of the US population would be roughly 70 million people, twice the total number of actual Mayflower descendants worldwide. . . The society has only about 25,000 members who've been able to document their ancestry to meet modern research requirements.”
For more on the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, click here .
And, as you enjoy your Thanksgiving meal:
"When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them." Chinese Proverb
The First Thanksgiving by Jennie Brownscombe (this painting is in Pilgrim Hall )
2 comments:
Fascinating! As a odd little symbolic sidenote ;) President Bush pardoned two Thanksgiving turkeys today in his holiday tradition. One was named 'May' and the other 'Flower'. Supposedly, as part of their pardon they have First Class tickets to Disney World in Florida where they will spend the rest of their days in Mickey Mouse's fenced back yard. I kid you not.
I visited Plymouth Rock when I was a kid. It was pretty funny. It's in this pit, with a huge cage around it. Not like you can run up and touch it or anything. Anyhow, thanks for the tgiving post, and hope you have a great one.
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