Interesting window at Compact Day in Raynham, photo by Midge Frazel
It Takes a Village: Constant Southworth
While building my skills as a professional genealogist, I think one of the hardest and most intense learning experiences was getting started finding out who my Mayflower ancestors were and how to go about proving them for my membership in the Massachusetts Mayflower Society and the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. Doing this taught me to connect generations together, locate and cite sources and gather all materials in one location. I have proved four lines for myself and two lines for my husband. [Our Mayflower Lines] Still, it is a never ending learning adventure and an expensive one, too!
Recently, while visiting the Goodnow Library in Sudbury, I worked with two "silver" Mayflower Books in their historical room. Armed with information in those books and Caleb Johnson's book, The Mayflower and her Passengers, 2006, I am trying to enter the information from our applications into my family tree database. It is slow, laborious work since my Mayflower applications are written in "Pilgrim" code (as I call it) and some references I am still puzzling out.
I had the pleasure of listening to a talk by Paul Bumpus, Historian General, speak and had him help me with understanding the sources before I moved here to Stow from Bridgewater and I have had the wonderful attention of Jay Lucas of the Massachusetts Mayflower Society.
When my husband's lines were accepted, we went to Compact Day so Steve could be surrounded by other "Pilgrims" and perform the ritual of standing up for your ancestor.
Jay Lucas asked us to sit at his table for the luncheon. I was flattered. I wish I could go to that every year but worries about snow keep me away.
While entering information, I started working with the Southworth family. Constant and Elizabeth Collier Southworth as both ancestors of Steve and myself. I discovered that the second wife of Gov. William Bradford was Alice Carpenter, widow of Edward Southworth. She was Constant's mother.
- Pilgrim Village Family Sketches by Robert Charles Anderson at NEHGS ($)
- Plimoth.org genealogy profile of Constant Southworth (free)
- Southworth Genealogy by Webber, 1905, at Google Books
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| Title Page of Southworth book |
I wonder how many readers are connected to this family?
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