We gather for prayer, and reading the Bible, and singing the songs of David – William Brewster 1566 – 1644
Our mother, the research librarian, spent many hours of her later years documenting our family’s connection to William Brewster of the Mayflower. Our branch of the family loses the Brewster name here in this graveyard in Duncan Falls, Ohio. Several of my ancestors lived and died in this community not many miles Southeast of Columbus. The last one to bear the Brewster last name our my great-grandmother, Emma J. Brewster, who married a Ross. That was nine generations ago. My generation is twelve generations removed from the first immigrants
I’m going on a pilgrimage this year to fill out the story a bit more for the next generations. The pilgrimage continues in March when three of us will travel to Scrooby, England to visit the town William and his family came from before they started the long, adventure-filled trip that eventually got them on board the Mayflower. I’m traveling with my granddaughter and my brother to document the start of this story that will be 400 years old in 2020.
My purpose in doing this research is to possibly write a historical novel about the descendants of both William and Mary Brewster and the Native Americans who first greeted the new arrivals. Grandpa and Grandma Brewster owe their lives to those men and women. It went well for a short period of time. And then it went terribly wrong. But those stories will be told another day. However, in telling them, I am committed to telling it as openly, honestly, and fairly as possible as both sides contributed to the horrific blood-shed that would soon erupt.
Even if I do not end up writing the book, I will tell stories of some of my discoveries through this blog. So if you’d like to tag along on this trip back through history, add your name to the list at www.howwisethen.com The more the merrier.
And if you have facts and theories of your own, I’d love to learn about them.
Story #1 on the Brewster Legacy Journey – The Brewster Tombstone.
A few years back I was wandering around the cemetery in Duncan Falls doing preliminary research before I dragged my younger brother, Bruce, with me to determine where the Brewster’s might be buried. Our mother had left us with very detailed notes about which cemeteries to search. But this particular cemetery is quite large and the tombstones very old sandstone ones. Quite a few are flat, and so nearly grown over with grass. They can be very hard to read, even with tracings. But, I figured my eagle-eyed brother and I together could find what we were seeking.
We pulled into the main road of the cemetery and paused, wondering where to park to start this treasure hunt. “Aren’t we looking for Brewster’s,” he asked. “Yes.” I replied. “Well, that one says “Brewster.” And sure enough it did. We were parked less than ten feet from it.
Thanks to Eagle-Eyes Bruce and modern cell phones with built-in cameras I now have photos of the last remnant of the Brewster name in our family lineage.