Climbing My Family Tree: Part 27

First Encounter Beach

Immigrants Richard Warren and Elizabeth Walker

Pilgrim Richard Warren

While visiting Cape Cod last fall, I made a point of finding my way to First Encounter Beach in the town of Eastham. This was the beach where some of the passengers and crew of the Mayflower first interacted with the indigenous people of the Cape. The encounter wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t peaceful.

My 10x Great Grandfather, Richard Warren, was part of that initial encounter.

First Encounter Beach, Eastham, Massachusetts

Most of us remember the story of the Plymouth Pilgrims from elementary school. After almost ten brutal weeks at sea, the Mayflower, with her 102 passengers and a crew of around 30, arrived in America, dropping anchor near the tip of what is now Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on Thursday, November 9, 1620. They had crossed the Atlantic at an average speed of just two miles per hour.

Climbing My Family Tree, Part 11E

Immigrant Rev. John McLeish

This is the third of four known letters authored by Rev. John McLeish (my three times great-grandfather) on his journey from Massachusetts to California during the gold rush of 1849. This letter was published in The Boston Olive Branch on December 15, 1849.

Climbing My Family Tree, Part 11C

Immigrant Rev. John McLeish

This past week Wartburg College Professor of History, Terrence J. Lindell, contacted me through my WordPress account. While conducting research for a course he teaches on the gold rush of 1849, Professor Lindell discovered four letters my three times great-grandfather Rev. John McLeish wrote while on his trip from Melrose, Massachusetts to the gold mines outside Sacramento, California in 1849. Professor Lindell was kind enough to share the letters with me.

Senator Merkley on DREAMers

This week I got an email from Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley. I want to share it with you.

Dear Alan,

Right now, the futures of 800,000 young DREAMers are hanging by a thread, waiting for Congress to step up and do the right thing. I am calling for immediate action on the DREAM Act to ensure these young leaders can keep contributing to the nation they love.

Today I met Juan from Salem. He loses his job tomorrow because his DACA permit is expiring.    

Understanding Privilege

As we pass through yet another period of increased racial tension in our nation’s history, we hear a lot of conversation around the idea of “privilege.” Privilege is understood differently by different people. For the purpose of this essay, privilege is the set of blessings we enjoy, which are not a result of our own hard work or our personal choices.

YouTube has several videos centered on privilege, some much better than others. Recently I came across a video published by Creator Studios on October 11, 2017. I will share the link below, but first I would like to share some thoughts with you.

When the Second Continental Congress voted for independence in 1776, they proclaimed, “All men are created equal.” But are we?

Have it Your Way: Whopper Jr. vs. High School Jr.

Burger King has a must-see video on YouTube. It has earned nearly four million hits in less than a month. You’re going to want to see it, but before you do, please read…

Burger King employees filmed an experiment in one of their restaurants where they bullied a Whopper Jr. and they bullied a high school junior. They wanted to see which one would garner the most complaints.

In full view of real adult customers, a group of high school students bullied another student—both verbally and physically. At the same time, they served hamburgers to adults which had been bullied (smashed) by employees. 

Can you predict the percentages?

Julia Ioffe: Modern Day American Refugee

Julia Ioffe is an American journalist who covers national security and foreign policy topics for The Atlantic.

On January 29, 2017, she published an article entitled, “This is What It’s Like to Come to the United States as a Refugee.”

The piece is a first-person essay that brings to light the very personal emotions Ioffe faced as a refugee immigrant to this nation, immigrating here from the Soviet Union. Her words slice through political policy and help us understand the heart-wrenching feelings refugees endure.

Don’t Reject Immigrants; We Need Them, They Enrich Us

During an American Naturalization Ceremony in 1984, the keynote speaker gave the following speech:

“Fifty million immigrants came to this country in the last 200 years. Some of the most recent have crawled over walls and under barbed wire and through mine fields, and some of them risked their lives in makeshift boats.

“And all of them have added to the sum total of what your new country is. They gave us their traditions. They gave us their words. They enlivened the national life with new ideas and new blood…

“We don’t reject them. We need them. They enrich us.”

Who was this progressive sympathizer who so strongly supported immigration and naturalization?

Origins of White Supremacy

Last month I came across a YouTube video entitled, Understanding White Supremacy (And How to Defeat It). It is an interesting post that runs just over three minutes. You can get to it by clicking HERE.

The piece was published on September 12, 2017, and has garnered just over 1,000 views. It was posted by acttv, which states on the site: “Do more than watch. Your home for progressive, action-oriented video from a grassroots, social-media community.”

Climbing My Family Tree, Part 26

Immigrant Thomas Burgess I & Dorothy

The Burgess family line was one of the most challenging for me to investigate to date. There is a great deal of confusing and conflicting information regarding the origin of the family name. After careful research, the following captures my best understanding of this branch of my family tree.

Thomas Burgess I (my ten times great-grandfather), was born in West Tanfield, Yorkshire, England in 1603. He arrived in Salem, Massachusetts in 1637. He briefly lived in Salem, Lynn, and Duxbury, before settling in Sandwich. He became a well-respected townsman and acquired a great deal of land.

Thomas Burgess, Jr. left the Plymouth Colony and moved to Newport, Rhode Island in 1661, where the family remained for two more generations until Benjamin Burgess (my six times great-grandfather) moved to from Newport, Rhode Island to Newport, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Benjamin Burgess, Wayne, Maine, aged 101 years, 9 months