Monday, Feb 5, 2018
My first discovery of a New England Ancestor from my mother's family line that I discovered about a year and a half ago while researching my great grandmother's family history.
Little did I know that making this discovery the August before last that I would be starting an amazing foray into the history of our world and that this marvelous journey through history would enable me to discover numerous ancestral great grandparents and aunts and uncles that came to America on ships such as the Mayflower and the Fortune and the Anne and the Little James and ships that sailed in the "Great Migration" of the Winthrop Fleet and more.
I would find Ancestors that would settle Colonial America and become the founders The United States of America.
I would then find Ancestors that would lead me back across the ocean to England and mainland Europe and beyond.
I would find Ancestors that have given me noble and royal ancestors that in my wildest dreams I never imagined would be possible, but the pedigrees are all there written down.
I would also find through these Ancestors that humanity is ONE BIG FAMILY and that we are all related to one another in one way or another.
John Jenney-My 10th Great Grandfather
Today I would like to introduce everyone to my 10th Great Grandparents and my 9th Great grandmother who I descend from through my mother and through her grandmother on her father's side of her family.
When I first discovered my line to him, all I knew was the following (I penned this paragraph in my journal back in Sep of 2016):
That I accidentally discovered a direct line of descent from one of my great grandmothers to a family that helped settle Plymouth Mass., though they did not arrive on the Mayflower is unbelievable!
So it is that My 10th great grandparents, John and Sarah Jenney sailed a few years (1623) after on a ship called “The Little James”.
They were part of the group that went to Leiden Holland in the early 1600s with William Brewster and the other pilgrims but for some reason they decided not to embark on the Mayflower and instead waited until 1623 to make the journey to New England. Once they arrived in Plymouth, they quickly became an important part of the new colony by erecting the 1st successful “Grist Mill” for grinding corn into mill and flour.
John also created the 1st salt works for the colony and was part of the early governing council. Family records indicate that they were close friends of William Bradford and Miles Standish among others.
My 10th Great Grandparents-America's First GristMill
Beyond the Pilgrim Story
