On Sat, 11 May 2002 19:56:08 EDT ChristieTrapp@aol.com writes: > Mary Howland who married a Timothy Williamson... > > citation for volumes of the Mayflower Descendant which leads me to possibly > conclude that this Mary Howland is related to John Howland of the Mayflower... Christine - To add to Karen and Richard's replies, John Howland of the Mayflower was followed by his brothers Henry by 1633 and Arthur (Mary's father) by 1640. See: "Arthur Howland of Plymouth, Mass., His Wife Margaret (___) Walker, and Their Children" by Robert S. Wakefield and Robert M. Sherman, National Genealogical Society Quarterly, v. 71, pp. 84-93. "Henry Howland of Duxbury, Massachusetts, 1633, His Children and His Grandchildren" by Robert S. Wakefield and Robert M. Sherman, National Genealogical Society Quarterly, v. 75, pp. 105-116, 216-225. In articles about Plymouth Colony families you will frequently see citations of The Mayflower Descendant. This does not necessarily imply Mayflower descent for the person concerned. MD was not a magazine of compiled Mayflower genealogies, rather, it was a journal of primary sources. The town vital records published therein are especially frequently cited in other works. George Ernest Bowman, the founder and first editor of MD, published literal transcriptions of town records, a pattern which has been followed in VR volumes published in the last few decades. Literal transcriptions must be indexed and can be a bit more difficult to use than the alphabetized volumes published early in the last century by NEHGS, but they are generally preferred by researchers. In the literal transcriptions the births of a couple's children are frequently listed together, and other family relationships are often easier to distinguish in a literal transcription. Many clues found in a literal transcription can be lost in the alphabetized rearrangement. Also, the alternative sources cited in the alphabetized VRs may sometimes be a trap for the unwary (especially private records) Dale H. Cook, Chief Engineer, WWWR Roanoke VA, WCQV Moneta VA, WKBA WZZI Vinton VA, WKPA WLNI WLVA WZZU Lynchburg VA