Question

Family Search claims Wm Brewster (1566-1644) from Mayflower is my 10th Great Grandfather, true?

Comments

Check all the sources, and determine if each generation has been proven.

You might also check out the new Mayflower membership/lineage database at American Ancestors (paid membership required). The db has approved lineages.

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I think I know where this question came from - FS is having some kind of Mayflower promotion.

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i got an email from American Ancestors which read in part 

"We are proud to announce the launch of the new searchable database: General Society of Mayflower Descendants Membership Applications, 1620-1920. This is the first time GSMD applications are available as an online searchable database. This is the result of a three-year collaboration between American Ancestors, the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, and FamilySearch International.

Now, with an American Ancestors membership (Individual level or higher), you can access 4.5 million names in an easily searchable indexed format and reveal your family's connection to the Pilgrims."

so it looks like FS has sent out emails as well

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Thanks, Will! I've been skeptical of my connection. Do you think it's legit? I can trace my ancestry back 7 of the 10 generations listed and I do know my mother's family came to North America very early in the settlement of the English.

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i would be a little skeptical, as others have said, start adding your parents, grandparents and look for sources, over on Ancestry Trees, according to other managers I have mayflower ancestors, but we are talking about unsourced trees and I think the same applies to FS trees check the sources, on the FS trees.

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When I first started working on my ancestry I was told that FS was a great resource, but when I looked they wanted me to give them all of my information and that was all they had of my family tree. I stopped using FS, because if they were depending on lay people to just add info, even if they had anything on my ancestors, it seemed like the odds of it being reliable were quite low.

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The value of FS is in its Search/Records function.  It does have a good database of records with an ease of citation.

Answer 1

Unfortunately Family Search sent out a bunch of letters to a bunch of people this past week telling them they were Mayflower descendants, but the claims were based on the Family Search tree, which is notorious for having false information.  So, you could be a descendant of William Brewster, but the only way to know is to go through your line, from parent to child, from him down to you.  If you share the info that Family Search sent you here on WikiTree, we can probably help you check it out. I own Part 1 of the Brewster Silver Book, so I can check the first 4-5 generations in your potential line.

Comments

Wm Brewster (1566-1644) F of Jonathan Brewster (1593-1659) F of Elizabeth Brewster (1637-1708) M of Hannah Bradley (1656-1725) M of Jonathan Lester (1677-1711) F of Hannah Lester (1707-1778) M of Wait Stoddard (1729-1776) F of Simeon Avery Stoddard (1768-1818) F of Mary Ann Stoddard (1803-1850) M of Wm Putnam Ward (1842-1925)

I am certain William Putnam Ward is my Great-Grandfather, and I have traced feasible, but unverified links to Simeon Avery Stoddard before.

I greatly appreciate your help!

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I did the Ancestry.com DNA test if that helps. I haven't yet figured out how to use it with Wiki.

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Yes, I wouldn't trust the FS tree without checking the sources. I was recently creating a tree for a work colleague and decided to look just how far back the FS tree took her.

Apparently she was descended from ZUES !!!!

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Based on the Brewster Silver Book, the first part of your line looks good:

• William Brewster married Mary
• Jonathan Brewster married Lucretia Oldham
• Elizabeth Brewster married Peter Bradley
• Hannah Bradley married Andrew Lester
• their son was Jonathan Lester

That's where Part 1 ends.  Jonathan has a number (#230) so we know his line is continued in Part 2.  Here's his exact entry:

"Jonathan Lester, bp. New London, 19 Jan. 1678/9; m. (1) _____; m. (2) Hannah _____."

Brewster Silver Book, Part 1, published 2014, page 261

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After being attached to the world tree .I did the same search on my FS family tree. Mine  went to Charlemagne went thru Methuselah all the way back to Adam & Eve who it says where born in the year 4000 bc . Yeah I stopped using FS for anything after that .

Answer 2

You might want to add "mayflower" to your tags

Comments

I did that. It seems William Brewster was an esteemed member of the Mayflower compact, but is he my ancestor? How reliable is FamilySearch?

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FamilySearch Trees?  Not very reliable at all, especially when they claim connections to famous people.  Where on FS did you find this claim?

To determine your own connection to anyone, you have to establish your own ancestry, starting with your parents, grandparents, etc.

The Mayflower Project here could be of help, if you tag your question so they could find it.  But first you need to establish your lineage.

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Like any other internet genealogy website, the posted Family Trees are of variable quality. Some are based on solid research, some are unsourced, and there is everything in between.

It is worth noting that the various lineage societies, such as the Mayflower Society, do not accept applications based on internet family trees.

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Most of my family tree that they used was correct, but I hadn't discovered the last few links to the Mayflower. It all seems a bit hokey esp so close to Thanksgiving.

Answer 3

Add your parents to wikitree, then grandparents, and keep going back a generation at a time, including sources for each profile. Include sources from the Record tab of family search, as an example, not from the family trees. If you find family trees, include the sources found on the tree.  If the tree has no sources, then it isn't reliable.  Eventually, you will find an ancestor on wikitree already.  If you think you have William Brewster or anyone else as an ancestor, verify all of the branches down to your parents and make sure they are all on wikitree. Then, your family tree on wikitree will show that direct relationship.

Comments

Until you add at least your parents and grandparents, we can't answer your question because we don't know how you are connected to him.  There are lots of ways to be connected to the Mayflower ancestors.

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Once you do start building out your tree, you will be eventually able to connect to the global tree. Once I got to great grandparents, I started making those connections and that eventually led to this:

William is the 10th great grandfather of Ken

1. Ken is the son of Randall Melborne Parman (1914-1974) 
2. Randall is the son of Porter Benjamin Parman (1888-1966) [confident]
3. Porter is the son of Martha Catherine (Gibbs) Parman (1846-1936) [confident]
4. Martha is the daughter of Laura (Needham) Gibbs (1818-1864) [confident]
5. Laura is the daughter of Elias Needham Jr. (1780-1850) [unknown confidence]
6. Elias is the son of Marcy (Stocking) Needham (1754-1824) [unknown confidence]
7. Marcy is the daughter of Priscilla (Mayo) Stocking (1732-abt.1828) [unknown confidence]
8. Priscilla is the daughter of Israel Mayo (1700-bef.1771) [confident]
9. Israel is the son of Thomas Mayo (1650-1729) [confident]
10. Thomas is the son of Hannah (Prence) Sparrow (bef.1624-bef.1698) [confident]
11. Hannah is the daughter of Patience (Brewster) Prence (abt.1600-bef.1634) [confident]
12. Patience is the daughter of William Brewster (abt.1566-1644) [confident]
This makes William the tenth great grandfather of Ken.

Everyone from #4 above was already part of the global tree when I got started. Once you get your tree started, you should begin to see connections, and many of us here have the "Silver Books" from the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.

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Here is a new post about the messages sent out by Family search.

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1139440/sorting-out-the-mayflower-letters-from-familysearch

Following family search 'trees' does not mean they are accurate

Answer 4

According to a PM I just received, I'm 1C12R to Mayflower passenger John Tilley (1571-1621). Unfortunately the birth records disappear at George Blomfield (1707-1791) so I'm taking it all with a large measure of skepticism.