Member-only story
Numismatics
My 1788 Massachusetts Cent
The Colonies produced their own coins before the United States existed
My family claims ancestry from the Mayflower. Not just any old ancestor who made that uncomfortable journey, but the well known Elder William Brewster.
I say “claims” because I don’t know that it’s true. My father said so. My grandmother said so. My cousin, who has assembled massive genealogical records about our family, says so also.
But really?
I was a little bit of a skeptic because I once did some computer work for The Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, and mentioned that lineage to the director I was helping. She said that they turn down would be members frequently because of mistaken genealogy. It seems that Brewster was a fairly common name in the New England Colonies. People come across someone in their ancestry with the same name and birth date as a true Brewster descendant and jump the tracks, heading off in the wrong lineage. This can go awry with the Brewster name, but also with daughters and granddaughters who took their husbands names.
As it turns out, I may have been wrong to be doubtful. My grandfather’s sister Marianna was a member of the Connecticut Society of Mayflower Descendants and the Daughters…
