George English, Director of Research Through People helped to organise this unique Tour for the American descendants of Philip Delano/Philippe de Lannoy, who sailed to New England on the Fortune in 1621, the year after the Mayflower.
Amsterdam and Leiden, Holland
The Delano Kindred European Family History Tour was judged a great success by all the tour members. The tour started on September 19, 2023, and concluded on September 28. Many tour members extended their tours at both the beginning and the end.
Before the Tour, Delano European historian and genealogist guide George English gave the tour members, two presentations on Zoom “Walking in the Footsteps of our Intrepid de Lannoy and Mahieu Ancestors in Holland, Flanders/France and England”. Every tour member also got a copy of George’s book The Delano and Cooke Ancestors as a reference guide for the tour.
September 19, 2023 – The tour begins in Amsterdam, Welcome!
Many of us arrived at Amsterdam/Schiphol Airport on the morning of Sept. 19, and went to our hotel in central Amsterdam, the Albus Hotel Amsterdam City Center. After we all got settled in, we met mid-afternoon for a walking tour of Amsterdam and then an Amsterdam canal cruise before the Welcome Dinner at Restaurant D’Vijff Vlieghen.
The first photo is part of our group at the English Church in Amsterdam where many of the Pilgrims worshipped when they first arrived in the Netherlands before moving to Leiden. Here is a table of the tour members enjoying the Welcome Dinner.
Here we are on the Amsterdam Canal Cruise with our guide, Kiki Wegener, standing in the background. Next, we have more happy diners enjoying the Welcome dinner, and then the best part of the dinner, the dessert!
September 20-21, 2023 – On to Leiden!
Right after breakfast, we rolled our luggage to the nearby bus and departed for a 90-minute bus ride to Leiden. On our arrival in Leiden, we met with two local guides, Leo Roosjen and Andre van Vooren who gave us a 90-minute walking tour of the center of Leiden. Our de Lannoy and Mahieu ancestors arrived in Leiden from Canterbury around 1591, almost 20 years before the English Separatists from Scrooby and Gainsborough. When the tours finished, we went to our hotel, the Ibis Leiden Centre, to check in and unpack. At 2 PM there was an optional tour of key Pilgrim and Delano/de Lannoy sites in Leiden conducted by Tamura Jones.
While touring Leiden, we stopped at the Vrouwekerk Memorial to see the plaque with Philippe de Lannoy’s name listed on it. The plaque was partially funded by the Delano Kindred and dedicated in 2011. We went to Pieterskerk to see where many of the Pilgrims worshipped and then stopped by William Brewster Street where he lived and ran his book printing shop.
The next day, Sept. 21, we first went to the Leiden City Archive where we met Cor de Graaf, Municipal Archivist. He had organised for us to see the actual baptismal records for Philippe de Lannoy/Philip Delano and several other de Lannoy and Mahieu records We then walked over for two-afternoon tours, the first at the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum and the second at the Wevershuis Museum.
Tour members inspecting some very old documents in the Leiden Archives. Next is Sarah Moine describing to us a very old plate from the 17th century in the Leiden Pilgrim Museum.
In front of the candle is the alms box from the Vrouwekerk where our ancestors very likely put their money into. Next is Sarah standing in front of the museum. The last photo is of Anneka, a Wevershuis guide, giving tour members a weaving demonstration at the Wevershuis Museum.
Lille/ Lannoy/Tourcoing, Flanders/France
The visits to Ghent, Belgium and Lille, Lannoy and Tourcoing in France, which were in Flanders in the 16th century, were very well-liked by all tour members.
On the morning of Sept. 22, tour members boarded the bus for the trip through South Holland then through Belgium, and on to Lille, France. In the photos above, we are just south of Leiden, passing The Hague. We stopped for lunch and a tour of Ghent. Our tour guide, Nadia Bennour, is trying to gather the group in front of Gravensteen Castle in Ghent for a brief lecture.
After we finished our tour of Ghent, we resumed the drive to Lille. When we arrived in Lille, we saw that the main square was taken over by crazed rugby fans in town for the Rugby World Cup competition. The next morning, Saturday, Sept. 23, we started the day with a walking tour of Lille with Stéphanie Antona who would accompany us on all of our visits that day. We then boarded our bus for a tour of the nearby town of Lannoy which is believed to be the source of our family name. In the photo above, you will see the tour group standing in front of the ruins of a former monastery in Lannoy. We then walked over to the ruins of a fort which is dedicated to a possible ancestor, Jean de Lannoy.
We then headed to Tourcoing to visit the town archives and the Église Saint-Cristophe. In the photos below, you will see tour members entering Saint-Cristophe to see where Philippe de Lannoy’s (Philip Delano) father, Jean de Lannoy, was baptized in 1575. The Baptism Register recording his baptism was hidden under floorboards on the first floor before being discovered in 1897! The entry recorded that the de Lannoy family lived in the district of Verdequeue on the west side of Tourcoing.
At the Tourcoing archive, in the photo below, you will see several tour members looking at the baptismal records with Jean de Lannoy’s name and his parent’s names entered. We also viewed Rue Franklin Roosevelt in Tourcoing, which had missed out the ‘Delano’ because the town did not know that his ancestors came from Tourcoing until George English told them!
Canterbury, Scrooby/Austerfield and London, England
We then left Lille on the morning of Sunday, Sept. 24, to drive to Calais to catch the ferry for Dover, England. Above you will see the ferry approaching Dover Harbour and the famous White Cliffs of Dover. We were on a very tight schedule on Sunday as we needed to drive from Dover to Canterbury so we could check into the Canterbury Cathedral Lodge.
At the Lodge, we got a lecture on the importance of Canterbury in the Delano family history from George English, who welcomed us to Canterbury and the UK; and from Rev. Hugh Norton. Then we walked across the square to the French Protestant Church (located in the Cathedral crypt) for the 3:00 PM service ‘Small Boat, Great Big Sea’. Below you will see photos of Canterbury Cathedral and a photo of Rev. Hugh Norton, preaching to the tour members. After the service concluded, we all signed the church guestbook. It was a very moving service and an experience for tour members to be sitting in the same church in which our Delano ancestors worshiped in the 1580s.
Following the church service, we took a guided tour of the Cathedral.
In the photos, you will see Carmen Goodwin Kew, Governor of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in Europe. The next photo is of the tour group in front of the entrance to the French Protestant Church in the Cathedral and the last photo is where the shrine to Thomas Becket once stood in Canterbury Cathedral. We then took a guided tour of Canterbury city before we met for a group dinner in the Old Weavers Restaurant.
The next morning, the Tour went to Westbery Manor, just west of Maidstone in Wateringbury in Kent. It has been in the family of Cousin William English CBE, for over 300 years.
William gave us a delightful tour of the manor, the gardens, and the farm buildings, and then kindly served the group tea and cakes. William is the fellow in the blue plaid shirt offering honey to Connie Delano for her tea.
After our mid-morning tea break, we then headed north to the Pilgrim towns of Scrooby and Austerfield. Our first stop was at Scrooby. In the first photo (below) we are visiting the Brewster Manor, home of William Brewster, one of the religious leaders of the Pilgrims. Standing in front of the manor are 4 Delano descendants who also descend from William Brewster. Left to right they are Sue Thorson, Carolyn Marcinkowski, Mary Kinzey, and Connie Delano. After the Brewster Manor visit, we visited St. Wilfred Church and cemetery to look for any Pilgrim ancestors. We then headed to nearby Austerfield to view the birthplace of William Bradford. On our way, we passed the Pilgrim Fathers pub as you can see in the third photo.
Our brief time at Austerfield was spent at St. Helena Churchyard (first photo below) searching for links to William Bradford. We found a small memorial to William Bradford and that was about all. Once our search was over, we headed a short distance north to our hotel in Doncaster.
After breakfast the next morning, we again boarded the bus for a half-day trip to our last stop on the tour, London! After we checked into our hotel just off High Street in Kensington, we again boarded our bus for a 3-hour bus tour of London. One of the stops was at Westminster Abbey and Parliament Square Garden. Later we stopped outside of Buckingham Palace.
The next morning, our last day on the tour, we began with a visit to the Tower of London, and we then took another group photo in front of the Tower Bridge. We then took a short bus ride across the Thames River to tour Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.
After several hours to rest and relax, we met for our Farewell Dinner at The Cavalry and Guards Club on Piccadilly just across from Green Park. William English CBE is a member of this club, and he graciously hosted us beginning with a reception and then dinner. The dinner was held in the gorgeous dining room shown below. Our after-dinner speaker, Mr. Murray Craig, was for many years Clerk of the Chamberlain’s Court and is also a Red Badge City of London Guide. Mr. Craig gave an excellent talk on the 17th-century history of London. In the last photo below, many of the tour members are standing outside of The Cavalry Club saying goodbye to one another after a very memorable 10-day Delano family history tour of the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and England.
A big thank you to the following Delano Kindred members for their valuable assistance in making this tour such a success. George English for his excellent advice on the tour itinerary, for making the many arrangements for the local guides, and for setting up visits to several local archives and the French Protestant Chapel in Canterbury Cathedral. Terri Sorensen for her help in planning the tour. British Delano cousin, William English, CBE, who invited us all to Westbery Manor in Wateringbury for morning tea and a tour, and who made the many arrangements for the excellent Farewell Dinner at his Cavalry Club in London. Wendy Cushing, Cruise Planners, for handling all of the tour bookings and payments.
Tour members were surveyed to get their feedback on the tour. They were unanimous in their enjoyment of the tour with many excellent suggestions offered on ways to build on this for a possible future Delano Family European History Tour.
