Web sites on Pilgrims plentiful

I don’t have William Brewster or John Alden and Priscilla Mullins in my family tree, or at least I haven’t found them.

My Pilgrims, passengers on the Mayflower in 1620, include Francis Cooke, and Isaac and Mary Allerton, and the Allertons’ 4-year-old daughter, Mary, who married Thomas Cushman and was the last surviving Mayflower passenger.

My grandchildren, who range from 6 months to 5 years and all “arrived” in my life officially this year, can expect to look at lots of books on the Pilgrims during their childhood.

I hope they’ll try to imagine being a little girl on a boat with her parents for 60-odd days, crossing the ocean.

With Thanksgiving and the Mayflower staples of most school curriculums, there are

countless Web sites with information and activities that can help us talk to young people about that first Thanksgiving of 1621.

Our occasional vacations out of state with our growing sons included visits to Plymouth, Mass., so that they could explore the replica Mayflower II and see Plimoth Plantation, where re-enactors brought to life the year 1627.

Web sites include Pilgrim Hall Museum, America’s museum of Pilgrim possessions, at www.pilgrimhall.org.

Its page on Thanksgiving includes a quote by Pilgrim Edward Winslow, “Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together.”

The Pilgrim Hall Web site also offers a page on “The Godmother of Thanksgiving: the story of Sarah Josepha Hale.”

The Wampanoag Indians, as we know, made so many contributions to that first Thanksgiving in the way of food, and many Wampanoags continue to participate in Thanksgiving activities at Plymouth.

But not all Indians celebrate Thanksgiving, given the complex issues of wars, treaties, land claims and many others.

The company Scholastic, which has been publishing children’s books for more than a half-century, offers an interesting article, “Native American Perspective: Fast Turtle, Wampanoag Tribe Member,” offering experiences of 1621.

Read the article at http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id+7587. And the Mayflower Society has a Web page at www.themayflowersociety.com

May you find many blessings to count this Thanksgiving.

When first we told you about digital pages from University of Maine Prism yearbooks being online for 1894-1997 at http://library.umaine.edu/yearbooks, back in April, the search called for a lot of browsing.

Now there’s great news that volunteers are entering data to make the yearbooks searchable by name and year of senior class.

Full text searchability might be too much to hope for, but a name index was created for a test page for the Class of 1949 – all 794 names.

After assessing the potential for this added feature, Fogler Library put a call for volunteers out on the project Web site.

“We were delighted when Brian Bouchard of [the Web site] earlyMaine.org came forward,” said Sharon Quinn Fitzgerald, head of the technical services department at Fogler Library. “Brian not only offered to contribute to entering data for the index, he offered his considerable programming skills to provide a database front end that eases the way for volunteer participation.”

As a result, volunteers have indexed the seniors for the years 1894 through 1940 in addition to 1945-46 and the original 1949 project. This information already is available to the public through the Fogler Library Web portal and the earlyMaine.org Web site.

“We think this community project will be of great interest and value to genealogists as well as UMaine alumni and friends, and there is more work to be done,” noted Fitzgerald. Anyone with computer access can participate from any location.

Those interested in volunteering may e-mail Bouchard at brian@earlyMaine.org or register through the Web at http://library.umaine.edu/yearbooks/VolunteerearlyMaine.htm.

When you search the Web site, keep in mind that years ago, photos of seniors often were put in the yearbook published the year after they graduated.

Aroostook County Genealogical Society will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 24, at the Lions Building, 111 High St., Caribou. The program will be “Brick Walls in Our Family Research.” ACGS will not meet in December.

3437. HULL. Looking for a William Hull, son of Samuel Hull. They lived in Aroostook County town of Easton. The Hulls came from Canterbury, New Brunswick, around 1880. Can’t find anything on Hulls from New Brunswick. Ervin M. Marston, 25 Greeley St., Bangor, ME 04401; or send e-mail, Emarbiga1@wmconnect.com.

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or e-mail queries to familyti@bangordailynews.net.