Hello and thank you for welcoming me to the group, My name is Randall R. M. Redman or as my friends call me Randy. I am a proud member of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants and a Professional Genealogist. I had four family members come over on the Mayflower’s maiden voyage in 1620. Three direct great grandparents and an Uncle. My direct great grandparents were Mr. Edward Fuller, His wife Mrs. Ann Fuller (maiden surname unknown) Mr. Samuel Fuller (Son of Edward and Ann) who married Miss. Jane Lathrop and my grand Uncle Dr. Samuel Fuller (Edwards brother) I am a member of the New York Chapter of Mayflower Descendants and an assistant historian for the chapter as well. I was told by Plymouth that I was the first member to ever be approved by documentation supplemented by Autosomal DNA. When, I first contacted Mayflower in 2011 with my proposed line, I was told that my line appeared to be valid but had not been worked on since 1730 and I would need to furnish an unbelievable and overwhelming amount of documentation. To be honest I was completely astounded by the amount of information that I was going to have to produce but I had quickly found a friend and mentor in the New York City Chapters, Historian Mrs. Sarah Morse. Within months of painstakingly scouring the eastern seaboard, I found everything that was required but a marriage certificate from the year 1745. Believing that we had all the information that was needed to show a direct line to the Fuller’s we submitted the application to Plymouth for their approval. However, I was initially declined because of the missing marriage certificate. Prior to sending my initial application to Plymouth, I had my father, his brother (my uncle) and their first cousin tested on FamilytreeDNA. My father, Uncle and most importantly their cousin Jann were luckily in an all and direct female line of descendants down from Mrs. Elizabeth Dunham (Who’s marriage certificate I was unable to find) Meaning the same Mitochondrial DNA that Elizabeth Dunham had they had as well. By testing all three was in effect testing Elizabeth Dunham herself. That being said I started to receive information back regarding their DNA. Family Tree DNA has what’s called a “Family Finder” feature which shows you matches based on your Autosomal DNA. This feature also matches you with people in their database and allows you to see your cousins (and the approximate generations that you are removed… Such as 2nd cousin, 3rd cousin 4th cousin etc….etc…. For whomever comes up as a match to you, you will share a set or common grandparent with. My matches immediately and overwhelmingly said Fuller, Bonham, Martin, Smalley, Dunham all the surnames that could only be if the marriage I put forth took in my initial application had taken place. I immediately contacted my mentor Sarah Morse the General Historian for the New York Chapter and informed her of my findings. She said that although it had proven to her conclusively that I was a direct descendant of Mr. Edward Fuller and kin that Plymouth would never accept DNA as evidence . Feeling vindicated by my DNA Results, I informed my mentor that I would become the first person in the History of The Esteemed Mayflower Society to be accepted on Documentation supplemented by DNA and I set off to work. Going back to the skills I had learned while working for the law firm, I wrote about a hundred page brief showing my matches and correlating them with the matches in Family Tree DNA’s Family Finder. Showing my tree and showing the people who matched me and their trees (Thus showing conclusively that our common grandparents could only have come about if the marriage in question had taken place.) Included in the brief was a “Naming Practice Analysis of Jacob Pyatt and Elizabeth Dunham’s children” this showing that the naming practices at the time had be completely upheld. I also contacted the lead historians for the Dunham and Pyatt/Piatt families. They had come to the same conclusions on their own and independently of my work that the marriage had indeed taken place and wrote letters to that effect, Felling confident, I resubmitted my application to Plymouth and after several months, I received a message from my mentor and General Historian of the New York Chapter of the Esteemed Mayflower Society that my application was approved by Plymouth and thus I became the first person in the History of the Esteemed Mayflower Society to get my application accepted on documentation supplemented by DNA. I have decided to include this story not to boast about my achievements, quite to the contrary. I am humbled by the fact that I was able to prove conclusively that my family descends from the Mayflower but more importantly that a door has been opened for those who wish to prove their connection but are missing a key piece of evidence to establish their connection. For using the “Naming practices” of the day and contacting the lead historians of both families helped me immensely in my quest. The DNA although relatively new to the scene is the “Rosetta Stone” It is impartial and cannot lie it is who you are and is better than any paper documentation there is. By using all three maybe this just might help someone else in their quest to restore their birthright as I have used it restore mine. Again, I thank you for welcoming me to the group and I wish all those searching the best of luck in your quest. I would be keenly interested in any comments or questions that I may be able to answer as well as meeting my Mayflower cousins. Especially those who come from my great grandfather Mr. Edward Fuller. Best regards, Randy
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 20:39:38 +0000
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