Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discussed the history of the Mayflower and its passengers, including the Pilgrims’ arrival in America and their legacy. They also explored surprising connections between US presidents and their families, revealing that three presidential families have produced multiple presidents and are linked to the Pilgrims through their ancestors. Marcia shared interesting facts about the Mayflower’s timbers and the challenges faced by the Pilgrims during their journey, while Bob highlighted the significance of their encounter with the first Native American they met, Squanto.
Outline
Mayflower’s history and its connection to a barn in England.
- Mayflower’s barn in English countryside believed to be part of a 400-year-old house with modern furnishings.
- Bob Smith shares insights on the Mayflower, including its history and the fate of its timbers after it was deemed unseaworthy.
- Marcia Smith asks about deaths on the Mayflower, and Bob Smith provides information on the ship’s timbers being used in a barn and a door in a kitchen.
Mayflower ancestry and genealogy.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the Mayflower voyage, including births and deaths, and estimate the number of people with ancestors on the ship.
- Bob Smith explains that 35 million people can trace their ancestry to the 51 Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620.
- Marcia Smith corrects Bob’s false statement that the city of Plymouth was named after a car, and instead reveals that it was named after the city of Plymouth, England, due to a map created by Explorer Captain John Smith in 1614.
US Presidents’ Family Connections and Pilgrim Ancestry.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the number of US presidential families that have produced multiple presidents, including the Adams, Bush, and Harrison families.
- Nine U.S. presidents were descended from pilgrims, including John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and George Herbert Walker Bush.
- Bob and Marcia discover surprising family connections through Mayflower ancestors.
Thanksgiving, turkeys, and celebrity ancestors.
- Bob and Marcia discuss the history of Thanksgiving and turkeys, including Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin eating turkey on the moon.
- Marcia shares interesting facts about turkeys, including that mature turkeys have 3,500 feathers and over 100,000 calls are made to the Butterball Turkey Talk Hotline each year around Thanksgiving.
Pilgrims’ voyage and Native American encounter.
- Marcia and Bob discuss turkeys, their feathers, and Native American culture.
- The Pilgrims left England in September, arrived in November after 10 weeks at sea, and spent 6-7 months on board during winter.
- Passengers spent much of the winter on board, some crew members had better living conditions in cabins, while pilgrim passengers were cramped with little privacy.
- Colonists spent an afternoon talking with a friendly Native American man named Squanto, who had learned English from fishermen and could speak it fluently.
- Squanto shared information about the local tribe, including how some members were lied to by Europeans and sold into slavery. He had been away for 8 months.
- The conversation helped the pilgrims form a bond with the Native American tribe resulting in 50 years without conflict.
Pilgrims and Thanksgiving History.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the origins of driving on the left side of the road in England, tracing it back to medieval times and knights in armor.
- Bob shares a list of famous Americans who are descendants of the Pilgrims, including Amelia Earhart, Ashley Judd, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the Pilgrims’ journey to America and their contributions to the country’s history, including their pioneering spirit and overcoming incredible odds.
- Ernie Hemingway’s quote “Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what you have” is shared as a Thanksgiving message, highlighting the importance of appreciating what one has and making the most of it.
Bob Smith 0:00
What does a barn in the English countryside have to do with the pilgrims of America?
Marcia Smith 0:05
And did anyone die on the Mayflower is 1620 voyage? Was anyone born?
Bob Smith 0:12
answers to those and other questions on Thanksgiving? Coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob
Marcia Smith 0:19
and Marcia Smith?
Bob Smith 0:36
Welcome to the off ramp a chance to slow down steer clear of crazy. Take a side road to Saturday and learn a little bit about our American heritage. We’ve got a show today filled with great questions about Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims because this is the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower landing. So anybody who is has an ancestor on the Mayflower is old American blood. You’ve been on this continent for four centuries. And we’ll celebrate that today with some great information. So Marsha, I have a question for you. Yes. What does a barn in the English countryside have to do with the pilgrims and thanksgiving?
Marcia Smith 1:15
A barn in the countryside?
Bob Smith 1:17
A barn is about 21 miles north of London.
Marcia Smith 1:19
What’s it what it was made with?
Bob Smith 1:22
Yes, that’s it. Experts believe that the Mayflower is part of a barn in the English countryside. 20 miles north of London.
Marcia Smith 1:30
How did the Mayflower get back to England
Bob Smith 1:32
to actually make two round trips to America? I didn’t know this. Okay, so let’s explore this for a minute. The location is known as Jordans farm and it consists of a large old house 400 years old, which has been remodeled with modern furnishings just beautifully modern. It’s like you know, Beverly Hills Modern, but the roots of this whole building is old. It was owned by the Quaker church for 400 years and they kept excellent records. And the little wine ship the Mayflower because that’s what the Mayflower carried before it came to America. It was a cargo ship for 45 years all over Europe. Really. Yeah, it was considered a sweet and valiant ship by those who sailed it. But it was an old experience vessel when it made its first voyages to the new world. And it was built to carry goods, not people. So that’s where the Pilgrims stayed during their voyage in the dark, damp cargo hold. And the Mayflower as I said, actually made two trips to America. But now think about this Martian. All the ships back in those days were made out of what, what? Yeah, wood and of course, wood after a while, eventually it becomes unseaworthy. So what did they do with the ships, they busted them up and sold the timber. And the people buying the timber were farmers who were looking to make barns back then yeah, that
Marcia Smith 2:45
makes sense. And they didn’t have that much wood in the forests. And England did that.
Bob Smith 2:50
No, and they were looking for those big large oak beams. So they purchased their beams from ship breakers. These were companies that salvaged ships. Once the Admiralty declared they were unseaworthy. And then they’d have to be broken up. That’s what happened to the Mayflower because its captain died two years after the Mayflower his last trip to America in 1622. And he died and then his widow and the other investors busted up that ship. They sold it to ship breakers. And they have records from that farm that still exists because that farm is owned for 400 years by the Quaker church that show that this barn is made of timbers from the Mayflower including that original screw that they used. There was a big wooden screw that they used. I didn’t know that to bring the ship together when it almost burst hard, really in the middle of the ocean. Yeah. Wow. So apparently this happened all the time. The ships were busted up in either London or other places. And then the bones of the ship were carried over hit land by oxcarts. And most of the timbers went to the building this barn at a place called Old Jordan, it’s in Buckinghamshire, and for years, it housed the wealthy owners racecar collection. Oh, there’s a picture I found here online of this barn with his great beautiful race cars and this old barn is the Mayflower and then in the in the house of this estate. Basically, in the kitchen. There’s a big old door there that they say came from the Mayflower it’s 400 years old, so it’d be called. That’s where the old bones the Mayflower apparently went to rest
Marcia Smith 4:14
speaking of bones, okay, did anyone die on the Mayflower? 1620 voyage? Was anybody born?
Bob Smith 4:20
I know. I think somebody was washed off of the ship I believe in died. may have been some people die. I know there was yeah, there were I know there was at least one baby born. Tell me what would
Marcia Smith 4:31
you Okay, well, I thought a whole bunch of people died, but they died after they got off the ship. You know, so was only two people that actually died during the voyage. First was a sailor, and then whose name we don’t know. But the second was a passenger a young servant named William button. And after the ship arrived, many other passengers and sailors died of illness. And three babies were born on the Mayflower. I thought it was only one Oceania Hmm. But this says after the ship arrived at Cape Cod, Susanna white gave birth to a son, but that’s after it arrived.
Bob Smith 5:08
Well, you have to remember that they stayed on that ship all winter long. I’ll
Marcia Smith 5:12
also that was their home. It wasn’t during the voyage. No. But when
Bob Smith 5:16
they got here, they were on that ship because they were trying to build houses and things. And it was this time of year it was winter. There was not enough time to get houses built and everything so they know gosh, that must have been so then a baby was died, right? Yeah.
Marcia Smith 5:30
Mary Allergan gave birth to a stillborn son aboard the ship after it. It’s landed. Yeah, but only two people died during the voyage. Okay.
Bob Smith 5:40
All right, Marcia. How many people have ancestors on the me? Oh my gosh, you mean ancestor ancestors on the beef. How many people besides you around the world? Yes. Besides me.
Marcia Smith 5:51
Okay, that’s one. It’s a big club. It’s a big.
Bob Smith 5:55
It’s a very big club.
Marcia Smith 5:56
I’ll bet Yes. I’ll Gosh. I’ll say 150,000 people.
Bob Smith 6:01
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no way
Marcia Smith 6:05
too much way too little. Okay.
Bob Smith 6:06
Now remember, nearly half of the passengers on the Mayflower died the first winter. That’s true. And only 51 Out of the 102 passengers had any children. Okay, only 51. So 400 years and 10 to 16 generations later and estimated 35 million people. So you got me 35 million people around the world can trace their ancestry to one of those 51 people now. That’s what’s so interesting about the Mayflower because the genealogy has been done on it for centuries. Yeah. I mean, people started following this out.
Marcia Smith 6:42
Isn’t there a society of descent?
Bob Smith 6:44
Yes, that’s Society of Mayflower descendants. This is how fast the descendants of the Mayflower has grown. After five generations, there were only 60,000 documented descendants actually 59,450 people that were documented, and they lived about 200 to 250 years ago. So we’ve gone from 60,000 descendants to 35 million today. Oh, wow. And there’s a new pilgrim database from the New England historical Genealogical Society and they can help you determine if you’re a Mayflower descendant, because all you have to do is link back to one of those 59,000 people from the 1700s. And you’re on your way to be a Mayflower descendant. Okay,
Marcia Smith 7:23
Bob, true or false? The reason the Pilgrims settlement was named Plymouth is because Plymouth is a car that they all drove.
Bob Smith 7:33
This is multiple choice. That’s a okay, what’s b?
Marcia Smith 7:36
It was named plummet. Because, because Plymouth England is the city from which they sailed. That
Bob Smith 7:43
is the city from which it sailed at one point because they had to stop there and come back a couple of times. So I’ll say yes, that’s the reason. No, it’s
Marcia Smith 7:50
false. Oh, really? Yes. Yes, you are wrong. Explorer Captain John Smith, famous for his exploits in Virginia. Map the New England coast in 1614. Oh, before the Mayflower came when he returned, he gave a blank copy of his map to Prince Charles. He became king in 1625, after the death of his father, King James. But anyway, Charles put English names on the map, including Plymouth and Charles River. So it is named after the city.
Bob Smith 8:20
Oh, yes, but not because they came from there. That’s just a coincidence. So Prince Charles decided I’m going to name these things that put my name on that river there and other things. And so that name was already on the map. So they had to go by that name once they got there. Yeah. Okay, I’ve got a question that has some Mayflower roots, but not all Mayflower roots. So it’s about US presidents. Okay. Okay. How many families have produced multiple US presidents? How many American families have produced multiple US presidents? Really?
Marcia Smith 8:51
Okay, let me just count here to just name some families. Adams Adams family. The bushes, the bushes. The Roosevelts. Yeah. One more family. One more family. Do I know these people?
Bob Smith 9:06
We’ve discussed one of them on the show before that really nails it that.
Marcia Smith 9:09
The Harrisons. Oh yeah, I’m gonna guess that so
Bob Smith 9:12
the Adams family produced John Adams, the president second president and his son John Quincy Adams. The Harrison family produced William Henry Harrison, the ninth president and his grandson, Benjamin Harrison. So they’re the only grandfather Grandson presidential Do you know I never put those two together how bizarre but one of their ancestors. William’s father was Benjamin Harrison. He’s considered a founding father because he signed the Declaration of Independence. So quite a family there. You said the Roosevelt’s a produced Teddy, the 26th president and his fifth cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the 32nd. And then the Bush family produced George Herbert Walker Bush and his son George Walker Bush W. But guess what? Why? The Harrison’s also linked to Abraham Lincoln. How so? Well, the President’s grandfather Captain Abraham Lincoln married Bathsheba Harrison. She was descended from a branch of the Harrison family that settled in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. So FIBA so that family actually is responsible for three US presidents. Wow, the two Harrisons and Abraham Lincoln. Okay, back to the pilgrims. Okay. Three of those presidential families I mentioned have something in common the Addams Family, John and John Quincy, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt just Franklin not his cousin and the bushes. They all have something in common related to the pilgrims. Okay, they are related to the pilgrims. Yeah, that’s
Marcia Smith 10:35
the Bush’s Roosevelt Roosevelt’s and who else
Bob Smith 10:38
and the Addams Family. They’re all related. They’re descended from pilgrims and they’re not the only ones how many US presidents were descended? This is the fascinating thing because I think people we all think about all those pilgrims landed there and all they were the first here we’ll see what well, you go through the bloodline and all the famous Americans that came from those people. It’s amazing, including nine US presidents. So the ones I mentioned John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Zachary Taylor, Ulysses S. Grant, John Garfield, Calvin Coolidge, FDR, George Herbert Walker Bush and George W. Bush. Not only that for us vice presidents.
Marcia Smith 11:13
All right, to follow up on that, Bob. How are the two Presidents Bush related to FDR?
Bob Smith 11:20
I bet it’s through the Mayflower ancestor connection. Yes. Okay. But I don’t understand how they are. You’ve got some information. Oh, that’s true.
Marcia Smith 11:26
They both have descendants, but they are related to each other. In 1620. Jane de la noi, was a small girl who arrived in America with her parents on the Mayflower. Okay. She was the first President Bush’s grandmother 11 times removed. Her cousin Philip de la noi, had his name become Americanized to Delano. No kid and his grandson 11 times removed was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, making Roosevelt and the two bushes, cousins. I’ll
Bob Smith 12:00
be darned because their cousins were on the Mayflower. See now that’s the kind of detail that really makes this a fascinating story. You can find that like my guy was George Soule, and he was an indentured servant. I found out recently that he was also a printer and helped to print a book with Edward Winslow, who has who hired him as an indentured servant as a tutor. Right. He was a tutor addictive Winslow’s children. Yeah. But I thought we thought it was strange because I always heard that my guy was one of the strangers not one of the people who are the you know, members of the faith, if you call it that, but I found out he helped Winslow publish a book in Holland that became such a controversial bestseller that King James went looking after them with secret agents, so they all had to leave. And then they ended up on the Mayflower with assume names, their names so you won’t find them and they their names. They signed the Mayflower Compact, but their names were never published until after King James died.
Marcia Smith 12:54
I kids like this. I mean, that makes
Bob Smith 12:56
it more human. You know, it’s not like all these people, you know, 400 years ago,
Marcia Smith 13:01
they’re rebels with a cause. Yes, yes. Okay, let’s talk turkey Bob.
Bob Smith 13:05
That’s appropriate. It’s Thanksgiving time.
Marcia Smith 13:07
It is it is and turkeys are indigenous to America. And a few questions about them. Or factoids. As you know, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin sat down to eat their first meal on the moon foil food packets contain roasted turkey and all the trimmings. Oh, no
Bob Smith 13:25
kidding. Yeah. So their first meal on the moon was Turkey Turkey and
Marcia Smith 13:29
the American that is like it wasn’t November but it was you know, July grateful thanksgiving dinner.
Bob Smith 13:36
1969 Yeah,
Marcia Smith 13:37
so here’s a question Bob. Okay. Mature turkeys have about how many feathers? How
Bob Smith 13:44
many feathers on a mature Turkey Correct. Why, you know, this is like how many hairs are on your head? It’s just an amazing number. What if somebody actually counts this stuff? So I’d say 1000 probably several 1000 feathers on a tree guide. It
Marcia Smith 13:57
is several it’s 3500 feathers on its little butterball body. Speaking of butterball, I love this. In 2016 there were over 100,000 phone calls to the butterball Turkey talk hotline.
Bob Smith 14:12
100,000 calls at the turkey talk hotline 100,000
Marcia Smith 14:17
phone calls to the butterball Turkey talk line for you know chefs in a pickle who needed some advice over 100,000 call every year around Thanksgiving. You hear them giving out their hotline number, so people can call and butterball is a is a turkey name. Yes,
Bob Smith 14:35
a major brand. Yeah, absolutely.
Marcia Smith 14:37
Okay. Okay.
Bob Smith 14:39
We’ll be back with more in just a moment. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marsha
Marcia Smith 14:43
Smith. We’re back.
Bob Smith 14:48
I’m Bob Smith.
Marcia Smith 14:49
I’m Marcia Smith,
Bob Smith 14:49
and you’re listening to the off ramp. I got some poor people related to the pilgrims. These are famous people. Alec Baldwin, one of your favorite actors. Christopher Lloyd, the guy played Superman
Marcia Smith 15:00
Superboy No, Christopher.
Bob Smith 15:02
I’m sorry Christopher Reeve, Christopher Lloyd of Back to the Future is though he’s really Future Boy. Clint Eastwood. Dick Van Dyke is related to five pilgrims made that happen. Well, five different families. He’s got Peter Brown, Francis cooked your stool, Myles Standish and John Alden. That is Yeah. And he’s related George soul who is one of my ancestors. Here’s Humphrey Bogart, Joanne Woodward, John Lithgow, Katharine Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Orson Welles, Richard Gere and Sally Field all related to the pilgrims. All right,
Marcia Smith 15:36
Bob. Here’s another turkey fat okay. Oh, you’ve been waiting for him. Yes, I have the heaviest Turkey weighed how much? Yes, Turkey. Yeah.
Bob Smith 15:45
Oh, well, I bet that’s pretty heavy. I bet they have these Turkey was like 70 pounds.
Marcia Smith 15:50
That’s pretty good. 86 pounds. Wow. Pass the stuff egg. Oh, man. That’s a big family. Get
Bob Smith 15:55
a big big family table. Yep.
Marcia Smith 15:58
And let me see. I’m going back to those turkey feathers. The Indians really, you know, knew how to use everything. Okay, turkey feathers. Gotcha. Yeah, they use them to stabilize arrows. We still see that today. Oh, yeah, that’s right. Yeah. And adorn their Native American ceremonial dress. And the spurs on those little skinny wild Tom turkey legs were used as projectiles on arrowheads. I
Bob Smith 16:21
didn’t. I thought it was always some kind of carved stone. Yes. So did I but
Marcia Smith 16:26
you could just use Wow, domestic turkeys cannot fly. Did you
Bob Smith 16:30
know I knew that. Because I had been chased by them. Were at a fence. When I was a kid. I was on my bike and they just started after me. I was like, Oh my God. And then some of them were trying to fly up over the fence. Scary. You know, these big
Marcia Smith 16:45
bird love to I’d give anything to have. I was probably set on phase
Bob Smith 16:49
10 or 11 years old. Oh my god. They’re gonna come after me.
Marcia Smith 16:53
i So. So would have posted that. Okay.
Bob Smith 16:58
Okay, Marsha. How long did that voyage take? How long were the Pilgrims at sea?
Marcia Smith 17:03
Gosh, three months? Yeah, a little more
Bob Smith 17:07
than three months, actually in time. 10 weeks and weeks on that ship. They left on September. The ninth I believe it was and I think they cited land on November the ninth. So and this was the worst time of the year to come cat. They started in July. They left in July the first time and then this the second ship that was with them. The Speedwell broke down and had to come back. And then they repaired it. And then they took off again. And they got 300 miles into the ocean and had to turn around and come back. Why? Because this other ship again the Speedwell started taking on water was going to sink depressing. So then they they decided eventually just let’s get rid of that ship. And as many people as we can get on this we’ll get on and other people had to stay behind. Some people decided they didn’t want to go, you know, after twice to getting out in the ocean. And nobody had ever been on the ocean. Most of these people were farmers and stuff. Yeah, shopkeepers. So yeah, so then the third time was a try. They left in September finally. So some of these people have been on and off this boat since July, trying to get away from religious persecution. Some of them not all of them. Interesting. So then finally they took off and 10 weeks to get over. So
Marcia Smith 18:15
they arrived in November. And that’s why it was so horrific. Yeah. So terrible. Wow.
Bob Smith 18:19
And then then the Winter’s coming on, you know, bam. And then he didn’t talk to the first Indians till the spring. We’ll get to that in a minute. Here’s a
Marcia Smith 18:26
related question. Okay. How long were the pilgrims on board the Mayflower?
Bob Smith 18:33
Well, I Okay, this is not how long did the voyage take? Yeah. Because they stayed on the ship through winter. Most of them they lived on the ship. Okay, they kept coming off on the land, but they lived on the ship. Okay, I’ll say. I’ll say six months. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 18:47
it’s close to that seven to nine months, depending on when they joined the voyage and how soon they left the ship for shelter on land. So many passengers spent much of the entire winter seven to nine months onboard the ship.
Bob Smith 19:02
Oh, and if you’ve seen any videos of the new Mayflower to where they get, you can go on board and see what this these areas were like where they stayed, which was the night where the crew stayed. That crew had better they had cabins. Everybody was just in this one floor. Oh dear with mattresses and stuff. So there are no privacy. You’re down there for six to seven months. And going along with it as of March of 1621. They were they started going back out working on the land building homes and things. And one day in March, march 16 16th 2001 They were very surprised when this Indian walk straight into Plymouth colony where they were and he greeted them in English. He said greetings English people that must have blown their mind. This was the first this was the first Native American they had talked to Yeah, and he’s speaking in perfect English
Marcia Smith 19:51
hilarious. I can’t remember his name. I have a feeling you know, so I’m gonna
Bob Smith 19:55
set that sounds endless. Okay, I do have a passage here. This is from a book in 60 and 22 called morts relation and it is an eyewitness account to take a listen to this. Okay. Friday the 16th was a fair warm day we were finishing our work when a strange looking man, a man which caused us to be surprised because he seemed unafraid just walked into the village. We stopped him. He spoke to us in English and was friendly. He said he had learned some English among the English men that came to fish at Monhegan Island, and he gave us their names. He was a man who spoke freely and openly we questioned him about many things. He was the first Indian we met, and he had been eight months in these parts. Then he told us of every area of the chiefs there number of man, the wind began to rise a little so he put a coat around him because he wore very little clothes. He had a bow and two arrows, he was a tall, straight man, the hair of his head black and very long, but no hair on his face at all, because they’re all wearing beards. He asked for a drink, we gave him strong water and a biscuit and butter. The British give him a biscuit, strong water and biscuit and butter and cheese and putting in a piece of mallard duck, which he liked. And then the big thing he told them about was the place where they now live was known as Patuxent by the Indians, and for all the Indians who live there, died of a sickness and none were left four years earlier, all the Indians died. He said, so they cannot hurt us or say, the land where we now live belongs to them. So he told them, you’re safe. Nobody’s going to attack you. And they said, all afternoon, we spent talking with him, we thought he would leave that night, but he didn’t leave. Then we thought to carry him on ship. And he intended to leave but the wind was high and the water was not deep enough. So we couldn’t return that day. So we launched him that night at Stephen Hopkins house. And we watched him
Marcia Smith 21:45
fascinating and so he learned English that well and that he was he was that good at speaking from just hanging around the other English group. I
Bob Smith 21:54
believe that he was taken on board a ship and may have gone back to England with
Marcia Smith 21:58
that anguish about some Indian Yeah, back and being educated in England. Was it him?
Bob Smith 22:03
I don’t believe he was educated there. No, but he he he had a he had a lot of experience with English fishermen and English people who didn’t. And he learned the language, he came back with Squanto, a native leader who also spoke English. So here’s two Native Americans who could speak English with these people. And he said that some of the Indians had had a cruel trick played on them by the Europeans. They took 20 Indians and carried them away and sold them for slaves. So he knew all this stuff. He told them, we think of this guy just walking in saying hello and speaking English, but they spent a whole day with him and he became a friend. And he brought the tribe over and they all became friends for 50 years without a war
Marcia Smith 22:38
without 50 years, or were they the ones for the first Thanksgiving. Yes.
Bob Smith 22:42
Yeah. And apparently, the Indians heard a big commotion where the settlement was, and they thought they’re being attacked. Let’s go over there and help them. So 90 Braves showed up and they found this big feast. They went, Oh, a feast. And they said, well, we’ll go get some stuff. And they went out and got some deer and brought it back and, and they
Marcia Smith 23:00
all they all eat together. That’s so a good start.
Bob Smith 23:03
But of course, things things went sour. But it was 50 years. They had peace with them. They actually had peace with it. The tribe, a
Marcia Smith 23:10
good lesson for all of us. Amazing, like a miracle. According Bob to the Guinness Book of World Records. The world’s largest turkey farm is in norfork England, and they produce 1 million turkeys a year in that country that doesn’t even celebrate Thanksgiving.
Bob Smith 23:29
A million turkeys. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 23:31
Yeah. Isn’t that interesting? All speaking of English people. Why Bob? Why did the English ride on the left side of the road?
Bob Smith 23:44
The reason I didn’t want to drive when we were in England. No kidding. What is the reason for that? You want
Marcia Smith 23:49
to just Yes.
Bob Smith 23:50
Have something to do with horses? Maybe? In a way
Marcia Smith 23:53
yeah, it goes back to mid evil days. Medieval days. Okay, no explain. So it’s the knights in armor would travel village to village and they’d keep their sword to the right. And in order to have his strong hand toward the middle of the road in case he was attacked. If he wrote on the right side of the road, it would mean he’d have to fight with his weaker hand the left side the left side okay, but he kept his road on the right so he could fight with his stronger arm.
Bob Smith 24:22
Oh no kidding. So even in horses back in then it
Marcia Smith 24:25
goes back to that night in medieval times knights in armor who would have thought that they just can’t give
Bob Smith 24:31
it up? Can they? Well, why? The wrong side of the road as I call it. Okay, I have a few more names here of famous Americans.
Marcia Smith 24:39
Okay, that were descendants of the pilgrim Okay, who
Bob Smith 24:43
one of your favorite chefs Julius. wine please. Amelia Earhart, famous aviator was descended from some pilgrim some people on the Mayflower. You can thank your cameras for Kodak. Yes. George Eastman he the inventor of Kodak, cameras and the Kodak film. Let’s see, singers Ashley Judd of the Judds and Bing Crosby, writers, Arthur Sulzberger, the publisher of the New York Times, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Noah Webster. Now here’s the funniest one of all. Okay, think of the pilgrims as being these God fearing people and not quite as strict as we make them out to be. But you know, they were very concerned with manners and what was pertinent and important. And guess who is another descendant of the Mayflower man who invented Playboy magazine you have here. And then just to round it up, also astronaut Alan Shepard, Charles Dana Gibson, Grandma Moses, the artist John Trumbull, an artist. And believe it or not, the reigning Crown Prince of Greece, Marie Chantel Miller, is somehow descended from one of the pilgrims. So you got, you got presidents, you got royalty, you got artists, you got astronauts, you got explorers, got inventors. They all contributed to the history of America. Because of the people that came on that boat. 51 people in that boat. Oh, then there’s me. Just a regular guy.
Marcia Smith 26:17
Hey, destined to do a podcast? Are you 2020
Bob Smith 26:20
Nobody on the Mayflower knew about podcasts apart. COVID Well, that’s true. Okay, or do you have something to wrap us up?
Marcia Smith 26:29
Oh, you mean like a little quote? Yes. I got one from Ernie Hemingway.
Bob Smith 26:33
Ernie Hemingway. I didn’t know you were in first freaking term out. Ernie. Haven’t
Marcia Smith 26:37
we got that we have a literary relation. Okay. But I think this is kind of esoteric, but a nice Thanksgiving kind of quote. He said, Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what? Oh, okay.
Bob Smith 26:55
Well, that was certainly what the folks we talked about today dealt with. And they landed here with just shores with no cities and no villages. And they had to overcoming incredible odds. They had to start from from scratch kind of a clean sheet of paper so that many of us could do that today. I think that we probably all look at that and go I don’t know if I could do that. But we’re so glad that there were people who began all the places we live in the world who are pioneers. Yeah. And that’s it for today. We hope you’ve enjoyed our little Thanksgiving episode. Hi, Bob Smith,
Marcia Smith 27:29
I’m Marcia Smith. Join us again next
Bob Smith 27:30
time for the off ramp.
Marcia Smith 27:32
Gobble, gobble gobble.
Bob Smith 27:34
Let’s get to that Turkey.
The off ramp is produced in association with CPL radio and the Cedarbrook Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
