Pittsburgh-area Pilgrim descendants celebrate 400th anniversary of Mayflower Compact

Four hundred years ago, a group of 102 people, all hoping to start a new life on the other side of the Atlantic, left England and sailed to the New World.

Fleeing religious persecution, they left behind everything they knew as they boarded a small boat named the Mayflower. They sailed across an ocean with just a trunk filled with supplies and the stars to navigate.

They were headed for the Virginia Territory, but stormy weather blew the ship off course. Moving along at between two and three miles an hour, it took 66 days for the ship to end up at Provincetown, Mass., where the Mayflower Compact was signed Nov. 11, 1620.

“It became the founding document for the country,” said Reed Kneale, governor of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (SMDPA). “Now, they mentioned King Edward and they were loyal subjects and all that. But they needed some kind of laws to guide them, and they were wise enough to put it down on paper.”

Of the 102 people onboard, 41 men signed the compact. From there it was on to Plymouth, where they settled.

“Before they even got off the boat, they felt they needed to have some laws in place, some kind of law and order that everyone was going to follow so that everyone was treated fairly once they got off that boat,” said Pam Palchowski, assistant secretary of the Pennsylvania descendants group. “This was the start of democracy.”

For Kneale and Palchowski (Goff is her maiden name), the 400th anniversary of the signing is especially meaningful. Both trace their lineage to the Pilgrims and are official members of the Society of Mayflower Descendants.

To be accepted, a person has to prove bloodlines from their birth to their parents’ births, to their grandparents’ births all the way back to the Mayflower. It requires a lot of documentation — birth certificates, baptismal certificates, marriage certificates, etc. It can be an arduous process.

“It’s something you do as you get older,” said Kneale, 62, of Upper St. Clair. He is a descendant of pilgrims Miles Standish, John Alden and William Brewster on his father’s side and Stephen Hopkins and his second wife, Constance, on his mother’s side.

“It means a lot to me. I consider it dumb luck more than anything, but I’m grateful for it,” said Kneale. “It doesn’t mean that I’m better than anybody. It just means that I can prove my lineage.

“The truth is we all came from somewhere, and our DNA was hearty enough to get here, especially when you talk about plagues and all the things that happened to people over the years.”

Palchowski, 61, of Crafton said it had long been a dream of hers to be able to prove she was related to someone who came over on the Mayflower. Encouraged by her late Aunt Charlotte, a member of the Massachusetts Mayflower Society, Palchowski became a member in 2018 under Pilgrim Stephen Hopkins.

“It was totally amazing to be able to officially say that I am a Mayflower descendant,” Palchowski said. “These people had such a strong faith, and this is what they wanted to do and they started the birth of America. To be a part of that courage and faith, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

Kneale said there are 40,000 members of Mayflower Societies across the country, but there are millions of people who have ancestry among the Pilgrims. He encourages anyone who wants to follow up to go to the SMDPA website at www.sail1620.org.

It might be a great way to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving — coming in 2021.