A Mayflower Descendant

While building my LOVE lines from various sources (cousin Priscilla, online applications, genealogical societies), I discovered that many of my anscestors came to America in the mid-1600s on ships, such as Speedwell, Mary & John, and Hopewell but I never saw a link to the Mayflower.  Cousin Priscilla, the woman who got me started in genealogy at the age of 12, came through again, having certified her mother's line to Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower.  

She did the hard work of documenting her twelve generations to herself and filed her application with the New Jersey Mayflower Society.  I was able to submit her application along with documentation for the last 3 generations specific to me, to the Pennsylvania Mayflower Society (SMDPA ... sail1620.org).  This meant providing birth certificates or records, marriage certificates, and death certificates or records to complete my lineage, 13 generations from Stephen Hopkins.  


Reese

> Reese, Dorothy Helen Love
> Reese, William Thomas
   > Love, Hazel Winnifred Dean
   > Love, Percy Burdette
      > Dean, Walter Pierce
      > Dean, Alice Scofield
         > Dean, Addie B Peacock
         > Dean, Simeon Pierce
            > Peacock, Sophia Ridley
            > Peacock, Aaron F
               > Ridley, Reuben
               > Ridley, Eliza J Bickford
                  > Ridley, Susanna A Lincoln
                  > Ridley, John
                     > Lincoln, Joseph (Lincolne, Linkhorn, Lincolnue)
                     > Lincoln, Ann Ridley
                        > Lincolne, James
                        > Lincolne, Rebecca Brown
                           > Lincolne, Lydia Snow
                           > Lincolne, James
                              > Snow, Joseph
                              > Snow, Mary [Higgins]
                                 > Snow, Constance Hopkins (Mayflower Passenger)
                                 > Snow, Nicholas
                                    > Hopkins, Stephen (Mayflower Passenger)
                                    > Hopkins, Mary

It takes patience but once you have the data or can tie into someone else's Mayflower approved application you then contact your state Mayflower Society's historian.  This person will guide you through the approval process and supply you with the first five generations.  Once I applied, it took six months for verbal approval and another four months to be an active member of the Pennsylvania Mayflower Society with informational meetings and special events through local chapters now open to me.  The length of time depends on how long it takes you to gather specific information required by the general Mayflower Society (GSMD).  An example was making sure you have birth certificate that shows parents' names.  Many do not.

I'm looking forward to visiting Plymouth one day and would also like to visit Taunton, MA.  One of my anscestors was a founding father of Taunton (along with 10 others).  Stories of early Massachusett's are easy to find but beware because many dates in older genealogical records are wrong.  I have to validate dates but I don't always have the time to be a detective.

In addition to being a Mayflower descendant, I found two anscestor's that will alow me to join the DAR, Daughters of the American Revolution.  But that's another story ...