Genealogy research turns up some amazing information and I feel like I have learned more genuine American history from researching my family than I ever learned in school.

It is so different when you can see how these great events in history personally affected an individual and their family for generations.

Growing up I identified mostly with being the grand daughter of Polish immigrants (which is very important). I felt very connected with the farmland and historical houses that I grew up around, yet I had considered myself a relative newcomer to this land.

As I delved into the other parts of my heritage I have found surprising things. That my 2nd great grandfather was involved in the capture of John Wilkes Booth and that another 2nd great grandfather who was also in the Union Cavalry survived the infamous Andersonville prison.

Historically speaking the biggest surprise was that I was directly descended from 7 of the original Mayflower passengers, John Howland and his wife, Elizabeth Tilley, Elizabeth's parent's John Tilley and Joan Hurst Tilley who both perished the first winter in the New World, John Cooke, his father Francis, and Richard Warren.

A distant cousin I met through Ancestry.com shared the Mayflower news with me (Thanks Joanne!) And I have also verified that this is indeed true. I am so grateful for her generous sharing of 25 years of genealogical research that she & her cousin did.

I have become active on findagrave.com in an attempt to document this for family members and to share the good news with other descendants who were unaware of this.

It is my understanding that there are about 25-35 million people in this country who are descended from at least one Mayflower passenger. Maybe one of them is you? :-)

Genealogy research turns up some amazing information and I feel like I have learned more genuine American history from researching my family than I ever learned in school.

It is so different when you can see how these great events in history personally affected an individual and their family for generations.

Growing up I identified mostly with being the grand daughter of Polish immigrants (which is very important). I felt very connected with the farmland and historical houses that I grew up around, yet I had considered myself a relative newcomer to this land.

As I delved into the other parts of my heritage I have found surprising things. That my 2nd great grandfather was involved in the capture of John Wilkes Booth and that another 2nd great grandfather who was also in the Union Cavalry survived the infamous Andersonville prison.

Historically speaking the biggest surprise was that I was directly descended from 7 of the original Mayflower passengers, John Howland and his wife, Elizabeth Tilley, Elizabeth's parent's John Tilley and Joan Hurst Tilley who both perished the first winter in the New World, John Cooke, his father Francis, and Richard Warren.

A distant cousin I met through Ancestry.com shared the Mayflower news with me (Thanks Joanne!) And I have also verified that this is indeed true. I am so grateful for her generous sharing of 25 years of genealogical research that she & her cousin did.

I have become active on findagrave.com in an attempt to document this for family members and to share the good news with other descendants who were unaware of this.

It is my understanding that there are about 25-35 million people in this country who are descended from at least one Mayflower passenger. Maybe one of them is you? :-)