Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-18

T=ss;=EzF7z5==5=S, HEREVER there lives de-
M ]: s: E: e: : e: !: :
gers of q primeval country
in order that they might worship Gou
in their own way, next wednesday, De De-
cember %, win be celebrated the 2S9tn
anniversary OF the arrival at Plymouth
Rock. Perhaps no little boatload OF
neople i'm the history of the world mas
accomplished more, or contributed more
to civilization, than those Pilgrims.
certainly the records of no such small
band of people have been better OF
more carefully kept, and the fact that
millions, perhaps, claim to trace thelr
ancestry to the passengers oil lhe mas ~
flower bears eloquent witness TO ti,e
honor the world bestows upon the llttle
band of devout religionlsts.
Someone has had the patience to Keep
a. running account of the furniture anu
other equipment which 1t is clalmeu
came over in the Mayhower, and ne
calculates that it would fill the holus
of the Mauretania and the Lusllanla,
with a good-sized cargo left over. Ana
vet the Mayfower was boat OF only
1SO tons burden. SO widespread We're
the claims OF parentage through the
Maynower passengers that the General
Society of Mayflower Descendants was
organized in 1894, for the principal pur-
rose OF separating the true from the
false among those who claimed that
they had descended from some passeh-
ger of the Mayhower. That many talse
claims are made is well known, but
there are thousands who can trace
their ancestry through an uhprokeiI
line of eight or ten generations pack
to the Mayflower Pilgrims.
The society has done much toward
checking the innumerable claims 10
Mavfower descent The person VINO
desires to become a member of that or
ganiZation, if he has any ground LOT
his claim, is given every opportunity 10
prove his lineage, and If he succeeds all
is we'll. if he does not, there is prob
ably no color at all to his pretensions,
as the records possessed by the society
enable this matter to be determined
with a high degree Of accuracy.
One OF the most interesting things
shown by the records of the Society OF
Mayflower Descendants is how genera
tions of different families may fail TO
keep step with one another. In these
records one may see as contemporaries
of the same age one person seventh
from Elder Brewster, and another per-
son tenth from the same Elder Brew
ster. 1t is probable that the majority
of the present Mayflower descendants,
so far as membership in the society is
concerned, are of the eighth generation
from the original Pilgrims, and that
their children represent the ninth gem
Grafton Counting the average as the
ninth. it will be found that the average
generation since the Mayiower is
slightly over thirty two wears.
The General Society of Mayflower
Descendants is modelled after the plan
OF the United states government State
societies may be organized wherever
there are enough members to justify It,.
They have the privilege of enacting
any rules or laws which do not conflict
with those of the general society. They
are represented in the activities OF the
general organization in proportion to
their membership, and in general bear
the same relation TO the general society
that the states bear toward the federal
government.
One Of the prominent Mayfiower de-
scendants says that the Pilgrims were
fortunate in their historians; that
they not only made history, but wrote
1t themselves, in order that it might
pass down to posterity in proper
form. To this he attributes the adj
vantage they have in history over the
Dutch. The settlers Of New York did
things Just as well as those at Ply
mouth Rock. but they were men Of
silence, little concerned about the per-
petuation Of their deeds In historical
annals.
It is recorded that the first use OF
the written ballot i'm America was I'm
1929. when the Puritans of Salem or
ganized themselves into a Separatist
church, and elected their officers by
ballot. Another interesting feature
about the organization of this church
is the fact that its whole creed was
told in a single sentence: I'VE cover-
ant with the Lord. and with one an
other, and do bind ourselves In the
presence of God 10 walk together in
all his ways, according as he is pleas
ed to reval Himself unto us in His
blessed word of truth"
The most far-reaching result of tho
Pilgrims work was the town meeting
instituted by them-a typical pure
democracy. From the town meeting
grew the constitution of the state OF
Connecticut, which was written in the
study of Parson Thomas Hooker. 1t is
claimed that from this instrument
came the germinal ideas of the consti-
tuition of tha United States Virginia