The Mayflower II (courtesy Boston.com)
It has been estimated there are 20 million descendants of passengers on the Mayflower (1620) in North America. Of the 102 original passengers, only 51 survived the first winter anchored off of Cape Cod, and only 23 of them had children and grandchildren. There are two sites in modern Rhode Island where one can find direct connections to the Pilgrims.
- Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland (1607-1687) sailed with parents John and Joan Tilley and later married Pilgrim John Howland in Plymouth. She is buried with her Browne family children at Bullock’s Cove in the Riverside section of East Providence, RI, originally Swansea.
- Elizabeth (Alden) Pabodie (1624-1717), daughter of John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden, was born in Plymouth about 1624. She is buried at the Little Compton, RI town commons, not far from Col. Benjamin Church (1640-1717), soldier of King Philip’s War and son of passenger Elizabeth (Warren) Church.