OUR MAYFLOWER FOREMOTHERS #1: Intro

SMITH (Dort/Winsor-Secord/Harris)

(Story Index)

OUR MAYFLOWER FOREMOTHERS 

16 Generations of Women Ancestors leading back to 1620 Plymouth Plantation

In 2020, we will mark the 400^th anniversary of an iconic piece of American history: the 1620 Mayflower voyage and founding of Plymouth Colony. As direct descendants of some of her passengers, we share this special lineage with millions of other Mayflower Americans -but in a rather unique way.

William Bradford, recounting the perils of the Mayflower’s 1620 sea voyage:

“…In sundry of these storms the winds were so fierce and the seas so high, as they could not bear a knot of sail, but were forced to hull for divers days together. And in one of them, as they thus lay at hull in a mighty storm, a lusty young man called John Howland, coming upon some occasion above the gratings was, with a seele of the ship, thrown into sea; but it pleased God that he caught hold of the topsail halyards which hung overboard and ran out at length. Yet he held his hold (though he was sundry fathoms under water) till he was hauled up by the same rope to the brim of the water, and then with a boat hook and other means got into the ship again and his life saved…” (Chapter IX, Of Plymouth Plantation)

John Howland was my eleventh great grandfather. And, through his marriage to fellow Mayflower passenger, Elizabeth Tilley, our ancestral chain was forged link by link, generation by generation -connecting four hundred years of family history. Discovering this Mayflower connection in our family tree came by chance, as I began to solve the mysterious heritage of my great-grandmother’s great-grandmother: Lydia Harris. Her father -the only male link in this otherwise female chain- was the essential linchpin that connected it all together. If not for a grave marked “Our Little Asa,” I might still be searching.

Although John Howland is a noted figure in the history of Plymouth Plantation, our pilgrimage back in time takes a very uniquely feminine route: through our mothers, grandmothers, and great grandmothers. My grandchildren make up the seventeenth generation of Mayflower descendants beginning with the mother of Elizabeth Tilley.  Sadly, both of Elizabeth’s parents, John and Joan (Hurst) Tilley would die only months after their arrival off the coast of Cape Cod, leaving her an orphan in a strange new land at the age of thirteen.

Today, my mother's children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even two great-great grandchildren share the distinction of descending from the history-book pilgrims who crossed the ocean in 1620 on the Mayflower to establish Plymouth Plantation in the New World. Only a few (currently three) 3^rd generation GloverSmith children hold the unique difference of being the youngest female descendants in this “matrilineal” ancestry. -my mother’s daughters' daughters' daughters are the Seventeenth Generation of Mayflower Women (including the one “linchpin” man, Asa Harris) through their great-great-grandmother (Ona) Smith’s heritage.  

“Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort, to our whole nation.” (William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation)

NOTE: (The SEVEN Mayflower Passengers included in Elizabeth Tilley’s family: her mother and father John and Joan (Hurst) Tilley; her uncle and aunt Edward and Agnes (Cooper) Tilley and their wards: niece Humilitie Cooper (age 1) and nephew Henry Samson (16). Of this family, only the children (Elizabeth, Humilitie, and Henry) survived the first difficult winter at Plymouth, 1620-1621.)

ETCHED IN OLD STONE: "Our Little Asa"

SMITH-Dort/Winsor-Secord/Harris 

In a family tree that now exceeds sixteen-thousand ancestors, there are also a few question marks dangling from important branches that were clipped short due to a lack of documentation, unverified. For almost a decade, I have been searching for the parents of my great, great, great, great grandmother LYDIA HARRIS, unknown or misidentified by other descendants whose genealogical detective-work led us all down old roots that now appear to be attached to other, unrelated, trees. It happens. Most frequently, it happens with maternal ancestry when the surname is not easily followed, or when given names are very popular.  Lydia, for instance, was a very common post-Revolution name, particularly in the numerous, tentative Harris households of Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York that hang on my tree by question marks. My challenge all these years has been to find the right household. And, in a very roundabout way, I may have done just that.

Tucked among the aging graves in the Dort plot of a quiet cemetery in Wayne County, Michigan -where the lilacs once grew- a small headstone displaying a lamb may hold the key to solving the mysterious origins of my fourth great grandmother, LYDIA HARRIS. The inscription reads "OUR LITTLE ASA - Infant son of A.J. & L.S. DORT - Died Dec 17 1880." Although few facts are known about little Asa’s tragically brief life, the 1880 census suggests that he was born in February of that year. As the eighth and final child of Andrew Jackson and Lydia Secord (Winsor) Dort, he was my great grandmother’s little brother and LYDIA HARRIS’s great grandson. Here is how I think little Asa solved our Harris family mystery.

Firstly, ASA was not a familiar name in our Dort/Winsor line …at least until I began to look closely beneath the leaves. Since Asa’s father was an only child, it seemed reasonable to start with an exploration of his mother’s branch of the family tree. Here’s what I found:

·         Asa’s grandfather (Lydia Winsor’s father), Mortimer Winsor had no brothers or uncles named Asa.

·         Asa’s grandmother (Lydia Winsor’s mother), Mary Abigail Secord, did. Her brother's name was Asa Pitts Secord.

Since both Mary Abigail and Asa Pitts were children of Joshua Secord and LYDIA HARRIS, it seemed likely that there might be a link. And, since I had only a jumble of sometimes erroneous, conflicting records collected for Lydia Harris, and even fewer facts about Mary Abigail, I began to explore available records for her brother in the hope that his family tree might reveal more information about their mother. It did.

With other contributors’ hints for Asa Pitts Secord’s ancestry, I was able to discover a new Harris family line for their mother, LYDIA HARRIS. When I explored this possibility, here’s what I found:

·         Lydia Harris is linked to Mayflower passengers. Interesting …I will have to get back to it, since the link seems likely.

·         Imagine my surprise when I discovered that -through this heretofore unknown family line- our LYDIA HARRIS had a brother named …wait for it… Asa Pitts Harris. The Fifth!

·         Well, technically, the “Pitts” part did not go back five generations, but the Asa Harris did!

·         So, if this lineage is correct (and I’m confident it is), LYDIA HARRIS and Asa Pitts Harris are children of Col. ASA Harris, IV and Lydia PITTS. Ding! Ding! Ding!

Colonel Asa’s father, of course, was another Asa, married to Faith McCall. Hers are the verified roots we will later trace back to the Mayflower. Until then, I’ll be exploring this very interesting branch of our family history discovered with the help of “Our Little Asa.” Requiescat in pace.
OUR MAYFLOWER FOREMOTHERS: Story Index