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Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 34

Illustration: portrait of Rhode Island Governor Norman Stanley Case (1888-1967). Courtesy of the Rhode Island State House collection.

Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on Mayflower descendants, focusing on the Turner and Case family lines. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

Today I continue with my series “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who,” focusing on descendants of Mayflower passengers Richard Warren, Elizabeth Walker, John Howland, and Elizabeth Tilley.

Turner Family Line

First up, the lineage of the Turner twins, with ancestry of Revolutionary and Colonial heroes as well as Mayflower passenger Richard Warren.

Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), 5 March 1917, page 13

The two babes in this photo feature in the Oregonian are Richard Warren Turner and Caroline Estabrook Turner, born in Portland, Oregon, on 14 December 1916, to Captain Chester Cleveland Turner and Caroline Estabrook Gould.

The family shared some of the lineage with correspondent Edith Knight Holmes. They told her baby Richard Warren had many ancestors by the same good name including Richard Warren, who won distinction at the battle of Bunker Hill. And baby Caroline is the sixth Caroline Estabrook to sport the namesake into the clan.

The catch here is these babes descend from two different Warren lines and only one connects them to Mayflower passenger Richard Warren. The other Warren line were settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts.

I found a reference to this double Warren line cited in “Asaph Warren Family Bible,” published in the Mayflower Descendant, Volume 34.

Turner twins’ lineage:

Case Family Line

Next up, Mayflower Society members including Rhode Island Governor Norman Stanley Case and his sister Martha Warren Case Arnold. Also, his son Norman Stanley Case Jr., who served as governor of the Vermont Society of Mayflower Descendants.

Case lineage:

Other notables in the family line include Samuel Groton and Gov. William Greene of Rhode Island.

Gov. Norman S. Case was the chosen speaker in 1930 when the Mayflower Society of Rhode Island held a banquet in the Biltmore Hotel foyer to celebrate Forefathers’ Day.

Evening Bulletin (Providence, Rhode Island), 9 December 1930, page 15

And it was not just their Pilgrim ancestry the Case family worked diligently to preserve.

In 1932 a photo of Mrs. Norman S. Case Jr. was featured in the Evening Star for her role as an honorary committee member for the Bicentennial ball, to celebrate the birth of President George Washington.

Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 31 January 1932, page 38

I found a photo of Mr. Case, who took part in other activities celebrating our founding father Gen. Washington – in this case, the anniversary of his funeral. This image is from 18 December 1932, published in the “Activities of the Commission and Complete-final Report of the United States George Washington Bicentennial Commission.” (Library of Congress)

The photo caption reads:

Memorial exercises, December 18, 1932, on the 133rd anniversary of the funeral of George Washington. After the ceremony in historic Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia, a distinguished committee went to Mount Vernon to lay flowers upon the tomb of George Washington.

Left to right, entering Christ Church, are: Governor John Garland Pollard, of Virginia; Governor Norman S. Case, of Rhode Island; Mrs. Sol Bloom; Honorable Sol Bloom, Director of the United States George Washington Bicentennial Commission; Miss Vera Bloom; Colonel Harrison Dodge, Superintendent of Mount Vernon; General G. Gardner Waller, Adjutant General of Virginia; Mrs. Royal S. Copeland and Senator Royal S. Copeland, of New York.

Here is an image in 1935 of Gov. Norman S. Case and Mrs. Daniel Heffernan, president of the Rhode Island Historical Society, placing a wreath on the statue of Roger Williams in the National Statuary Hall of the Capitol, honoring the pioneer of religious liberty who was banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635.

Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 19 October 1935, page 4

This was in conjunction with a tercentenary tribute commemorating Williams and his important role in recognizing religious freedom and its relationship to the progress of civilization. His wife Emma was there as well to represent the D. A. R.

Stay tuned for more…

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Note on the header image: portrait of Rhode Island Governor Norman Stanley Case (1888-1967). Courtesy of the Rhode Island State House collection.

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