Please visit Charles Cushman and his son Charles Underhill Cushman in the Allerton and Priest sections. They put the number of images over the 1500 mark for us. Welcome, Cushmans.

Count your blessings and start with the fact that you are alive in the 21st century. Unlike our Mayflower forebears we have flying cars - oh, whoops, jumped the gun on that one - indoor plumbing, a lack of smallpox, England-to-Massachusetts travel in under 7 hours, ovens instead of open-fire cooking, glass windows, more than one outfit to wear, schools, grocery stores with food in them, air conditioning, and on and on. Thank you, pilgrims, for making the voyage. Thank you, God, for everything else.

This one falls into the "mystery" category. Who was the Jemima Alden who married Joseph Adams in Bellingham, MA in 1816? My money is on Noah Alden, Jr. Read it and tell me what you think.

It must be the end of the year, because I got another charity solicitation in the mail yesterday, this one to support a new facility the Martha's Vineyard Museum is building in Vineyard Haven (Tisbury.) It is rehabbing the old Marine Hospital there and adding new structures, enlarging greatly the organization's physical facilities, including an expanded research library for genealogists and historians. They will retain their older, smaller building in Edgartown, the Cooke House, although they will sell a piece of their real estate there and presumably run just the house itself as a tourist destination rather than a research facility.
Old-time families on Martha's Vineyard did not have many Mayflower descendants, but someone might have married into your mainland Mayflower line, as happened with my Freetown ancestors, and you will have to prove them as well. (The GSMD wants you to prove as much about the non line-carrier as you do the line-carrier, and wants proof of all marriages, not just the one that produced you and your line.) Here is how you can donate: online at www.TransformMVM.org; by phone at 508-627-4441, Ext. 117; or by mail at MVM, PO Box 1310, Edgartown, MA 02539. Please be generous.

Over 500 unique individuals visit this web site each week. Surely some of you can find it in your hearts and wallets to make a pledge to this matching-fund campaign to preserve the Mayflower II. Check out their site (​https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1982444488/float-the-boat-save-mayflower-ii?mc_cid=393c0b20ca&mc_eid=edef3c4196) for details about the project and to pledge. Scroll down the page for photos and information about the project. Note: With Kickstarter, your payment is due only if the campaign reaches its stated goal, in this case $250,000 by the morning of November 17th. Please join me in supporting our Mayflower heritage!

This week's NEHGS newsletter has a reminder about their Mayflower book sale:

For one week, the Bookstore at NEHGS is offering 10% off all Mayflower titles, including all the "silver books." Simply enter the coupon code MF1116 in the coupon field during check out to get your discount.
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Offer expires 11/10/16, whiles supplies last. Prices do not include shipping. MA residents add 6.25% sales tax.

I've been sent an invitation to an event and was asked to publicize it. Being thousands of miles away I will not be there and I honestly don't know the people putting it on, but it's Mayflower-related, so here goes, with the following excerpt from the invitation:

​"GSMD member Connie Baxter Marlow and Andrew Cameron Bailey...will premiere their short documentary film at the Boston Public Library Nov. 10, 2016, 5-8 pm with a forum and Call to Action ["Unity 2020!"] to inaugurate the James Phinney Baxter Lecture Series.

“SEEDS OF FREEDOM: A Vision for America” ... presents a revolutionary look at the synthesis between European colonists and the American Indian in the evolution of American democracy, mind and spirit.

Film Synopsis: Eminent philanthropist/historian James Phinney Baxter (1831-1921) believed that America must embody the high ideals of New England's original settlers if it is to become a global exemplar of liberty, equality and justice. In 1921 he left a bequest instructing Boston to build a Pantheon to perpetuate the founding ideals and principles. Baxter's great-great-granddaughter Connie Baxter Marlow adds a missing piece - the role of the American Indian in the evolution of American democracy, mind and spirit.

Special guests Mohawk elder Tom Porter and Pilgrim Scholar Gary Marks will present insights into the Iroquois Great Law and the Pilgrim vision for humanity as they apply to today and the future."

Note: the sender also included a Facebook page link:  https://www.facebook.com/events/101700666967202/

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