Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-18
Anniversary of the Mayfnower
Rv Frederic J. Haskin

also had a representative form of
government In its house Of burgesses.
Fourteen states and the District of
Columbia now have state associations
of Mayflower descendants, and their
total membership is well up into the
thousands. 1t has been calculated that
If in each generation there were three
children TO marry, and each of these
in turn has three to marry, the tenth
generation might number about four
and a half million, In other words,
ne-siXteenth OF the native born pop
ulation of the United States might
trace at least one strain of blood back
to the Mayflower. Each person has
1924 ancestors of the tenth generation,
unless there has been intermarriage
somewhere along the line. 1t follows,
therefore, that every person whose
ancestry is of native stock, stands
good show of having somewhere
touched the Mayfiower passenger list
Furthermore, each individual who
traces his ancestry back ten genera
tions will find that, barring intermar-
riage he has 2046 ancestors in the ten
generations. If any one of these has
been a Mayflower passenger or the de-
scendant of one, the individual be-
comes eligible as a Mayhower de-
scendant.
John Alden has as many as five hun
dred descendants who are members or
the society, while not a member of the
Richard More family has applied for
membership at the time of the pub
lication of the last souvenir volume of
the society. Perhaps a score Of the
passengers have not over fifty des-
cendants in the society. William
Brewster and William Mullins have
many descendants on the rolls of the
society, and after them come the
descendants of John Rowland, William
Bradford, John Tiiley and Richard
Warren. From these men have sprung
many of the noabes of New England
and other sections of the country.
One of the objects of the society Is
the gathering and publication and
preservation of additional data about
| the Mayflower passengers, their ms
| tory before coming to America ana
their lives after settling at Plymouth
Each member takes a deep pride IN
| searching out some new fact pertain
| ing to the Pilgrims, and 1t has stimu-
| lated Investigations in Europe and
America to a wonderful degree. AT the
triennial congresses of the general
society these things Are much talked
| about and made matters of permanent
| record. There is also a periodical pub
| lished several times a year, which
gives a list Of all the activities of the
various state societies, the new mem
| bers admitted, the new facts dis
| covered, etc. While 1t may be dry
! reading to the outsider. ~ is a publica-
ton OF intense interest to the May
! flower descendant. 1t has run through
| eleven volumes, and these are care
| fully treasured by members OF the
| society.
The determination of the Pilgrims to
make their history affecting voyage TO
! Plymouth Rock was largely a matter
of chance. An Independent church,
| composed mainly of simple country
| folk, was formed in 1906 in Scrooby,
| Nottinghamshire. At its head was
| John Robinson, the pastor, of whom
| IL has been said that it was hard TO
Judge which was the more delighted
he in having such a people or they in
| having such a pastor. William Brew
| ster, who was postmaster at Scrooby,
was a member, and so was William
Bradford, afterward governor Of the
colony at Plymouth and the historian
Of the Pilgrims.
! Prosecutions at the hands OF the
kings officers followed the organiza-
| tion OF the church. One atto-~~t to
fee was frustrated, but after a second
attempt they were able to get to Hol-
| land, where they settled at Leyden in
| lbU9. FOr eleven years liey prOSpeTeu,
and their number was increased to
! thousand souls. But their surround
! ings were not congenial, and the ques-
| tion Of moving to- America came up.
! The casualties OF the seas, the length
of the voyage, the miseries Of the land.
the cruelty of the savages, the expense
OF the outfit, the i'll success of other
colonies and their own sad experience
were reasons urged against going to
| America. But the advocates of the
venture prevailed, and having decided
to go somewhere, where should it be?
Some favored Guiana, whose rish
| feet were mines of gold and whose
forehead Knocked against the roof of
the stars Others favored Virginia,
and in due time Virginia" was decided
upon. The proceedings that finally
ended in the chartering of the Speed
well and afterward the Mayflower were
undertaken, and after many adven-
/ lures, financial, religious, sea-faring-
Of every kind-December 90 1920, saw
them landed on "Virginia" soil that
turned out to be MASSACHUSETTS.
| TOmOrrOw-Revising the Pharmacopooa.