Thanksgiving Blessings and The Mayflower

Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday.  The food part is great, but the very BEST part is all of the family and friends I have been blessed to know and spend time with during this past year.  I am staying in Eugene this holiday, and My Sweet Husband (MSH) and I will be joining friends in their home for the afternoon.

"Here ended the Pilgrimage of JOHN HOWLAND...
he married Elizabeth... who came with him
on the Mayflower... from them are descended
numerous posterity..."

Each year I enjoy remembering the story of John Howland, my ancestor who "fell off the boat" on the trip from England to America in 1620.  He was, thankfully, pulled back on board and continued the journey to what is now Massachusetts.  After that first challenging winter, he married fellow passenger Elizabeth Tilley, and they went on to have ten children.  ALL of those children lived to adulthood and provided 80+ grandchildren!

John and Elizabeth's eldest child, Desire Howland, is my 9th great-grandmother.  She married Capt. John Gorham and they had ten children.

My 8th great-grandfather was Desire and John Gorham's 4th child/2nd son, Jabez, who married Hannah Sturgis.  They produced eleven children.  And on it goes, down the line, with many children born in each generation.  The Howland and Gorham families were very productive!

I am now serving on the board of the Oregon Society of Mayflower Descendants.  I feel extremely privileged to be a part of this organization, and I am reminded that these ancestors of mine - of OURS - came here to make a better life for themselves and their families.  They did not know what they would find, or whether they would even make it across the ocean alive.  It took much longer than expected to get here, and about half of the people did not survive that first year.  And yet, they kept at it, forging a new life for themselves, their families, and the people who came after.  We are blessed to be their descendants.

The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, or John Howland's Good Fortune

by P.J.Lynch