We'd already traced Tamera's mother's roots
in The Bahamas,
a place she'd long associated with her family.
Now, turning to her father's roots,
we found ourselves on unfamiliar terrain.
In Nottinghamshire, England, in the early 1600s.
Here, a man named William Brewster,
whom we believe to be Tamera's 13th great-grandfather,
began using his home as a church
for an underground religious group known as the Separatists.
Tamera, who's passionate about her own faith,
was eager to hear more.
The Separatists determined
that the Church of England was corrupt
and they wanted to break away and form a new denomination.
He was a religious radical.
What's it like to find out
that you had a religious radical in your family tree?
(laughing)
- I feel seen. (laughing)
That's insane.
- Please turn the page.
Take a look at this.
It comes from the court records of York, England.
Read it for me.
- Office of the Lord verses William Brewster of Scrooby,
December 1st, 1607,
information is given that he is disobedient
(laughing)
in matters, in matters of religion.
Said Lord decreed the apprehension
of the said William Brewster.
- In December, 1607, county officials got wind
of the secret services that were taking place
at your ancestor's home.
They came after him and the others who practiced
at his home.
- Oh my gosh.
- Your 13th great-grandfather was a wanted man.
- In the name of religion. - In the name of religion.
- Okay.
- William and his fellow Separatists
would go to great lengths to worship as they chose.
After English authorities discovered their church,
they were arrested and briefly in prison.
Upon release, they fled to Holland
but they didn't remain there for long.
We next found William, along with his wife Mary
and two of their sons, on the passenger list of a ship
bound for the New World.
Any idea what you're looking at?
- No.
- You just read a list of passengers
who sailed on the Mayflower.
- I'm, I'm done.
(laughing)
- You're descended from the original English people
who came on the Mayflower, direct.
Your 13th great-grandfather William Brewster and his family.
William's wife, Mary, is your 13th great-grandmother.
They were there on the Mayflower.
They were pilgrims.
They were here at ground zero for white people.
- This is what's crazy about being biracial.
I have blood that started it
and then I have blood that was enslaved by it.
- Yeah.
You represent, in your family tree, the complexity of race.
- [Tamera] Yes.
- In the history of the United States.
- That's crazy.
- As it turns out,
Tamera's ancestor was not just any Mayflower passenger,
he was a leader.
By the time the ship arrived in the New World,
William had been selected as the Separatists' ruling elder,
the man they would look to for spiritual guidance.
It proved to be a daunting task.
William and his fellow settlers were entirely unprepared
for the climate of New England.
In their first four months in America,
nearly half of them perished.
- Mr. Ed Winslow, his wife died the first winter.
Mr. Allerton, his wife died with the first.
John Crackston died in the first mortality.
Captain Standish, his wife died in the first sickness.
Mr. Martin, he and all his died in the first infection.
Mr. Molines and his wife, his son and his servant
died the first winter.
Mr. White and his two servants died
soon after their landing.
- Your 13th great-grandfather
watched helplessly as people perished all around him,
and as the pilgrims' trusted Elder,
he likely ministered to the dying.
Can you imagine what that had to be like?
- Jesus.
- So let's see what happened.
Can you please turn the page?
- Oh Jeez.
- After the winters finally subsided
the pilgrims were able to gain a foothold.
They built homes on the shores of Plymouth Bay
and despite some serious tensions,
the local members of the Wampanoag Tribe
helped teach them how to hunt, farm and fish,
and the colony stabilized.
This letter you're about to read
describes an event that took place
in Plymouth later that year.
Would you please read it?
- Our harvests being gotten in,
our governor sent four men on fowling
that so we might, after a special manner, rejoice together
after we had gathered the fruits of our labors.
Many of the Indians coming amongst us,
whom for three days we entertain and feasted,
and they killed five deer
which they bestowed on our governor.
And although it be not always so plentiful
as it was at this time with us,
yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want.
- This is a description of what's known
as the first Thanksgiving
and your 13th great-grandfather was there.
And he most likely led the group in prayer
because he was, you know, the elder.
And that is the famous depiction of the first Thanksgiving.
You see the man standing up with his hands raised in prayer?
- Yes. - That is William Brewster.
- You are kidding me!
- No, that's it.
- Oh my gosh.
This is so- whoa!
Okay, mind blown.