Watching the PBS special “The Pilgrims” and realized John Howland is my gr-gr-gr-gr grandfather.
He’s the guy who fell off the boat and had to be rescued. Here’s the painting commemorating the event:
http://photos.geni.com/p13/2b/65/d5/c6/53444838d20b7de7/howland-haywood-howland_medium.jpg
We always were klutzes and this proves it’s genetic 
I hope you don’t mind the gigglesnorts on this end. What a legacy 
Macarthur stumbled upon landing on Leyte beach but that’s not usually depicted.
Gigglesnorts are welcome!
My husband was too. I guess we’re kind of related!
Clumsy dude’s name was John Howland, I’m related to the John Curtis line (his grandson).
Huh, always thought it was John Alden (my ancestor) who fell off the Mayflower. That’s actually somewhat disappointing.
Perhaps my ancestor pushed him?
That’s very cool to find something like that out, but I just want to say that the guy who jumped out into the water to paint that portrayal was the real hero.
Do they let you into the Mayflower Society? Or is there a reduced-grade subchapter for Nearly_Drowned_Flowers?
If April showers bring May flowers, what do Mayflowers bring?
Klutzy, Damp Pilgrims.
Watching that show, I kept thinking: What a crazy miracle that any of those folks survived!!
You and my husband are related! He is descended from John Howland’s daughter, Desire.
Wait, Desire?** I thought they used virtue names like Prudence and Charity. They were naming their daughters after sins?
Well, you know how it is for new parents - all the virtuous names were on the Ye Olde Top Ten Lists, and no one wants to be the fourth Patience in their class. Besides, Gluttony’s a lovely girl.
Isn’t it weird to think about the fact that if he hadn’t been rescued, there are a whole line of people who wouldn’t have existed.
There’s another one in my husband’s line with the name “Thankful”.
Yeah. It’s amazing how many possibilities appear and disappear with the decisions people make. Very interesting to think about such things.
I’m another relative, through his daughter, Ruth. I just wrote a play about the Mayflower crossing, including Howland’s fall, which I sold to a magazine last month.
You know, he and his wife had ten children who all grew up and lived to have children–not that common in those days. They had more than 80 grandchildren.
I’ve read that Thankful was a common Puritan name.
I share his last name, and so my family has always assumed that we’re related too, high incidence of alcoholism notwothstanding.
