How Many People are Related to the Mayflower Pilgrims?

What's a Mayflower Pilgrim? In 1620, a group of English emigrants decided to leave England for the New World for a number of different reasons. A few of those reasons were to get rich and for religious freedom. What they got was an incredibly hard first winter where almost half died from starvation. The survivors became the founding fathers of America.

So to answer the question, how many people are related to the Mayflower Pilgrims. A lot! It's got the makings of a crazy math word problem, right? If there were 102 passengers that set sail on the Mayflower in September 1620. And 45 of those passengers died during their first winter. That means there were a total of 53 survivors, 5 of whom were women. We know today that of the original Mayflower passengers, there were a total of 27 families. So, how many people today are related to the Mayflower Pilgrims?

That's what a British mathematician is trying to figure out. He's married to a woman who is a descendant of a merchant named Richard Warren who just happens to be one of the men who traveled to Plymouth on the Mayflower. He had seven children and 57 grandchildren. According to the mathematician, Warren should have approximately 2 million descendants today. TWO MILLION. So if there were 102 people on the ship, even if only 53 of them survived how many people are related to the Mayflower Pilgrims?

Make a guess before you read the article here to find the answer.

So is it 30 million?   50 million?  or 100 million?  Email me or let me know in class what your guess is!