I had been stumped as to what was next in my 5 times great grandmother, Thankful Isham, pedigree. I was stumped for a number of years and I admit this is where I stopped looking because it was too daunting. Thankful married Jonathan Simons and among their 9 children was my 4 times great grandmother, Mercy. Mercy married Noah Munn, Jr on 26 Nov 1796, and they were the parents of 11, including my 3 times great grandmother, Hannah. Hannah married Horatio Lee on 5 April 1825, in West Bloomfield, Ontario, New York. But Thankful was my brick wall to go any further.

Then, looking through my DNA matches in December, 2019, on MyHeritage, I saw a 40 cM, 2 segment, 23.3 cM longest, match with the surname of ISHAM! I quickly sent a message and was surprised to get a fairly quick response. I had asked if Thankful was in his line. He replied that she was not, but there was this book on the Isham family that might have some insight. I found it on Amazon (where else), for the low, low price of over $400.00! I kept looking and ran across a reasonably priced copy (above). My match and I turn out to be 6th cousin, once removed.

Thankfully, Thankful was there and a great deal of her pedigree, including that her mother was Rebecca Fuller, with a direct line back to Edward Fuller and his wife, and their son, Samuel, who all arrived in North America aboard the Mayflower in 1620. So, Thankful was transformed from a brick wall into my gateway to the Mayflower Society!