History has over dramatized those first to set foot on Plymouth Rock. Still the journey was not without incident and mortal danger and it seemed important to see if there was a family connection. First a short recap of the events leading up to that 16th of December, 1620. For centuries there had been over 15 tribes of Native Indians living in the immediate area; including the Massachuset, the Pequot, and the Narraganset. The Scandinavian groups had been sailing the coastline for many years. The French, Spanish and Portuguese had explored much of the eastern coastline . In fact the Spanish had a fort and colony in St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 that was ready for urban renewal by the time the Mayflower arrived in 1620. The French had explored and attempted a colony in the St. Lawrence river area as early as 1541. In 1607 the Jamestown, VA colony was settled. The Plymouth Company had attempted a colony in Maine in 1607 but it failed after about a year.

In 1614 Captain John Smith explored and mapped the New England area, later to be made Admiral of New England. Fishing and trading voyages went up and down the coast for a member of the Plymouth Company, Sir Ferdinando Gorges. There were different financial groups that formed and sent patents to New England, each claiming for a time, rights, to sometimes, the same areas. Gorges newly formed group, the Council of New England, sent a patent for my Mayflower settlers, on the Fortune, the same ship my grandmother, the widow Martha Foorde came on in 1621. Her husband died on the voyage and she gave birth to a son the first night she landed. Two years later, in 1623, she married my grandfather, Peter Browne. They were to have 7 children together, including my grandparents, Peter and Isabel. Five generations later, their offspring, Benjamin Phelps and Isabell Loomis married and thus my descendancy through the Crosby, Jones, and Miner lines.

There now were Puritans, Brownists, and Separatists in what was to become the United states of America. One small band of this Brownist or Separatists won fame in this Mayflower landing. In 1608, Peter Browne, was in Leyden, Holland in this group along with names like Bradford, Brewster, and Robinson. These Pilgrims were basically countrymen in England and while in Holland were forced to learn more urban trades. My Peter became a carpenter. Fearing they would lose their language and become too Dutch, this congregation sailed from Delfthaven on the Speedwell for Southampton where the Mayflower awaited them. They entered into heavy mortgage with merchants for their passage and settlement in the new world. For the first 7 years, no lands or goods were to be divided in order that the merchants who financed them would profit. They knelt in prayer at dockside, this band of Pilgrims...lacking in social standing, poor of purse, but strong in courage, conviction, and religion.

Jamestown, Virginia was 13 years old and that was where they intended to go. Two ships set sail from Southampton, the 180 ton Mayflower and the smaller Speedwell. The Speedwell proved unseaworthy and both ships docked at Dartmouth for repairs. Again they sailed and again they docked, this time at Plymouth. Here all but 20 passengers transferred to the Mayflower and for the next 65 days crossed the Atlantic Ocean. With rich pastures, good furs, and abundant timber on their minds, they were not ready for the weary trip, the lateness of the year, and the eventual turning in at this rocky land, Cape Cod, where they were to drop anchor. Captain Standish and 15 men went ashore on a shallop to have a "look see"; returning advice was "This will have to do".

That first winter was spent mostly on the Mayflower with trips ashore to build places to live. By that spring, when the white sails of the Mayflower hoisted anchor for England, many had perished; the rest set about the daily life of settlement and survival.

One year later, in 1621, the ship Fortune arrived. My grandmother, Martha Foorde, one son, and a newborn son were now in America. Martha's husband had not survived the voyage...2 years later , when Martha and Peter married, my Browne line was begun in this new land.

Peter Browne m. Martha Foorde 1623

Peter Brown Jr. m. Mary Gillette 1658-----1656 Isabell Browne m. Anthony Hoskins

Cornelius Brown m. Abigail Barber 1701---(1695) Grace Hoskins m. Thomas Eggleston

Rachel Brown m. Benjamin Phelps 1731--1717/9 Isabella Eggleston m. Abraham Loomis

Benjamin Phelps m. Isabell Loomis (1755)

Jerusha Phelps m. Capt. Obed Crosby 1781

Ursula Crosby m. Chauncey Jones Sr. 1803

Obed Crosby Jones m. Ursula Ann Miner 1886

Pluma Ann Jones m. Robert Duncan 1852

Ella Marie Duncan m. William Tompkins Green in 1886

Issue of Ella and William Green 1. Gladys Minerva Green McDaniel b. 1887 2. Agnes Zenobia Green Ludeke b. 1889 3. Lyle Leslie Greene b. 1892 4. Raymond William Greene b. 1894 5. Esther Irene Greene Phillips b. 1896 6. Wilda Pluma Greene Gerard b. 1898 7. Neil Duncan Greene b. 1905
All 7 children were born and raised on the Crawford Co., WI homestead of Tompkins Daniel Green and Elizabeth McGrath Green ... a place refered to as "Irish Ridge".

Sources As is true with any genealogy, experts disagree in many areas, records are lost or misplaced, sometimes omitted for various reasons. Example: my great grandmothers death certificate and cemetery stone are in error as to her birth date by 2 years. Different professionals will not always agree. Sometime you must use common sense and go with the most likely or obvious and accepted reasoning, sometimes the 2 agree/out #3 rule applies. The above is what I have found to be most likely from the best and largest number of sources. Naturally, any concrete proof one way or other is appreciated. We may or may not agree, but dialog is good.

LDS/Morman files; Genealogical Dictionary of New England by Savage-1969; The Mayflower by Kate Toller-pub. 1974; WI State Hist. Soc. Library; 1884 Craw. Co. Biog. Rec.; Gran. Co. Biog. Rec. pub. 1901; Family held Bapt.. records incl. family Bible; The 1963 National Experience/Hist. of the US; & The Pageant of America by Wissler, Skinner, & Wood- pub.1925. Compiled and written by John William Greene, WI, (John is a son of Neil D. Greene, b. 1905) (Richard Warren is also a Mayflower 1620 ancestor of this family (Phelps line)...but that is a whole additional article for another time.)

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