Happy 100th Birthday to Dick Van Dyke! Did you know he was a Mayflower Descendant?

 

Dick Van Dyke 1964

We recently watched the PBS production of American Masters “Starring Dick Van Dyke” which aired on 12 December 2025 to honor his 100^th birthday.  You can catch this show airing many times this month on PBS stations and streaming online. Watching this documentary made me nostalgic for the old TV shows and movies like Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but it also made me curious about his family tree.  Of course, since he is so famous, it was easy to find a lot of information on his ancestry online. 

This is what I learned about his family tree:

Dick Van Dyke was born Richard Wayne Van Dyke 13 December 1925 in West Plains, Missouri and raised in Danville, Illinois.  His father, Loren Wayne Van Dyke, is of Dutch origins, and his mother, Hazel Victoria McCord, has English and Scots ancestry.  Dick is a veteran of World War II, where he served as a radio announcer and entertained the troops.  He married Margerie Willet in 1948 on the air for the radio show “Bride and Groom”.  He has four children and seven grandchildren. In 2012 he married Arlene Silver.

As an actor and entertainer Dick Van Dyke’s career spans over 80 years and he has won six Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and a Tony Award.  He is known as a slapstick comedian, singer and dancer, but he is less well known for his many dramatic roles.  He is also related to many other entertainers, including Walt Disney! 

I was surprised to find that Dick Van Dyke has at least eight Mayflower passenger ancestors.  Here is a list from https://famouskin.com/famous-kin-menu.php?name=6554+dick+van+dyke

Francis Eaton

Peter Brown

John Alden

Francis Cooke

Myles Standish

Edward Doty

George Soule

Degory Priest

I won’t give all the details (you can check out the websites listed below), but since I share a few Mayflower ancestors with Dick Van Dyke, here are our shared ancestors, and Dick’s lineage from these few:

Myles Standish

Alexander Standish and Sarah Alden

Sarah Standish and Benjamin Soule

Sarah Soule and Nathan Tinkham

Isaiah Tinkham and Susannah Ellis

Susanna Tinkham and David Child

David Lorenzo Child and Margaret Longwell Dysart

Susan Elizabeth Child and Ninian Alphonse McCord

Charles Cornelius McCord and Adeline Verinda Neal

Hazel Victoria McCord and Loren Wayne Van Dyke

Dick Van Dyke

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Edward Doty

Mary Doty and Samuel Hatch

Hannah Hatch and Japhet Turner

Hannah Turner and William Thomas

Ruth Thomas and Thomas Churchill Ellis

Susannah Ellis and Isaiah Tinkham

(see above)

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George Soule

John Soule and Rebecca Simmons

Benjamin Soule and Sarah Standish

Zachariah Soule and Mary Eaton

Sarah Soule and Nathan Tinkham

Isaiah Tinkham and Susannah Ellis

(see above)

 

Dick Van Dyke descends from the following Great Migration immigrants, and probably many more.  You can have fun finding a cousin connection with some of these colonial settlers.

Benjamin Nye

John Jenny

Griffith Bowen

Nathaniel Child

Edmund Freeman

William Hoskins

Phineas Pratt

John Johnson (c. 1588 -1659)

Thomas Holbrook

William Hatch

William Heath

Moses Simmons

For the truly curious:

For specific details on Dick Van Dyke’s Mayflower ancestors and his other colonial ancestry, see this link at the website Famous Kin:     https://famouskin.com/famous-kin-menu.php?name=6554+dick+van+dyke

Wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Van_Dyke 

The webpage for PBS American Masters “Starring Dick Van Dyke”   https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/dick-van-dyke-documentary/37036/    

All Family Tree results for Dick Van Dyke at Ancestry:    https://www.ancestry.com/search/categories/42/?name=Dick_Van+Dyke&searchMode=advanced 

The Dick Van Dyke webpage:  https://www.officialdickvandyke.com/biography/   

The image above, "Dick Van Dyke in 1964" is by Rogers & Cowan, public relations, Beverly Hills - eBay itemphoto frontphoto back, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79770747

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To cite/link to this blog page:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Happy 100th Birthday to Dick Van Dyke!  Did you know he was a Mayflower Descendant?", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 14, 2025, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/12/happy-100th-birthday-to-dick-van-dyke.html: accessed [access date]). 

Day Four "On the Path of the Pilgrims" Tour by the GSMD

 Click on these links to see the previous days of this tour:

Day One  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/07/on-path-of-pilgrims-tour-from-general.html  

Day Two  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/07/day-two-on-path-of-pilgrims-tour-by-gsmd.html  

Day Three  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/07/day-three-of-path-of-pilgrims-tour-by.html  

Day Four:  Alden House, Standish Burying Ground, Plymouth Rock, Pilgrim Mothers Monument, Pilgrim Hall Museum, Burial Hill, the Mayflower House, the Mayflower II, and back to Plimoth Patuxet to "Eat Like a Pilgrim"  (see below)

Day Five   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/07/day-five-of-path-of-pilgrims-tour-by.html  

The Alden House, Duxbury, Massachusetts

One of the bedrooms inside the Alden House

On the fourth day of the tour we drove to Duxbury, Massachusetts to tour the Alden Homesite.  This historic home and archealogical dig site is operated by the Aden Kindred of America, a lineage society of Alden descendants.  After the Mayflower passengers John and Priscilla left Plymouth, they were granted land in what is now the town of Duxbury.  Their original homesite is about 750 feet from the Alden House.  It was excavated in 1960 by archaeologist Roland Wells Robbins, and the artifacts found are on display inside the house.  

The Alden House was built around 1700 by Jonathan Alden, son of John and Priscilla.  The Alden family occupied this structure for three centuries.  It is the only surviving house from the 1627 land division still owned by the same family.  It is currently a museum house, open to the public, with many family items.  There is also a barn with restrooms, a theater, more displays, and a gift shop. 

A docent led a tour from the Alden House to the
older Alden Homesite nearby

Bricks mark out the excavated basement of the
First Alden Homesite

The Myles Standish Burial Ground is the oldest maintained cemetery in the United States.  Myles Standish and his family, John and Priscilla Alden and their family, and Mayflower passenger George Soule are all buried here.  Originally the Duxbury meetinghouse was built here, but it was abandoned in 1789.  The Duxbury Rural Society bcame interested in restoring the burial place of Myles Standish in 1887, and they exhumed several bodies to find the exact spot. A very impressive and flamoyant monument featuring four cannons was built over the place were his remains were located.  The oldest gravestone in the cemetery is Captain Jonathan Alden, died 1697 (the youngest son of John and Priscilla Alden).  The other Mayflower passengers' gravesites are marked by monuments erected by descendants. 

The Myles Standish Burial Ground, Duxbury, Massachusetts

The Standish family tomb

Visiting my Standish ancestors

George Soule, died 1679, another ancestor

The monuments to John Alden and his wife Priscilla Mullins

We drove back to Plymouth for lunch and some free time to explore the waterfront of Plymouth Harbor.  Vincent and I walked along and viewed the Plymouth Rock, the fountain dedicated to the Pilgrim Mothers, and Mayflower II.  

Plymouth Rock

The Pilgrim Mothers Monument

We rejoined the group tour for a visit to the Pilgrim Hall Museum, operated by the Pilgrim Society.  The museum was dedicated in 1824, and is the oldest public museum in the United States.  This is the place to view Pilgrim possesions donated by the families of the Mayflower passengers, as well as other artifacts including from the native Wampanoags as well as the families from England. There is quite a gallery of art dedicated to the Mayflower story, and a small library and research center.  

Pilgrim Hall Museum

Rev. John Robinson's last sermon to his flock,
as they leave Delftshaven, Holland for the New World

This cup was passed down in the Allerton and Cuschman families

This chest was passed down in the Standish family

Some of the tour members chose to take on a walk up Burial Hill to the cemetery on top.  It is a very steep climb, and it was a hot day.  This is the location of the original fort built by the 1620 settlement, and graves of the earliest families.  Mayflower passengers are buried here including Governor William Bradford, William and Mary Brewster, and John and Elizabeth Howland.  Other notable burials here are Marcy Otis Warren, James Warren, and Governor Thomas Prence. It was a strenuous climb, but well worth it! 

The view from the top of Burial Hill

This monument honors the nearby grave
of John Howland, another ancestor

This monument on Burial Hill lists the Howland family

The Mayflower Society House

The Mayflower Society Rose Garden

The new statue to William Bradford

After climbing back down Burial Hill we walked to the Mayflower Society House on 4 Winslow Street. It is undergoing historical restoration, and is not open for tours this year.  And the Mayflower Society library is not open either.  But we were able to tour the lovely rose gardens behind the house, and see the new statue of William Bradford.  It was dedicated in 2021 for the 400th commemoration of the Mayflower voyage.  It depicts Bradford writing in his journal. 

The Mayflower II

The lower deck of the Mayflower II, where the passengers
endured a voyage of 66 days across the Atlantic Ocean

From the Mayflower Society House we walked down the hill to the Plymouth harbor to visit the Mayflower II.  This is a replica of the original Mayflower ship that arrived in 1620.  The Mayflower II was built in 1957 as a gift from England as a thank you for assistance during World War II.  It is always humbling, as a descendant, to visit this humble little ship.  Our group of 45 grew quiet when we went below decks to the hold where the Mayflower passengers were confined for 66 days during the voyage to the New World.  It's hard to imagine spending a few hours in this space, let alone being squished in there for over two months with 102 passengers, their cargo, and animals.  

After our visit to the Mayflower II we went back to Plimoth Patuxet again, not for a tour, but for a dining experience called "Eat like a Pilgrim".  We had a humble meal of cheate bread, butter, cheddar cheese, local grapes, pickles, roast turkey, onion sauce, apple cider, and Indian pudding. Salt was served in a salt cellar.  Our guide gave us a brief lecture on the table manners and recipes of the 17th century. We tried to eat with no forks, napkins over our shoulders, and using our hands.  It was fun, educational, and a bit messy!  

Stay tuned for Day Five of our tour - the last day!

Back to Plimoth Patuxet for dinner

Vincent enjoying his Pilgrim meal!

For the Truly Curious:

The Alden House Historic Site:   http://alden.org/  

The Myles Standish Burial Ground   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myles_Standish_Burial_Ground  

Pilgrim Memorial State Park (Plymouth Rock and the Forefathers Monument):   https://www.mass.gov/locations/pilgrim-memorial-state-park  

The Pilgrim Mothers Fountain:  https://blog.dar.org/inspired-pilgrim-mothers   

Pilgrim Hall Museum:   https://pilgrimhall.org/  

Burial Hill in Plymouth (including a burial record search and map to locate gravesites):  https://www.plymouth-ma.gov/cemetery-and-crematory-management/pages/burial-hill-cemetery   

The Mayflower Society House:   https://themayflowersociety.org/visit/mayflower-society-house/  

The Mayflower II (operated by the Plimoth Patuxet Museums)   https://plimoth.org/plan-your-visit/explore-our-sites/mayflower-ii  

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Day Four "On the Path of the Pilgrims" Tour by the GSMD", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 27, 2022, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/07/day-four-on-path-of-pilgrims-tour-by.html: accessed [access date]). 

Tobacco in Early Colonial New England

from the pamphlet "Tabaco"
by Anthony Chute, 1594

Whilst mining some early Massachusetts court records for my genealogy research, I was struck by how often my ancestors and their neighbors were mentioned along with documents mentioning tobacco use, abuse, and fines.  I found this very interesting, and I collected some of the stories to tell you in this blog post. You might want to mine the early court records, too!

Tobacco originated in the New World. Soon after European contact tobacco was traded, sold, and imported back to Europe where it was extremely popular.  King James I of England found tobacco to be extremely distasteful, and even penned a book A Counter-blaste to Tobacco where he mentioned on page 11 “That the manifolde abuses of this vile custome of Tobacco taking…” and condemned the practice of using tobacco.  The pope in Rome at this time period, Urban VIII threatened to excommunicate anyone who smoked in a church!

My ancestor, Isaac Allerton, a Mayflower passenger, was a merchant and trader.  He was a witness to the peace treaty with the Wampanoag people on 23 March 1620/21 “Captain Standish and Isaac Allerton went venturously, who were welcomed of him after their manner: he gave them three or four ground nuts and some tobacco." And on 8 June 1654, "Thomas Adams and Isaac Allerton gave a bond...for the delivery of 3000 pounds of tobacco to Director (Governor) Stuyvesant." Again, on June 11, 1649, "Mr. John Treworgie [of Kittery] did acknowledge to have received four thousand wt of Tobacco by Isaac Allerto[n] for the Account of Mr. Georg Ludlow.” [see the website https://sail1620.org/content.php?page=Isaac_Allerton_and_Tobacco ]

In 1637 in Plymouth County the first anti-smoking law was written in New England.  It threatened a 12 pence fine for smoking in any street, barn, outhouse or highway, and for smoking further than 1 mile from home.  A second offense was 2 shillings. One year later, on 4 December 1638, the Mayflower passenger Francis Billington was fined 12 pennies for “drinking tobacco in the highway.” [Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, in New England by Nathaniel B. Shurtleff and David Pulsifer, Volume 1, page 106.]

My ancestor George Soule was appointed in 1646 to a committee to deal with Duxbury’s problem of the disorderly smoking of tobacco.  They drew up strict limitations on where tobacco could be smoked and the fines to be levied. [History of Scituate, Massachusetts: From Its First Settlement to 1831 by Samuel Deane, page 308.]  In the Plymouth Colony records, from 1633 – 1643 there were 8 convictions for tobacco smoking, with 6 fines extracted from the guilty.  Compare this to 6 convictions for swearing and 6 convictions for Lord’s Day violations.  Smoking was more popular, but not as popular as drinking, with 13 convictions resulting in 13 fines.

Also in the Plymouth Colony records “Richard Berry, Jedidiah Lombard, Benjamin Lombard, and james Maker, fined for smoking tobacco at the end of Yarmouth Meeting-house on the Lord’s Day”  Faithful tradition informs us, that the early settlers were greatly addicted to smoking, and they would often disturb divine service by the klicking of flints and steel to light their pipes, and the clouds of smoke in the Church. Hence that law of the Colony, passed 1669: “It is enacted that any person or persons that shall be found smoking of tobacco on the Lord’s day, going to or coming from meetings, within two miles of the Meeting-house, shall pay 12 pence for every such default, for the Colonie’s use, to be increased,” &c.”

And from the book The Language of the Law by David Mellinkoff, 2004  “Tobacco smoking ‘gretlie taken-vp and vsed’ in late sixteenth-century England, troubled the Puritan law makers of the Massachusetts Bay Colonly.  It was a fire hazard, and bothered non-smokers (Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts, Farrand, 1929, page 50) Worse, it led to idleness ‘Tobacco takers’ bore special watching (Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts, Farrand, 1929, page 26”.

Eventually the profits from the cash crop tobacco and the profitable taxing of tobacco eased the Purtian fear of idleness.  Even when doctors and scientists began to identify tobacco as unhealthy, the profits won over reason and settlers began to plant tobacco for sale as a cash crop in New England, as well as all over the middle colonies and the south. 

In my own family history I find a story about Sarah Belden, daughter of Daniel Belden and Elizabeth Foote, about age 14, who in 1696 escaped the Deerfield massacre by hiding in a tobacco field.  Clearly the settlers were growing their own tobacco right from the beginning.  By the 1800s tobacco farming as a large cash crop was well established in the Massachusetts Connecticut Valley. [“History of Tobacco Production in the Connecticut Valley” by Elizabeth Ramsey, Smith College Studies in History, Volume 15 (Apr – July 1930), pages 133 – 134].

The Puritan fear of idleness and sin lead eventually led to the Blue Laws which banned all sorts of activities on Sundays, including smoking and alcohol.  The legacy of the Puritans was strict control over tobacco use, including taxes and fines.  These rules forbade the sale of Tobacco on Sundays until 1983.  The control over tobacco still persists through health codes and recent laws such as raising the age to buy tobacco to age 21 in Massachusetts in 2018.  Some blue laws remain on the books (yet unenforced) such as hunting on Sundays. 

For the truly curious:

A Counter-blaste to Tobacco, by James I (King of England), 1604 – available online through Google Books.

The Pennsylvania Mayflower Society “Isaac Allerton and Tobacco” by John M. Hunt, Jr. https://sail1620.org/content.php?page=Isaac_Allerton_and_Tobacco

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tobacco in Early Colonial New England", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 17, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/09/tobacco-in-early-colonial-new-england.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ SIMMONS of Duxbury, Massachusetts

SIMMONS / SYMONS / SIMONSON / SYMONDS

Moses Simmons or Moyses Simonson, my 9^th great grandfather, came to the Plymouth Colony as a young teenager on November 19, 1621 from Leyden, Holland in the second boat of Pilgrims on the ship Fortune.  He received a grant of land along with Philip Delano, who also arrived with him from Leyden.  He was made a freeman in 1633.  Sometime about 1635 he married his wife Sarah.  Her maiden name is still unknown.  They had seven children.

Moses signed his name with a mark, meaning he was functionally illiterate. He was made the Duxbury town surveyor of highways in 1657 and 1662, and surveyor of highways for Scituate in 1675. He was described as a yeoman, which means he was a farmer.  He has many land transactions in the Plymouth County records, and he deeded all his lands to his children before his death.  In his will he left only money to his children.  The inventory of his estate included no land [Plymouth Probate Records Volume 1, 107]

Moses’s oldest child, Rebecca, is my 8^th great grandmother. She married John Soule, son of Mayflower passenger George Soule.  Her daughter, Rebecca Soule, married Edmund Weston, and had a son, Nathan Weston who married Desire Standish, the granddaughter of two Mayflower passengers – Capt. Myles Standish and Edward Doty.

John Simmons, founder of Simmons Female College in 1899, where my daughter received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Some Simmons resources:

History of the Simmons Family from Moses Simmons, by Lorenzo Albert Simmons, 1930 (available at Ancestry.com)

The Ancestry of John Simmons Founder of Simmons College, by Henry Sherburne Rowe, 1933

Records of the Colony of New Plymouth In New England, edited by Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, 1855

My Simmons Genealogy:

Generation 1:  Moses Simmons, born about 1605 in Leyden, Holland and died 15 September 1691 in Duxbury, Massachusetts; married about 1632 to Sarah Unknown.  Seven children.

Generation 2:  Rebecca Simmons, died before 1678 in Duxbury; married about 1654 in Duxbury to John Soule, son of George Soule and Mary Beckett.  He was born about 1632 in Plymouth and died before 14 November 1707 in Duxbury. Nine children.

Generation 3:  Rebecca Soule m. Edmund Weston

Generation 4:  Nathan Weston m. Desire Standish

Generation 5:  Nathan Weston m. Hannah Everson

Generation 6:  Zadoc Weston m. Mary Clements

Generation 7:  Matilda Weston m. Joseph Edwin Healy

Generation 8:  Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 9: Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

Generation 10: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ SIMMONS of Duxbury, Massachusetts”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 13, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/10/surname-saturday-simmons-of-duxbury.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ DOTY of the Mayflower

DOTY / DOTEN / DOUGHTY / DOTIE /DOLTON

My 8^th great grandfather, Edward Doty, was a passenger on the Mayflower in 1620 to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and signed the Mayflower Compact. His origins are still unknown.  He was a servant to Stephen Hopkins during the voyage and for the first few years in Plymouth.  The first duel (with a sword and dagger) in New England was in 1621 between Edward Doty and Edward Leister, both servants to Hopkins.  Both were wounded, and both were punished by being bound with their head and feet together.  The sentence was for them to be bound for 24 hours, but within one hour “because of their great pains, and at their own and their master’s humble request, upon promise of better carriage, they are released by the governor” [A Chronological History of New England, by Thomas Prince, 1852, pages 190-191]

After this and Doty was in court many times for fighting, trespass, slander and debt.  But he married twice, prospered, had an apprentice. In his will he left land and property to his sons and wife.  In Faith’s will she left her land, willed to her from her husband, to her son John Doty.

 I descend from his daughter, Desire, my 7^th great grandmother, who married Alexander Standish, the son of Mayflower passenger Myles Standish.   Alexander also married Sarah Alden, daughter of Pilgrims John Alden and Priscilla Mullins.  Desire had eleven children by three husbands and outlived them all.  Her will written in 1723 mentions a sons William Sherman, Ebenezer Sherman, Israel Holmes, John Holmes, Thomas Standish and Ichabod Standish; and daughters Hannah Ring, Experience Standish and Desire Weston (my 6^th great grandmother). 

For the truly curious:

The Great Migration Begins, by Robert Charles Anderson, Volume 1, pages 573 - 577.

The Doty - Doten Family in America, by Ethan Allen Doty, 1897. 

Mayflower Families Five Generations, Doty, published by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Volume 11,  1996.

The Pilgrim Edward Doty Society:   http://www.edwarddoty.org/  

The General Society of Mayflower Descendants:  https://www.themayflowersociety.org/

My DOTY genealogy:

Generation 1:  Edward Doty, born about 1599, died 23 August 1655 at Plymouth, Massachusetts; married first to unknown before 1634; married second on 6 January 1635 in Plymouth to Faith Clark, daughter of Thurston Clark and Faith Unknown.  She was born about 1619 and died before 21 December 1675 in Marshfield, Massachusetts. Faith was the mother of nine children.  She remarried to John Phillips on 14 March 1667 in Plymouth as his second wife.

Generation 2: Desire Doty, born about 1645 in Plymouth, died 22 January 1731 in Marshfield; married first to William Sherman on 25 December 1667 in Marshfield (six children); married second on 24 November 1681 in Marshfield to Israel Holmes (two children); and married third before 1689 to Alexander Standish, son of Mayflower passenger Captain Myles Standish and Barbara Unknown.  He was born about 1626 in Plymouth and died 6 July 1702 in Duxbury.  Desire and Alexander Standish had three children together. 

Generation 3:  Desire Standish, born 5 May 1689 in Marshfield, died 20 June 1766 in Plympton; married on 21 February 1716 in Plympton to Nathan Weston, son of Edmund Weston and Rebecca Soule (granddaughter of Mayflower passenger George Soule).  He was born 8 February 1689 in Plympton, and died 11 October 1754 in Plympton.  Four children.

Generation 4: Nathan Weston m. Hannah Everson

Generation 5:  Zadoc Weston m. Mary Clements

Generation 6:  Matilda Weston m. Joseph Edwin Healy

Generation 7:  Mary Etta Healey m.  Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 8:  Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

Generation 9:  Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (My grandparents)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ DOTY of the Mayflower”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 22, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/09/surname-saturday-doty-of-mayflower.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ SOULE of the Mayflower

SOULE /  SOOLE /  SOLE /

George Soule (about 1593 – 1680), my 9^th great grandfather, was a passenger on the ship Mayflower in 1620.  He was then a young, unmarried man, and a servant of Edward Winslow.  He signed the Mayflower Compact.

George’s wife, Mary Buckett, arrived on the ship Anne in 1623.  They were married around 1625, and by the time of the May 1627 Cattle Division he was listed with Mary and their first son, Zachariah as the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth people in the ninth company.  They removed to “Duxburrow” or Duxbury where he lived for the rest of his life and is buried there.  During his life he served as deputy, on the grand jury, and other civic positions appointed at town meetings.   He had nine children.

I descend from George’s son, John (about 1632 – 1707) who apparently had a family rift with his sister, Patience.  In George’s 1677 will he recorded “If my son John Soule above named or his heirs or assigns or any of them shall at any time disturb my daughter Patience or her heirs or assigns or any of them in peaceable possession or enjoyment of the lands I have given her at Nemasket alias Middleboro and recover the same from her or her heirs or assigns or any of them; that then my gift to my son John Soule shall be void: and that then my will is my daughter Patience shall have all my lands at Duxbury and she shall be my sole executrix of this my last will and testament and enter into my housing lands and meadows at Duxbury.”  John married Rebecca Simmons and had nine children.

John’s daughter, Rebecca (1656 – 1732) is my 6^th great grandmother.  She married Edmund Weston about 1688 and had six children. 

Notable descendants:  actors Richard Gere and Dick Van Dyke

For more SOULE information:

The Great Migration Begins, by Richard Charles Anderson, 1995, Volume III, pages 1704-1708

Note:  Anderson reports “serious flaws” in the Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Volume Three: George Soule, 1980.  He recommends two articles which point out the problems in The Genealogist, Volume 1, pages 225 – 258, and also in The American Genealogist, Volume 57, pages 57 – 58.

The Soule Kindred (Soule family association)  https://soulekindred.org/   

Family Tree DNA project for George Soule:

https://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=Soule   

My SOULE genealogy:

Generation 1:  George Soule, born about 1593, died 22 January 1679/80 in Duxbury, Massachusetts; married about 1623 in Plymouth, Massachusetts to Mary Beckett.  She was born about 1602 and died 16 December 1676 in Duxbury.  Nine children.

Generation 2:  John Soule, born about 1632 in Plymouth, died before 14 November 1707 in Duxbury; married about 1654 in Duxbury to Rebecca Simmons, daughter of Moses Simmons and Sarah Unknown.  She died before 1678 in Duxbury.  Nine children

Generation 3:  Rebecca Soule, born about 1656 in Duxbury, died 18 November 1732 in Plympton, Massachusetts; married about 1688 to Edmund Weston, son of Edmund Weston.  He was born about 1660 and died 23 September 1727 in Plympton.  Six children.

Generation 4: Nathan Weston born 8 Feburary 1689 in Plympton, Massachusetts m. Desire Standish (granddaughter of two other Mayflower passengers - Myles Standish and Edward Doty) on 21 February 1716 in Plympton.  He died on 11 October 1754 in Plympton.  Four children. 

Generation 5:  Nathan Weston m. Hannah Everson.  This couple removed to Nova Scotia in the 1760s and had nine children, some born in Plympton and some born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  Nathan died in Yarmouth in 1780, and Hannah died in Yarmouth in 1814. 

Generation 6:  Zadoc Weston m. Mary Clements. He had three wives (Mary Pratt about 1785 (no children?),  Sarah Mac Duffie about 1790 (seven children?), and last Mary Clements, my 4th great grandmother, about 1824) 

Generation 7:  Matilda Weston m. Joseph Edwin Healy. This couple was born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, married in Canada, and removed to Beverly, Massachusetts where four children were born between 1852 and 1857.  Joseph died at the Battle of Saint Charles in Arkansas during the Civil War, when his iron-clad ship exploded. 

Generation 8:  Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 9:  Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

Generation 10: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ SOULE of the Mayflower”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 15, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/09/surname-saturday-soule-of-mayflower.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ WESTON of Duxbury, Massachusetts

WESTON / WESTIN  / WESTING

My 8^th great grandfather is Edmund Weston (about 1605 – 1686), who is of unknown origins.  He arrived in New England on 8 May 1635 aboard the Elizabeth & Ann.  He was a servant to John Winslow and to Nathaniel Thomas before setting in Duxbury, Massachusetts where he took the oath as a freeman in 1639.  The name of his wife is unknown.  His will names his four children.

In the second generation, my 7^th great grandfather is Edmund Weston (about 1660 – 1727) who removed to Plympton and owned a grist mill.  He married Rebecca Soule, the granddaughter of Mayflower passenger George Soule.  They had six children.

Their son, Nathan Weston (1689 – 1754) is my 6^th great grandfather.  He was listed as a laborer.  He married Desire Standish, the granddaughter of two more Mayflower passengers, Captain Myles Standish and Edward Doty.  Nathan and Desire had four children born in Plympton.

Nathan Weston, Jr. (1723 – 1780), my 5^th great grandfather, was granted 500 acres of land in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 1766.  He arrived in Melbourne (10 miles from Yarmouth) in 1767 and is on a list of grantees dated 7 April 1767.  His wife was Hannah Everson, and they had nine children born in Plympton and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

Zadoc Weston (about 1761 – 1849) , my 4^th great grandfather, was probably born in Plympton, and he owned a grist mill there.  In Chester, Nova Scotia he was listed as a laborer, and he married his wife, Mary Pratt there in 1785.  His second wife was Sarah MacDuffie.  His third wife was Mary Clements, mother of my 3^rd great grandmother, Matilda Weston (1825 – 1909).

Matilda was born in Yarmouth, where she probably married my 3^rd great grandfather, Joseph Edwin Healy, who was also born there.  They had four children born in Beverly, Massachusetts.  My Weston line daughters out here, but my family stayed in Beverly until I was born there, too.  Matilda was left a widow when her husband died in 1862 at the Battle of Saint Charles, Arkansas during the Civil War. She remained a widow until her death in 1909. 

Some WESTON resources:

Mayflower Descendant, Volume 15, pages 186 – 189 (corrects an earlier sketch of Edmund Weston’s descendants in the NEHGS Register Volume 41, pages 285 – 286)

National Genealogical Society Quarterly Volume 71, pages 41 – 63

Yarmouth Genealogies, page 410

My WESTON genealogy:

Generation 1:  Edmund Weston, born about 1605 in England, died between 18 April and 3 June 1686 in Duxbury, Massachusetts; married about 1658 to Unknown.  Four children.

Generation 2:  Edmund Weston, born about 1660, died 23 September 1727 in Plympton, Massachusetts; married in 1688 to Rebecca Soule, daughter of John Soule and Rebecca Simonson.  She was born in 1656 in Duxbury, and died 18 November 1732 in Plympton.  Six children.

Generation 3:  Nathan Weston, born 8 February 1689 in Plympton, died 11 October 1754 in Plympton; married on 21 February 1716 in Plympton to Desire Standish, daughter of Alexander Standish and Desire Doty.  Four children.

Generation 4:  Nathan Weston, born 11 July 1723 in Plympton, died after 29 February 1780 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia; married on 29 August 1751 in Kingston, Massachusetts to Hannah Everson, daughter of John Everson and Silence Staples.  She was born 6 July 1732 in Kingston, and died 26 April 1814 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  Nine children.

Generation 5:  Zadoc Weston, born about 1761 probably in Plympton, died 1849 in Nova Scotia; married first to Sarah MacDuffie, second to Mary Pratt, and third to my 4^th great grandmother, Mary Clements.

Generation 6:  Matilda Weston, born in October 1825 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, died 19 August 1909 in Beverly, Massachusetts; married on 3 February 1848 in Canada to Joseph Edwin Healy, son of Comfort Healy and Rebecca Crosby.  He was born 12 August 1823 in Yarmouth and died 17 June 1862 at the Battle of Saint Charles, Arkansas during the Civil War.  Four children.

Generation 7:  Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 8:  Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

Generation 9:  Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ WESTON of Duxbury, Massachusetts”,  Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 14, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/04/surname-saturday-weston-of-duxbury.html: accessed [access date]).