The more I dig into our West family history, the closer I come to linking us to the Mayflower, which is a little intimidating. In a recent post by Dick Eastman of Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter, he reviews the The Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony: 1620 Rootsweb site by Duane A. Cline.

Cline’s pages are an educator’s tool: he describes the events leading up to the 1620 voyage of the Mayflower, provides information about the ships (there were two ships although the Speedwell had to turn back early in its voyage), storms at sea, animals on board, arrival in the new lands, the Mayflower Compact, meetings with the Indians, the rocky merging of the two cultures, the first winter when about half the settlers died, the first Thanksgiving, the starvation of 1622, and much more. Best of all for genealogists, Cline gives a detailed list of all the known passengers on board the Mayflower and brief biographies of each.

The information on “The Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony: 1620″ is divided into lesson plans. This agenda is good for learning and is excellent for any teacher who is planning to present this information in a classroom. Because of the wealth of information available, nearly 100 links (and sub-links) point to various bits of information on this Web site and to other sites as well. In addition, there are nearly 90 images/pictures, mostly original artwork from Duane Cline.

I’ll be spending some time digging through that site to find some connections with our West family tree, as well as reading about an important historical immigration to the United States.