It's Official! I am part of the Mayflower Society!!!
I received word this month that my application for the Mayflower Society was approved. Today I got my paperwork and my official number from Plymouth, MA. I can't tell you how excited I am! I started this process MONTHS ago. For those of you that don't know how this goes it's not just sending an email and saying "Hey, I think I had an ancestor on the Mayflower and I want to join your group!". Oh no my friend. It doesn't work that way. The process is much more complicated than that!
Here's how my process went. Back in October of 2013 I looked up the Mayflower Society in Massachusetts (let's call them "The Mother Ship") online and found the link to my SC state society, SC Mayflower Society. There was link on there for an application so I printed it out and started filling it out, my head already began spinning just trying to fill it out, but then again that could have been from the wine. I emailed the Historian for South Carolina about possible membership in the society (poor Mr. Nick will never be the same again - more about him below). First there is a preliminary application that is sent to the mother ship to see if you even qualify and if so, how many generations you need to 'prove'. If you are lucky, others before you have proven the line and you only need two or three generations to submit. In starting this process I had the Chilton line via my grandfather's line on my father's side. The Historian, Mr. Nick Maher (I should start referring to him as Saint Mr. Nick), I started working with was GREAT. Mr. Nick has walked me through everything step by step. Cheers for Mr. Nick! The mother ship came back and pre-approved the line and determined that out of 13 generations, I had to prove 7 of them. At that point I was thinking "7 isn't so bad at least they have the rest". I was so naive........
Now began the hard work. In "proving" your lineage you can't just say 'hey this is my father, grandfather, great grandfather, etc.' that is not going to do. ~Silly rabbit~ You have to provide the mother ship with EVERY birth certificate, death certificate and marriage certificate possible for each generation! Now let that just sink in for a moment...... How would you produce every birth, death and marriage certificate from you to seven generations back? Well????
My birth certificate - check (it's around her somewhere I think.....). Marriage - check (that was only 5 years ago, I've definitely got that). My parents birth certificates - well I know my mom has hers (I hope), but my dad? Crap he was born in California and no one had it or if they did, it's long gone. I had to find out which county in California he was born in and send them via snail mail the form for obtaining his birth certificate along with a check. Now each county is different. It can be $10, $15 or $20 per document!!!! Some of the documents are on Ancestry.com but a lot were not. Next onto my grandparents, and great grandparents, etc.....Hence, the LONG process of obtaining these documents!!! But you do uncover some long buried family secrets in this process. I sure did! (I'll need a future blog for some of those....)
The other problem I had with the Chilton line is that Capt. John Wade (my 6th great grandfather) was born in Plymouth, MA in 1725 then decided to move to Nova Scotia, Canada. Now a bunch of the documents I needed I had get from CANADA. ~ eye roll ~ Can this get any MORE complicated??? Thank goodness for Mr. Nick! He's a pro at this stuff and helped me every step of the way. I sent him more emails than I can even tell you! I'm sure by now when he sees one of my MANY emails to him, he wants to run! (Sorry Mr. Nick! I'll give you a big hug next time I see you!)
In the meantime I started doing my grandmother's lineage and then I hit the mother load! I think I heard angels singing overhead. My grandmother is descended from 7 families (at the most recent count but still discovering more almost weekly ~more angels......) that came on the Mayflower! WHOOOOO HOOOOO. 8,000 emails to Mr. Nick later and preliminary check of these lines I found the William Brewster line that only needed 4 generations or so to prove. I already had the easy documents - me, my parents, and grandparents. So I only needed two more to submit to the mother ship. So half way into this process we switch gears from the Chilton line to the Brewster line (I'm pretty sure Mr. Nick was ready to delete my number and email address from his life at this point, although he was always patient, kind and very helpful). Low and behold we have complete paperwork! I think my paperwork was submitted via the Brewster line right around New Years eve or there about. Mr. Nick called me on Valentine's Day with the good news that I'm officially a member of the Mayflower Society! What a nice Valentine's present! Today he sent me the official paperwork and my number. I get the certificate next week and I will be getting that framed for sure. It's a good day! :-)
Turns out Mr. Nick and I are 1st cousins 12x removed. He's also a Brewster descendant among others (some of the same ancestors too). I'm STILL working on the Chilton line. (FYI, microfiche was made by the devil......) I'll be SO glad when that line is over with because it's been such a challenge. In the meantime, I have 6 others lines to submit. The Mayflower Society meeting is coming up in April in Charleston, SC. I'll get to stand up and be officially announced as a member at that meeting. I'm giddy with glee! Now the important question is what shoes shall I wear???? (Sorry, had to throw a shoe reference in.......)
Is it just me of does my 11th great grandfather, William Brewster, look a bit like Grumpy Cat?
The other thing is that if any of my Wade family cousins wants to join the Mayflower Society all you have to do is prove from you to where you match with my line. In other words you will have only two generations to prove. You lucky bastards..... I did all the hard work. And you're welcome. But that's ok. Our Wade lineage is safe and sound at Plymouth, MA in the history books for all to see and for future generations to have. It's all about historical preservation of our family lines. Not to mention the honor and prestige of being part of a society of people that started the founding of our country. I'm honored and privileged to be part of that. I hope you take advantage of that and have your name in the historical preservation of your family. Your descendants will thank you for it. Now onto DAR.....
Here's how my process went. Back in October of 2013 I looked up the Mayflower Society in Massachusetts (let's call them "The Mother Ship") online and found the link to my SC state society, SC Mayflower Society. There was link on there for an application so I printed it out and started filling it out, my head already began spinning just trying to fill it out, but then again that could have been from the wine. I emailed the Historian for South Carolina about possible membership in the society (poor Mr. Nick will never be the same again - more about him below). First there is a preliminary application that is sent to the mother ship to see if you even qualify and if so, how many generations you need to 'prove'. If you are lucky, others before you have proven the line and you only need two or three generations to submit. In starting this process I had the Chilton line via my grandfather's line on my father's side. The Historian, Mr. Nick Maher (I should start referring to him as Saint Mr. Nick), I started working with was GREAT. Mr. Nick has walked me through everything step by step. Cheers for Mr. Nick! The mother ship came back and pre-approved the line and determined that out of 13 generations, I had to prove 7 of them. At that point I was thinking "7 isn't so bad at least they have the rest". I was so naive........
Now began the hard work. In "proving" your lineage you can't just say 'hey this is my father, grandfather, great grandfather, etc.' that is not going to do. ~Silly rabbit~ You have to provide the mother ship with EVERY birth certificate, death certificate and marriage certificate possible for each generation! Now let that just sink in for a moment...... How would you produce every birth, death and marriage certificate from you to seven generations back? Well????
My birth certificate - check (it's around her somewhere I think.....). Marriage - check (that was only 5 years ago, I've definitely got that). My parents birth certificates - well I know my mom has hers (I hope), but my dad? Crap he was born in California and no one had it or if they did, it's long gone. I had to find out which county in California he was born in and send them via snail mail the form for obtaining his birth certificate along with a check. Now each county is different. It can be $10, $15 or $20 per document!!!! Some of the documents are on Ancestry.com but a lot were not. Next onto my grandparents, and great grandparents, etc.....Hence, the LONG process of obtaining these documents!!! But you do uncover some long buried family secrets in this process. I sure did! (I'll need a future blog for some of those....)
The other problem I had with the Chilton line is that Capt. John Wade (my 6th great grandfather) was born in Plymouth, MA in 1725 then decided to move to Nova Scotia, Canada. Now a bunch of the documents I needed I had get from CANADA. ~ eye roll ~ Can this get any MORE complicated??? Thank goodness for Mr. Nick! He's a pro at this stuff and helped me every step of the way. I sent him more emails than I can even tell you! I'm sure by now when he sees one of my MANY emails to him, he wants to run! (Sorry Mr. Nick! I'll give you a big hug next time I see you!)
In the meantime I started doing my grandmother's lineage and then I hit the mother load! I think I heard angels singing overhead. My grandmother is descended from 7 families (at the most recent count but still discovering more almost weekly ~more angels......) that came on the Mayflower! WHOOOOO HOOOOO. 8,000 emails to Mr. Nick later and preliminary check of these lines I found the William Brewster line that only needed 4 generations or so to prove. I already had the easy documents - me, my parents, and grandparents. So I only needed two more to submit to the mother ship. So half way into this process we switch gears from the Chilton line to the Brewster line (I'm pretty sure Mr. Nick was ready to delete my number and email address from his life at this point, although he was always patient, kind and very helpful). Low and behold we have complete paperwork! I think my paperwork was submitted via the Brewster line right around New Years eve or there about. Mr. Nick called me on Valentine's Day with the good news that I'm officially a member of the Mayflower Society! What a nice Valentine's present! Today he sent me the official paperwork and my number. I get the certificate next week and I will be getting that framed for sure. It's a good day! :-)
Turns out Mr. Nick and I are 1st cousins 12x removed. He's also a Brewster descendant among others (some of the same ancestors too). I'm STILL working on the Chilton line. (FYI, microfiche was made by the devil......) I'll be SO glad when that line is over with because it's been such a challenge. In the meantime, I have 6 others lines to submit. The Mayflower Society meeting is coming up in April in Charleston, SC. I'll get to stand up and be officially announced as a member at that meeting. I'm giddy with glee! Now the important question is what shoes shall I wear???? (Sorry, had to throw a shoe reference in.......)
The other thing is that if any of my Wade family cousins wants to join the Mayflower Society all you have to do is prove from you to where you match with my line. In other words you will have only two generations to prove. You lucky bastards..... I did all the hard work. And you're welcome. But that's ok. Our Wade lineage is safe and sound at Plymouth, MA in the history books for all to see and for future generations to have. It's all about historical preservation of our family lines. Not to mention the honor and prestige of being part of a society of people that started the founding of our country. I'm honored and privileged to be part of that. I hope you take advantage of that and have your name in the historical preservation of your family. Your descendants will thank you for it. Now onto DAR.....
Welcome to the world of Geneabloggers! I'm a Chilton descendant, too, and welcome to the Mayflower Society, cousin. I'm the secretary of the NH society, will I see you at the congress in Plymouth this fall?
ReplyDeleteRe: John Wade http://goo.gl/H4RzTV http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/battle-of-the-plains-of-abraham/. This is a tough issue with the Acadians which I think holds strong today with the almost refusal of Quebec to speak English/
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