{"id":80695,"date":"2021-10-07T13:40:12","date_gmt":"2021-10-07T17:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=80695"},"modified":"2021-12-20T10:48:03","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T15:48:03","slug":"mayflower-descendants-whos-who-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/mayflower-descendants-whos-who-part-ii.html","title":{"rendered":"Mayflower Descendants: Who\u2019s Who, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series profiling descendants of the Mayflower settlers, focusing on the Barnes and Brewster families of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today I continue my series on \u201cWho\u2019s Who\u201d for Mayflower<\/em> descendants with the Barnes and Brewster families of Plymouth, Massachusetts, who descend from Mayflower passengers John Alden, William Brewster, John Howland, Edward Doty, John Tilley, and William Bradford.<\/p>\n

A cherished holiday is Forefathers\u2019 Day, celebrated on December 21* to commemorate the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock in 1620. The tradition began in Plymouth with the Old Colony Club in 1769.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Old Colony Club, Plymouth, Massachusetts. Credit: John Phelan; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Barnes and Brewster families celebrated the holiday with traditional garb and grub.<\/p>\n

In 1974 the Boston Herald<\/em> featured Barnes and Brewster relatives in Pilgrim period attire gearing up for Forefathers\u2019 Day.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 18 December 1974, page 23<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The article reports:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe event is called Forefathers\u2019 Day and has been an annual occurrence since 1769 when the Old Colony club (the oldest social club in continuous existence in this country) first celebrated the Pilgrims\u2019 landing. Since 1820, when the Pilgrim Society was founded \u2018to perpetuate the memory of the virtues, the enterprise and the unparalleled sufferings of the First Settlers of New England,\u2019 this organization has sponsored Forefathers\u2019 Day.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For the 1974 celebration, Mrs. Philip S. Barnes Jr. (nee Carol Ann Walter), along with Mrs. Benjamin Brewster (nee Anne Withington), co-chaired the event. While they tended the meal preparations, they shared hearty history on the colony.<\/p>\n

As the article reports:<\/p>\n

\u201cTables will be set around the skeleton of the Sparrowhawk, the small English ship that foundered on Cape Cod in a storm during the winter of 1626-27. \u2018Another storm, 240 years later, uncovered the remains, giving us the actual timbers of a ship probably very much like the Mayflower,\u2019 points out Mrs. Philip S. Barnes Jr.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: the \u201cSparrowHawk\u201d on exhibit, Boston Common, 1865. Courtesy of Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Massachusetts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to the Pilgrim Hall Museum:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sparrow-Hawk was buried in Orleans, Massachusetts, known as \u2018Old Ship Harbor.\u2019 The timbers were uncovered in a great storm. The ancient hull was removed and reassembled. It was on exhibit at the Boston Common and then given to the Pilgrim Society in 1889. It is the only surviving remains of a 17th century trans-Atlantic vessel.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Carol and Anne detailed old Plymouth-style recipes of their Pilgrim ancestors:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Most people today think of succotash as being corn and lima beans. But it is not,\u2019 states Carol Barnes, who is having the dish made from an old Plymouth recipe. It calls for pea beans, corned beef, fowl, hulled corn, turnips and potatoes, and is served in soup plates.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018The Pilgrims used to freeze it, cutting off chunks at a time and reheating them,\u2019 explained Mrs. Brewster, whose husband\u2019s family descends from Elder Brewster.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The women also talked about dessert:<\/p>\n

\u201cFor dessert there\u2019ll be another old New England dish, Indian Pudding\u2026 but not made from the old Plymouth Colony recipe that says: \u2018Take the morning\u2019s milk and throw into it as much cornmeal as you can hold in the palm of your hand. Let the molasses drip in as you sing Nearer My God to Thee<\/em>, but sing two verses in cold weather.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another interesting detail of the meal:<\/p>\n

\u201cThose attending Saturday night\u2019s dinner will follow the custom of yesteryears and toast the Pilgrims with Cranberry juice. And at each place will be a tiny shell with five kernels of corn. \u2018Alluding to the time when that was the portion allowed to each individual on account of the scarcity,\u2019 points out Carol, referring to Dr. James Thatcher\u2019s History of Plymouth, published in 1835.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Carol listed the food items the Mayflower<\/em> passengers had on the voyage over:<\/p>\n

\u201cBrown sugar and oatmeal; oil, vinegar, butter and cheese; dried peas, prunes and raisins; bacon, salt pork, dried beef and fish; turnips, cabbage, onions and parsnips; spices and jellies; brandy, juice of lemon, drinking water, and beer.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The provisions were not just used on the trip over but were expected to last through the first winter until crops could be planted.<\/p>\n

In the New World, they ate venison, fish and wild fowl, and began importing cattle in 1624. White flour was a luxury so, since necessity is the mother of invention, Rye \u2019n Injun Bread was the substitute, made with rye flour and cornmeal \u2013 and on the menu for the 1974 dinner.<\/p>\n

Many came from all over to celebrate Forefathers\u2019 Day, and one visitor that year was Ruth Gardner Davis Steinway, daughter of Howland Davis and Anna Shippen, and wife of Theodore Edwin Steinway (a former president of the piano dynasty Steinway & Sons). (More coming in another story).<\/p>\n

Ruth\u2019s parents were both prominent members of the Mayflower Society. Her father was trustee of the Pilgrim Society and served as governor general of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants in 1909. Ruth told the Boston Herald<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father came up from New York every solitary year of his life for Forefathers Day. It was more important to him than Christmas.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can read more on the history of Forefathers\u2019 Day at the Old Colony Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/em><\/strong> Just as an online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, helped tell the story of the celebration of Forefathers\u2019 Day, they can tell you stories about your ancestors that can\u2019t be found anywhere else. Come look today and see what you can discover!<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for more Mayflower<\/em> Who\u2019s Who.<\/p>\n

* The Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts on 21 December 1620. However, Forefathers\u2019 Day is actually celebrated on Dec. 22. Why? According to Wikipedia: \u201cIn adjusting the date to the Gregorian calendar, the anniversary was erroneously established on December 22 instead of December 21.\u201d<\/p>\n

Genealogy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Children of Mercie Hatch and Philip Stanley Barnes Sr.<\/p>\n