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Dear Grandpa Francis and Cousin Philip: I am writing to you to introduce the legacies you have left in the close to 400 years since you arrived separately on the shores of North America—you, Grandpa, traveling with your oldest son, arriving on the Mayflower, and you, Cousin, traveling with your mother on the Fortune and arriving in the fall of 1621. Grandpa, you and your oldest son, Jacob,  are my 9th and 8th great grandfathers.  Your wife, sister to Philip’s mother, arrived on the Anne in 1623 with the remainder of your children. Philip, these connections make you my first cousin

May 22,2022 (early draft ) Revised August 24, 2022 Dear Grandmother Sarah, I recently wrote a letter to your grandfather, Henry Taber, my 3rd great grandfather, and the father of your mother Abby Taber.   Very recently I found some interesting information I hadn’t known about our family’s much longer-term connection to Little Compton.  You may well have known it and I will get to that in a bit.  But first, the naming conventions of the colonists and early Americans have long fascinated me and your name is a very good place to start, incorporating as it does pieces pointing to the

Please excuse the informality—I write from the 21st century where life is much less formal. For some years I have had a small photograph of the wonderful oil portrait of you near me and wished so often we could speak. As I explore more about our extended family, I’ve been given an exercise that suggests I write to someone with whom I cannot speak. So, I took up the challenge.