Overcoming Adversity - A Genealogy Gift

 Inspirational Insights

Overcoming Adversity & Paying It Forward

Research on my ancestor's experience under difficult circumstances, provides historical lessons, perspectives and guidance we can all appreciate and learn from today.

Both these ancestors showed outstanding leadership, courage and confidence without which I would not be here today. Their collective history and achievements, in spite of significant adversities, should be an inspiration to all.

Most importantly, as you will see, they paid it forward.


William Bradford (9th Great Grandfather)

He was born in 1590 in Yorkshire, England. Both his parents and grandparents died before he was age 7 and he and his older sister were raised by an uncle. 

Mayflower Voyage

Later, to escape religious persecution he, along with his wife and 100 other Pilgrims, set off on the Mayflower in 1620.



Ten weeks later, "While the Mayflower was anchored off Provincetown Harbor at the tip of Cape Cod, and while many of the Pilgrim men were out exploring and looking for a place to settle, Dorothy Bradford (his wife) accidentally fell overboard and drowned."

This was a devastating loss for William and not a great start in the New World. At the time, he was only age 30.

For the rest of the passengers, "Arriving in November, they had to survive unprepared through a harsh winter. As a result, only half of the original Pilgrims survived the first winter at Plymouth. Without the help of local Indigenous peoples to teach them food gathering and other survival skills, all of the colonists may have perished."

So his wife had died on arriving in the New World and half his friends died during the next year. Under those conditions, one would not be surprised if he got back on the ship and returned to England. Remarkably, he stayed.

"The following year, the Mayflower passengers celebrated the colony's first fall harvest along with the Indigenous people, which two centuries later was declared the first Thanksgiving Day[3] by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, during the Civil War.

He was elected governor of the Plymouth colony at only age 31, and then was re-elected nearly every year thereafter."

He later wrote a history of the Plymouth Colony which is one of the primary sources used by historians, and is the only thorough history of the Plymouth Colony that was written by a Mayflower passenger. 

He paid it forward!


Benjamin Franklin (1st Cousin, 7x removed)

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston in 1706. His family wanted him to be a part of the clergy but he wanted to be a writer. Effectively, his formal education ended at age 10 but continued "through voracious reading". At age 12, he became a printing apprentice to his brother James. Having been denied the chance to write a letter to a newspaper, he adopted a pseudonym and those letters were published, widely read and discussed. Eventually, he was discovered.

At age 17, Franklin left his apprenticeship without his brother's permission to Philadelphia and in so doing became a fugitive.[20] In time, he developed a newspaper chain throughout the colonies which provided an outlet for his views.

After son William passed the bar, his father helped him gain a 1763 appointment as the last royal governor of New Jersey. A Loyalist to the king, William Franklin and his father Benjamin eventually broke relations over their differences about the American Revolutionary War. William eventually settled in London, never to return to North America.

His common law wife, Deborah Read, died of a stroke on December 14, 1774, while Franklin was on an extended mission to Great Britain.

As the Revolution approached political strife slowly tore his newspaper network apart.[38]

In June 1776, Franklin was appointed a member of a Committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence. Like other co-signers, he was considered a traitor by the British. At the signing of this document, he is quoted as having replied to a comment by John Hancock that they must all hang together: "Yes, we must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."[160]

In spite of all his life's obstacles, Benjamin Franklin succeeded. His reputation, inventions (Franklin Stove, lightening rods, bifocals, etc) and achievements are well known and legendary.

His quotations are as useful today as they were in his time. For example...

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

“When you’re testing to see how deep water is, never use two feet.”

His generosity is less well known having willed $5000 to each of his favorite cities, Boston and Philadelphia. These gifts were only available after 100 to 200 years but through the magic of compound interest and investing, it resulted in $20,000,000 for both these cities. Details are here

He paid it forward!

In Summary

What is the lesson and perspective in the face of these historical adversities?

They did not give up, give in or go away. They had something of real value to offer in spite of the difficulties they faced. They took great risks but persevered and prospered in spite of family losses, obstacles and adversities, while paying it forward.

Thank you for listening and hope you found it inspirational too.

~ Trader Garrett 


PBS recently aired a 4 hour Ken Burns documentary on the life of Benjamin Franklin here. Very well done and complete.

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