Mayflower Descendant 13th Generation

My mother is a 13th generation descendant. The primary documents that I can submit for her are:

1. Certificate of Death. The primary evidence is the name, date, time, location, cause of death, burial location, name of physician that pronounced death, social security number. The secondary information provided by her spouse (my father). This includes her date and location of birth, occupation and place of employment, name of parents. Other evidence that lists children, grandchildren and names of siblings and spouse include the obituary that ran in the local paper and the copy of the funeral mass and copies of the eulogies given by her daughters and husband. The Social Security Death Index that may be accessed publicly on line has her name, birth month and year, death month and year, state where social security number issued, county and state where last benefit was paid and the social security number. A copy of the original application may be ordered for a fee from the SSA under the Freedom of Information Act.
2. Marriage certificate. Both the town and state have copies of the marriage certificate. It was less expensive and less time consuming to obtain this document from the town office. The primary evidence on this document is the names and address at time of application for license of both the bride and groom, their date and location at time of marriage. Of less genealogy value is the birth date and location of the bride and groom. In addition to this source there is the Marriage certificate issued by the priest that performed the marriage along with the names, dates and location of the bride and groom and the witnesses. The local paper ran an announcement of the marriage that listed the bride, groom, parents of bride and groom, names of the wedding party, date and location of the wedding. There are also numerous photos that have in my mothers handwriting the names of the people that are in the photos.
3. 1930 US Federal Census. This lists her relationship to the head of household, age, location at the time the census was taken.
4. Birth Certificate. The state issued certificate gives the date, location, and name of child born. The names of the parents, where they lived at time of birth, the occupation of the mother and father, their age at their last birthday and location of birth. The certificate is signed by the attending physician.

The Mayflower Society also requests the birth certificate of my father even though he is not a Mayflower descendant.

Mayflower Descendant 14th Generation

Genealogy research begins with yourself. So that is myself (14th generation) on the far left. These are the living female descendants of my particular line. My two daughters(15th generation) and my two granddaughters(16th generation). My two sons and grandson refused to get snagged into this photo.


The Society requires one to submit primary documents of birth, death, marriage etc.

I have in my files the original and copies of the

1. Birth certificate with foot print issued by the hospital at the time I was born. For purposes of genealogy this is not a valid primary evidence document.
2. Birth certificate issued by the state where I was born.
3. High School Diploma, College Diplomas (BA, BSN), Registered Nurse documents in the states that I am permitted to practice.
4. Marriage and divorce certificates from the states where they were issued.
5. Birth certificate of current spouse.

The Mayflower Society requires that I submit copies of the State issued birth certificate, marriage records, divorce decree, and birth certificate of spouse.

If my children or grandchildren want to join the Society they have to provide their birth certificate. If they can prove, through primary records, that they are descended from me they may be eligible for Society membership.

Mayflower Descendant

A family story from my mother's maternal family has it that we are descended from John Alden and Priscilla Mullins of Mayflower fame. Three generations of women passed this story to me with the authority of truth. In genealogy we are taught that every story has a grain of truth so I took it upon myself two years ago to locate that grain.

And...the TRUTH is... "We are descended from a Mayflower passenger. Except that it is Richard Warren, not John Alden!" My mother greeted this news with a resounding "humph". Her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother all repeated the story in the exact same words and it HAD the ring of truth. These generations of mothers were correct also, as a 2006 research trip in a New England library proved . But, that is another story.

Research of the magnitude that I undertook two years ago demanded a well organized plan. My husband, as a Christmas gift, gave me the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Maryland preliminary application. Along with the promise of the financial and other support such a search would require. Without his help, guidance, support and belief in my family story I could not have done this project.

My research has shown that I am a 14th generation Mayflower descendant. In this blog I will demonstrate how I found this information and continue to update you on the application process to the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Maryland.