2021 Updated Mayflower 400th Anniversary Schedule

 

Events in the autumn of 2021 celebrating the 400th anniversary of the First Thanksgiving:

August 28, 2021 - Mayflower International Genealogical Conference held online via Zoom with a worldwide audience.  https://www.mayflower400uk.org/events/2021/august-2021/mayflower-international-genealogical-conference/   

September 4 and 5, 2021- The Maritime Salute to the 400th Anniversary at Plymouth, Massachusetts.  Two days of free history themed festivities at Plymouth Harbor with wooden masted ships including the Mayflower, schooner Harvey Gamage, tall ship Lynx, the Coast Guard cutter Sturgeon, and the NOAA research vessel R/V AUK.  Activities for the whole family, food, music, tour the ships, and an outdoor concert 7:30pm Saturday night by the Plymouth Philharmonic orchestra following a lighted boat parade. Artisans include the Wampanoag and other local artists. Sunday will be a community day with family activities. 

September  7 -12, 2021 - The General Society of Mayflower Descendants Board of Assistants meeting, Massachusetts. This will include a dedication ceremony for the bronze statue of William Bradford in the garden of the Mayflower House and a Pilgrim's Progress.  (The General Society of Mayflower Descendants Triennial Congress in Plymouth, Massachusetts was cancelled for 2020, and the business portions of the event were held via Zoom for delegates.  Most of the other events held during this Congress will be moved to the 2021 General Board of Assistants Meeting which will be held to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the First Thanksgiving.  The insignia shop will be open at the 1620 Hotel 8am - 5pm on Sept. 9.  The Pilgrim's Progress will be Sept. 11 at 1pm from the Mayflower House, to a wreath laying at Cole's Hill to the National Pilgrim Meeting House.  

October 11, 2021- Virtual Wampanoag Ancestors Walk.  https://www.plymouth400inc.org/event/wampanoag-ancestors-walk/  

November 06, 2021 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (Eastern Time) LEIDEN SYMPHONIC PROJECT ORCHESTRA ANTONÍN DVORÁK: SYMPHONY NO. 9 “FROM THE NEW WORLD On Saturday, November 6, 2021, the great ‘Mayflower Concert’ will finally take place: the Ninth Symphony by composer Antonín Dvorák, will be performed in the Hooglandse Kerk, conducted by Guido Marchena. This popular symphony ‘From the New World’ symbolizes the Pilgrim Fathers, who sailed to America 400 years ago on the glorious ‘Mayflower’, in search of a new homeland. The concert, which lasts about an hour, offers an excellent opportunity for all descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers to pay their respects. Live from Hooglandse Kerk Leiden. Click here for the livestream or copy this URL to your browser: https://youtu.be/apB1jb4M1jE

More information about the concert and tips for listening can be found at this link: https://singalongevents.nl/leiden400/

November 18, 2021 at 8pm "Surviving New England's Great Dying" on NH PBS. A great plague decimated New England's coastal Native communities just prior to the Pilgrim's arrival, altering the course of colonialism. This is the story of the Great Dying, and how tribal leaders are learning from the past as they deal the the effects of today's pandemic. This important TV show will be aired at 8 different times - see this page for more information: https://nhpbs.org/schedule/series.aspx?progName=Surviving+New+England%27s+Great+Dying

November 18, 2021, at 8:30pm "Stephano: The True Story of Shakespeare's Shipwreck" will be aired on NH PBS.  Check your local PBS station to see when this documentary will be aired.  This fast paced film follows several story lines at once - the friendship between Stephen Hopkins and Tisquantum, the story of Jamestown, the voyage of the Mayflower, Shakespeare's play "The Tempest", Pocahontas's visit to London, and the kidnapping of Tisquantum.  You won't believe how they intertwine into one film!  

November 20, 2021, 10am - Noon - The Plymouth, Massachusetts annual Thanksgiving Parade, and the theme will be "400th Anniversary of Thanksgiving with the Wampanoag".  See the website https://usathanksgiving.com/ for details on the schedule and more information.  Will be aired live on WCVB Boston TV. 

November 20, 2021 - "Behind the Holiday: The First Thanksgiving" a documentary film, will premiere at Plimoth Patuxet museum at 6pm.  It will also air on the Smithsonian Channel on November 22, and be available on iTunes afterwards.  For tickets to the premiere event at Plimoth Patuxet Museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts, see this link:  https://plimoth.org/events/behind-the-holiday-the-first-thanksgiving-film-premiere-reception?mc_cid=e5c8bcd8f0&mc_eid=8cf6024ba3  

November 20, 2021, 4:30pm - Illumination Ceremony, at the Mayflower Meetinghouse (the former First Parish Church) in the Town Square of Plymouth, Massachusetts.  Free to the public. Participants will be given a battery operated candle to hold inside the meetinghouse, and then a William Bradford re-enactor will lead the participants down Leyden Street to the band stand where final words will be spoken before ending the event. 

November 25, 2021 (Thursday)  National Holiday of Thanksgiving will be observed.

November 25, 2021 - 7:30pm on WGBH TV Boston "Surviving New England's Great Dying", please check your local PBS station to see when this important TV show will be aired in your area.  

November 25, 2021 at 9pm, The Pilgrims: American Experience will be aired on WGBH, Boston's public TV station.  Please check your local PBS station to see when it airs in your area. 

EXTRA

May 29 - June 10, 2022   Mayflower Heritage Tour to Amsterdam, Leiden, Delfshaven, Harwich, Boston, Retford, Scrooby, Babworth, Gainsborough, Stratford-upon-Avon, Droitwich Spa, Worcester, Plymouth, Southampton, Dorking and London.  Visit the website:   https://mayflower400tours.com/package/MMT22/   

See these links for more information:

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

Plymouth 400 website:   https://www.plymouth400inc.org/   

United Kingdom Mayflower 400 Events:  https://www.mayflower400uk.org/events/  

America's Hometown Thanksgiving Celebration:   https://usathanksgiving.com/  

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Cite Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "2021 Updated Mayflower 400th Anniversary Schedule", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 23, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/08/2021-updated-mayflower-400th.html: accessed [access date]). 

A Mermaid! For Weathervane Wednesday

Today's weathervane was photographed in Falmouth, Massachusetts

This two dimensional mermaid weathervane was photographed on the cupola above the entrance to the Osborn and Rugh art gallery in Falmouth, Massachusetts.  It is one of those quirky New England businesses with no set time schedule, just open when you see the flag outside the front door, or by an appointment arranged ahead of time.  The mermaid is holding a seashell, and the cardinal points below seem to be tied to the cupola with a large link from a chain? Or a serpent?  It's all a mystery...

For the truly curious:

Osborn & Rugh Gallery, 114 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth, Massachusetts:

    https://www.osbornandrughgallery.com/    

Click on this link to see over 430 Weathervane Wednesday blog posts!

   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday   

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To Cite/Link to this post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Mermaid! For Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 18, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/08/a-mermaid-for-weathervane-wednesday.html: accessed [access date]).  

The Mary Baker Eddy Birthplace

 

BIRTHPLACE
OF
MARY BAKER EDDY
DISCOVERER AND FOUNDER
OF
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

Nearby our home in Manchester, New Hampshire off Route 3A and the Merrimack River is a historic site we never visited until just a few weeks ago.  We drive by it all the time on our way to Concord, passing through the small town of Bow.  There is a small wooden sign "The Birthplace of Mary Baker Eddy", but usually we are too busy to stop, or it is winter and the entrance is snowed in, or the gate is closed, or some other mundane reason.  Finally, we stopped by to see this spot.

The entrance is on Baker Road, up a steep hill from busy Route 3A. The trees form a tunnel, which is lush and quiet.  By the time you reach the top of the hill it is silent except for the distant sounds of traffic on Route 93 nearby.  This little wooded park is squeezed in between routes 3A and 93.  At the time of Mary Baker Eddy's birth in 1821 the area was heavily deforested farm land.  It is hard to imagine her family farm now, since the buildings no longer exist and the landscape has changed so much.

Mary Morse Baker was born on July 16, 1821 to her parents Mark Baker and Abigail Barnard Ambrose.  The family removed from Bow to Sanbornton Bridge (now the town of Tilton) in 1836.  She married George Washington Glover in 1843, but he died of Yellow Fever after only six months. She remarried in 1853 to Daniel Patterson, a local dentist, but divorced him in 1872.  In 1875 she published her book Science and Health, which was her guide to her new movement which became known as Christian Science.  Today there are over 1,500 Christian Science churches in over 70 countries. 

In 1877 she married Asa Gilbert Eddy, and became Mary Baker Eddy.  In 1882 the couple removed to Boston, and Gilbert Eddy died the same year.  She established her own church in Boston, and in 1888 opened a reading room which sold her books and bibles.  The founded the Christian Science Monitor newspaper in 1908.  She died at age 89 on 3 December 1910 at 400 Beacon Street in Newton, Massachusetts, and was buried at the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  

In 1921 a granite pyramid weighing 100 ton was installed at her birthplace in Bow.  It was blown up (dynamite) in 1962, and her former home in Concord was destroyed, too, because the Christian Science church believed they would become pilgrimage spots.  Her homes in Swampscott, Amesbury, Stoughton, Lynn and Newton (all in Massachusetts) are owned by the Longyear Museum and open to visitors. 

Signs at the birthplace parking area show how the farm and dwelling would have looked in 1821

This engraving was made in 1898 by Mary Baker Eddy's cousin, Rufus H. Baker

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For the truly curious:

"The Dearest Spot On Earth: The Birthplace of Mary Baker Eddy", a blog post from the Mary Baker Eddy Library   https://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/research/the-dearest-spot-on-earth-the-birthplace-of-mary-baker-eddy/  

The Longyear Museum and the Mary Baker Eddy Historic Houses:  https://www.longyear.org/   

Wikipedia article on Mary Baker Eddy:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Baker_Eddy   

The Ancestry of Mary Baker Eddy, edited by William Montgomery Clemens, 1924, published by the University of Wisconsin - Madison.  Available to read or download for free online at Google Books at this link:  https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Ancestry_of_Mary_Baker_Eddy/SIZIAAAAMAAJ?hl=en     

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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Mary Baker Eddy Birthplace", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 10, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-mary-baker-eddy-birthplace.html: accessed [access date]). 

2021 Locke Family Reunion

Photo credit to Geoff Smith of the Locke Family Association

On August 7, 2021 some members of the Locke Family Association gathered by Zoom for a business meeting, and then met in the Rye, New Hampshire Central Cemetery for the annual reunion photo at the John Locke (1627 - 1696) cenotaph.  This is the 131st annual reunion for the Locke Family Association.  Last year a small group of members met in this same spot for a masked photo to uphold the tradition of the annual reunion. On the home page of the Locke Family association online there is a comment "Neither wars nor pandemics have stopped Locke reunions".  

The Locke Family Association has a website https://www.lockefamilyassociation.org/, a Facebook group, and a newsletter "The Locke Sickle and Sword" named after the two artifacts owned by John Locke of Rye now held at the New Hampshire Historical Society.  Next year they are planning a reunion in Springfield, Missouri to honor Locke descendant and author Laura Ingalls Wilder, and in 2023 the reunion will return to New Hampshire in honor of the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Portsmouth and Rye, New Hampshire.  The first reunion was held in Rye, New Hampshire in 1891. 

If you are a descendant of any of the early Locke Families of New England please consider joining the Locke Family Association.  Members include descendants of Captain John Locke of Rye, New Hampshire (including his brother Nathaniel Locke of Portsmouth, New Hampshire) and descendants of Deacon William Locke of Woburn, Massachusetts. There are over 300 members from more than three countries. 

IN MEMORY OF

CAPT. JOHN LOCKE

WHO CAME FROM ENGLAND TO THESE

SHORES ABOUT 1640.

HE WAS KILLED BY THE INDIANS

AUG. 25, 1696 AT THE AGE OF 70 YEARS,

WHILE REAPING IN HIS FIELD AT LOCKE'S

NECK, THIS TOWN.

Even the youngest members signed the annual reunion book.

In past years the members of the Locke Family Association have met at Locke's Neck where John Locke is probably buried in the old family burial ground on Locke Road.  The Association owns and preserves this little burial ground, and works with the Rye Historical Society to preserve and document the landmarks in the town. 

For the truly curious:

May 21, 2016, "Surname Saturday - Locke of Rye, New Hampshire"

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/05/surname-saturday-locke-of-rye-new.html  

January 12, 2010 "An Indian Without a Nose"

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/01/indian-without-nose.html  

July 9, 2013 "Tombstone Tuesday - Locke Burial Ground, Rye, New Hampshire"

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/07/tombstone-tuesday-locke-burial-ground.html  

August 13, 2013 "The 123rd Locke Family Reunion, Concord, New Hampshire"

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-123rd-locke-family-reunion-concord.html  

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To City/Link to this blog post:  Geoff Smith and Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "2021 Locke Family Reunion", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 9, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/08/2021-locke-family-reunion.html: accessed [access date]). 

A Book and Quill in Falmouth, Massachusetts - Weathervane Wednesday

 This weathervane was photographed in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

This weathervane is located at 352 Main Street in Falmouth, Massachusetts. It is a very elaborate three-dimensional book with a sewn-in ribbon book marker with fringe, and a large quill pen to the left.  Somehow, this book weathervane seems incongruous with a jewelry business, which makes me think that perhaps this location was previously a book shop or a stationary store?  There is a beautiful patina to this weathervane, which means that it was not erected here recently. 

This weathervane is very beautiful and intricately constructed. You can view it from up and down Main Street, as well as from the parking lot in front of the jewelry store. 

Click here to see over 425 other Weathervane Wednesday blog posts:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday   

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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Book and Quill in Falmouth, Massachusetts - Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 4, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/08/a-book-and-quill-in-falmouth.html: accessed [access date]). 

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution - Weathervane Wednesday

 Today's weathervane was photographed in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was established in 1930 for the study of marine science and engineering. You may remember the WHOI mentioned in the movie Titanic.  They maintain a fleet of research vessels that are berthed in Woods Hole on Cape Cod, as well as smaller vessels and underwater vehicles such as Alvin and the Deepsea Challenger from the movie Titanic, donated by the film maker James Cameron.    

There are two campuses for the WHOI, both in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.  The original buildings are located near and round Water Street in Woods Hole Village.  A second campus is located nearby, called the Quissett Campus, on Woods Hole Road closer to Falmouth.  Currently the Visitor Center and the Discovery Center are closed to visitors due to the COVID pandemic. 

The Bigelow building was the first laboratory built for the Institution in 1930.  It is located right on Water Street in the center of the campus. This three dimensional Viking ship is extremely detailed.  According to the Woods Hole museum, no one knows the symbolism of the Viking ship. 

Across the street from the Bigelow building we found this interesting piece of artwork (see below): 

For the truly curious:

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution website:   https://www.whoi.edu/   

Apparently there are three old weathervanes in Woods Hole, and we only caught one in a photograph during our recent visit to Cape Cod.  This document from the Woods Hole Museum describes all three weathervanes:   https://woodsholemuseum.org/oldpages/sprtsl/v13n1-Archiv.pdf 

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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution - Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 28, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/07/woods-hole-oceanographic-institution.html: accessed [access date]). 

Happy 12th Blogoversary to Nutfield Genealogy!

 Happy 12th Blogoversary to Nutfield Genealogy!

Twelve years ago I was brave and pushed the button that posted the first story to this blog. It was the story of how I proved that Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii married my first cousin many generations removed.  I had been working on the story for a few days, and didn't know when to go live on line.  We had cousins from Spain coming to visit for a few weeks, and I knew I was going to be busy, but I clicked on that link and...

I didn't know I'd still be doing this twelve years later!

The first people who read my blog were family members.  Then a few days (or weeks, I can't remember) later complete strangers were reading and commenting on the blog posts.  That was a weird, but fun experience. It was even more fun to find out some of those strangers were "cousins"!  Cousin connections are my favorite part of blogging. 

Then a great bunch of folks known as the "GeneaBloggers" started following my blog.  We all became Facebook friends, and tweeted and Google+ed (remember G+?) each other's posts. Then local people in New Hampshire and New England began to read Nutfield Genealogy.  Soon I began to meet up with some of my virtual friends in person, and at genealogy clubs and conferences.   And well... the rest is history.  Pun intended.

I've reached over 4 million page view on my Blog according to the statistics.  Which is great since my readership has declined as I have slowed down on posting over the past year.  I've posted 10,000 comments, and deleted a large number of spammy comments, too.

My five most popular blog posts (according to the Blogger statistics):

#1   "A Favorite Christmas Gift!  You might Want One, Too!" published 30 December, 2012:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-favorite-christmas-gift-you-might.html    This one isn't particularly genealogical (unfortunately), but more of a craft idea.  It went viral on Pinterest and social media and now has nearly a quarter million hits.  Check it out!

#2   "Flora Stewart - Black History Month in Londonderry" published 17 February 2011:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/02/flora-stewart-black-history-month-in.html  This is a story about a controversial photograph published about a former slave who lived to be over 100 years old in Londonderry over 100 years ago.  The vital records are conflicting on her real age.

#3  "2020 Events for the 400th Anniversary of the Arrival of the Mayflower", dated October 4, 2018.  I won't publish the link here for this blog post since most of the information on this is now incorrect due to the pandemic cancellations.  A more accurate version was published here: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/05/updated-mayflower-400-schedule.html  and here  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/p/mayflower-400th.html 

#4  "10 Unexpected Places to Find Family History Online", was published 2 February 2015 at this link:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/02/10-unexpected-places-to-find-family.html  It is still popular, and receives smaller amounts of readers as the years go by.

#5  "University of Durham Team Is Reaching Out to the Descendants of 17th Century Scottish Prisoners" published 26 October 2016  at this link:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/10/university-of-durham-team-is-reaching.html   was a post I wrote after meeting up in Saugus, Massachusetts with the researchers from the UK who performed the archeological dig at the Durham Cathedral, finding the bodies of the Scots prisoners who died in captivity after the Battle of Dunbar in 1650.  I had two ancestors who survived being captured as SPOW at the battle of Worcester the following year.  It was a fascinating meeting, and my blog post still generates lots of reading among researchers and descendants of those SPOWs.  

I have the links to five permanent pages (look up under the image at the top of this blog page to see the links) on my home page.  The most popular page is the first one "Surnames from my Family Tree"  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/p/surnames-to-9-generations.html  There are hundreds of surnames listed in two groups (my Paternal lineage and my Maternal lineage) with links to the "Surname Saturday" post for that surname.  This page has received many hits and lots of email as folks make cousin connections.  Take a peek and see if we have a common ancestor!

Thank you for reading and following Nutfield Genealogy!

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To Cite/Link to this post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Happy 12th Blogoversary to Nutfield Genealogy!", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 27, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/07/happy-12th-blogoversary-to-nutfield.html: accessed [access date]). 

The Fire Department in Sandwich, Massachusetts - Weathervane Wednesday

 This weathervane was photographed in Sandwich, Massachusetts.

This two dimensional fire engine weathervane can be seen above Station 1 of the Sandwich Fire Department, at 115 Route 6A Sandwich, Massachusetts on Cape Cod.  There is a similar weathervane above Station 2 located at 466 Route 6A in East Sandwich.  This weathervane has a beautiful patina from age, and seems to be made of several metals that have changed to different colors over time. 

The Sandwich Fire Department website:   http://sandwichfire.com/   

Click here to see over 425 other Weathervane Wednesday blog posts:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday   

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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Fire Department in Sandwich, Massachusetts - Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 21, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-fire-department-in-sandwich.html: accessed [access date]).