Avoiding the Drop

The Tombstone of John Howland, my 11th great grandfather.

Last week’s holiday-themed challenge was a “tough ask” and I’m not shocked that there was only one among who was able to correctly ascertain the answer to the first half of the question and that nobody was able to answer the second half of the question.  Join me after the jump and I will reveal all!

The list I gave you was as follows:

• Geoff Bradford (Bristol City F.C.)
• Darren Fletcher (Manchester United F.C.)
• Billy Minter (Tottenham Hotspur F.C.)
• John Carver (Newcastle United F.C.)
• Rex Tilley (Plymouth Argyle F.C.)
• Craig Brewster (Forfar Athletic F.C.)
• Don Goodman (West Bromwich Albion F.C.)
• Chris Chilton (Hull City F.C.)
• Barry Fuller (Gillingham F.C.)
• Alex Cooper (Ross County F.C.)
• David Howland (Port Vale F.C.)

As Andrew M. correctly sussed out, these footballers all share last names with passengers on The Mayflower.  If I may be a bit of a scold, the holiday and the names Bradford, Carver, and Brewster should have pointed you in the right direction!  The second question, while much more difficult, was actually answerable.  If you happened to stumble across the right Wikipedia page you might have noticed that there were two passengers on the ship who eventually married and who produced a ridiculous number of progeny (10 children and 88 grandchildren), so you could have played the odds on that one.  But I digress…

John Howland, came to the New World as a indentured servant to Governor John Carver.  When Carver died in 1621 Howland became a free man and two years later he married Elizabeth Tilley, the daughter of the late John Tilley, who also died during the harsh first winter in America.  John and Elizabeth are my great great great great great great great great great great great grandparents through my paternal grandmother.

Nobody gets the prize this week, but if I can think up a good enough question in the future I will offer it again.

I’m back tomorrow with a new challenge…