# What Mayflower passenger(s) are you a descended from? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 16, 2011, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233 "2011-07-16T12:04:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![QuercusMax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/8baadc/32.png) [@QuercusMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuercusMax)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/41 "2011-07-19T01:03:10Z")
One of more of the Winslows for sure, plus I believe Howland and Clarke. This is based on the genealogical info compiled here: [http://windhillfarm.com/family/Woodbridge/index.php?surnames=](http://windhillfarm.com/family/Woodbridge/index.php?surnames=). Additionally I’m a descendant of Jonathan Edwards (of the Great Awakening). This is all on my mom’s side. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/42 "2011-07-19T01:22:08Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > John and Priscilla Alden, through my maternal grandmother. Same, but maternal grandfather in my case. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/43 "2011-07-19T02:26:57Z")
I’m told by the people who care about that stuff that my father’s people came to Pennsylvania from Germany in 1683. My mother’s people, on the other hand arrived in the mid-19th century from various places in western and central Europe. The Pennsylvania people are interesting in that four brothers came over but only one had surviving issue – so all us Geldings spring from the strong loins of one German linen weaver. That guy also quickly figured out which way the winds blew in 17th century PA and quit being a Mennonite and started being a Quaker. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/44 "2011-07-19T02:34:48Z")
None that I know of, but an ancestor or two was in Jamestown in 1607. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/45 "2011-07-19T02:39:32Z")
If you are descended from John Alden (or William Mullins), you are descended from four Mayflower passengers: William and Alice Mullins, their daughter Priscilla Mullins Alden, and John Alden. I’m descended from Mullins/Alden and also from George Soule. I don’t know how to vote. ETA: Okay, I see that I can vote for multiple ancestors. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/46 "2011-07-19T02:43:53Z")
My father’s parents were all born in the U.S., but some of their parents were born in Ireland, and all of their grandparents were. Mom, on the other hand, came to the U.S. in 1950. No Mayflowers here, just the QE (and whatever steerage Dad’s folks were in). ---
**Author:** ![bartleby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bartleby/32/10491_2.png) [@bartleby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bartleby)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/47 "2011-07-19T11:45:21Z")
Not me, but my wife. when i brag that my kids are descendants of Myles Standish, most people look at me blankly and say “Wha…?” -sigh- where did all the knowledge go in this world? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/48 "2011-07-19T13:41:35Z")
> [@bartleby](#): > > Not me, but my wife. > > when i brag that my kids are descendants of Myles Standish, most people look at me blankly and say “Wha…?” > > -sigh- > > where did all the knowledge go in this world? They’re the same people that think “Close Encounters” was a documentary. ---
**Author:** ![Foxy40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/49 "2011-07-19T19:01:30Z")
None. My peeps came off the boats in the early 20th century. ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/50 "2011-07-19T19:16:45Z")
I WAS related by marriage. My ex-wife and, thus, my children are members of the Alden lineage… . ---
**Author:** ![basset\_hound](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/basset_hound/32/1432_2.png) [@basset\_hound](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/basset_hound)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/51 "2011-07-19T20:30:14Z")
Could be, but I don’t know. One of the disadvantages to being adopted as an infant in Florida is that they mean it when they say “closed adoption.” It would be interesting to find out who my ancestors were, but there’s not much chance of that. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/52 "2011-07-19T20:41:36Z")
The earliest of my European ancestors to come to this continent were all Dutch in New Netherland. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/53 "2011-07-19T21:23:12Z")
How is it that four of us are descended from John Howland, but only two from John Tilly? Did Howland have extracurricular activities I don’t know about? He DID spend a lot of time in Maine. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/54 "2011-07-19T21:52:10Z")
Not descended from any of them, but I would like to note that John Cooke, son of Francis Cooke, was himself a Mayflower passenger. He moved to my hometown about 1662 and died here in 1695. He was the last surviving male passenger of the Mayflower. Lots of his descendants are still around here, but John had five daughters, so people today can be Tabers, Hathaways, Wests and Wilcoxes, but not Cookes. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/55 "2011-07-20T02:53:02Z")
> [@VernWinterbottom](#): > > Lots of his descendants are still around here, but John had five daughters, so people today can be Tabers, Hathaways, Wests and Wilcoxes, but not Cookes. Well, Francis had other sons besides John, I believe. It’s also important, I think, to note that some of the people listed in the poll don’t have any living descendants. John Carter and his wife, for instance, died the first winter and never had any children, and the same was true of a lot of them. ---
**Author:** ![windin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/6f9a4e/32.png) [@windin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/windin)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/56 "2011-07-20T03:24:24Z")
John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, on my paternal grandmother’s side. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/57 "2011-07-20T03:55:26Z")
None. I’ll have to look in our family Bible for the dates, but my family didn’t start coming here until about the 1870s, or the 1880s (my dad’s). My mother’s family was in the early 1900s. On my dad’s side, my grandmother’s FATHER’s family (got that?) were German and from Alsace Lorraine. They came over about the year of the [Franco-Prussian War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alsace-Lorraine#After_the_Franco-Prussian_War_of_1870.E2.80.931871), and I’ve always wondered if that was what made them leave. My maternal grandmother’s father left Poland to escape conscription into the military. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/58 "2011-07-20T12:20:14Z")
Anyone descended from John Howland (as I am) is also descended from Edward Tilley, since Howland married Tilley’s daughter Elizabeth. They had ten children, all of whom lived to grow up and have children, and so they had something like eighty grandchildren. On the Mayflower voyage, Howland fell overboard during a storm, but grabbed a ship’s rope in the water and was hauled back on board. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/59 "2011-07-20T14:30:21Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Anyone descended from John Howland (as I am) is also descended from Edward Tilley, since Howland married Tilley’s daughter Elizabeth. They had ten children, all of whom lived to grow up and have children, and so they had something like eighty grandchildren. Elizabeth was the daughter of Edward’s brother John. Edward didn’t have any children. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233/60 "2011-07-20T19:03:07Z")
Both sides of my family arrived in the states in the early 1900s, so none. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mayflower-passenger-s-are-you-a-descended-from/589233.md?page=4)