Quote Originally Posted by SteveB View Post
... McFargus (I love your avatar BTW) you are indeed among the normal of the United States and Canada. Most have lineage back to the prolific families of Alden, Howland, Hopkins, and Warren. ....
I beg to differ. It is not at all "normal" for Americans and Canadians to be descendants of a passenger on the Mayflower. In fact, I would guess those are very much in a minority.

During the colonial period, far more immigrants came to the Southern and mid-Atlantic colonies than the New England colonies, and are therefore far less likely to have intermarried with Mayflower descendants.

The significance of the Mayflower has over the years become a far overblown myth. The settlement at Plymouth, Massachusetts, wasn't even the first permanent English colony in the New World. That was Jamestowne, Virginia, founded in 1607. The Mayflower didn't arrive until some 13 years later.