Why is everyone related?!?!?

The Mayflower Descendants are Everywhere!

My most recent research has centered on the United States Constitution, which of course, means that I have started with the Constitution itself. While my interest in the Constitution is very much set in the present day, it is also entirely Mercy Otis Warren’s fault that I am here.

I was given the task of building a lesson plan for a museum based on Mercy Otis Warren back in 2017. I spent so much time researching and reading her work, that it’s really no wonder that I am still spending time with her writing now. The fact that she wrote one of the original critiques of the Constitution is a side benefit that has turned me toward looking at the Constitution and its history in this current moment.

Now, as it turns out, back in 2017 I had discovered that Mercy Otis Warren, while not a relation in the direct “we share blood” sense, did have a family member who married into my family. And that lead to a moment of realization that, of course Mercy would have contact with my line! Mercy, herself, is a descendant of Edward Dotey, a passenger on the Mayflower and resident of Plymouth.

Well, in the course of my most recent research, this close relationship of the families of Massachusetts has come up once again.

I was doing my initial review of the original text of the U. S. Constitution when I came across the signatories at the bottom. I was perusing this when my brain caught on the last name of one of the two signatories from Massachusetts, Nathaniel Gorham.

Now I knew that my own family tree had quite a number of Gorhams, many of whom were residents in Massachusetts in the 18th century. So I went perusing the family tree to see if I could find Nathaniel, and got several generations back before I remembered why I always find myself back on the Gorham line of the family tree.

John Gorham (b. 1620) married Desire Howland (b. 1623). Desire Howland is my 10th Great-Grandmother and the eldest of the children of John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley, passengers on the Mayflower. Desire had eleven children who lived to adulthood - and thus the Gorham family tree is quite large. So, it is no surprise that Nathaniel Gorham is also one of her descendants. In fact, he is my THIRD COUSIN! (Several times removed, due to the fact that he was born in the 18th century, but still!)

So I have a signer of the Constitution in my family! Who knew!