To round out your general knowledge of this well-known society, you should know that the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, commonly referred to as the Mayflower Society, is an organization of people who can demonstrate that they descend from at least one of the 102 passengers who arrived in Cape Cod aboard the Mayflower in November of 1620. Although there were 102 passengers (and about 30 crew) only 31 Mayflower passengers are currently known to have descendants. Remember they suffered a devastatingly harsh first winter that left only 58 of the original 130 or so alive. The Society was founded in 1897 in Plymouth, MA.
But what if you’re a descendant of Peregrine White, who was born onboard the Mayflower after they had already anchored at Cape Cod? Don’t worry, Peregrine’s parents are also in your bloodline, and they were both passengers.
A stated goal of the Society is to educate the public about the Pilgrims and their roles in the nascent United States, but it’s not bad for bragging rights either. The current estimate of descendants of the original passengers is in the tens of millions.