Society of Mayflower Descendants

On Saturday, March 23, 2019, the Cincinnati Colony held a member meeting to socialize with our Mayflower cousins. Our meeting was held at Parkers Blue Ash Tavern. We had 27 members, prospective members and guests attend the meeting.
Cincinnati Colony Lt. Governor brought the meeting to order at 12:30. Our Treasurer Clay Crandall led the Colony in the Pledge of Allegiance. Our Corresponding Secretary Beth Anderson read the Mayflower Compact. Our Elder Todd Reel gave the innovation.

Our Cincinnati Colony Mayflower Scholarship Winner for 2019 is Hannah Martin. She received a BA in History from Xavier University. She has a position with Lakota Local Schools as an Innovation Specialist. Her job is to connect students and teachers to new resources and help them integrate them into the classroom. She hopes to become a social studies teacher. After lunch she presented her paper to the Colony. Outstanding work Hannah, Congratulations!

We welcomed a new member to our Colony at this meeting. Welcome to the Colony Linda O’Hara. She is a descendant of Edward Fuller.

We also had two prospective members join us at today’s meeting, Kathie Stevens a Doty descendant and Dottie Luther a Howland descendant. Welcome!

The next meeting we be the Annual Meeting. We hope to see everyone there.

2019 Cincinnati Colony Mayflower Scholarship winner Hannah Martin.

Doug van der Zee and Hannah Martin

Doug van der Zee, Hannah Martin, and Xavier Professor Randy Brown

New Member Linda O’Hara and Lt Governor Shaun Smith

New Member Linda O’Hara and Lt Governor Shaun Smith

On Saturday November 3, 2018, the Cincinnati Colony commemorated Compact Day. This year the meeting was held in Moraine, Ohio at The Mandalay. This was a new venue for us. Due to the request of some of our members, the board members decided that our Compact Day luncheon will alternate between Dayton and Cincinnati. The location, staff and food were outstanding.

We started our Compact Day at 12:00 pm with some social time that allowed our members to catch back up with each other. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Treasurer Clayton Crandall. The invocation for our meeting was given by Lt. Governor Shaun Smith.

As there were several new and prospective members in attendance, our Lt. Governor introduced the board members that were present to all the attendees. We performed our new member induction for Bernice Denham, Daniel Fallon and Lisa Snaufer. Each was given a Mayflower Compact and recited the Pilgrim Pledge.

Bernice Denham, Daniel Fallon, Lisa Snaufer and Lt. Gov. Smith

Lt. Governor Smith reviewed our tentative 2019 calendar. Here are the dates for our meetings in 2019.

• Cincinnati Colony Meeting on March 23rd
• Ohio Mayflower Society State Meeting May 17th and 18th
• Cincinnati Colony Meeting on June 1st
• Cincinnati Colony Meeting on September 7th
• Compact Day on November 2nd.

Additionally, there was a request to help with the Ohio Mayflower Society table at the Ohio Genealogical Society Conference during May 1st -4th. We are asking that Cincinnati Colony membership support the event by working a few shifts. The conference will be taking place at Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, OH. If you are attending the OGS Conference, please consider signing up with Wanda Langdon or let one of our officers know that you would like to help. We are looking for as many people as possible to take some hourly slots at the table. The more members that help, the easier it will be for everyone. To learn more about the event please see the conference website. http://www.ogsconference.org/

Our Deputy Lt. Governor Star Vondrell gave us an update on the State Meeting that will be hosted by the Cincinnati Colony on May 17th and 18th. We would like some volunteers to assist with sending the invites out in the month of January. We also need volunteers to assist with getting gift bags prepared and other activities. Please contact Star if you interested in helping with the event. We need everyone’s assistance to make this event a success.

After discussing the upcoming calendar, we held our Roll Call. This year Richard Warren was the Pilgrim that had the most descendants present at the 2018 Compact Day.

Dr. Ava Chamberlain

Our Compact Day presentation was called ‘Marriage, Murder, and Madness in the Family of Jonathan Edwards’ and it was presented by Dr. Ava Chamberlain. Professor Chamberlain is the Chair of Religion Philosophy & Classics at Wright State University. The presentation was very educational. Dr. Chamberlain reviewed the genealogy of Jonathan Edwards parents and discussed a few of the crimes and issues that happened in Colonial America. A key takeaway from the presentation was that we should not simply assume that if a male was married twice in a colonial genealogy that the first wife had died. We should dig in deeper in to the court and criminal records to find out if there is more to the story. Her book on this subject, The Notorious Elizabeth Tuttle: Marriage, Murder, and Madness in the Family of Jonathan Edwards (North American Religions), may be found on Amazon.

After the presentation, our Corresponding Secretary Beth Anderson announced our door prize winners.

• 1620 Rock – Carol Byrd
• 1620 Rock – Lisa Snaufer
• Mayflower Maize game – Wanda Langdon
• Cincinnati Colony coffee mug – Bernice Denham

We look forward to seeing everyone at the next meeting!

2018 Compact Day – Cincinnati Colony Mayflower Descendants

On Saturday, September 8, 2018, the Cincinnati Colony held a member meeting to socialize with our Mayflower cousins and discuss the various committee activities that we are working on. Our meeting was held at Parkers Blue Ash Tavern.

We had four new members join us at the meeting: Paul Griffith a George Soule descendant, Carol Byrd a John Howland descendant, and Laura Hawthorn an Isaac Allerton descendant, Wanda Langdon an Edward Fuller descendant. Welcome to the Colony!

Standing Left to Right: Paul Griffith, Carol Byrd, Laura Hawthorn, Wanda Langdon and Shaun Smith

We also had two prospective members join us, Alison Haskins and Debbie McMullen.

In Cincinnati, we are embarking on a new program to assist our Ohio State Historian. For the presentation today, we brought Ann Gulbransen to the meeting via Skype and she provided training to all our volunteers that would like to be Assistant Historians for the Cincinnati Colony. Ann explained what needed to be provided for each application and answered questions that everyone had. A VERY BIG thank you to all the volunteers that will be assisting Ann with the process. Thank you to Ann for sharing your years of knowledge to our new Army of Historians!

Jean Muetzel, Historian
Sue Bray, Deputy Historian
Wanda Langdon
Vicki Reel
Susan Davis
Beth Anderson
Carol Byrd
Paul Griffith
Star Vondrell
Stephanie Smith
Clay Crandall

The Cincinnati Colony will also be participating in the Day with the Experts at the Cincinnati Public Library on October 6, 2018. Our team leaders at this event will be Susan Davis and Beth Anderson. Stop by and say hi to Susan and Beth at the library and attend one of the sessions. There will be two speakers and tours of the genealogy section.

For more information please check this link: Link to the “Day with the Experts Event”

We hope to see everyone at Compact Day on November 3rd. The reservation forms will be sent out by email soon.

Thanks,
Shaun Smith

Upcoming Events:
October 6, 2018 – Day with the Experts, Cincinnati Public Library
November 3, 2018 – Compact Day
May 1st thru 4th – OGS Meeting
May 17th & 18th – Ohio Mayflower Society State Meeting

On March 3, 2018, the Cincinnati Colony held a member meeting to socialize with our Mayflower cousins and discuss the various committee activities that we are working on. Our meeting was held at Parkers Blue Ash Tavern. On March 20th one of our members, William Reel, is heading off to Army basic training. William led the Pledge of Allegiance for us to start the meeting. Good luck William! Fittingly, William’s father, Todd Reel performed the invocation at the beginning of the meeting.

At this meeting we discussed our committee activities to make sure everyone knew what we were working on.

2020 Committee: Beth Anderson has been working diligently with members from all the Colonies to plan the 2020 event. She has had a lot of assistance from Peggy Reid in planning and tracking all the details.

There was a good amount of discussion by the group regarding the 121st Annual State Assembly in 2019. Beth Anderson and Star Vondrell are leading the charge by scouting locations off of 75 on the north side of the city.

In an effort led by Doug van der Zee, the Cincinnati Colony has established a $500 scholarship annually from the Cincinnati Colony with the Xavier University History Department. The scope of the Scholarship is anyone in a Bachelor or Master’s Program with a broad focus on colonial history. Three history professors will judge the scholarship contest.

We had one new member join us at the meeting, Dr. Mike Davis. Dr. Davis has been researching his ancestry for many years. He has a wealth of knowledge about many aspects of history, genealogy, and DNA research. Welcome to the Colony Dr. Davis!

We did something a little different at this meeting. We have had so many new members attending meetings we wanted to take some time to get to know each other. We introduced the concept of telling your “Mayflower Story”. Several members shared a cool thing they learned about their Pilgrim family, the greatest challenge in their Mayflower search, and how long it took them to them to validate their ancestry.

It was a great meeting. I enjoyed listening and learning from everyone’s Mayflower journey. We hope to see you at the next event!

Upcoming Events:
June 23, 2018 – Genealogy Event, Preble County Room at the library in Eaton, OH
September 1-2, 2018 36th Fair at New Boston, George Rogers Clark Park, Springfield, OH
September 8, 2018 – Cincinnati Colony Board/Membership Meeting
October 13-14 – Fall Festival at the Christian Waldschmidt Homestead
November 3, 2018 – Compact Day

New member Dr. Mike Davis and Cincinnati Colony Lt. Gov. S. Smith

On Saturday November 4, 2017, we enjoyed commemorating Compact Day. This year the Cincinnati Colony held its Compact Day meeting at the Cincinnati Woman’s Club. Our meeting began at 11:30 am with some social time to allow our members to catch back up with each other.

Here are a few of the announcements that were made during the social hour:

• Many of our members are collecting change to donate to the Mayflower II restoration. The name of this fundraiser is “Pennies for the Mayflower”. On Compact Day, we received 3 mason jars full of change. Keep those jars coming in. The board will determine when we should send in the total to Plymouth.
• Cincinnati Colony meetings will be on the first Saturday in the months of Jan, Mar and Nov and the second Saturday in the month of September due to the long Labor Day weekend. Please put the following dates for 2018 on your calendar: January 6, March 3rd, September 8th and November 3rd. We are looking for suggestions for the location of the meetings. We would love to hear suggestions from our membership.
• On Saturday February 10, 2018 at 1PM the Ohio Mayflower Society will be donating a full set of the available Mayflower Silver books, approximately 50 books, to the Genealogy Division of the Dayton Metro Library.  The Cincinnati Colony is collaborating with the Montgomery County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogy Society to make this presentation. The Mayflower members are invited to stay for the Montgomery County -OGS meeting and presentation that will follow.

Our lunch started at 12:00. Past Lt Governor Doug van der Zee led the us in the Pledge of Allegiance and Elder Todd Reel gave the blessing. Additionally, the Reel family made white and dark chocolate Mayflower ships for everyone in attendance. They were very good.

During lunch, our 2018 officers were sworn in.

Shaun Smith – Lieutenant Governor
Open – Deputy Governor
Clayton Crandall – Treasurer
Beth Anderson – Corresponding Secretary
Jean Muetzel – Historian
Janet Moland -Recording Secretary
Todd Reel -Elder
Karen Wiggins – Deputy Elder
Open – Education officer
BoA Rep – Beth Anderson

In total, we had 40 guests and members in attendance. Our traditional roll call determined that William Brewster had the most descendants in attendance.

Our Compact Day presentation was called ‘Puritans and Indians’ and it was presented by Karim Tiro. Professor Tiro is a professor of history at Xavier University, where he has been teaching since receiving his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in 1999. The presentation was educational. The impact of trade between the two groups was discussed in detail. We learned how trade impacted the culture and the region. Thank you, Professor, for the outstanding presentation.

We wrapped up our fund-raising drive for the Freestore Food Bank. In total, our members donated $200. The Colony is matching that total to donate $400 to the Freestore Food Bank. Congratulations everyone, this is a super achievement for our Colony!

Thanks to everyone for attending. I am looking forward to the next meeting.

Shaun Smith
Lieutenant Governor

Social Time in the Living Room at the Cincinnati Woman’s Club

Announcements, Pictured left to right Beth Anderson, Doug van der Zee, and Shaun Smith

Blessing by Elder Todd Reel

Immediate Past Lt. Governor Doug van der Zee swearing in Cincinnati Colonies Officers: Lt. Governor – Shaun Smith, Elder – Todd Reel, Recording Secretary – Janet Moland, Corresponding Secretary – Beth Anderson,  and Deputy Elder – Karen Wiggins. Not pictured Treasurer – Clayton Crandall and Historian – Jean Muetzel

Professor Karim Tiro