Pilgrim View

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

Title Page of Southworth book

I wonder how many readers are connected to this family?

Home of Our Ancestors page 99

Home of Our Ancestors page 99, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Mention of Home of
Isaac Denison, Jr. and wife Levina Fish

Teaching other genealogists where to look for information about their ancestors can be a monumental undertaking! The first thing is telling them that if they want to know about ancestors who lived in the four generations before them, they will likely have to PAY for the information. That does not sit well with those who can't afford it or think everything should be free. 

I can't fix this attitude, I can only go on teaching and learning. 

When I found out that a book existed called The Homes of Our Ancestors in Mystic, CT, authored in 1903 by Grace Denison Wheeler (a genealogist, teacher and town historian in my family), I knew I had to have it. As it turns out, I bought the wrong edition. The bookseller chose not to have the last huge section of the book bound into it. That section had the cemetery records. I won't buy another book from this company. I borrowed a copy from a relative and photocopied all of the rest of the pages. I am now careful where I buy books.

Miss Wheeler, reported on this page (99), that Isaac and Levina lived in the home built by his ancestor (and mine), John Denison, first born son of Capt. George Denison. I was excited about this because I thought it might be the last time I would find out about them. It wasn't. 

Miss Wheeler tells us that the old house, where I was assuming the Thanksgiving dinners were held, was torn down in 1883. Levina did not die until 1890. That means the house on Willow St. is where those dinners were held. This is significant because it confirms a newspaper clipping (Nov 1874) I found in a family journal.

Now, what I know is that, according to records (see below) about the house on Willow St. created for a house tour (kindly provided by Dorothy Hanna of the Mystic River Historical Society) is that this house was built for them adjacent to the original house in 1839.

Mystic River Historical Society records

My second great grandmother, Eliza was most likely born in the ancient farm house because she was born in 1833. The information in Wheeler's book doesn't clarify the dates Isaac and Levina lived there and in fact is misleading to make readers think they lived here their whole married lives.

Thanks to my research buddies, Brian and Dorothy, Thanksgiving's location means so much more now.