This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/FO.2ADI/177.1 Message Board Post: Dear All: There are some corrections and clarifications that are necessary to my earlier message regarding the documentation for the Mayflower line. I have included selected parts of an email from Mrs Bette Bradway that contains those corrections and my comments and clarifications on them. The posting is done with gracious permission of Mrs Bette Bradway. Best Regards John A Hansen > -----Original Message----- > From: Bette Bradway [mailto:bibcg@nycap.rr.com] > Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2002 8:30 AM > To: jahansen@qwest.net > Subject: Re: Mayflower Documentation > > > Dear Mr. Hansen, <snip> > However, I felt compelled to contact you because am concerned that you are > taking some of the things that Susan Roser and I have posted on > "MFLR" and,in the process of abstracting our postings for the "Mayflower > Descendants List" you have made what appears (at least to me, perhaps to > others as well) to be a misstatement. > > In the second paragraph of your 19 Aug posting you speak "using the > Mayflower Silver books as the documentation for those LAST" (caps mine) "5 > to 8 generations." It is the FIRST five generations that you can use the > Silver books for and they normally will NOT go any further than > the birth of the 6th generation. (Occasionally, a marriage of a 6th > generation person will be given.) This will probably take the > information up to about the middle 1700s, although some larger > families may have information beyond that point, as will the younger > children of younger children, etc.. (With lines where we are working > with the youngest children in each generation, those generations often > take a longer span in years to get to the 5th generation. > Sixth generation descendants of the Mayflower Passengers can be born in as > early as about the 1720s to as late as 1760s, possibly even sometimes the > 1770s with some very large individual families.) > > No-one has even suggested that the Silver books would take anyone > as far as the 8th generation! I think that you probably should consider > correcting that statement somehow or many people are going to be > totally confused by your posting. JAH I was looking at the 8 generation study as listed on the Alden Kindred home site. There is no assurances that this is accurate. However, it is a good guideline about the potential descendants. > > Perhaps to clarify - with Mayflower Society applications, all applications > begin with the Passenger as Number 1. I think what you are calling the > "last" 5-8 generations are the ones that are actually in the MIDDLE of the > lineage (and you're correct that they are often the harder generations to > document). The actual "last" generations on Mayflower > applications would be those people born or living from about the > late 1800's coming forward to the > applicant. Most current applicants to the Society are now in the 10th to > 14th, and sometimes even the 15th generation, of any Mayflower line. The > fact that we begin our lineage applications with the Mayflower > Passenger and come FORWARD in time may be confusing you, as most > other lineage societies begin their applications with the APPLICANT > and go backward to the eligible ancestor. > > As far as obtaining help from the Society is concerned by > requesting copies of previously filed lineage papers > (Susan's suggestion, but one I have previously made myself), > I hasten to mention that you should tell your list > readers that they must be VERY PATIENT waiting for responses. > The Society Office has a very small staff, almost all of whom work only > part-time and a few (very few!) volunteers. There are usually only one > or two people who can answer these requests and then it is when > they have the "time available" from other duties. We get MANY > requests for copies of lineage papers. They are filled in the order > they are received, State Historians who make similar > requests (in order to help actual applicants with lineage paper > completion) will take priority and all others will simply have to > wait their turns. This can sometimes take months to accomplish. JAH This priority handling by the local state historian would be another advantage of sending in the preliminary application to the local state chapter and starting the process. > > Right now, the Society and Staff are "gearing up" for the > Triennial General Congress which begins about the 6th of September > and continues into the 11th or 12th (depending on when people > arrive to attend additional functions and meetings that also are > scheduled during this time). Many of our members will > come early and/or stay late to do research in the Library in and > around the various meetings they will be attending. In short, the > Office and Library will be absolutely INUNDATED with people > in another couple of weeks and it is highly unlikely that ANY > requests for lineage paper copies will be completed during that time. > <snip> > > Bette Innes Bradway, > Assistant Historian General