Vol 59, Spring Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Delaware mayflowerde.org

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1 Vol 59, Spring 2016 Mayflower Lynes Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Delaware mayflowerde.org David Bradford Governor The 1st goal is to increase membership over the 200 threshold for the first time in the history of our society. We have never before enjoyed such a realistic prospect of attaining this major milestone. To achieve this goal we must net an increase of 14 members over the next 3 years. As a bonus, hitting this goal will give our Delaware Society one additional voting member at the General Society s Triennial Congress held every three years in Plymouth. The 2nd goal is to develop a Mayflower History Club which will be open to all interested history enthusiasts, young and old, including our own Junior Members. Club members will learn, develop and present a hands-on Pilgrim history program for schools and other venues. School principals and history teachers from public, private and home school communities across the state will be asked to help identify Greetings Pilgrim Cousins! As us all to promote Pilgrim history we begin 2016, I am very excited about creating opportunities for and share with friends and neighbors the rich heritage and important legacy our Pilgrim ancestors have had on our nation and the personal lives of all Americans. Specifically, I hope to accomplish five strategic goals by the end of These goals involve membership, educational programs and income producing initiatives. interested students. My eldest son Aaron has accomplished this before on a couple occasions, first with his Civil War history group called the Bonnets & Bayonets and later with a group of home schooled volunteers at Hagley Museum. The Hagley program called The Creek Kids, has continued to this day and has become the longest running and most successful volunteer program in the history of Hagley Museum. His work in building this program was recognized by former Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner when he was selected to receive the Governor s Tourism Award s Volunteer of the Year in Along with the Mayflower History Club, our 3rd goal will be to establish an income stream from Pilgrim educational programs, speaking engagements and sundry offerings performed for schools, historical groups and similar venues. As a separate fundraising initiative, the 4th goal will be to commission a local artist to produce a high-quality painting of the Mayflower at Hull that will be reproduced and available for purchase as signed, limited edition prints suitable for framing. The proceeds generated from goals 3 and 4 will serve to help financially support our society s core mission of Pilgrim education in the years ahead. The 5th and final goal is to produce, present and support an annual Pilgrim educational event at Thanksgiving time each year, free to the public, where families can experience the Pilgrim Journey as related by volunteer historical interpreters. Pulling from source documents, guests will hear the true story of the Pilgrims in their own words complete with dialect and period clothing. I have attended such a program performed at Day Spring Academy in Mountville, PA called, Thanksgiving Exposed and am eager to see this kind of program become a seminal educational event for public edification in Delaware. I hope this vision sparks your imagination and inspires you to help turn these goals into reality over the next 32 months. Let me know what you think and how you can be an active part of the fun and future of our Society! y

2 UPCOMING MEMBER EVENT Save the Date! You re invited to our Spring Reception at historic Lombardy Hall in Wilmington. It is an easy drive; you will find the directions on the invitation. Spring Reception at Lombardy Hall Sunday, May 15, 3-5 p.m. Lombardy Hall is the original colonial home of Gunning Bedford, Jr., a Founding Father and Delaware signer of the U.S. Constitution. Lombardy Hall Foundation President Terry Martz has graciously consented to provide us with a room-to-room museum tour highlighting historical points of interests related to Bedford and his homestead. Exquisite desserts and freshly squeezed lemonade will be prepared by one of our Mayflower cousins and be guaranteed to top off your Sunday dinner or spoil your supper or both! In 1785 Gunning Bedford, Jr. signed an agreement to purchase Lombardy Hall and 250 acres of land from William Robison. Although Robison died before the sale was completed, his widow, Hannah, transferred the property to Bedford the next year for four pounds or one dollar per acre. A copy of this agreement is a prized exhibit at Lombardy Hall. On June 28, 1968, the Lombardy Hall Foundation was chartered with the objective of operating exclusively for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes. As part of its charter, the Foundation undertook the restoration of the Bedford house due to the significance of its prominent and historic owner. A substantial financial gift was received from a couple interested in preserving its heritage, which lead to the building s ultimate restoration. Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974, Lombardy Hall offers an ever-changing lineup of exhibits that brings together a variety of colonial furnishings and Masonic memorabilia on loan from Delaware and surrounding Masonic jurisdictions. Since the founding of Lombardy Hall Foundation, this broad cross-section of the museum has captured the imagination of visitors young and old. The Foundation s website is a great opportunity to learn more about Lombardy Hall and the Lombardy Hall Museum: www. lomhallfdn.org. y 2

3 2016 Education Committee Report By Susan Bunting For the past few years I have reported that the winds of educational change are blowing across Delaware. The state s new math and language arts standards for kindergartners through twelfth graders, which clearly articulate what students are expected to learn at each grade level, are being fully implemented this year. They involve more practical, authentic learning; deepened conceptual understanding; higher order thinking; and greater problem solving. The Common Core adoption involves a literacy initiative that promotes reading and writing across all subject areas. As I have previously mentioned, the promising news for the Society of Mayflower Descendants is multifold. First, history has been carefully woven into the language arts standards. Students will thus be developing reading and writing skills as they learn about such historical events as the landing of the Pilgrims and their survival. Secondly, Delaware s elementary students in either fourth Recently I had another discussion with a librarian concerning the cataloging of the Silver Books on-line also known as Del-Cat. All of our libraries that receive the Silver Books participate with the exception of the Delaware Historical Society. The problem is that it is practically impossible to locate the Silver Book you want. This is because the libraries insist on listing all books under the title Mayflower Families Through Five Generations. I have explained that is not the title but the name of the project publishing the volumes. For instance the real title of Volume Twenty-Four is Elder William Brewster. Because the libraries refuse to change the way they catalogue, I suggest you put in the name of the compiler instead of the title or the author. This should bring up everything in the system that is listed under the person s name. If you don t know the compiler, look at the order form for the Silver Book in the back of the Mayflower Quarterly. It will be listed there. All of our recipients have been enrolled in an automatic donation program for the Silver Books. or fifth grade will now engage in a close reading study of the Mayflower Compact. Their thought-provoking, careful analysis of the Compact and the discussion of its concepts will enable Delaware s students to not only thoroughly grasp the self-governing plan for the Colony at Plymouth but also derive deeper understanding of America s governmental system. Eighth graders will further analyze the Pilgrim/Plymouth story as they investigate American history at a deeper level. Much of this learning involves the use of technology; reliance is no longer solely placed on textbooks and non-fiction supplements. To facilitate such learning, the Education Committee is piloting a series of primary and secondary internet resources. We have gathered feedback to determine the most information and most useful digital resources. A list of high quality digitally accessible primary and secondary source materials are being refined and will be available for sharing in classrooms throughout the state at no cost to the Society. y Report From the Librarian, Ann Happoldt This has been on-going for several years without any problems. If a book is missing, it is probably on somebody s desk waiting to be catalogued. If you have a problem with Del-Cat or a missing book, please let me know and I will try to help you. As of this writing, all libraries have a full set of the Silver Books and none are missing. On March 29, 2016, I attended the monthly meeting of the Archaeological Society of Delaware. I presented the president with three books for him to use in his projects at Delaware State University where he teaches part time. He said the library has very few books on the Pilgrims and early colonial New England. The books are: Making Haste from Babylon donated by member Amy Dill; Mayflower and Indian New England before the Mayflower both donated by Ann Happoldt. I will be contacting the University of Delaware to see if they would like to have any books donated. If you have any books to donate and wish to participate, please contact me at (302) y 3

4 Genealogy Corner by Ann Happoldt Just when you think you know everything about the Pilgrims, up pops something new. I was given two books recently that are oldies but goodies : The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrims by Charles Edward Banks (1929) and Planters of the Commonwealth also by C. E. Banks (1930). The second book covers Puritans as well as Pilgrims from the years 1620 to 1650, when the Civil War and domestic conditions in England ended people coming in shiploads to New England although individuals continued to emigrate. Of the known 2646 emigrants, the City of London supplied 172 and was the fourth highest county with heavy emigration. (The highest county was Suffolk with 266 people.) I was particularly interested in my ancestor, Experience Mitchell, because of his unusual name and because there are records on him. He is listed in Planters of the Commonwealth as Experience Mitchell of Duke s Place, London and he came to Plymouth on the Anne around July 10, I had no idea what Duke s Place was so I did what any 21st century researcher would do and Googled it on the computer. To my surprise, Mitchell wasn t the only Pilgrim living there. Seventeen lived in London and most lived in the same parish or neighborhood. Banks had to do his research the old fashioned way, and he began to locate the Pilgrims with a letter written to Ed Southworth at Heneage House in Duke s Place two years before the Mayflower sailed. Southworth was related by blood or marriage to George Morton, Samuel Fuller and the large marrying Carpenter family. He lived in Aldgate Ward, which had a large Dutch immigrant population as sell as French Huguenots. Originally this area had been a high income area. The eastern half had been given to the Duke of Norfolk when King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, and it became known as Duke s Place. The Duke of Norfolk SOME PILGRIMS FROM LONDON built a large house on the grounds and this was his family s city home for many years. The Heneage family also owned property for their residential purposes. But neighborhoods change, and this one went downhill with an influx of lower-class and craftsmen immigrants. The two families turned their splendid buildings into tenements as Stephen Budiansky put it in Her Majesty s Spymaster,... the speculators who divided up some of the old decaying palaces of the wealthy into rude tenements The non-rich Pilgrims moved into the area. Nearby an Allerton family lived in St. Andrew Undershaft Parish. A Tilley and Sampson family were also members of this church. A Bitteridge family is listed in St. Katherine Cree Parish to which Heneage House was parochially attached. Nearby is St. Katherine Coleman Parish where a Stephen Hopkins family lived. Hopkins married his second wife at St. Mary White Chapel near Aldgate. Thomas Weston belonged to the Ironmongers Company Guildhall located in this ward. Thomas Prince also lived in the area. Samuel Gordon lived just outside Aldgate. Other Pilgrims came from St. Leonard s Shoreditch, and St. Mary White Chapel. William Bradford lived there in 1620 and paid taxes for personal property at the Duke s Place. Experience Mitchell is placed by the author at Duke s Place in The Mitchells were from the same part of England as Bradford s first wife and were possibly related. This whole area of London had a reputation for non-conformity. In 1632 the Bishop of London referred to Aldgate Ward as a nest of Non-Conformists. I tried to find a picture of Heneage House, but I couldn t. The building has been razed; however, St. Katherine Cree remains to this day and is pictured on this page. It has survived the Great Fire, the Blitz, and gentrification. Current internet information on Aldgate Ward says nothing about a Pilgrim connection, but there definitely is a connection and should be recognized. The site of the Heneage House, Duke s Place, and nearby churches should be designated as Pilgrim shrines. y 4

5 by Noel Kuhrt, Member of GSMD 2020 Committee Our request to have the US Mint issue commemorative coins recognizing the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower voyage is before Congress. If you would like to see this become a reality we need every Mayflower society member to contact their Representative and both Senators to sign on as co-sponsors. We need 287 US Congress members and 67 US Senators. Time is of the essence since only two commemoratives are minted each year and already there are several other applications. Fortunately, Delaware Senator Thomas R. Carper and Delaware Representative John C. Carney are now cosponsors. But we need you to contact Senator Christopher A. Coons and request he co-sponsor Senate Bill S He can be contacted at 127A Russell Senate Office Bldg., Washington D.C , by phone at (202) , or by Our Delaware members living in other states please obtain the contact details for your Rep at and enter your zip-code and both Senators at gov and enter your state. An request is so much quicker since it doesn t have to go through the 2 to 3 week security inspection required of postal letters. CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES! 400 th Anniversary Coin Initiative COMING SOON: THE DELAWARE MAYFLOWER SOCIETY FACEBOOK PAGE! In an effort to interact with our members and further educate the public about our Society, Mayflower Delaware has plans to launch a Facebook page. This venture into social media will allow us to provide information in a more timely manner, reach our members on a more frequent basis and drive traffic to our existing website. To get started, we are seeking the input of our members for content that is interesting, encourages engagement and entices visitors to like our page! For inspiration you can refer to the March 2015 issue of the Mayflower Quarterly, pages To view sample letters go to the 2020 Comm section of the GSMD website: themayflowersociety.org. Express your support of the coin initiative and ask them to become co-sponsors. If you write your own letter be sure to reference S-1715 for Senators and HR-2080 for US Representatives. We have been told some legislators need about 10 requests from constituents before they will act. Please know the passing of these bills and subsequent sale of coins will result in significant revenue benefiting the Mayflower Society, all 50 state societies, the city of Plymouth and the Wampanoag nation. GSMD will use its share to educate the public about how the Pilgrim journey to America helped shape western civilization. A current plan if the initiative passes is for the GSMD to give each state society $2,500 worth of coins. GSMD 2020 Committee Chairman AGG George Garmany plans for a gift to the first state which gets all their legislators to co-sponsor the coin initiative. Let us make Delaware The First State by quickly getting Senator Coons to cosponsor S y Some ideas for posts include: Photos of our Society events Society news items Short bios of our ancestors Suggestions on researching lineage Reference materials and sources Historically accurate references/links Please send your suggestions for content to Bob Hanson, our newly designated Assistant for Social Media, at RJHanson76@msn.com 5

6 WHAT IS A HUGUENOT? In the more recent issues of the Lynes we have lauded Christine Crossan for being elected 2nd Vice President General of the National Huguenot Society and we have learned that any one descended from Mayflower passenger Francis Cooke is a proven Huguenot Descendants. So what exactly is a Huguenot? Simply stated the Huguenots were French Protestants who lived during the 16th and 17th centuries and followed the teachings of John Calvin. This was a time in Europe when the tide of the Reformation was sweeping across the political and religious strands of society. The Protestants were attempting to reform the Roman Catholic Church and the Catholic majority was determined to maintain its controlling power over both the religious and political lives of the French citizens. From the beginning the Huguenot movement became respectable as it was embraced by members of nobility, the intellectual elite, and by the professionals. Initially they found favor because of their abilities, economic contribution, and strength of character, but this favor turned to outrageous persecution and the Huguenots were eventually forced to emigrate. Many Huguenots emigrated either directly or through other European countries to North America. As a result, France suffered a notable loss of intellectual and economic power. Its loss was the gain of the American colonies. The Huguenots supplied the colonies with excellent physicians, artisans, and craftsmen. Of interest locally, Irénée du Pont brought his expertise for making gunpowder to the banks of the Brandywine which he had learned from the eminent chemist, Lavoisier. Now Huguenot descendants are spread all over the United States. The National Huguenot Society, of which Christine is the 2nd Vice President General, exists to perpetuate the memory, spirit, and the deeds of the men in women in France who were persecuted for their religious belief and devotion to liberty. If you have an interest in joining the Delaware Society of Huguenots, please contact Christine Crossan, Kim Burdick, or Kai Lassen. Their contact information can be found in the Member Directory. y 6 Remembering Alice C. Teal Alice Carnrite Teal was born in Sandy Creek, New York on Flag Day June 14, 1927, and passed away at The Shores at Wesley Manor in Ocean City, New Jersey on March 4, 2016 at the age of 88. She moved from Sandy Creek to Marmora, Upper Township, New Jersey in 1975 and settled in a new house designed by her and her husband on Teal family property. She was well known in the area having served for 17 years as the Public Relations Officer for Upper Township. Many remember when she wore her Mayflower Pilgrim costume in the classroom and local supermarkets at the time of Thanksgiving s celebration. Alice was a descendant of the Pilgrim John Howland. She served as Colony Governor of the local Jersey Cape Colony as well as Governor of the New Jersey State Society of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. She is best known in all of the states, Canada and many other countries as the Editor of the 100 page magazine The Mayflower Quarterly which she produced four times a year for 30,000 readers from 1993 through 2015 with Harry P. Folger 3rd as her Assistant Editor. She was pleased to do this work since her father Claude Carnrite was a printer in Sandy Creek, NY for the Holstein Friesian World magazine at which Alice also worked. Alice joined the Daughters of the American Revolution and was very proud to be a member of the New York State Officers Club and for 30 years served as Editor of the (DAR) Empire State News. She was a member of the Board of Trustees of Cold Springs Village in Lower Township, Cape May County and the Board of Trustees of the Naval Air Station Wildwood at Cape May airport. Alice will be remembered as Co-Editor of the booklet Pilgrims at Prayer used by many leaders to conduct society meetings and the magnificent Mayflower Quarterly Diamond Jubilee Edition a compilation of the best articles and photos over the first 75 years. Alice enjoyed visiting our Delaware meetings including: our 40th anniversary Compact Luncheon in 1998 at the DuPont Country Club where she presented her beautiful slide show Following the Pilgrim Trail in England and Holland. Also the 2004 General Board of Assistants meeting in Wilmington where Delaware s own Governor General Robert E. Davis presided, as well as the 2009 Spring Reception at Cooch s Bridge and the 2010 Spring Reception at the Hale-Byrnes House Alice will be greatly missed by her Delaware friends and cousins. y

7 New Members Jonathan Briggs Jeffery Jonathan Briggs Jeffery is a descendant of Stephen Hopkins and plans to complete a lineage application to William Brewster as well. His interest in family history is directly linked to his grandmother, Augusta Knapp Jeffery, whose indomitable spirit was realized in her pursuits as a music teacher, genealogist, and a self-taught artist. Jon is a graduate of the University of Connecticut (BA, Psychology) and has a Master in Library Science Reminders... PHOTOGRAPHS: If pictures are being taken at a Mayflower Society event, they may appear in the Lynes, on its website, or in the Lynes on the website. Children will not be identified. If you do not wish your picture to appear, please convey that to the Governor or the photographer. FROM AMAZON.COM TO OUR TREASURY: Could it be any easier to give a boost to our Society s bank account than shopping on Amazon.com? Use this link to the Amazon website and each time you buy from Amazon.5% of the purchase price will automatically donated by Amazon to SMDD. Each quarter our treasurer will receive a check from Amazon. It is as simple as that! http//smile.amazon.com/ch/ from Southern Connecticut State University. He is a recently retired 40- year career librarian at the University of Delaware, a past president of the Delaware Library Association, and currently active in Delaware s Best Buddies organization. He enjoys writing poetry and reading history. A favorite book is Hopkins of the Mayflower: Portrait of a Dissenter. Married 43 years to his Milford (CT) High School sweetheart, Patricia Williams Jeffery, who retired after 37 years of teaching and advising at UD. They have two adult children and two grandchildren. Completed Voyages Maynard Harold Mires, Jr. Died August 2, 2015 Gen# DE# 266 Descended from Richard Warren and Francis Cooke Talbot Harlow Ick Crane Died December 11, 2015 Gen# DE# 286 Descended from Richard Warren Issac Allerton, Stephen Hopkins and Francis Cooke Once more we stand upon the shore of the sea and bid farewell to a ship that loses itself over the rim of the world. O God, give fair voyaging and safe harbor! And as we stand upon this hither shore and bid farewell, grant us faith to hear the voices which on yonder shore cry, Welcome and All Hail. Amen Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Delaware 2015 Board of Assistants Committee Chairs Governor Deputy Governor Secretary Assistant Secretary Treasurer Historian Elder Captain Surgeon Counsellor Assistant Assistant Assistant Past Governor David M. Bradford W. Andrew Cottle Lois B. Schlegel Barbara L. Wideman Andrew W. Edmonds, Jr. Penny E. Perry D. Geoffrey Gamble John L. Crossan TBD Gregory J. Weinig Barbara G. Welch Robert J. Hanson, Jr. Susan S. Bunting Barbara G. Welch Community Outreach Christina W. Lassen Education Susan S. Bunting Finance TBD Library Elizabeth A. Happoldt Membership J. Kai Lassen Publications Barbara G. Welch Social Media Robert J. Hanson, Jr. General Society Deputy Governor General Noel H. Kuhrt, Jr. Assistant General Robert J. Hanson, Jr. 7

8 You re Invited! Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Delaware Spring Reception Lombardy Hall... Historic home of Gunning Bedford, Jr Concord Pike, Wilmington, Delaware Sunday, May 15, p.m. Traveling Directions : Whether traveling N or S on I-95, take RTE. 202 West exit north of Wilmington. Turn right at first opportunity past the Independence Mall on your right. (Approximately 0.5 mile from I-95) Please respond to by Monday, May 9, 2016 Lois B. Schlegel 114 Horseshoe Road, Newark, DE lbspsu62@yahoo.com (*Note first alpha is lower case L ) I (we) will attend the Mayflower Spring Reception on May 15, 2016 Member Spouse (Trailing Arbutus, first name) Other Guest(s) Junior Member(s) 8