My mother's family has a rich history of immigration to this country. In 1620, Elizabeth Tilley and John Howland arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts on the Mayflower. They left England because of religious intolerance and hoped to find religious freedom in the New World. They disembarked and began establishing a new civilization on a new continent. Both Elizabeth and John were very young when they arrived and quickly had to fend for themselves in the new land. Elizabeth and John, however, were survivors. They married and had 10 children and each lived into their 80’s. Five generations after Elizabeth and John, the Wallaces entered the family tree and they settled what is now Maine. They founded the town of Millbridge and from there, Colonel Joseph Wallace built many of the ships that the Colonists used in the Revolutionary War. Joseph Wallace Junior, his son, worked closely with Native Americans during the war of 1812, helping stifle British efforts to capture the United States. In the 1960’s, my grandfather decided to have a family ring made. This piece of jewelry has the Wallace Family Crest printed on it. The crest depicts a lion an arm holding a sword. The lion represents deathless courage and the hand brandishing the sword represents the idea of freedom and liberty. The ring reminds me of the struggle that my ancestors went through to settle the new world and the fundamental role that they played in American History.  

– Conrad Dobbs

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more