The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-04-04
new MAYFLOWER MAY BRING
OTHER FAMILIES ACROSS The SEA


They are ;he, very salt of the plain
people on whom is tn reliance of the
prt8ent and the future. Plain people
indeed were these Pilgrims, but nov
consummate and true were the lead
ers--the same sort Of men who have
given us the New England ideal, the
New England civilization; VINO gave
our country independence and con-
stitutional government; who have de-
veloped our education as well as our
industries, which are the best educa-
ton; the same sor. of men who are
selectmen of our towns or members
of the Presidents Cabinet, for either
of which places the same qualities are
requisite.
Capt. Richard Henry Greene. first
Deputy Covernor-General for New
York of the Society of the Nayflow-
er Descendants story of how we
came to found the Society Of May
flower Descendants is about as fol-
lows:
At the time that was acting as
librarian of the New York Genealog-
ical and Biographical Society was at
first amused and afterward somewhat
disgusted by the number OF men and
women who wanted me to help them
trace their ancestry back to this
king or that king in the Old World.
lnasmuch as my oGn family line eX-
tends lack to the Magma Char;a
Barons OF King John, A. d. 1915,
suppose | could afford to take a per-
Gonal interest In the matter. How
ever. that sort of thing has always
seemed to me to be a little un-Amer-
lean and undemocratic.
One day a man came into the office
and said that he could trace his an
cestry back to the Mayflower. THAT
is good idea" said at once. "Why
can trace my ancestry back to the
Mayflower tool"
Then we So ted the New York So
ciety OF May lower Descendants.
The New York organization is conse-
quently the oldest. AS | remember
it now, the Connecticut society was
second. The Massachusetts, society
pow the largest of all-was the third
OF ganized. There are now fifteen
branches in all
! suppose there are at present be-
tween 5000 and 1000 persons belong
ing to these different societies. We
generally hold our triennial conven-
ton at Plymouth on September 6
(old style), the day the AIayflower
started, the weather on the 2lst OF
November Compact Day. and the
2lst Of December (Forefathers' Day.
generally being rega cd as of too
inclement a type for l. to hold our
conventions in Plymouth Rock coun-
try at these later dates with any
reasonable degree of comfort. or all
the Nlayflower dates. at any rate,
' September appears to be about the
most convenient, because it is the
ending of the summer vacation period.
George Earnest Bowman, Secretary
of the Massachusetts, Society of May
\ flower DeScendants-iI am of the opin-
ion that this work II being undertake
EN- not one moment too soon True,
1t i3 twelve years before 1920 will
roll around. And twelve years seems
long time. But 1t should be re-
membered that the Society of Massa-
chusetts Mayflower Descendants was
incorporated as long ago as 1896.
1t Will therefore be seen that we
have already been at work nearly
twelve years, and | can aCsure you
that we have barely scratched the
surface of the vast material which
have been buried in the record Of
fees of this country alone. Up to the
present time, we have been obliged
to confine our work almost exclus-
lively to this side of the water, our
resources not allowing us TO make
any extensive researches on the 9th
er side of the Atlantic
William Barclay Parsons engineer
: of the Subway, one of the Panama
> Canal Commissioners and Chief En-.
gineer of the new Cape Cod Canal
Long before the time for the celebra,
tion OF l920-in fact as early as tht
: summer of l910-the people OF New
= York will have become aroused to tht
fact that the entire Cape Cod-Ply
mouth Rock country has become al
most like suburb OF, this metropolis
3 For by the late summer OF 1910 tn,
: Cape Cod Canal will have been com
a pleted. And this canal will max,
: possible voyage on the averag
Sound steamer between New Yorl
e and Boston in from ten to clever
K hours-a saving under ordinar
r weather conditions OF from six to min
n hours.
d llnasmuch as the celebration oI
8 1920 will in large measure be
i maritime celebration, 1t Is interestin
: to know that the contemplation of
d channel similar to the Cape Cod Cana
d Is almost coeval with the pilgrim
y Settlement at Plymouth in 1920. Tn
). records of that colony show that 1
o 1922 party, succeeded in getting
q boat around Cape Cod, only to hay
= 1t lost in Vineyard Sound.
g In 1923 the Colonists discovere
y that from Manomet. an Indian tow
" near Plymouth, there flowed rive
ID southerly to the bay which gave tc
l. ward Narragansett, and they estal