The NEHGS weekly online newsletter had a link to a newspaper article about a group of New England historical organizations trying to help people get their facts straight about the early years of colonial New England. This is especially important with the 400th anniversary of the pilgrims' landing at Plymouth Rock in just 3 years (2020), and event bound to bring out the old myths and create new ones as well.  
I had seen headlines on yahoo.com about "400-year-old fake news" but didn't realize it was MY fake news and that a consortium including the NEHGS, the American Antiquarian Society, the Congregational Library & Archives in Boston, Pilgrim Hall museum in Plymouth, the GSMD, the Tomaquag Museum in Exeter, RI, Alden Kindred, the Winthrop Society, had been created. Here is a link to the AP article. A visit to the New England Beginnings website notes also that historical groups in Old England, the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum in Holland, the National Museum of Bermuda (an intermediary destination for some 17th century Englishmen who eventually settled in New England), and other European groups are involved. Check it out!

Welcome, Wilkes Wood, our 800th individual immortalized here with a photo, painting, engraving, etc. of their likeness. You can visit the Hon. Wilkes Wood of Middleborough, MA, early 19th century probate judge, on the Priest and Howland-Tilley pages. 

Merry Christmas from the desert Southwest, where every year we decorate our cactus for the holidays.

The LDS's large Family History Center in Mesa, a Phoenix suburb, is still closed but they are offering classes and online access at their training center. They are also having their annual January genealogy how-to conference, this year on the Maricopa County Community College's Red Mountain campus. I've never been to one and Mayflower is not their specialty, but I understand that the topics vary a great deal because the email announcement said that attendees can choose from 7 different classes each hour (in a 7-hour day.) The event is Saturday, January 21st, 9:00-4:20, and registration opens on Thursday, Dec. 15th. The link in the email is to "mesafsl.org" so presumably that is where you go to register.

Check out the 5 Walsh brothers from New York City on the Howland-Tilley page. There is an 18-year age span from oldest to youngest and apparently facial hair runs in the family. They are Gen. 9 Howand and Gen. 10 Tilley descendants.