My 1788 Massachusetts Cent: The Colonies produced their own coins before the United States existed

My family claims ancestry from the Mayflower. Not just any old ancestor who made that uncomfortable journey, but the well known Elder William Brewster.

I say “claims” because I don’t know that it’s true. My father said so. My grandmother said so. My cousin, who has assembled massive genealogical records about our family, says so also.

I was a little bit of a skeptic because I once did some computer work for The Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, and mentioned that lineage to the director I was helping. She said that they turn down would be members frequently because of mistaken genealogy. It seems that Brewster was a fairly common name in the New England Colonies. People come across someone in their ancestry with the same name and birth date as a true Brewster descendant and jump the tracks, heading off in the wrong lineage. This can go awry with the Brewster name, but also with daughters and granddaughters who took their husbands names.

https://medium.com/collectibles-history-knowledge/my-1788-massachusetts-cent-18b09758f92c?source=friends_link&sk=907c4102da8787b5b4707cee114771d7