Congratulations to Freeman Parker Howland (b 1797), our 100th Howland-Tilley descendant. Read about him in the Howland-Tilley section and find out how descent from him and his siblings may make you eligible for a really cool lineage society.

I posted her image and info in the "Mystery/Fun Photos" section not long ago, speculating she was an Alden & Mullins descendant. I have just reposted her picture with a request for help as a possible Howland & Allerton descendant. I've described the problems her lineages create and if you have any data on the Shaw & Dunham families that would help, please reply. The key word is "data," meaning not something you found online in a family tree or one of those godoffol family time lines a certain web site runs. Avoid those like the proverbial plague.

It arrived on my doorstep today. Part 5 is the descendants of Sarah (Alden) Standish. It has a lot of Samson and Soule descendants - over a page of Soules in the index and just under FIVE pages of Samsons, so if those are your ancestors, see if you can pick up an Alden, Mullins, and Standish line you never knew you had. (This is commonly how people find their extra lines.) I just checked and this volume is now available for purchase from the GSMD at their online shop, which is the only way to get a copy. They are not sold on amazon or through a bookstore. Here is the link.

I suppose I should not complain about a free website BUT.... the latest "new and improved to serve you better" change that Weebly has made comes when you want to post a URL to make a link to another site. Now, when I click on the little chain icon on the tool bar, I get a different interface and when I paste the URL into the URL box, the word I want to make the link may or may not turn blue. Most of the time it does not and I do not have a link. I am not amused.

No claim to specific Mayflower ancestry is made for Priscilla Jane (Shaw) Barrows (b. Carver, MA 1832) or for anyone in the book from which I took her photo. It's a history of the town of Carver, MA, which should be Pilgrim Central. Unfortunately too many names are repeated and no genealogical data is given in the book to speak of. Vital records show her grandmother (also a Priscilla) to be the daughter of some people who I have grave doubts were her actual parents. If you know anything about this family that would be of use, please let the rest of us know. Thanks!

Robert Cushman, a leader among the Separatist community in Leiden, sailed to Plymouth Colony in 1621 aboard the Fortune. In 1619 he wrote a book entitled The Cry of a Stone, amidst the group's preparations to leave Holland for America. On Sunday, April 17th at 2 pm, there will be a formal book launch for the GSMD's edition of this work. It will be held at Plymouth HQ, 4 Winslow St., and will include remarks by the Governor General and the historian who annotated the book, James W. Baker. Guests are requested to RSVP by the 12th, to executiveasst@themayflowersociety.org. Copies of the book will also be on sale for those who cannot attend, on the GSMD web site, in the "shop" section, with a discount for both GSMD members and libraries/institutions.

While you are visiting the Soule Kindred of America site, be sure to click at the top on "Articles," then scroll down to the bottom and click on the entry for "Personal History of G. W. Soule by Himself." That unfortunately will not take you to the article and I cannot find this old book or essay online anywhere, but there is a picture that one might take to be that of the author, George Wilberforce Soule. Click on the photo and it enlarges to display an image of a well-dressed youngish man dressed in (approximately) 1840s attire, with what looks like brown hair, brown eyes, and a large mustache, but otherwise clean shaven.
What little you see of text states that G. W. was the son of Isaac Hatfield Soule (b. NY 1808-1810) and Augusta Ann Bates (b. 1830), who married in 1845. If that is the case, to have been an image of G. W., this photo would date at the very least to 1865, possibly to 1885. It is obvious that it was not made that late, so if it is a Soule photo at all (no guarantees without provenance) it might be of Isaac, a carpenter-joiner. He, not George, would have been of the right age to appear in a picture as old as this one. The 1850 & 1860 censuses find Isaac H. & Augusta Ann Soule in Richmond, Walworth Co, WI. George must have been born in late 1850 to be in the 1860 census but not in the 1850, and may not have been born in NY, as claimed, if the family had already moved.
Findagrave has an entry in Trempeleau Co., WI for Isaac and Augusta, stating that Isaac's parents were Jonathan Soule and Sarah Hatfield.The Soule pink book Part Three (2003) has in family #531 Benjamin Soule and Elizabeth Davis, who had 7 children, including Jonathan b.1761. He married Sarah Hatfield and had 11 children, including son Isaac Hatfield Soule. The book states that Isaac married 1st Sylvia Bates, then 2d Augusta Ann (---). Were the two wives related?
So, if the man in the photo is Isaac Hatfield Soule, he would be a Gen. 7 pilgrim George Soule descendant as follows: Jonathan Soule, Benjamin, Joseph, William, George, George of the Mayflower. Be aware that the pink books (works in progress) are sketchy on the details from Joseph on down so need a lot of help. The 7th edition of Part One (2015) notes that William Soule married Hannah Eaton, "apparently daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Hoskins) Eaton." Hannah is not in the Eaton silver book (1996) so that must be a new claim, requiring excellent proofs should you submit to the GSMD. If true, Isaac would also be a Gen. 7 Eaton. Check out the photo for yourself.

The Winter/Spring 2016 newsletter of Soule Kindred of America arrived in my mailbox yesterday and the front cover plus 5 inside pages detail the results and methodology of a search for the origins of Mary Beckett/Bucket, wife of pilgrim George Soule. This SKA-sponsored search has produced promising results that help also to make sense of how some of the "Strangers" wound up aboard the Mayflower. I will leave it to you, Gentle Reader, to become a member of SKA and get a copy of this newsletter, but the upshot is that Mary may have been born in Hertfordshire, England circa 1605. The article contains details about the proposed Mary's parents, siblings, and extended family, and the Becketts' links to the Warrens and Aldens. Part of the coverage includes an interesting feature on the background of the researchers hired to do this study. One lives in England; one in the U.S. and -- shout-out to my daughter -- the one in England has a degree in Latin with training in 12th-17th century paleography.