Quote Originally Posted by Riverkilt View Post
That is so cool Turp,

I'm descended from the Mullins family and John Alden on both sides of my family and also the Chilton family on my father's side.

Everyone thought my maternal grandmother was a tad nuts when she proclaimed the connection during a third grade geneology project of mine. When I matured I was able to prove her correct, and later more amazed that the line was on my father's side too. Thanks to the Mayflower Society.

When I discovered the link I wrote my parents, who were vacationing, telling them they were 13th cousins. I got a prompt reply from my mother who said, "Thank God, now I can get an annulment."

Not sure why the History Channel calls the Mayflower folks Puritans. The Puritans came years later to the Boston area and were the dour folks in black. Mayflower folks, as the program mentions, were quite the colorfully dressed, beer drinking, rowdy bunch....as evidence to the large number of children the early women bore.

My ancestors aboard were the merchants, and John Alden who was the cooper in charge of the beer.

Ron
According to the program, the Mayflower passengers were a mix of Leyden Separatists (those who were emigrating for religious freedom) and regular English folk, which may be where the colorful, rowdy element came from. I think they were the beginning of the Puritans, so called because they felt that the Anglican Church had become as corrupt as the Roman, and that the purity of the scriptures was subsumed by all the idolatrous ceremony. Don't forget that once the Plymouth colony was established more of their fellow separatist living in Holland came to join them. These may be the "later" Puritans you're referring to.

As for inbreeding, it turns out my parents are 6th cousins. That explains a lot! Now I know why I have 10 toes..... four on one foot and six on the other