Sunday, November 24, 2013

Thanksgiving, Pilgrims & the Chilton Family

I remember one morning around the week of Thanksgiving, right before leaving school, our local paper published all of the names of people who were aboard the Mayflower. My Dad showed it to me and was so proud to see names of our ancestors on this famous boat - the Chilton's. There is some folklore that the daughter, Mary Chilton, was the first person to step foot on Plymouth Rock and also of of the few surviving pilgrims to witness the first Thanksgiving in 1621.

My father's mother was a Chilton. It was her maiden name (Bonnie Lucille Chilton, born August 20th, 1932 - Died: May 24th 1980). Her father came from Texas, and further down the Chilton line, many of them came from Tennessee. I have yet to go as far back as the 1820's on the Chilton's but I think I can do so once given a little more time.

We still have the newspaper article from that day (sometime in 1992), and we added it to a family history book of my brother's he had to make in the 4th grade (sometime in 1988-89). We kept adding things to it after he made it. I made my own family history book in 1997 and extracted some items out of it, but for the most part, his stayed in tact.

Thanksgiving is one of those days were our family has had many varied celebrations. Often they were at one of our family member's home, or we'd go out and celebrate. Nevertheless, being with my cousins and extended family made our Thanksgivings a very meaningful time of year.

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