Died on This Date: Mayflower Ancestor Francis Cooke

By William Halsall - Pilgrim Hall Museum, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=308115

My husband is a descendant of Mayflower ancestors Isaac Allerton, his wife Mary Norris Allerton, their daughter Mary Allerton, and Degory Priest.

Through the detailed research of the Wood cousin who's been doing genealogy for more than three decades, we are now getting acquainted with a fifth Mayflower ancestor, Francis Cooke. Little by little, I'm reviewing the names/dates of the begats and adding all the intermediate ancestor links to the Wood family tree.

Francis Cooke died in Plymouth colony 356 years ago today. William Bradford reportedly wrote a decade before Cooke's death: "Francis Cooke is still living, a very old man, and hath seen his children's children have children." By one estimate, Cooke was about 80 when he died on April 7, 1663.

Listing of Begats

Francis married Hester Mahieu in the early 1600s. He and an older son sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, while she and their younger children sailed on the Anne in 1623. Their youngest child, Mary Cooke, was born in Plymouth. She is my husband's ancestor, according to these begats:

Mary Cooke married John Thomson (or Tomson/Thompson). Their daughter Mary Thomson was the second wife of Thomas B. Taber. Their son Joseph Taber married Elizabeth Spooner. Their son William Taber married Mary Wing. Their son Nicholas Taber married Desire Vincent. Their daughter Harriet Taber married Isaiah Wood Sr. Their son Thomas Haskell Wood is my husband's great-granddaddy!

So if my fingers and toes have counted correctly, Francis Cooke is my husband's 8th great-granddaddy.

The Francis Cooke Society keeps his memory alive and helps descendants prove their Mayflower connection to him.

The Fortune and the Mayflower

EVERYONE knows the name of the first ship from Europe to reach Massachusetts in 1620. But not everyone knows the name of the second ship, the Fortune, which arrived in November of 1621.

The Fortune is vitally important to my husband's family tree: young Thomas Cushman, a passenger on that second ship, later married my husband's Mayflower ancestor, Mary Allerton.

With Mayflower 2020 in mind, I've been doing a bit more research via the NEHGS and via the Hathitrust Digital Library, where there are more than 115,000 results for the phrase "Mayflower descendants" (as shown at top).

The four Pilgrim ancestors in my husband's family tree are:

• Degory Priest, who planned to send for wife Sarah Allerton Priest later, unfortunately didn't survive the first winter. 
• Isaac Allerton, whose first wife (out of three) was
• Mary Norris Allerton...unfortunately, she didn't survive the first winter.
• Mary Allerton, a daughter of Isaac and Mary, who lived into her 80s. Until she died on Nov. 28, 1699, she was known as the final surviving Mayflower passenger.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy Thanksgiving as my #52Ancestors "Thankful" prompt this week.

Family History: Mayflower Sails from Plymouth

Because hubby has four Mayflower ancestors, world history is closely intertwined with family history in his family tree.

On this day, 398 years ago, the Mayflower sailed away from Plymouth, England.

Among the passengers were my husband's ancestors . . .

• Degory Priest
• Isaac Allerton
• Mary Norris Allerton
• Mary Allerton

Mary Allerton would grow up and marry Thomas Cushman (who arrived on the Fortune). Generations later, their descendant Lydia Cushman became my hubby's 3d great-grandmom by marrying Elihu Wood, Sr., on March 2, 1784 in Dartmouth, MA (snippet of record shown above).

Lydia and Elihu's son Isaac Wood, Sr., married Harriet Taber on May 18, 1806. They were my husband's 2d great-grandparents.

One of Harriet and Isaac's sons was Thomas Haskell Wood (1809-1890), who married Mary Amanda Demarest (1831-1897) on May 14, 1845 in Lafayette, Louisiana. These were my husband's great-grandparents. 

Telling these stories over and over reminds descendants how events that occur in the wider world can profoundly influence the course of many individual families' histories--including our own. Looking ahead to Mayflower 2020, which is only two years away!

Saluting Pilgrim Ancestors

As Thanksgiving approaches, I want to salute my husband's four Pilgrim ancestors who arrived on the Mayflower: Isaac Allerton, his wife Mary Norris Allerton, their daughter Mary Allerton, and Degory Priest.

Sadly, neither Degory Priest nor Mary Norris Allerton survived the first year at Plymouth.

There's a new Mayflower Heritage page on AmericanAncestors.org with lots of great details about the Pilgrims, including a page where descendants can be listed. I'm going to check that out!

Reading the Mayflower Society's listing of notable descendants, I see that hubby's connection to Isaac Allerton means he's distantly related to: Louis Comfort Tiffany, Joanne Woodward, Franklin D. Roosevelt (also descended from Degory Priest), and Zachary Taylor. Thanks to the Degory Priest connection, hubby is also distantly related to Richard Gere.

In just a few years, we'll be celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's arrival.

Feeling thankful this Thanksgiving!