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Joy wrote:Church sign I saw while traveling last Saturday: On THANKSGIVING, are you THANKFUL, or just FULL?

Good one !

OP: 2017 / US Thanksgiving
(US Thanksgiving began in Plymouth/Plimouth Colony, British Colonies)
http://forum.mennonet.com/viewtopic.php ... t=bradford

Robert wrote:[video][/video]

William Bradford.
Family Search http://www.familysearch.org
just sent a finding that William Bradford is my 1st Cousin, 11 times removed.
With names+dates to trace back. Through my father’s mother. i had no idea.

Last year, i viewed a melancholy and fascinating documentary on the Mayflower journey, largely featuring William Bradford, especially about the importance his writings to history of his time, beginning when he was an orphaned child in England, and how the Bible was a great influence on him, from a child.

The impact of getting printed Bibles into “everyone’s” hands cannot be overstated.

December 2019 / When the Puritans banned Christmas
http://forum.mennonet.com/viewtopic.php ... ims#p75056

temporal1 wrote:i recently viewed a documentary on the Pilgrims. kinda sad.

Trailer: Ric Burns / The Pilgrims / 3 min.




i enjoy historical documentaries, attempts at reenactments.
it’s so hard to understand people IN ACCURATE CONTEXT of their day.
i always wonder, “where would i have been?” “what would i have done?”
i imagine tough times.

i have a lot of empathy, people TRY so hard.

i think it’s pretty safe to guess, we would be no better than any, and, maybe not as good.
one day we will be, might be, remembered in some light. what will it be?

i honestly doubt our current significance in history. i’m not sensing anything-much worth remembering. “The Annoying Ones?!”
many grand cultures have been covered up in history, leaving little or nothing behind.

i believe scriptures about this temporal world.

Reviewing Ric Burns’ documentary now, the similarities in motivation of these believers with Anabaptists is striking. They left England to live in “freer” Holland, eventually decided Holland culture was too worldly, then took the very radical and very risky journey to the Colonies.

i think Ric Burns’ decision to present this work in melancholy terms fits the history.
which is hard to grasp from where today’s world exists. imho.

temporal1 wrote:just sent a finding that William Bradford is my 1st Cousin, 11 times removed.

Fun! You are then a cousin of my wife, who also can trace ancestry to William Bradford.

JimFoxvog wrote:

temporal1 wrote:just sent a finding that William Bradford is my 1st Cousin, 11 times removed.

Fun! You are then a cousin of my wife, who also can trace ancestry to William Bradford.

i’m a rank amateur, from what i’ve learned, my guess is, everyone on this forum is related, everyone likely is related to various historical figures. it seems so odd how family stories are lost with time. sometimes deliberately.

my parents had a puzzling mix of keen interest with intentional disregard.

i think this was common, and continues on differing levels. my father, esp, did not want young people to inherit the sins of (warring, clannish Europe). however, to not know history pretty much leads to repetition.

it’s just very strange to find direct connections to history i read about, before not believing there were direct connections. practically speaking, i knew my family “had to be” somewhere during these historical events. i never expected in the middle of them! not at all.

at this point i tell my family, whatever event, chances are we have some ancestor in the middle of it! this is very new thinking for me. it’s very odd.

i do believe, it’s probably very common, just not widely known. that “we” are more directly connected with the past, and each other, than we know.

temporal1 wrote:i’m a rank amateur, from what i’ve learned, my guess is, everyone on this forum is related, everyone likely is related to various historical figures.

I expect almost all folks of European ancestry have a connection to royalty, and the royal family line is all related and well-documented. As my ancestors came to the US from Scandanavia, I don't have US history connections. But my son found out how my wife and I are distant cousins through the royal lines.

JimFoxvog wrote:

temporal1 wrote:i’m a rank amateur, from what i’ve learned, my guess is, everyone on this forum is related, everyone likely is related to various historical figures.

I expect almost all folks of European ancestry have a connection to royalty, and the royal family line is all related and well-documented. As my ancestors came to the US from Scandanavia, I don't have US history connections. But my son found out how my wife and I are distant cousins through the royal lines.

yes, royalty kept records ‘way back, militaries, churches.
some of my ancestors are from Scandinavia, i don’t know very much yet. my family knew nothing of this. i recently found some Van Meters from Holland, who sold horses on the East Coast.

borders changed, and continue to change.
for instance, on Ancestry.com, DNA results use borders that can include England, Northern France, and Denmark, as one region. i tend to think of current national borders, i have to remind myself to dig a bit deeper to understand what’s being said in its context.

my brother and his wife have long had a hunch they are somehow related, may be.
i haven’t found it yet. if not related, ancestors likely crossed paths (in Pennsylvania?) in the past.

Governor [not sure what that title refers to] Edward Fuller of the Mayflower is my 10th great-grandfather, lucky him. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact.

My cousin told me he has spent forty years documenting our ancestry. Better him than me.

I think I am related to the turkey.

Robert wrote:I think I am related to the turkey.

The resemblance is striking.

Joy wrote:Governor [not sure what that title refers to] Edward Fuller of the Mayflower is my 10th great-grandfather, lucky him. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact.

My cousin told me he has spent forty years documenting our ancestry. Better him than me.

Today, with the internet, most of us are cheaters compared with the real work some put into keeping and searching records.

For instance, this recent connection came to me in email from Family Search.
i thought, “no, it can’t be.” then, i viewed the relationship path (names+dates) going back,
they even determined “1st Cousins, 11 times removed,”
this doesn’t represent much effort on my part!
But it gives me a lot to think about.

For many years i’ve thought about “what makes people tick,” and, how messages are passed down over generations. We’re created by God, unique creations, AND, we are influenced in many ways, with thousands of messages coming to us, probably beginning before we’re born.

Families pass down information (i think of it as passing batons in relay races) batons are passed, but who+where+why may not be remembered. But the messages keep going.

(i think) we are impacted by ‘way more than we realize.

So, i enjoy dabbling in these old records. Altho i don’t feel my brain is able to comprehend much of the results. It does spark the imagination. It makes history seem less remote.

i’m able to tell my family, “you came from somewhere,” “all these people before us valued Jesus Christ and sacrificed for Him.” in all these various ways.

so many seem to believe life began when they were born, or, often, maybe when they turned 16, or so. everything is of the moment, and revolves around self. this is a pretty sad way to live, imho.

when humans are born, they are 100% self-centered, this is necessary and by God’s design.
but, the design is that we are to grow beyond that over our lifetimes. (i think) the “me” culture interferes with human emotional development. i also think tiny families contribute to the me culture.

my immediate family is pretty tiny. not by my plan or desire.
i hope helping them recognize a bigger picture helps them with perspective. the world is not helping with perspective. the world endorses+encourages self-centeredness.

In the past, genealogies were misused for division and divisive purposes. It’s not always harmless.
Lots of people have no interest at all. i think genealogies have usefulness. i’m thankful for the records that were kept over time, for various reasons. and for all the work a lot of people have donated, much of it volunteered, for the greater good.

so much work of all types is done by anonymous people who just do what they can never seeking notoriety. these are the people who “make the world go round,” while never named in any headline. would there be a world without “worker bees?” i have my doubts.

one thing i’ve just learned about the Mayflower is, only about half on board were Pilgrims.
they didn’t want to travel with strangers and ruffians, but it turned out that way. they were forced to live in close quarters together, in rough conditions on an old, creaky ship!

the Mayflower Compact was written in attempt to “set some ground rules” to help them all, believers+scoundrels, survive on land. the number of Mayflower Pilgrims was small. there were so many ways they could have all been lost and long forgotten. it’s hard to imagine how they even decided to give it a try. on that rickety old ship.