Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you located?
My name is Cyrus Karimi and I am a 43-year-old and I live in Trumbull, Connecticut. My wife and I have two daughters and a great dog named Blue.
When and how did you find out you were a descendant of a Mayflower passenger?
Over the course of the past few years, my older brother has taken a very keen interest in our family tree. Utilizing Ancestry.com and DNA testing coupled with piggybacking on our known family trees and family history in general as told by our extended family members scattered across America and Ireland, he was able to put together generation by generation account dating back to the days of Charlemagne. Along the way, we found out that we were connected to many historically significant people, including John Howland from the Mayflower.
What is the story of your ancestor?
John Howland is one of the more well-known people that were on the Mayflower. He was one of the 41 “true” pilgrims that signed the Mayflower Compact. He is most remembered as being a person who fell overboard but was able to hang onto rope until being rescued by his fellow shipmates with a boat hook. His story can be found on the internet and his bloodlines have been connected to many people (millions), including Presidents George W. Bush and George H. Bush, Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, as well as the Baldwin brothers…Alec, Stephen, Billy and Danny. His story was also told in the book, “The Boy Who Fell From The Mayflower”.
Have you met any other Mayflower or John Howland descendants?
I have not met anyone else, to my knowledge, outside of my family connected to John Howland or the Mayflower for that matter.
How much did you know about the Mayflower voyage, before finding out about your ancestor?
We learned a decent amount in school regarding the Mayflower voyage and Plymouth, Massachusetts but I did not know of my personal connection to this at all until many years later.
Have you any Mayflower related stories (recent trips, visits to locations etc.), prior to finding out your ancestry?
I don’t have any personal stories related to the Mayflower as of yet, but I do plan on taking my children there soon as Massachusetts is not very far from where we live in Connecticut. With my children also learning about the Mayflower in school currently, it would be a great trip to have them see firsthand what they are learning about, and couple that with our own connection to this significant piece of history. I do believe John Howland is also buried at Plymouth and his house is also still there too so we can visit those when we go as well.
Hi Cyrus, I too am a descendant of John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley. There is a very slim chance that you have not met any others. John and Elizabeth had 10 children; all of them lived to adulthood. Do you realize how rare that was back then? All ten of their children gave them a total of 88 grandchildren.in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. John and Elizabeth have many millions of descendants today.