This year marks the 400th anniversary of Mayflower's sailing to America and the resulting founding of Plymouth Colony by the Pilgrims.
Many of the stories of this great adventure stay with us today. One of the best-known passengers on the Mayflower was Miles Standish, commander of the colony’s militia immortalized in the fictional The Courtship of Miles Standish by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Another popular tale recounts the Pilgrims’ shock when an Indian sachem fearlessly strolled into their fledgling campsite and declared the now famous words, “Welcome, Englishmen.”
Listen to a live virtual program presented by Judie Allen and Captain James Battles USN at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 25, at the Allen Public Library.
A direct descendant of Mayflower passengers William, Alice and Pricilla Mullins, John Alden and Richard Warren, Ms. Allen is the Governor for the Texas Society of Mayflower Descendant and has served the Society as Assistant General to the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.
In 2020, Judie co-edited the book Gone to Texas – How Mayflower Descendants Got to Texas published by the Texas Society for the 400th Commemoration of the Mayflower voyage. She explains, “The Texas Society of Mayflower Descendants’ goal is to educate and promote an accurate, historical, and sometimes, unromantic account of our amazing Pilgrim ancestors.”
Captain Battles, retired Unites States Navy, earned a Ph.D. in Educational Communications and Medical Education. He has served the on faculty of Ohio State University, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and the Uniformed Services University of the Heath Sciences in Bethesda, MD as a medical educator.
While researching family history, Captain Battles discovered that he was a descendant of Mayflower passenger James Chilton. Using his expertise in educational communications, he wrote and produced a video entitled Chilton’s Challenge that tells the story of Chilton and his daughter Mary, which is available on YouTube.
Call 214-509-4911 for additional information.