FREE Mayflower Mayflower Descendants Research : Mayflower Descendants • FamilySearch 

To be sure about your connection, to your ancestors; add official documents (birth, marriage, death) to everyone on your family tree.

Do you have Mayflower ancestry, or do you believe that you do? Maybe your family has stories of Mayflower ancestry that you would like to prove to be true. Maybe you want to find and verify a Mayflower line in order to join the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. Perhaps you are writing a family history, and want to find an interesting or historically important line to include in it. Either way, you will want to know the best ways to begin researching and proving your potential Mayflower ancestry.

If you already know the name of your supposed Mayflower ancestor, it is easier to start with your Mayflower genealogy. The General Society of Mayflower Descendants publishes a set of what are called “Silver Books” that document the proven descendants of Mayflower passengers to five generations out from them. You can order the book that pertains to your supposed ancestor, or find it online or at a library that has genealogy books.

Once you have the first five generations beyond your Mayflower ancestor from the book, you can use traditional genealogy research techniques to bring the line forward to the present, and to you. The first five generations usually go to the late 1700s, which is about when public vital records began to be common in the United States, which is helpful in researching your family tree.

How to Begin Researching Your Mayflower Ancestors | Ancestral Findings 

To learn if you descend from a Mayflower passenger, the best first steps are to explore your family’s lineage. Tools such as Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org can be of great use, but use caution! Not every link to another generation has been carefully examined by previous tree builders – beware the child born before his parents or the daughter born to a five-year-old mother!

It’s best to use online resources as clues, not proof. Many times, though, you will find that generous genealogists have posted important vital records of your ancestors including birth, marriage and death certificates. If you can confirm these are your ancestors, use those as building blocks in your path back to a potential Mayflower passenger.

Vital records are your golden ticket in beginning your family genealogical journey. Many can found online or can be ordered from the county or state in which the event occurred. For Mayflower Society purposes, you need not order “certified” copies; certificates marked “informational” or “for genealogical purposes” are acceptable and may cost less.

Build your family tree one generation at a time being careful to confirm the link to parents as you go. This can be especially challenging for women whose maiden names were not recorded on Census records or other documents. If your family helped establish a new county, they may be featured in a historical book or a family genealogy book. Many of these can be found, in full, online, but be forewarned, not all are acceptable and each must be reviewed carefully.

Researching Your Mayflower Lineage - General Society of Mayflower Descendants (themayflowersociety.org)