{"id":101158,"date":"2024-11-22T11:32:34","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T16:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=101158"},"modified":"2024-11-25T08:52:19","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T13:52:19","slug":"mayflower-descendants-whos-who-thanksgiving-special-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/mayflower-descendants-whos-who-thanksgiving-special-part-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Mayflower Descendants: Who\u2019s Who, Thanksgiving Special (part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes about the remarkable Salome Sellers, who lived to be 108 and had a direct oral history connection to the very first Thanksgiving. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today I start my holiday treat mini-series, \u201cMayflower Descendants: Who\u2019s Who, Thanksgiving Special,\u201d focusing on Salome (Sylvester) Sellers (1800-1909). She was born on Deer Isle, Maine, to Revolutionary War Captain Edward and Deborah (Cushman) Sylvester, and lived more than 108 years!<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Salome Sellers, 1903. Credit: Chronicling America Library of Congress, https:\/\/chroniclingamerica.loc.gov\/lccn\/sn83016025\/1903-10-24\/ed-1\/seq-3\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Salome is a direct descendant of Mayflower<\/em> passengers Edward Doty, John Howland, Elizabeth Tilley, Edward Winslow, and Isaac Allerton.<\/p>\n

Here are portraits (left to right) of: Penelope Pelham (1630-1703); her husband Josiah (aka Josias) Edward Winslow (1623-1680); and his father Mayflower<\/em> passenger Edward Winslow (1595-1655).<\/p>\n

\"Illustrations:
Illustrations: Penelope Pelham, Josiah Winslow, and Edward Winslow. Credit: the Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Massachusetts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On 23 December 1830 she married Joseph Sellers (1792-1865), son of Charles and Jerusha (Morey) Sellers, and had six children, leaving descendants. She outlived her husband and all her children but her oldest son, William Raynes Sellers (1832-1909).<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Salome Sellers. Credit: Rick Thiot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before I serve up the main course here are a few nibbles on this prolific character which I found in my research, starting with her obituary published in the Evening Bulletin<\/em> on Monday, 11 January 1909.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Evening Bulletin (Providence, Rhode Island), 11 January 1909, page 9<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

Maines Oldest Women Is Dead at Age of 108<\/p>\n

Mrs. Salome Sellers, who lived at Deer Isle, believed to be most venerable daughter of [the] Revolution and New England inhabitant.<\/p>\n

\u2026Her mother was Miss Deborah Cushman, a granddaughter of Josiah Winslow, one of the Colonial Governors of Massachusetts, who once owned the farm in Marshfield occupied by Daniel Webster at the time of the latter\u2019s death. Mrs. Seller\u2019s claim to being a \u201cColonial Dame\u201d was thus well established.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Salome was a real Daughter of the Revolution<\/a>. She could remember the Embargo Act days of the War of 1812, when she paid 75 cents a yard for \u201ccotton cloth of a very inferior quality.\u201d She was a famous spinner and the oldest member of the Martha Washington Temperence Society. She never wore a corset and stayed clear of spirits.<\/p>\n

She attributed her long life to the following rules:<\/p>\n