Where To Next?

I’ve worked so long on the line to Stephen Hopkins and the Mayflower, that I’m not sure where to go next in my family tree research. 

As far as the status of my Mayflower application is concerned, the Canadian Mayflower historian, John, that I am working with submitted it in late November.  I still wasn’t sure if there was enough supplementary documentation for my 3^rd great grandfather William Wood (Jr.) parents, but he felt we could support the argument.  I found more information supporting my 5^th great-grandmother, Rebecca Cain’s parents as well.  The package was submitted to the General Society of Mayflower Descendants (“the Society”) in Plymouth, MA and I was informed that it normally took a couple of months for a review to be complete.

The Society did come back asking for analyses to prove that Leah Adams was the mother of Rebecca Cain and for the parents of William Wood Jr.  Thankfully I had done extensive research and completed research reports for both individuals.  John took my reports and work that he had done and summarized them into two analyses for the Society.  In his words, “given the extensive research you did, I think we can provide analyses which are conclusive.”  The documents were submitted January 30^th.

On that same day, John got another message from Plymouth that another verifier looking at the application wanted some additional and, in some case, better copies of information we had submitted in November.  We gathered what they needed and sent it February 1^st.

I knew going in that this was going to be tough because there has yet to be a proven line down to my Wood ancestors.  Throughout my time researching I did connect with others also descended from the line that too had problems because of the lack of documentation for Rebecca Cain.  I suspected that because of that, the Society were going to take a hard look at my submission.

So, I now anxiously await their decision.  The thing is, there is very specific documentation required by the Society. Failing that documentation there needs to be enough supporting documents, research, and analysis proving that those other documents all relate to the individual for the Society to accept them. I will be extremely disappointed if they don’t accept my application for membership, but I have no doubt that the line I have traced is accurate.