Which First Thanksgiving attendee are you most closely connected to?

+62 votes
8.0k views

This week's Example Profile of the Week is Massasoit, Wampanoag leader and attendee of the First Thanksgiving celebrated with the surviving passengers of the Mayflower.

Featured alongside him are others who were there:

Who are you most closely connected to? If you're one of the 20,982,000 of us who are connected to each other on our big tree you can check with the Connection Finder.

You can also check for shared ancestors with the Relationship Finder. Are you a cousin to any of them? Your Relationship Finder Quick Links page (see your profile pull-down menu under "Relationships") has quick links for several notable groups.

Let us know below!

P.S. Help us choose and improve profiles for next week's Rock Legends feature.

WikiTree profile: Massasoit Wampanoag
in The Tree House by Abby Glann G2G6 Pilot (718k points)
edited by Chris Whitten
I am a direct of Elinor unknown Billington Armstrong, her husband, John and their son, Francis, a much maligned family undeserving of negativity from Bradford as recorded in his writings.

Elinor was one of only 4 adult women who had survived the prior year and helped prepare the feast.
Agreed, undeserving. We know Elinor (Ellen) spoke her mind and John was said to have been garnering support to take over as governor so could be part of the issue. I have been trying to research other journals and accounts due to the bias in an effort to see what they were really like. If you see the things they were involved in and people that liked them, it really doesn't fit with what Bradford has directly said about them. Where did you see that she helped prepare for the feast? I hadn't read that yet so very excited to see new information (new to me).

Massasoit appears to be unconnected to the main tree. How was he featured as an example profile of the week??

He was obviously Connected at the time, but all Connections are subject to change if new evidence is found that changes lines of descent or ascent.
Same. George Soule, my 9th great grandfather.
I am not sure how degrees work but Myles Standish and Edward Doty, are my 9th great grandfathers; Peter Browne, and Francis Cooke, John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley Howland are my 10th great grandparents; John Tilley, Joan Hurst Tilley, and William Bradford are my 11th great grandparents; and William Brewster  and Mary X Brewster are my 12th great grandparents. Eleven so far. There may be more that I haven’t had verified yet.
I love how you give us the additional ways to connect our family's - my closest of many is George Soule. This explains why I have no many roads to follow - my lineage from myself goes to the Mayflower:  Families ALDEN, ALLERTON, BREWSTER, CHILTON, COOKE, EATON, HOPKINS, STANDISH, TILLY and WINSLOW. Thank you so much for doing this!  Diane Kepus
I'm also a descendent of Stephen Hopkins - he is my 9th G-Grandfather.  I'm descended through his daughter Damaris Hopkins Cooke.
Priscilla Mullens Alden is my 9th GGrandmother. Some of the others are related through marriage . . . like Bradford married my 9th GGrandmother, Alice Carpenter Southworth.
Priscilla is my 10th great grandmother. The others are within 13 to 15 degrees.

156 Answers

+23 votes

I am most closely connected to Edward Winslow at 15 degrees of separation.

by Tommy Buch G2G Astronaut (1.8m points)
edited by Tommy Buch

32 degreed from Massasoit Wampanoag

15 degrees from Edward Winslow

13 degrees from  William Bradford

13 degrees from Priscilla Mullins Alden

15 degrees from Mary Brewster

15 degrees from Miles Standish

14 degrees from  Mary Allerton Cushman

14 degrees from  George Soule

14 degrees from Elizabeth Tilley Howland

14x Soule

Rachael is Edward's 10th great grand niece

+20 votes

Myles Standish - 16 degrees

However, I do see a possible problem in the path. One of the people in the path, Lionel Delaney Boutwell, I have in my personal files as the father of rather than the brother of my 4th great-grandmother, Nancy Boutwell Dowling. Well, it shows where I need to do more research.

Later...well, I spent all morning researching and, based on what I found, my records may be right and WikiTree's may be wrong. I left research notes on Nancy's profile. Will just have to see what develops.

by Nelda Spires G2G6 Pilot (550k points)
I am not a Mayflower descendant, but am 14 degrees from all of them through marriages.
+24 votes
It seems that we who have answered so far find quite a few of this group of profiles to be the same number of steps away.  Perhaps it was to be expected,  given the relatively small pool of people they would have intermarried with in early generations.

All at 14 degrees:  Pricilla Alden, Mary Brewster, Myles Standish, and Edward Winslow.  Three more are at 15 degrees.  No blood relatives.
by Steve Ryan G2G6 Mach 7 (78.2k points)
+23 votes
I am most closely connected to Priscilla Alden and Mary Cushman at 21 degrees.
by Samantha Thomson G2G6 Pilot (252k points)
edited by Samantha Thomson
+23 votes

It is obvious that I need to do more work on my maternal ancestors. A fun one this week! Just one relationship:

  • 9th great grandfather Myles Standish

Degrees on paternal side:

12 - Priscilla Mullins Alden

13 - Mary Brewster

12 - Elizabeth Tilley Howland

12 - George Soule

11 - Myles Standish

13 - Edward Winslow

Degrees on maternal side:

12 - William Bradford

13 - Mary Allerton Cushman

by Kay Knight G2G6 Pilot (589k points)
+20 votes

My entire mother’s side all came to America from 1700s through 1900s. So no relation to Plymouth from that side. Most of my father’s side have been in this country since the 1600s and most came to New England from England. I descend from Stephen Hopkins through his daughter Constance

Stephen is the 10th great grandfather of Missy (Confident)

I am:

32 degrees from Massasoit Wampanoag,

14 degrees from Priscilla Alden

14 degrees from William Bradford

12 degrees from Mary Brewster, <- I just found out that she is a 10th great grandmother of mine through my father’s side (again).

14 degrees from Mary Cushman

14 degrees from Elizabeth Howland

15 degrees from George Soule

15 degrees from Myles Standish

14 degrees from Edward Winslow

edited to add content.

by Missy Berryann G2G6 Pilot (215k points)
edited by Missy Berryann
Stephen Hopkins is my 10th great grandfather. I descend from his son, Giles, who was also on the Mayflower.
Hello cousin, That is so cool!
Stephen Hopkins is my 9th great-grandfather - I'm descended through his daughter Damaris Hopkins Cooke.
+30 votes
I am a direct descendant of eight Mayflower passengers, six of whom survived through the winter and made it to the First Thanksgiving.  Of those, I feel most closely connected to William Bradford.  My family has carried "Bradford" as a middle name for generations, and that's who I chose as my ancestor when I joined the Mayflower Society.  This is the one time of year when I can tell people about my Mayflower research and they are actually interested enough to listen.  :)
by Living Emmons G2G6 Pilot (176k points)
Is the Bradford middle name still used today?
+21 votes

My closest connection is 11 steps to my 9G grandfather Henry Samson, a Mayflower passenger who is not on this list. He was a teenager when he traveled to Plymouth on the Mayflower.

Among the people on this list, I have 12 steps to Elizabeth Tillley Howland; 13 steps to Priscilla Mullins Alden, Mary Allerton Cushman, George Soule, Myles Standish, and Edward Winslow; 14 steps to William Bradford and Mary Brewster; and 29 steps to Massasoit Wampanoag. None of the Mayflower passengers in that group are direct ancestors to me, but Edward Winslow is a blood relative (his brother Kenelm maps out as my direct ancestor).

I noticed some odd quirks (OK, I will call it a bug!) while looking at my connections to my Mayflower passenger ancestors.  Connection Finder showed my connection path as a direct-descendant relationship to passenger Richard Warren that had not previously showed up in Relationship Finder. Formerly (before today, as far as I know), Relationship Finder had showed me as a direct descendant on my maternal side, via his 2G granddaughter Lydia (Keen) Partridge. Now that relationship no longer appears for me in either Relationship Finder or Connection Finder (but Lydia still comes up in Relationship Finder as both his descendant and my ancestor, leading me to believe that Richard is still mapped as my ancestor), but I see a relationship on my paternal side (in both Connection Finder and Relationship Finder) that I had never seen before via his granddaughter Patience (Little) Jones.  Relationship Finder now shows me with exactly one relationship to Richard Warren (there is no hint of the possibility of other blood relationships). Apparently, Relationship Finder is limited to only one direct-descendant relationship to a particular person. sad

Edited to correct small errors I missed earlier because I saved this quickly when my phone rang.

by Ellen Smith G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)
edited by Ellen Smith
Hello,

I'm very new here and finding all of this so interesting and inspiring.

My 9th ggrandfather is Henry Samson through my Phillips and Thayer lines. My biggest hurdle in building the documentation seems to be my 3rd ggrandmother. Her name was Louisa Phillips. Louisa has been spelled so many different ways that it's difficult to prove the connection. I've seen it as Lavisa, Levica and on and on. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Best Wishes,

Jody

Hey Jody!  I also have Phillips ancestors...and possibly Thayer's also.  I checked, and we're related!!  I'm  Your 11th cousin once removed. :) Our common  ancestor is Thomas Kent.

+20 votes
I am 14 degrees from Elizabeth Howland

15 degrees from Mary Cushman and Priscilla Alden

16 degrees from George Soule, Myles Standish, Mary Brewster, William Bradford and Edward Winslow.

No genealogical connections - yet!!
by Virginia Fields G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
+24 votes
This was fun. I'm most closely related to Mary (Allerton) Cushman and Mary Brewster.

Mary Allerton Cushman is my 10x great-grandmother and Mary Brewster is my 12x great grandmother. Both on my mothers side.

No surprise on the Allerton connection, as my parents gave that as a middle name to my brother.
by Mattie Koppendrayer G2G1 (1.2k points)
+21 votes

I am 13 degrees from Elizabeth Howland and Myles Standish14 degrees from Mary Brewster15 degrees from Mary Cushman Edward Winslow Priscilla Alden and William Bradford16 degrees from George Soule; 23 degrees from Dave Ebaugh and  34 degrees from Massasoit Wampanoag. No common ancestors, but I am descended from Allens and Wings, who apparently married into all the other English families in colonial Plymouth and Duxbury. 

by Kathy Carroll G2G6 Mach 1 (11.8k points)
+21 votes
12 degrees from Myles Standish
14 degrees from Mary Brewster, 12th ggm
14 degrees from Elizabeth Howland, 12th ggm
14 degrees from Mary Cushman
14 degrees from Priscilla Alden
15 degrees from George Soule
15 degrees from Edward Winslow
16 degrees from William Bradford
34 degrees from Massasoit Wampanoag
by Mike Wells G2G6 Pilot (131k points)
edited by Mike Wells
+21 votes
11 degress from Priscilla Alden. :)
by Claire Nava G2G6 Mach 3 (30.3k points)
+23 votes

I am connected to all of them through my paternal grandmother who grew up about a half mile from Plymouth Rock.  

by Ben Griffith G2G6 Mach 1 (16.8k points)
+20 votes
I don't seem to be related to any of them, except William Bradford, who is my 10th great grandfather through my mother's line.  For the others, I'll have to check back more generations.
by Robin Shaules G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)
+20 votes
I am 12 degrees from Elizabeth Howland, my 10th great grandmother.
by Mark Burch G2G6 Pilot (212k points)
Me too! Nice to meet you, cousin!
+21 votes
15 degrees from Priscilla Alden, Mary Cushman, George Soule, Elizabeth Howland, and Myles Standish.  The first 4 on my moms side of the family, and Myles on my dads.  All through marriage it looks like.
by Jessica Symons G2G6 Mach 1 (11.1k points)
+23 votes
I could only find a connection to William Bradford (oddly, the first one I clicked on - then nothing). Apparently he is my 12th great grandfather, on my father's mother's side.
by Thomas Fuller G2G6 Mach 9 (92.8k points)
+20 votes
Priscilla Alden and John Alden - 10th great grandparents 10 degrees

Myles Standish and Barbara  - 9th great grandparents 11 degrees

Mary Brewster and William Brewster - 10th great grands. 12 degrees

Elizabeth Howland and John Howland - 11th great grands..11 degrees

Edward Winslow - 10th great grand uncle  12 degrees. Edward's 2nd wife Susanna (Jackson) White  is my 9th great grand. 11 degrees
by Faylene Bailey G2G6 Mach 1 (11.2k points)
+22 votes
Thanksgiving attendee Richard Warren (http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Warren-66), is among my maternal 10th great grandparents.

Though long thought to have been direct forebears, John Howland (http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Howland-21), and his wife Elizabeth Tilley were, we now know, my mother's "step-ancestors": their granddaughter Mercy (Chipman) Skiff(e) was the _second_ wife of my 7th great grandfather Nathan Skiffe, whose first wife -- Hepsibah (Codman) Skiffe, mother of my forebear Benjamin Skiffe -- died in the summer of 1696... when Benjamin was just five.  So Mercy, who married Nathan in 1699, was Ben's stepmother.

Not present at that first Thanksgiving gathering, sad to say, were Warren's and the Howlands' fellow passengers on the Mayflower Edward Fuller (http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/ Fuller-13) and his wife (her name, unfortunately, lost to us): they were among the many who died within months of arrival.  The Fullers, especially, will be in my thoughts tomorrow.
by Christopher Childs G2G6 Mach 1 (15.8k points)
edited by Christopher Childs
I was looking for Edward Fuller too, and felt sad that he missed the gathering. I guess I am related to no one else.
Richard Warren is my 11th great grandfather.

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