Holiday special for descendants of Plymouth Colony

At this season's local gathering of Mayflower descendants and their spouses, Ashley and Blake Kaylor, left, of Woodville and June Chapin, right, of Fremont bow their heads in prayer at the table. THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT Enlarge | Photo Reprints

No matter if it's February, December, or July, pilgrims stay put on a table in the South Toledo home of Ric and Marlene Harner.

And for good reason. He's a Mayflower. She's a Junebug.

A descendant of one of the most famous pilgrims on the planet, Mr. Harner celebrates the holiday Thursday with a family tradition tied to the First Thanksgiving and connected directly to his distant relative William Bradford, a longtime governor of Plymouth Colony.

As lieutenant governor of the Toledo Colony of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Mr. Harner welcomed guests to the organization's annual Thanksgiving meeting, this year in Findlay.

Toledo Colony members all have proof positive that their great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-(OK, give or take a few greats) grandparents were there for that very first Thanksgiving in 1621.

Direct descendants are known as Mayflowers; their spouses are Junebugs, said Mrs. Harner, whose outfit was accented with a colorful beaded pin resembling a cluster of Indian corn. According to the Mayflower Society, based in Plymouth, Mass., 1 in 10 Americans can trace their ancestry back to the Mayflower. That's roughly 30 million people.

As they awaited dinner, members recalled the First Thanksgiving when their relatives dined on venison, clams, hasty pudding, dried berries, and other bounty.

And if women think it's a challenge to fix a Thanksgiving spread for 20 or so guests Thursday, consider this recollection: Only four of the married women and five teenage girls had survived by the time the colonists cooked up the idea for a Thanksgiving feast.

Those few female pilgrims were given the task of prepping enough to feed 140 people for three days … all that before convection ovens, microwaves, or the Butterball turkey hot line.

So. Were turkeys on the tables in 1621 or not? Yes, but they were scrawny birds compared to the 22-pound whoppers that went into roasters at dawn Thursday.

Mayflower descendants noted other differences.

A dozen or so generations ago, there was no televised football.

Pilgrims and Indians didn't plunk down onto couches like overstuffed zombies after dinner. They competed in contests of skill and strength. Running, jumping, wrestling. They demonstrated marksmanship. Muskets fired. Bows twanged.

And, above all, "It was a time of celebration and a time to give thanks," Mr. Harner said.

At the Toledo Colony dinner last Saturday, Blake Kaylor, 9, of Woodville was seated at a table laden with gold-trimmed dishes. He studied his cranberry salad, nestled atop a lettuce leaf, a swirl of orange slice for accent. Still to come: turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, dressing, and pumpkin pie.

Nope, he said, it doesn't look much like that First Thanksgiving when his relatives celebrated their successful harvest in the New World nearly 400 years ago.

The great-grandson of June Chapin of Fremont, who is related to pilgrims George Soule and James Chilton, Blake is well aware of his famous ancestors, and rattles off details about the pilgrims and their bumpy voyage across a stormy Atlantic Ocean as winter approached in 1620.

When he's an adult, membership into the Mayflower Society will be smooth sailing: documentation is in place to prove his Plymouth Colony bloodline.

It's rough seas for others. It took Jackie Sautter, who lives near Liberty Center, three years to trace her roots to Plymouth Rock. In Vermont and Connecticut, she rubbed gravestones to copy names and dates. She sorted through stacks of documents. She researched in village libraries.

After finally submitting family records to the Mayflower Society, she awaited word.

"I had everything on everybody who had been dead for 200 years," she said, "and they wanted to know about my mother who was living. How funny is that?"

Her Mayflower relative, Richard Warren, left behind in London his wife and five daughters. "I would have killed him if he were my husband," Mrs. Sautter said.

Some Toledo Colony members are related to more than one pilgrim. That's because "children of one pilgrim married children of another, and their grandchildren married other grandchildren," explained Sharon Bannister of Perrysburg, a descendant of Mayflower passengers George Soule, William White, Francis Cooke, and Richard Warren. She says her roots led right "back into that nest" of pilgrims populating their new place.

Keeping with custom, Toledo Colony members stood and read aloud the Mayflower Compact, written and signed on Nov. 21, 1620, by 41 male passengers aboard the ship anchored at Cape Cod. The agreement is described as the first document of American democracy to establish a government of the people, for the people, and by the people.

Other Toledo Colony members attending the dinner in Findlay were Susan Fisher of Coldwater, Mich., and her brother Rick Wunderley of Findlay who are descendants of George Soule. As Elder, she offered a prayer, saying, "Gracious God, thank you for your care and provisions for our intrepid band of ancestors."

Intrepid, indeed.

"They got on that boat not knowing exactly where they were going," said Marjorie Waterfield of Maumee, a Mayflower descendant of William Bradford and John Alden.

"When they left England, it was like they were sailing off the face of the Earth. They knew they were never coming back. They were never going to see their families again. And when you look at pictures of what the ocean must have been like when they crossed the Atlantic, and when you go to Plymouth and see where they landed. …" She halts. She blinks. "Well, it is emotional. It is a feeling. You just do not know how they did it."

Tales of woe are told and retold.

Ken McCartney, of Sylvania Township, is a descendant of Edward Fuller. Mr. McCartney's wife, Carlene, is a descendant of John Howland who toppled off the Mayflower. "Luckily he grabbed onto a rope hanging over the side and somebody pulled him up," said Mr. McCartney, the Toledo Colony's only 50-year member. About 100 northwest Ohio residents belong to the local group.

As they celebrate Thanksgiving, Mayflower descendants carry on family traditions passed down generation to generation. After all, for them, the holiday Thursday is all relative …

The Harners each year read from Psalms in the Bible, passages referred to as the Pilgrim verses.

"Our ancestors believed God directed them. The pilgrims believed that God in His providence guided them on their journey and gave them a place to live," said Mr. Harner who also is a descendant of William Brewster.

There was much ado about that first feast and lots of lofty language about the abundant harvest.

Bottom line, said Mrs. Waterfield, was: "The crops are in. Let's eat and be thankful."

Contact Janet Romaker at

jromaker@theblade.com

or 419-724-6006.