Page 149 - Family History

Family Stories

I traced the Stanley family line backwards (and forwards) several times, and
when I was convinced that it might be true and my work was credible, I

submitted applications and fees to the General Society of Mayflower
Descendants, GSMD (in Plymouth, MA) and subsequently the Washington
(State) Society of Mayflower Descendants. That was October 2019! After their
preliminary reviews, I was instructed to obtain proofs for my generations 9 to
13 (me) and submit them for verification. And so, I did. I gathered birth, death
and marriage certificates, obituaries and more for each generation and

submitted all of it (quite a substantial packet of documents) in February of
2020, just before the pandemic hit. Then the waiting began …

A long time later … I was frustrated that I hadn’t heard anything and so I wrote

letters to the head of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants Society and
then to the head of the Washington State Mayflower Society. They assured me
they were working as fast as they could and that “progress is being made”.
They were “swamped with applications”. Things were “slow due to the pandemic”.
They reminded me that their work as regards lineage authenticity is considered
the “gold-standard of genealogical proof”.

At some point in 2020 my state society started publishing an application
waiting list online. A lot of people (not just me) were waiting. I would monitor
the list frequently. As time went by, month by month, my name would slowly
move up the list and (arg!), sometimes down the list! Who are these people and

how did they jump in front of me? I was beginning to wonder if my application
might not be done before a third Thanksgiving had passed by?

Then in early August this year, I was notified that my application was finally
being reviewed. A week of research later and it was approved and I’m off the list!
But wait … there is still one more step; another application to sign and return,
another fee to pay. My “Application for Membership to the Society of Mayflower

Descendants” which lists all of my generations and that was approved by the
Washington State Mayflower Society historian would now be formally
submitted to GSMD. “There’s a very good chance that you are a Mayflower
descendant since you already went through the application process with a

Member Society historian” says a membership person at GSMD. But, “we do
another verification of your lineage to make sure it is all correct”, and, “you

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