{geni:about_me} MOST IMPORTANT NOTE: ALTHOUGH JOHN ALDEN'S PARENTAGE IS UNKNOWN, PLEASE DO NOT USE WIKIPEDIA OR SOURCES LIKE IT AS A REFERENCE. IT IS WRITTEN BY CONTRIBUTORS WHO MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE SOURCES. GENEALOGY DEPENDS ON ORIGINAL DOCUMENTATION FOR PROOF OF LINEAGE. IF YOU CITE A LINK, PLEASE MAKE IT TO A PLACE THAT SHOWS ORIGINAL DOCUMENTATION!!!

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PLEASE NOTE: Efforts to locate his birthplace and parentage have so far been inconclusive. Although he joined the Mayflower at Southampton, co. Hampshire, England, no records have been found of John in Southampton, and he was not necessarily a native of that place. HIS PARENTS ARE UNKNOWN.
FOR A DETAILED BIOGRAPHY, PLEASE VISIT http://www.alden.org/our_family/aldenbiography.htm
OTHER LINKS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Alden_%28Pilgrim%29
http://www.alden.org/aldengen/pafg01.htm#1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Alden_%28Pilgrim%29
http://pilgrims.net/plymouth/history/
http://tinyurl.com/JohnAldenWerelate
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=15
http://www.jscott.tierranet.com/ancestry/taylor/hayden.htm
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CHILDREN:
i. Elizabeth Alden.
ii. John Alden; born circa 1627 at Plymouth, Plymouth County, MA; married Elizabeth Phillips 1 Apr 1660 at Boston, Suffolk, MA; died after 17 Dec 1659.
iii. Joseph Alden; married Mary Simmons circa 1660 at Bridgewater, Plymouth County, MA; died 8 Feb 1696/97 at Bridgewater, Plymouth County, MA.
iv. Rebecca Alden; married Thomas Delano before 30 Oct 1667.
v. Ruth Alden; born before 1644 at Duxbury, Plymouth County, MA; married John Bass 12 May 1657; died 12 Oct 1674 at Braintree, Norfolk, MA.
vi. Sarah Alden; born circa 1629; married Alexander Standish circa 1650 at Duxbury, Plymouth County, MA; died before 1686.
vii. Jonathan Alden; born 1632; married Abigail Hallet 10 Dec 1672 at Duxbury, Plymouth County, MA; died 14 Feb 1697/98 at Duxbury, Plymouth County, MA.
viii. David Alden; born circa 1646; married Mary Southworth circa 1670 at Duxbury, Plymouth County, MA; died 8 Feb 1696/97.
ix. Mary Alden
x. Priscilla Alden.
NOTE: ZACHARIAH ALDEN AND HENRY ALDEN HAVE BOTH BEEN INCORRECTLY IDENTIFIED AS SONS OF JOHN ALDEN AND PRISCILLA ALDEN IN VARIOUS PUBLICATIONS. For information on the genealogy of Henry Alden, see Mayflower Descendant 43:21-29,133-138; 44:27-30,181-184.
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BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
John Alden (1599??September 22, 1687) was a tradesman who emigrated to America in 1620 with the Pilgrims on the Mayflower and was among the founders of the Plymouth Colony. He was originally hired by William Bradford and others to be their cooper. Though he could have returned to England the following year, he chose to stay in the new colony. About 1623 he married Priscilla Mullins, with whom he had many children. He was one of the first settlers of Duxburrough or Duxborough, known today as Duxbury, Massachusetts, where he lived for most of his life. From 1633 until 1675 he was assistant to the governor of the colony, frequently serving as acting governor and also sat on many juries, including one of the two witch trials in the Plymouth Colony.
There are several theories regarding Alden's ancestry. According to William Bradford's Of Plimoth Plantation, he was hired as a cooper in Southampton, England just before the voyage to America. In The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers, Charles Edward Banks suggested that John was the son of George and Jane Alden and grandson of Richard and Avys Alden of Southampton. However, there are no further occurrences of the names George, Richard, and Avys in his family which would have been unusual in the seventeenth century.
Another theory is that John Alden came from Harwich, England where there are records of an Alden family who were related by marriage to Christopher Jones, the Mayflower's captain. In this case, he may have been the son of John Alden and Elizabeth Daye.
In 1634 Alden was jailed in Boston for a fight at Kenebeck in Maine between members of the Plymouth Colony and the Massachusetts Bay Colony. While Alden did not take part in the fight (which left one person dead) he was the highest ranking member the Massachusetts Bay colonists could get their hands on, and it was only through the intervention of Bradford that he was eventually released.
In later years Alden became known for his intense dislike of the Quakers and Baptists, who were trying to settle on Cape Cod. A letter survives complaining that Alden was too strict when it came to dealing with them.
At the time of his death, at Duxbury on September 12, 1687, he was the last male survivor of the signers of the Mayflower Compact of 1620, and with the exception of Mary Allerton, he was the last survivor of the Mayflower's company.
He is remembered chiefly because of a popular legend, put into verse in 1858 as The Courtship of Miles Standish by his descendant Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, concerning his courtship of Priscilla Mullins, whom he married in 1623 after having wooed her first on behalf of his friend, Miles Standish. There is no known historic basis to the legend.
Alden's house in Duxbury, built in 1653, is open to the public as a museum. It is run by the Alden Kindred of America, an organization which provides historical information about him and his home, including genealogical records of his descendants.
Alden and his wife Priscilla lie buried in the Miles Standish Burial Ground in Duxbury.
A rifle, supposedly owned by John Alden, is in the collection of the National Firearms Museum (National Rifle Association), Fairfax, Virginia.
"The most valuable item in the museum's collection is a .66-caliber Italian wheel lock carbine that came over on the Mayflower in 1620 with Pilgrim John Alden."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/museums/national-firearms-museum,794568.html
http://nra.nationalfirearms.museum/tour/gallery/Gallery2.asp
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LAND & PROPERTY GRANTS:
1623 Plymouth land division grant: Unknown number of acres as a passenger on the Mayflower in 1620 [PCR 12:4].
1627 Plymouth cattle division: Included in company of John Howland, along with wife Priscilla, daughter Elizabeth and son John [PCR 12:10].
25 March 1633 and 27 March 1634: Assessed £1 4s. in Plymouth tax lists of [PCR 1:9, 27].
14 March 1635/6, 20 March 1636/7: Assigned mowing ground for the year, [PCR 1:40, 56].
06 March 1636/7: "A parcel of land containing a knoll, or a little hill, lying over against Mr. Alden's land at Blewfish River, is granted by the Court unto the said Mr. John Alden in lieu of a parcel of land taken from him (next unto Samuel Nash's lands) for public use" [PCR 1:51].
05 February 1637/8: Granted "certain lands at Green's Harbor," [PCR 1:76].
02 July 1638: Granted to Miles Standish and John Alden three hundred acres "on the north side of the South River," [PCR 1:91].
03 September 1638: "A little parcel of land... lying at the southerly side of his lot," [PCR 1:95].
03 June 1657: "Liberty is granted unto Mr. John Alden to look out a portion of land to
accommodate his sons withall, and to make report thereof unto the Court, that so it may be
confirmed unto him" [PCR 3:120].
13 June 1660: "In regard that Mr. Alden is low in his estate, and occasioned to spend much time at the courts on the country's occasions, and so hath done this many years, the Court have allowed him a small gratuity, the sum of ten pounds, to be paid by the Treasurer" [PCR 3:195].
07 June 1665: Granted "a competency of land" at Namasskett, [PCR 4:95].
04 March 1673/4: Granted one hundred acres at Teticutt, [PCR 5:141].
In addition to grants of land, John was involved in land purchases and sales. A description of the land of "Mr. John Aldin, of Duxbery," is entered under date of 4 December 1637, but with the modern annotation that this is a later entry, and with the internal statement that one of the abuttors was "Philip Delano, deceased," which means that the entry must have been made in 1681 or later; this is immediately followed by an entry for another parcel of land which Alden bought of Edward Hall in 1651 [PCR 1:71, 73].
In the 1670s, Alden began distributing his land holdings to his surviving sons. Probate records of his estate (he did not leave a will) mention no land holdings, so it must all have been distributed before his death, which would account for the smallness of the estate, only £49 17s. 6d.
08 July 1674: John Alden of Duxbury "for love and natural affection and other valuable causes and considerations" deeded to "David Alden his true and natural son all that his land both meadow and upland that belongs unto him situate or being at or about a place called Rootey Brook within the Township of Middleborough ... excepting only one hundred acres," containing about three hundred acres [PLR 3:330].
01 April 1679: John Alden gave to his son Joseph "all that my share of land... within the township of Bridgewater" [PLR 3:194].
01 January 1684/85: John Alden Sr. of Duxbury for "that real love and parental affection which I bear to my beloved and dutiful son Jonathan Alden" deeded to him all my upland in Duxbury, for which "see old book of grants and bounds of land anno 1637 folio 137," and all other lands at Duxbury whether granted by court at Plymouth or town of Duxbury [PLR 6:53].
13 January 1686/87: John Alden Sr. of Duxbury for "that natural love and affection which I bear to my firstborn and dutiful son John Alden of Boston" deeded him one hundred acres at Pekard Neck alias Pachague with one-eighth of the meadow belonging to that place, and one hundred acres at Rootey Brook (brother David Alden is to have first right of purchase if John should wish to sell this hundred acres), together with a sixteen shilling purchase being the fifteenth lot, all in Middleborough, and one hundred acres, the first in a division of one thousand acres in Bridgewater [PLR 5:427].
19 August 1687: John Alden Sr. of Duxbury, cooper, gave to his sons Jonathan and David Alden five acres of salt marsh at Duxbury and "my whole proportion in the Major's Purchase commonly so-called being the thirty-fifth part of said purchase" [MD 9:145, citing PLR 4:65].

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JOHN ALDEN?S ESTATE
Administration of the estate of Mr. John Alden of Duxbury was granted to Lt. Jonathan Alden on 8 November 1687. Inventory was taken on 31 October 1687 by Lt. Jonathan Alden who made his oath on the day administration was granted to him. It consisted entirely of moveables and totaled £49.17s.6d. (Plymouth Co Probate Records, vol. 1:10, 16; The Mayflower Descendant, vol. 3:10-11):
£ s d
Neate Cattell sheep Swine & one horse
13
one Table one forme one Carpit one Cubert & coubert Cloth 15
2 Chaires 3
bedsteds Chests & boxes 15
Andirons pot hookes and hangers 8 6
pots Tongs one quort kettle 10
by brass ware 1 11
by 1 ads 1s 6d & saws 7s 8 6
by Augurs and Chisells 5
by wedges 5s to Coupers tooles 18 2s 1 7
one Carpenters Joynters 1 6
Cart boults Cleavie Exseta 13
driping pan & gridiorns 5
by puter ware 1 pound 12s by old Iron 3s 1 15
by 2 old guns 11
by Table linen & other linen 1 12
To beding 5 12
one Spitt 1s 6d & baggs 2s 3 6
one mortising axe 1
marking Iron a Case of Trenchers with other things 7
hamen and winch exse 2 6
by one goume and a bitt of linnin Cloth 7
by one horse bridle and Saddle
liberary and Cash and
wearing Clothes 18 9
by other old lumber 15
On 13 June 1688 the heirs of John Alden, Sr., of Duxbury, signed a release in favor of Jonathan Alden stating that they had received their portion of the estate. Those signing were: Alexander Standish (in ye Right of my wife Sarah deceased), John Bass (in ye right of my wife Ruth, deceased), Mary Alden, Thomas Dillano, John Alden, Joseph Alden, David Alden, Priscilla Alden and William Paybody (Plymouth Co PR, 1:10, 16; The Mayflower Descendant, vol. 3:11).
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SOME FAMOUS ALDEN DESCENDANTS
http://www.alden.org/our_family/famousaldens.htm
Samuel Seabury, Jr. (1729-1796)
John Adams (1735-1826)
Joseph Trumbull (1737-1778)
Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. (1740-1809)
John Trumbull (1756-1843)
John Quincy Adams (1767-1848)
William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878)
Mary Tyler Peabody (1806-1887)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
Charles Francis Adams (1807-1886)
Sophia Peabody Hawthorne (1809-1871)
Frank Nelson Doubleday (1819-1893)
Josiah Bushnell Grinnell (1821-1891)
Abel Head ?Shanghai? Pierce (1834-1900)
Edwin Hyde Alden (1836-1911)
Henry Adams (1838-1918)
Granville Stanley Hall (1844-1924)
Daniel Hudson Burnham (1846-1912)
Brooks Adams (1848-1927)
George Bird Grinnell (1849-1938)
Robert Lansing (1864-1928)
Herbert Henry Dow (1866-1930)
Jan Garrigue Masaryk (1886-1948)
Samuel Eliot Morison (1887-1976)
Martha Graham (1894-1991)
Orson Welles (1915-1985)
Adlai Ewing Stevenson III (1930- )
Norma Jean Baker ("Marilyn Monroe") (1936-1962)
Frederica von Stade (1945- )
James Danforth Quayle (1947- )
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REFERENCES
Alden, Ebenezer. "Memorial of the Descendants of the Hon. John Alden". S.P. Brown, 1867
Addison, Daniel Dulany. "The Life and Times of Edward Bass, First Bishop of Massachusetts". Houghton, Mifflin, 1897
National Society of Colonial Dames. "First Record Book of the Society of Colonial Dames", 1897; Ch.75
Waters, Henry Fitz-Gilbert. "The New England Historical and Genealogical Register". New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1898; p.435-440
Longfellow, H.W. "The Courtship of Miles Standish", 1858
Hawthorne, Julian. "The History of the United States from 1492 to 1910 Volume 1: 1492-1910". BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2007. ISBN 1426485417, 9781426485411.; p.61-62
Genealogy of John Alden (1599-1687) -

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John and Priscilla had the following children who survived to adulthood: Elizabeth, John (accused during the Salem witch trials), Joseph, Priscilla, Jonathan, Sarah, Ruth, Mary, Rebecca, and David. They have the most descendants today of all the pilgrim families.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a descendant of John Alden, as were John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Orson Welles, Dan Quayle, Raquel Welch, Frank Nelson Doubleday, Samuel Eliot Morison, Gamaliel Bradford, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Herbert Henry Dow, Martha Graham, Adlai Stevenson III, Jan Garrigue Masaryk, Dick Van Dyke, Julia Child, William Cullen Bryant, John Trumbull, Ned Lamont, Matt Hasselbeck, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, The Baldwin Brothers and Marilyn Monroe.

DEATH DATE 22 Sep 1687 Duxbury Plymoth Co. MA USA
John Alden's ancestry has not yet been discovered. According to
Bradford, he was hired on as a Cooper aboard the Mayflower at
Southampton, England. He was born about 1599 and died in his 89th year
on 12 Dec 1687 in Duxbury, MA. He married Priscilla Mullins, daughter of
William Mullins and died after 1651.

[MD 3:10+] John Alden died leaving no will, and the thirty-first of
October the inventory of his estate was taken by his son Jonathan, who
was appointed administrator on the eighth of November. John Alden had
deeded certain parcels of land to his children during his lifetime, and
since the inventory mentions no real estate it must all have been
distributed before his death. This accounts for the smallness of the
estate, only £49 17s. 6d.

In June of 1660, Plymouth Records show that "In regard that Mr. Alden is
low in his estate, and occasioned to spend much time and the courts on
the country's occasions, and so hath done this many years, the Court have
allowed him a small gratuity, the sum of ten pounds, to be paid by the
Treasurer." [PCR 3:195]

Due to poor records, the children of John and Priscilla are somewhat
difficult to account for sequentially. The following is the accounting as
found in The Great Migration Begins, Robert Charles Anderson, New England
Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 1995: [1:23-4] For specific record
sourcing see this and the new Alden genealogy.

Longfellow's famous poem about the couple's courtship is endearing but
not factual.

Children of John and Elizabeth were:

Elizabeth, born abt. 1624, m. Plymouth 26 (or 20) 1644 William Pabodie. She d. Little Compton RI 31 May 1717.

John, b. about 1626, m. Boston, 1 April 1660, Elizabeth (Phillips, dau. of William) Everill, widow, relict of Abiell Everill, deceased. Note that there is some discussion that this marriage date should be 1659, and
additionally a suppostion that John was married prior to an Elizabeth.
John died 14 March 1701/2.

Joseph, b. about 1627 m. by abt 1660 Mary Simons, daughter of Moses
Simons or Simonson and Sarah _____.

Priscilla, born, say, 1630, living and unmarried in 1688

Jonathan, b. about 1632, m. Duxbury 10 Dec 1672 Abigail Hallett. He d. Duxbury 14 Feb 1696/7.

Sarah, b. say 1634, m. by about 1660 Alexander Standish.

Ruth, b. say 1636, m. Braintree 3 Feb 1657/8 John Bass

Mary, b. say 1638 living, unmarried in 1688

Rebecca, b. say 1640, married in 1667 bef. 30 Oct, Thomas Delano

David, b. say 1642, m. by 1674 Mary Southworth, dau. of Constant Southworth and Elizabeth Collier -- she being mentioned in Constant's will of 27 Feb 1678 as Mary Alden.
the following is from Larry Chesebro' listing the source as
Title: Genealogy of the Descendants of William Chesebrough
Author: Anna Chesebrough Wildey
Publication: New York: Press of T. A. Wright 1903
Media: Book
Page: p. 304
Extensive research has been done into the ancestry of John Alden, but nothing has conclusively been found.
There are two major theories that have been presented over the years: Charles Edward Banks, in his book The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers, 1929, puts forward a theory that John is the son of George Alden and Jane (---) and grandson of Richard and Avys Alden of Southampton, England.
Since Bradford says John Alden was hired in Southampton, this would be a logical place to start looking for Aldens. No other supporting evidence has been found, and it has been noted by many researchers that the names George, Richard, and Avys do not occur anywhere in John Alden's family. Naming children after parents and grandparents was an extremely common practice in the seventeenth century, and the absence of such a name is nearly enough evidence to disprove this theory.
The currently popular theory is that John Alden came from Harwich, Essex, England. There was a sea-faring Alden family living there, who were related by marriage to Christopher Jones, captain of the Mayflower. It has been suggested John Alden may be the son of John Alden and Elizabeth Daye, but this is not fully proven either.
Two commemorative broadsides (elegy poems) survive from John Alden's 1687 death. The first broadside is by an unknown author, and the second broadside was written by John Cotton. John Alden Broadside, 1687................
This commemorative broadside was issued for John Alden just a short time after his death on 12 September 1687. The author is unknown. Another commemorative broadside for John Alden it thought to have been written by John Cotton.
One interesting thing to note is that this is a rhyming poem--so look carefully at some of the rhymes to see how their pronunciation differs from yours (above-remove, God-abode, here-where):
A Small Testimony of that great HONOUR due to that Honourable Servant of GOD and his Generation John Alden Esq; Who changed this life for a better, Sept. 12th. Anno Domini 1687. Annoq, Ætatis 89.

The memory of the just is blessed.
The just shall be had in everlasting remembrance.
GOD brought a choice Vine to this desert land:
And here did plant it with his own nght hand,
And from the heathen's rage did it defend.
The which its root, from east to west did send.
This precious Saint who now is gone to rest,
And lie in Jesus bosom to be blest,
A branch was of this vine,
God did remove, Protect, defend, and water from above.
A man to God's commands that had respect,
And by His word he did his course direct.
A lover of God's Habitation.
A servant of his Generation.
He was according to the Will of God,
While in this lower world he had abode.
Sincere & faithful unto God was he,
True Vertue's friend, to Vice an enemy.
Holy and humble, full of Faith, & Love
To Saints on earth, to God & Christ above.
He many years did serve this Colony,
Administering Justice impartially.
He in this desert many changes saw,
Yet closely kept unto Jehovah's Law.
He Served God betimes, even from his youth,
And constantly did cleave unto his Truth.
On Pisgah's mount he stood, and Canaan view'd
Which in his heart and life he most pursu'd.
On Tabors mount he saw transfigured
Blest Jesus, which within his bosom bred
That love that made him say, 'Tis good being here,
Its good, yea better than to be else-where.
He lov'd on earth, to be with Christ on high:
He did on wings of Contemplation fly.
To God in heaven he sent up many a dart,
Which issued from a truly broken heart;
Which reach'd the ear of God, and such
Return From heaven brought which made his heart to burn.
With Enoch he with God on earth did walk
With Abram he did with JEHOVAH talk.
With Moses he did on the mount ascend,
And to receieve God's mind himself did bend
That he such meditations had divine,
Which in Saints eyes did cause his face to shine.
With length of days God did him satisfy,
He liv'd so long, that he desir'd to die.
He with old Simeon had of Christ a sight,
Who was prepar'd to be the Gentiles Light:
Which made him willing hence for to depart,
To be with Him that gained had his heart.
He with good lacob in his aged state
Did earnestly for God's Salvation wait.
He with Barzillai, being near his end,
His thoughts above earthly comforts did ascend.
He with St. Paul, his course now finished,
Unclothed, is quietly put to bed.
His Family and Christian friends he blest
Before he did betake himself to rest.
He to Religion was a real friend
And Justice, till death brought him to his end.
A man for God, and for his Countries Good,
In all Relations wherein he stood.
Let ALDEN's all their Father imitate,
And follow him till they come to death's state:
And he will them most heartily embrace,
When he shall meet them in that blessed place.
And let New-England never want a Race
of such as may be fill'd with Alden's Grace.

Printed in the year, MDCLXXXVII. John Alden Broadside, 1687..................

This commemorative broadside was issued for John Alden just a short time after his death on 12 September 1687. The author of this poetic tribute is thought to be John Cotton, and the elegy ends with the initials J. C.:
Upon the DEATH of that Aged, Pious,
Sincere-hearted CHRISTIAN, JOHN ALDEN ESQ:
Late MAGISTRATE of New-Plimouth Colony, who dyed Sept 12th. 1687. being about eighty nine years of age.

The staffe of bread, and water eke the stay
From sinning Judah God will take away,
The prudent Counsellour, the Honourable,
Whom Grace and Holiness makes delectable,
The Judge, the Prophet and the ancient Saint,
The deaths of such cause sorrowful complaint,
The Earth and its Inhabitants do fall,
The aged Saint bears up its pillars all.
The hoary head in way of Righteousness
A crown of glory is. Who can express
Th' abundant blessings by Disciples old!
In very deed they're more than can be told.
The guise 'tis of a wanton generation
To wish the aged soon might quit their station,
Tho' truth it be, The Lord our God does frown
When aged Saints dy death do tumble down.
What tho' there be not such Activity,
Yet in their Prayers there's such Fervency
As cloth great mercy for a place obtain,
And gracious presence of the Lord maintain.
Tho Nature's strength in old age cloth decay,
Yet th, inward man renew'd is day by day
The very presence of a Saint in years
Who lifts his soul to God with pray'rs & tears
Is a rich blessing unto any place
Who have that mercy to behold his face:
When sin is ripe and calls for desolation
God will call home old Saints from such a nation
Let sinners then of th, Aged weary be.
God give me grace to mourn most heartily
For death of this dear servant of the Lord,
Whose life God did to us so long afford:
God lent his life to greatest length of dayes;
In which he liv'd to his Redeemer's praise.
In youthful time he made Moses his choice,
His soul obeying great JEHOVAH'S voice,
Freely forsook the world for sake of GOD,
In His House with His Saints to have abode.
He followed GOD into this Wilderness;
Thereby to all the world he did profess,
Affliction with the Saints a better part
And more delightful to his holy heart
Than sinful pleasures, lasting but a season:
Thus said his Faith, so saith not carnal Peason.
He came one of the first into this Land,
And here was kept by God's most gracious hand
Years sixty seven, which time he did behold
To poor New-England mercies Manifold:
All God's great works to this His Israel
From first implanting what to them befel:
of them he made a serious Observation,
And could of them present a large Narration,
His walk was holy, humble, and sincere,
His heart was filled with JEHOVAH's Fear.
He honour'd GOD with much integrity,
God therefore did him truly magnify.
The hearts of Saints intirely did him love,
His Uprightness so highly did approve,
That whilst to choose they had their liberty
Within the Limits of this Colony
Their Civil Leaders, him they ever chose.
His Fait/'fulness made hearts with him to close.
With all the Governours he did Assist;
His Name recorded is within the List
of Plimouth's Pillars to his dying day.
His Name is precious to eternal Ay.
He set his Love on God and knew His Name,
God therefore gives him everlasting Fame.
So good and heavnly was his conversation,
God gave long life, and shew'd him His Salvation.
(His work now finished upon this earth;
Seeing the death of what he saw the birth)
His gracious Lord from heaven calls him home,
And saith, My servant, now to Heaven come:
Thou hast done pood, been faithful unto Me,
Now shalt thou live in bliss ETERNALLY.
On dying bed his Ailes were very great,
Yet verily his heart on GOD was set.
He bare his greifs with Faith and Patience,
And did maintain his lively confidence:
Saying to some, The work which God begun,
He would preserve to its perfection.
His mouth was full of blessings till his death
To Ministers and Christians all: his breath
Was very sweet by many a precious word
He utter'd from the Spirit of his Lord.
He liv'd in Christ, in Jesus now he sleeps:
And his blest soul the Lord in safety keeps.
JOHN ALDEN. Anagram End al on hi'.
Death puts an End to all this world enjoyes,
And frees the Saint from all that here annoyes.
This blessed Saint hath seen an end of all
Worldly perfections. Now his Lord does call
Him to ascend from earth to heaven high,
Where he is blest to all Eternity.
Who walk with God as he, shall so be blest,
And evermore in Christ His arms shall rest.
Lord, Spare thy remnant, do not us forsake,
From us do not thy Holy Spirit take.
Thy Cause, Thy Int'rest in this land still own:
Thy gracious presence ay let be our Crown.
J. C. .

Biographical Summary: William Bradford wrote, in his history Of Plymouth Plantation: "John Alden was hired for a cooper [barrel maker] at Southampton where the ship [Mayflower] victualed, and being a hopeful young man was much desired but left to his own liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed and married here." and later wrote "John Alden married Priscilla, Mr. Mullin's daughter, and had issue by her as is before related." John Alden was an assistant for the Plymouth colony for many years, and was deputy governor for two years. His marriage to Priscilla Mullins was the subject of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, "The Courtship of Myles Standish", which although a classic has little factual basis. John and Priscilla were among the founders of the town of Duxbury. In 1634, John Alden was on the Kennebec River assisting in the forceful removal of John Hocking who was illegally fishing and trading on land that had been granted to the Pilgrims. Hockings refused to leave, and when the party arrived at his ship by canoe to board and remove him, he shot and killed Moses Talbot. In return, Hockings was shot and killed. The Massachusetts Bay Colony took matters into its own hands, and arrested John Alden (even though he was not the one who fired the shot). Myles Standish was sent by Governor Bradford to obtain Alden's release, which he successfully did. In his later years, John Alden was on many juries, including even a witch trial--though in Plymouth's case, the jury found the accuser guilty of libel, and he was fined and whipped. The alleged witch was allowed to go free. Plymouth only had two witch trials during its history, and in both cases the accuser was found guilty and punished. John and Priscilla Alden probably have the largest number of descendants of any Mayflower passenger, but with stiff competition from Richard Warren and John Howland. They are ancestors to Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Vice President Dan Quayle. John Alden's House built in 1653 still stands, and tours are given by the Alden Kindred of America. For more information, go to the Alden Kindred web page. Zachariah Alden and Henry Alden have both been incorrectly identified as sons of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins in various publications. For information on the genealogy of Henry Alden, see Mayflower Descendant 43:21-29,133-138; 44:27-30,181-184. 4.

The "Mayflower Compact" signed by John:
Ye Compacte Signed in Ye Cabin of Ye Mayflower Ye 11 of November Anno Dominie 1620
In ye name of God, Amen.--

We whofe names are underwrtitten, the loyall subjects of our dread and foveraigne Lord, King James, by ye grace of God, of Great Britaine, France, & Yreland king, defender of ye faith, &c., haveing undertaken for ye glorie of God, and advancemente of ye Christian faith, and honour to our king and countrie, a voyage to plant ye first colonie in ye Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by thefe prefents solemnly and mutually in ye prefense of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourfelves togeather into a civill body politick, for our better ordering & prefervation & furtherance of ye ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof to enacte, conftitute, and frame fuch just & equall lawes, ordinances, Acts, conftitutions, & offices from time to time, as fhall be thought most meete & convenient for ye generall goode of ye Colonie, unto which we promife all due submiffiion and obedience. Yn witnefs whereof we have hereunder subfcribed our names at Cap-Codd ye 11. of November, in ye year of ye raigne of our soveraigne lord, King James, of England, France, & Yreland ye eighteenth, and Scotland ye fiftie fourth, Ano: Dom. 1620.

John Carver
Edward Winflow
Ifaac Allerton
John Alden
Chriftopher Martin
William White
John Howland
Edward Tilley
Francif Cooke
Thomas Tinker
Edward Fuller
Francis Eaton
John Cracfton
Mofes Fletcher
Degory Prieft
Gilbert Winflow
Peter Brown
George Soule
Richard Gardiner
Thomas Englifh
William Bradford
William Brewfter
Myles Standifh
Samuel Fuller
William Mullins
Richard Warren
Stephen Hopkins
John Tilley
Thomas Rogers
John Rigdale
John Turner
James Chilton
John Billington
John Goodman
Thomas Williams
Edmond Margefon
Richard Britterige
Richard Clark
John Allerton
Edward Doty
Edward Leifter


--------------------
Sailed on the Mayflower 1620
--------------------
John Alden was the first persn on the Mayflower to touch America. John Alden appears to have originated from an Alden family residing in Harwich, Essex, England, that was related by marriage to the Mayflower's master Christopher Jones. He was about 21 years old when he was hired to be the cooper, or barrel-maker, for the Mayflower's voyage to America. He was given the option to stay in America, or return to England; he decided to stay.
At Plymouth, he quickly rose up from his common seaman status to a prominent member of the Colony. About 1622 or 1623, he married Priscilla, the orphaned daughter of William and Alice Mullins. They had their first child, Elizabeth, around 1624, and would have nine more children over the next twenty years. John Alden was one of the earliest freemen in the Colony, and was elected an assistant to the governor and Plymouth Court as early as 1631, and was regularly re-elected throughout the 1630s. He also became involved in administering the trading activities of the Colony on the Kennebec River, and in 1634 witnessed a trading dispute escalate into a double-killing, as Moses Talbot of Plymouth Colony was shot at point-blank range by trespasser John Hocking, who was then shot and killed when other Plymouth men returned fire. John Alden was held in custody by the neighboring Massachusetts Bay Colony for a few days while the two colonies debated who had jurisdiction to investigate the murders. Myles Standish eventually came to the Bay Colony to provide Plymouth's answer in the matter.

Alden, and several other families, including the Standish family, founded the town of Duxbury in the 1630s and took up residence there. Alden served as Duxbury's deputy to the Plymouth Court throughout the 1640s, and served on several committees, including the Committee on Kennebec Trade, and sat on several Councils of War. He also served as colony treasurer. In the 1650s, he build the house at left, in Duxbury, which still stands today. By the 1660s, Alden's frequent public service, combined with his large family of wife and ten children, began to cause his estate to languish, so the Plymouth Court provided him a number of land grants and cash grants to better provide for his family. Throughout the 1670s, Alden began distributing his land holdings to his surviving sons. He died in 1687 at the age of 89, one of the last surviving Mayflower passengers.
--------------------
John Alden served as cooper aboard the Mayflower in 1620 as part of her crew. He stayed in Plymouth when the ship returned to England in April of 1621.
--------------------
John Alden was hired for a cooper, at South-Hampton, where the ship victuled; and being a hopfull young man, was much desired, but left to his owne liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed, and maryed here. (Bradford?s History, p. 443, The Mayflower Descendant vol. 1:228)

On 11 November 1620 John Alden joined with the other free adult male passengers of the Mayflower to sign the Compact whereby they agreed to make and abide by their own laws (Bradford?s History, 75; New Englands Memorial, p. 15-16)

That is all that is known about the origins of John Alden. Efforts to locate his birthplace and parentage have so far been inconclusive. Although he joined the Mayflower at Southampton, co. Hampshire, England, no records have been found of John in Southampton, and he was not necessarily a native of that place.

--------------------
arr. USA on Mayflower, 1620
--------------------
Mayflower
--------------------
John Alden (Pilgrim)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
? Learn more about using Wikipedia for research ?


Signing of the Mayflower Compact


Rogers Group, depicting the courtship of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins: "Why Don't You Speak for Yourself, John?" (1885)
John Alden (1599??September 22, 1687) was a tradesman who emigrated to America in 1620 with the Pilgrims on the Mayflower and was among the founders of the Plymouth Colony. He was originally hired by William Bradford and others to be their cooper. Though he could have returned to England the following year, he chose to stay in the new colony. About 1623 he married Priscilla Mullins, with whom he had many children. He was one of the first settlers of Duxburrough or Duxborough, known today as Duxbury, Massachusetts, where he lived for most of his life. From 1633 until 1675 he was assistant to the governor of the colony, frequently serving as acting governor and also sat on many juries, including one of the two witch trials in the Plymouth Colony.
There are several theories regarding Alden's ancestry. According to William Bradford's Of Plimoth Plantation, he was hired as a cooper in Southampton, England just before the voyage to America. In The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers, Charles Edward Banks suggested that John was the son of George and Jane Alden and grandson of Richard and Avys Alden of Southampton. However, there are no further occurrences of the names George, Richard, and Avys in his family which would have been unusual in the seventeenth century.
Another theory is that John Alden came from Harwich, England where there are records of an Alden family who were related by marriage to Christopher Jones, the Mayflower's captain. In this case, he may have been the son of John Alden and Elizabeth Daye.
In 1634 Alden was jailed in Boston for a fight at Kenebeck in Maine between members of the Plymouth Colony and the Massachusetts Bay Colony. While Alden did not take part in the fight (which left one person dead) he was the highest ranking member the Massachusetts Bay colonists could get their hands on, and it was only through the intervention of Bradford that he was eventually released.
In later years Alden became known for his intense dislike of the Quakers and Baptists, who were trying to settle on Cape Cod. A letter survives complaining that Alden was too strict when it came to dealing with them.
At the time of his death, at Duxbury on September 12, 1687, he was the last male survivor of the signers of the Mayflower Compact of 1620, and with the exception of Mary Allerton, he was the last survivor of the Mayflower's company.
He is remembered chiefly because of a popular legend, put into verse in 1858 as The Courtship of Miles Standish by his descendant Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, concerning his courtship of Priscilla Mullins, whom he married in 1623 after having wooed her first on behalf of his friend, Miles Standish. There is no known historic basis to the legend.
Alden's house in Duxbury, built in 1653, is open to the public as a museum. It is run by the Alden Kindred of America, an organization which provides historical information about him and his home, including genealogical records of his descendants.
Alden and his wife Priscilla lie buried in the Miles Standish Burial Ground in Duxbury.
John and Priscilla had the following children who survived to adulthood: Elizabeth, John (accused during the Salem witch trials), Joseph, Priscilla, Jonathan, Sarah, Ruth, Mary, Rebecca, and David. They have the most descendants today of all the pilgrim families.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a descendant of John Alden, as were John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Orson Welles, Dan Quayle, Raquel Welch, Frank Nelson Doubleday, Samuel Eliot Morison, Gamaliel Bradford, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Herbert Henry Dow, Martha Graham, Adlai Stevenson III, Jan Garrigue Masaryk, Dick Van Dyke, Julia Child, William Cullen Bryant, John Trumbull, Ned Lamont, Matt Hasselbeck, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, The Baldwin Brothers and Marilyn Monroe.[1]
[edit]References

^ Some Famous Alden Descendants
[edit]External links

John Alden from MayflowerHistory.com
Alden Kindred of America
John Alden at Find A Grave

Alden House Historic Site
105 Alden Street
Duxbury, Massachusetts

Alden House Historic Site
105 Alden Street
Duxbury, Massachusetts

Alden House Historic Site
105 Alden Street
Duxbury, Massachusetts

Alden House Historic Site
105 Alden Street
Duxbury, Massachusetts

{geni:comment}
Descendants of John Alden
John Alden met Priscilla Mullins when they were passengers on the Mayflower. Their marriage, believed to be the second to take place in Plymouth Colony, was the inspiration for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "The Courtship of Myles Standish."

{geni:comment} Mayflower: The Pilgrims' Adventure


Movies: Mayflower: The Pilgrims' Adventure
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Director: George Schaefer
AMG Rating:
Genre: Historical Film
Movie Type: Historical Epic, Sea Adventure
Release Year: 1979
Country: US
Run Time: 100 minutes
Plot
Originally titled The Voyage of the Mayflower, this made-for-TV historical drama was, not surprisingly, first telecast as a CBS Thanksgiving special. In the tradition of the 1952 theatrical feature Plymouth Adventure, the film meticulously recounted the journey in 1620 A.D. of 103 Pilgrim "separatists" from their religiously restrictive English homeland to the shores of the New World. The dramatic crux of the film was manifested in the conflict between mercenary, untrustworthy Mayflower captain Christopher Jones (Anthony Hopkins) and idealistic but tough Pilgrim leader William Brewster (Richard Crenna). Also incorporated in the narrative are the intertwining relationships between Miles and Rose Standish (David Dukes, Trish Van Devere), John Alden (Michael Beck), and Priscilla Mullens (Jenny Agutter). Mayflower: The Pilgrim's Adventure was originally shown on November 21, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Cast
Jenny Agutter - Priscilla; Michael Beck - John Alden; David Dukes - Miles Standish; John Heffernan; Trish VanDevere; Richard Crenna - Rev. William Brewster; Anthony Hopkins - Capt. Jones

{geni:comment} http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Alden_(Pilgrim)

John Alden (1599?September 22, 1687) is said to be the first person from the The Mayflower to set foot on Plymouth Rock in 1620.[1] He was a ship-carpenter by trade and a cooper for The Mayflower, which was usually docked at Southampton.[2] He was also one of the founders of the Plymouth Colony and the seventh signer of the Mayflower Compact. Distinguished for practical wisdom, integrity and decision, he acquired and retained a commanding influence over his associates.[3] Employed in public business he became the Governor's Assistant, the Duxbury Deputy to the General Court of Plymouth, a member under arms of Capt. Miles Standish's Duxbury Company, a member of Council of War, Treasurer of Plymouth Colony, and Commissioner to Yarmouth.[4]

John and Priscilla
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=6e560e70-1c9c-4a71-b56c-e063dd591c5c&tid=6959821&pid=-978895813

_P_CCINFO 1-20792
Original individual @P2395259183@ (@MS_NHFETTERLYFAMIL0@) merged with @P2308087197@ (@MS_NHFETTERLYFAMIL0@)

Age 83 in 1682

Came to America on the Mayflower.
The John Alden House is shown as a historic site on the Atlas Road Map in Duxbury, Plymouth, MA.

John Alden
(Plymouth County Probate 1:10,16)

John Alden Died, Duxbury, September 12, 1687, leaving no will. The inventory of his estate was taken by his son October 31, Johathan, Who was appointed administrator November 8.

The Eigth day of November, 1687 Administration was Granted unto Leiutt Jonathan Alden to Administer upon the Estate of his father Mr. Jon Alden October 31 day 1687.
£ s d
Neate Cattell sheep Swine & one horse 13
one Table one forme one cartit one Cubert & coubert Cloth
2 Chaires 5 . .
bedsteds Chests & boxes 15
Andirons pot hookes and hangers . . .8 6
pots Tongs one quort kettle . . 10
John Alden's Inventory and the Settlement of his Estate 11
by brass ware . 1: 11 . .
by 1 ads 1s 6d & saws 7s . . . 8 . 6
by Augurs and Chisells . . . 5 . .
by wedges 5s to Coupers tooles 1£ 2s . 17 . .
one carpenters Joynters . . . 1 .6
Cart boults Cleavie Exseta . . 13 . .
driping pan & gridirons . . . 5. .
by puter ware 1 pound 12s by old Iron 3s . 1 15 . .
by 2 old guns . . 11
by Table linen & other linen . 1 . 12 . .
To beding .5 : 12 . .
One Spitt Is 6d & baggs 2s .. . 3 . 6
one mortising axe . . . 1 . .
marking Iron a Case of trenchers with other things . . .7 . .
hamen and winch exse . . . 2 . 6
by one goume and a bitt of linnin Cloth . . .7 . .
by one horse bridle and Saddle Liberary and Cash and
wearing Clothes 18 .9 . .
by other old lumber . 5

Before Nathaniel Thomas Esqr Judge of the inferior Court of Common Pleas the 8th day of November 1687 Leiut Jonathan Alden made oath that this is a true inventory of the Estate of his father Mr John"Alden deceased soe farr as he knoweth & when he knoweth more he will discover the same Nathll Thomas Cler.

Wee whose names are Subscribed being prsonally interested in the then Estate of John Alden senior of Duxbury Esqr lately deceased doe hereby acknowlege our selves to have Received Each of us our full Personall proportions thereof from Jonathan Alden Adminstrator & thereof Doe by these prsents for our selves our heires &c Exonerate acquitt & Discharge fully the Said Johathan Alden his heires &c for Ever of & from all Rights dues demands whatsoever Relateing to the aforesd Estate In Witness Whereof we have hereunto Subscrided & sealed this thirteenth day of June Ano Dom 1688. Jacobi 2di 4to
Elexander Standish (Seal) John Alden (Seal)
in ye Right of my wife Joseph Alden (Seal)
Sarah deceased David Alden (Seal)
John Bass (Seal) Prisilla Alden (Seal)
in ye Right of my wife William Paybody (Seal)
Ruth deceased
Mary Alden (Seal)
Thomas Dillano (Seal)

"John Alden was hired for a cooper at Southampton wher the ship victuled, and being a hopefull young man was much desired, but left to his owne liking to go, or stay when he came here, but he stayed, and maryed here..." By William Bradford in History of Plymouth Plantation

John Alden
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=1d11dbe4-db2d-45f6-b476-17053a0b0572&tid=7457262&pid=-1089305937

John Alden & Priscilla Mullins
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=eda7179d-8669-4023-bfae-3fb74a4871af&tid=7457262&pid=-1089305937

Alden, John
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=2ac34f16-905e-46d1-8e0f-3ffdf31c59ce&tid=6959821&pid=-978895813

Mayflower Compact signer
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=a559880a-7150-4eb3-956b-1141e1315adf&tid=6959821&pid=-978895813

Alden House
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=3a13f5ad-d3b1-47a8-a127-8533824c95b8&tid=6959821&pid=-978895813

ALDEN1
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=526c1d4d-acf7-4671-a888-61d9a1b09cb5&tid=6959821&pid=-978895813

ALDN2
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=a411bccf-6a86-4f18-b852-6502628772b5&tid=6959821&pid=-978895813

aldenjohn
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=5a4afce0-4814-41f1-a48e-2509fe04cdcf&tid=6959821&pid=-978895813

ALDEN3
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=aeaa1abd-1ba8-4e77-9fd5-8fa2adddd589&tid=6959821&pid=-978895813

aldenjohnandpris
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=d8341e44-aeab-4bfa-aa06-9b17090320aa&tid=6959821&pid=-978895813

mayflower
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=1c73d051-f190-4854-ad9f-a05398a2cf8e&tid=6959821&pid=-978895813

JOHN ALDEN
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=68e39f3e-b7f5-46ea-a6da-1d46fda8b217&tid=6959821&pid=-978895813

John Alden & Priscilla Mullins
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=f97c7ee7-8e90-4d99-9dfd-759bdd98ae6b&tid=6959821&pid=-978895813

John Alden, Pilgrim on the Mayflower
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=4d28cde3-7de3-41f9-a157-6d61e2c3d26d&tid=6959821&pid=-978895813

One of the eldest surviving Mayflower Passengers
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=afa42369-e636-4aaf-b0f6-836ae9399f99&tid=6959821&pid=-978895813

John Alden 1598 head stone
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=8452a4c0-0f5f-4575-a50a-5aee0d61ecfc&tid=3941717&pid=-1148258227

mayflower
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=80cbd37b-0eea-4672-b95d-282f12c3b740&tid=3941717&pid=-1148258227

John And Priscilla Alden
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=0a952ce1-4631-47a1-b15f-a1daba016e18&tid=3941717&pid=-1148258227

Mayflower Passenger
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=b532ff15-bc8a-4d6e-9edf-1e6f416ea96e&tid=3941717&pid=-1148258227

One of the eldest surviving Mayflower Passengers
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=5aa7bab7-ad95-41fe-84f3-5a9bf1ebacc4&tid=3941717&pid=-1148258227

John Alden 1598 head stone
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=8452a4c0-0f5f-4575-a50a-5aee0d61ecfc&tid=3941717&pid=-1148258227

mayflower
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=80cbd37b-0eea-4672-b95d-282f12c3b740&tid=3941717&pid=-1148258227

John And Priscilla Alden
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=0a952ce1-4631-47a1-b15f-a1daba016e18&tid=3941717&pid=-1148258227

Mayflower Passenger
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=b532ff15-bc8a-4d6e-9edf-1e6f416ea96e&tid=3941717&pid=-1148258227

One of the eldest surviving Mayflower Passengers
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=5aa7bab7-ad95-41fe-84f3-5a9bf1ebacc4&tid=3941717&pid=-1148258227

He was one of the Pilgrims. He went to America on the Mayflower in 1620
and was a signer of the Mayflower Compact. He was one of the founders of
Plymouth, the first permanent English settlement in New England. In 1627
or shortly afterward, together with the Plymouth colonist Myles Standish,
he founded Duxbury, where he lived until his death. Alden was active in
the affairs of Plymouth Colony, serving alternately as assistant to the
governor and as deputy from Duxbury. He lived longer than any of the other
signers of the Mayflower Compact.

Alden's fame rests chiefly on the romantic tale written by the American
poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Courtship of Myles Standish" (1858).
In the poem, Alden, deeply in love with Priscilla Mullens, proposes to her
on behalf of his shy friend Standish, whereupon she inquires, "Why don't
you speak for yourself, John?"

One of the Pilgrim fathers who came to America on the "Mayflower.", signed the Mayflower Compact, and founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. Thereafter he held many public offices, including that of deputy governor of Massachusetts (1664-1655, 1667). The unfounded details of his wooing of fellow Pilgrim Priscilla Mullins were the subject of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem " The Courtship of Miles Standish".

Birth: About 1599, probably Harwich, Essex, England. Mayflower Families: John Alden for Four Generations, contains the best, most thorough and completely researched genealogy on John Alden. It covers every descendant of John Alden for the first four generations, to the birth of the fifth generation. More than 750 pages packed full of genealogical research. Published by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.

Marriage: Priscilla Mullins, about 1623, Plymouth, daughter of William and Alice Mullins.
Death: 12 September 1687, Duxbury.
Children: Elizabeth, John, Joseph, Priscilla, Jonathan, Sarah, Ruth, Mary, Rebecca, and David.


John Alden appears to have originated from an Alden family residing in Harwich, Essex, England, that was related by marriage to the Mayflower's master Christopher Jones. He was about 21 years old when he was hired to be the cooper, or barrel-maker, for the Mayflower's voyage to America. He was given the option to stay in America, or return to England; he decided to stay.

At Plymouth, he quickly rose up from his common seaman status to a prominent member of the Colony. About 1622 or 1623, he married Priscilla, the orphaned daughter of William and Alice Mullins. They had their first child, Elizabeth, around 1624, and would have nine more children over the next twenty years. John Alden was one of the earliest freemen in the Colony, and was elected an assistant to the governor and Plymouth Court as early as 1631, and was regularly re-elected throughout the 1630s. He also became involved in administering the trading activities of the Colony on the Kennebec River, and in 1634 witnessed a trading dispute escalate into a double-killing, as Moses Talbot of Plymouth Colony was shot at point-blank range by trespasser John Hocking, who was then shot and killed when other Plymouth men returned fire. John Alden was held in custody by the neighboring Massachusetts Bay Colony for a few days while the two colonies debated who had jurisdiction to investigate the murders. Myles Standish eventually came to the Bay Colony to provide Plymouth's answer in the matter.

Alden, and several other families, including the Standish family, founded the town of Duxbury in the 1630s and took up residence there. Alden served as Duxbury's deputy to the Plymouth Court throughout the 1640s, and served on several committees, including the Committee on Kennebec Trade, and sat on several Councils of War. He also served as colony treasurer. In the 1650s, he build the house at left, in Duxbury, which still stands today. By the 1660s, Alden's frequent public service, combined with his large family of wife and ten children, began to cause his estate to languish, so the Plymouth Court provided him a number of land grants and cash grants to better provide for his family. Throughout the 1670s, Alden began distributing his land holdings to his surviving sons. He died in 1687 at the age of 89, one of the last surviving Mayflower passengers.

Additional Resources
Alden Kindred of America. The Alden Kindred maintains the house (pictured) that was built by John Alden in Duxbury about 1650; the Alden Kindred is also a lineage society for descendants of John Alden.
Mayflower Families: John Alden for Four Generations. The best, most complete genealogy of John Alden available, covering the first four generations to the birth of the fifth generation. Well over 750 pages of pure genealogy, with full source citations. Published by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.

Published Research

Alicia Crane Williams, "John Alden: Theories on English Ancestry," Mayflower Descendant 39:111-122; 40:133-136.
Harry Hollingsworth, "John Alden--Beer Brewer of Windsor?," The American Genealogist 53(1977):235-240.

MayflowerHistory.com, Copyright © 1994-2003. All Rights Reserved.John Alden

Born: c1598-1599, England (possibly Harwich, Essex, England)
Died: 12 September 1687, Duxbury, Massachusetts
Married: Priscilla Mullins, c1623, Plymouth, daughter of William and Alice (---) Mullins


Children: Name Birth Death Marriage
Elizabeth cir 1623-1625, Plymouth 31 May 1717, Little Compton, RI William Pabodie, 26 December 1644, Duxbury
John cir 1626, Plymouth 14 March 1701/2, Boston Elizabeth (Phillips) Everill, 1 April 1660, Boston
Joseph aft. 22 May 1627 8 February 1696/7, Bridgewater Mary Simmons
Sarah aft 22 May 1627 bef 13 June 1688 Alexander Standish
Jonathan cir 1632 14 February 1696/7, Duxbury Abigail Hallett, 10 December 1672, Duxbury
Ruth unknown 12 October 1674, Braintree John Bass, 12 May 1657, Braintree
Rebecca bef 1649 aft 13 June 1688 Thomas Delano, bef 30 October 1667
Mary unknown aft 13 June 1688 unmarried
Priscilla unknown aft 13 June 1688 unmarried
David cir 1646 between 5 June 1718 and 1 April 1719 Mary Southworth

Ancestral Summary:
Extensive research has been done into the ancestry of John Alden, but nothing has conclusively been found. There are two major theories that have been presented over the years:

Charles Edward Banks, in his book The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers, 1929, puts forward a theory that John is the son of George Alden and Jane (---) and grandson of Richard and Avys Alden of Southampton, England. Since Bradford says John Alden was hired in Southampton, this would be a logical place to start looking for Aldens. No other supporting evidence has been found, and it has been noted by many researchers that the names George, Richard, and Avys do not occur anywhere in John Alden's family. Naming children after parents and grandparents was an extremely common practice in the seventeenth century, and the absence of such a name is nearly enough evidence to disprove this theory.

The currently popular theory is that John Alden came from Harwich, Essex, England. There was a sea-faring Alden family living there, who were related by marriage to Christopher Jones, captain of the Mayflower. It has been suggested John Alden may be the son of John Alden and Elizabeth Daye, but this is not fully proven either.

Two commemorative broadsides (elegy poems) survive from John Alden's 1687 death. The first broadside is by an unknown author, and the second broadside was written by John Cotton.

Biographical Summary:
William Bradford wrote, in his history Of Plymouth Plantation: "John Alden was hired for a cooper [barrel maker] at Southampton where the ship [Mayflower] victualed, and being a hopeful young man was much desired but left to his own liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed and married here." and later wrote "John Alden married Priscilla, Mr. Mullin's daughter, and had issue by her as is before related."

John Alden was an assistant for the Plymouth colony for many years, and was deputy governor for two years. His marriage to Priscilla Mullins was the subject of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, "The Courtship of Myles Standish", which although a classic has little factual basis. John and Priscilla were among the founders of the town of Duxbury.

In 1634, John Alden was on the Kennebec River assisting in the forceful removal of John Hocking who was illegally fishing and trading on land that had been granted to the Pilgrims. Hockings refused to leave, and when the party arrived at his ship by canoe to board and remove him, he shot and killed Moses Talbot. In return, Hockings was shot and killed. The Massachusetts Bay Colony took matters into its own hands, and arrested John Alden (even though he was not the one who fired the shot). Myles Standish was sent by Governor Bradford to obtain Alden's release, which he successfully did.

In his later years, John Alden was on many juries, including even a witch trial--though in Plymouth's case, the jury found the accuser guilty of libel and the alleged witch was allowed to go free. Plymouth Colony only had two witch trials during its history, and in both cases the accuser was found guilty and punished.

John and Priscilla Alden probably have the largest number of descendants of any Mayflower passenger, but with stiff competition from Richard Warren and John Howland. They are ancestors to Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Vice President Dan Quayle.

John Alden's House built in 1653 still stands, and tours are given by the Alden Kindred of America.

Frequently asked Question:
Zachariah Alden and Henry Alden have both been incorrectly identified as sons of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins in various publications. For information on the genealogy of Henry Alden, see Mayflower Descendant 43:21-29,133-138; 44:27-30,181-184.

Sources:
Alicia Crane Williams, ""John Alden: Theories on English Ancestry", Mayflower Descendant 39:111-122; 40:133-136

Alicia Crane Williams, Families of Pilgrims: John Alden and William Mullins (Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1986).

Robert C. Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 1:21-26 (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1995).

William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, ed. Samuel Morison (New York: Random House, 1952).

Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and Its People, 1620-1691 (Ancestor Publishers: Salt Lake City, 1986).

Harry Hollingsworth, "John Alden--Beer Brewer of Windsor?", The American Genealogist 53(1977):235-240.


Mayflower Web Pages. Caleb Johnson © 1998

1. Memorial AL. 22ae GS# 974.48DI H21 Gen. Reg.
2. Directory of Ancestral Heads; GS# 974.Eb4b.
3. The Mayflower Compact and the Alden kindred GS# 929.2.
4. The Moline Arms, ref. both parents and brother died on board shipsucceeding
landing. 1st Feb after landing from another source.
5. GS# 929.273, AL 22 ae Alden, Mullins and Southworth.
6. John Alden was the 1st to set foot on Plymouth Rock. He was thelast male
survivor who came to these shores in the ship Mayflower. He was not ofthe
Leyden Church, but Gov. Bradford said in his History of "plymouthPlantation"
that he was hired as a cooper at Southampton where the shipvictulated, and
being a hopeful young man was much desired. He was left to his ownliking to
go on or stay here. He stayed here and married Priscilla Mullins whowas an
orphan at that time. Her parents Alice and William Mullins and herbrother
died on board the ship "The Mayflower", succeeding the ship's landing.
7. GS# 974.D2s V.1 AC 1965 Gen. Dict. New England by Savage (Marr. ofch #7
Rebecca.
8. GS# 56915 Sealed chain of Southworth ancestry by Mattie Hiatt.
9. Temp. rec. card #9751 Bk B. pg 279.
10. Ref. #970 W21 Bibliography of Ship's passenger list.
11. Pilgrim John by Ebenezer Alden.
12. John Alden by Kasson.
13. GS# Vr or V1 The Alden Kindred of New york & Vicinity, compiledfor Inst.
of Am. Gen; Chicago, Ill.
14. Am. Pub. V.1 AS page 232 by Agnes Mitchel Laney.
15. GS# 974.4D2r Southern Mass. page 1507.
16. GS# 973 B2nd The Mayflower Descendants.
17. Fam. Group REc. sheet by Florence Jackson Payne R, #2 Box 170ElPaso,
Texas.

1. Memorial AL. 22ae GS# 974.48DI H21 Gen. Reg.
2. Directory of Ancestral Heads; GS# 974.Eb4b.
3. The Mayflower Compact and the Alden kindred GS# 929.2.
4. The Moline Arms, ref. both parents and brother died on board shipsucceeding
landing. 1st Feb after landing from another source.
5. GS# 929.273, AL 22 ae Alden, Mullins and Southworth.
6. John Alden was the 1st to set foot on Plymouth Rock. He was thelast male
survivor who came to these shores in the ship Mayflower. He was not ofthe
Leyden Church, but Gov. Bradford said in his History of "plymouthPlantation"
that he was hired as a cooper at Southampton where the shipvictulated, and
being a hopeful young man was much desired. He was left to his ownliking to
go on or stay here. He stayed here and married Priscilla Mullins whowas an
orphan at that time. Her parents Alice and William Mullins and herbrother
died on board the ship "The Mayflower", succeeding the ship's landing.
7. GS# 974.D2s V.1 AC 1965 Gen. Dict. New England by Savage (Marr. ofch #7
Rebecca.
8. GS# 56915 Sealed chain of Southworth ancestry by Mattie Hiatt.
9. Temp. rec. card #9751 Bk B. pg 279.
10. Ref. #970 W21 Bibliography of Ship's passenger list.
11. Pilgrim John by Ebenezer Alden.
12. John Alden by Kasson.
13. GS# Vr or V1 The Alden Kindred of New york & Vicinity, compiledfor Inst.
of Am. Gen; Chicago, Ill.
14. Am. Pub. V.1 AS page 232 by Agnes Mitchel Laney.
15. GS# 974.4D2r Southern Mass. page 1507.
16. GS# 973 B2nd The Mayflower Descendants.
17. Fam. Group REc. sheet by Florence Jackson Payne R, #2 Box 170ElPaso,
Texas.

Of Mayflower fame. Possibly baptised New Windsor, Berkshire, England 6 June
1602

alden1
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=37a082f0-5b5f-47db-a3aa-218684cc94e9&tid=757776&pid=-1992308297

Age 83 in 1682

Came to America on the Mayflower.
The John Alden House is shown as a historic site on the Atlas Road Map in Duxbury, Plymouth, MA.

John Alden
(Plymouth County Probate 1:10,16)

John Alden Died, Duxbury, September 12, 1687, leaving no will. The inventory of his estate was taken by his son October 31, Johathan, Who was appointed administrator November 8.

The Eigth day of November, 1687 Administration was Granted unto Leiutt Jonathan Alden to Administer upon the Estate of his father Mr. Jon Alden October 31 day 1687.
£ s d
Neate Cattell sheep Swine & one horse 13
one Table one forme one cartit one Cubert & coubert Cloth
2 Chaires 5 . .
bedsteds Chests & boxes 15
Andirons pot hookes and hangers . . .8 6
pots Tongs one quort kettle . . 10
John Alden's Inventory and the Settlement of his Estate 11
by brass ware . 1: 11 . .
by 1 ads 1s 6d & saws 7s . . . 8 . 6
by Augurs and Chisells . . . 5 . .
by wedges 5s to Coupers tooles 1£ 2s . 17 . .
one carpenters Joynters . . . 1 .6
Cart boults Cleavie Exseta . . 13 . .
driping pan & gridirons . . . 5. .
by puter ware 1 pound 12s by old Iron 3s . 1 15 . .
by 2 old guns . . 11
by Table linen & other linen . 1 . 12 . .
To beding .5 : 12 . .
One Spitt Is 6d & baggs 2s .. . 3 . 6
one mortising axe . . . 1 . .
marking Iron a Case of trenchers with other things . . .7 . .
hamen and winch exse . . . 2 . 6
by one goume and a bitt of linnin Cloth . . .7 . .
by one horse bridle and Saddle Liberary and Cash and
wearing Clothes 18 .9 . .
by other old lumber . 5

Before Nathaniel Thomas Esqr Judge of the inferior Court of Common Pleas the 8th day of November 1687 Leiut Jonathan Alden made oath that this is a true inventory of the Estate of his father Mr John"Alden deceased soe farr as he knoweth & when he knoweth more he will discover the same Nathll Thomas Cler.

Wee whose names are Subscribed being prsonally interested in the then Estate of John Alden senior of Duxbury Esqr lately deceased doe hereby acknowlege our selves to have Received Each of us our full Personall proportions thereof from Jonathan Alden Adminstrator & thereof Doe by these prsents for our selves our heires &c Exonerate acquitt & Discharge fully the Said Johathan Alden his heires &c for Ever of & from all Rights dues demands whatsoever Relateing to the aforesd Estate In Witness Whereof we have hereunto Subscrided & sealed this thirteenth day of June Ano Dom 1688. Jacobi 2di 4to
Elexander Standish (Seal) John Alden (Seal)
in ye Right of my wife Joseph Alden (Seal)
Sarah deceased David Alden (Seal)
John Bass (Seal) Prisilla Alden (Seal)
in ye Right of my wife William Paybody (Seal)
Ruth deceased
Mary Alden (Seal)
Thomas Dillano (Seal)

"John Alden was hired for a cooper at Southampton wher the ship victuled, and being a hopefull young man was much desired, but left to his owne liking to go, or stay when he came here, but he stayed, and maryed here..." By William Bradford in History of Plymouth Plantation

From Book
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=53a3ce6b-23cf-4f54-af99-118323270f1c&tid=8276699&pid=-861836885

Alden, John
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=5aac3c83-8b03-4783-9220-f15ea1315d5e&tid=261097&pid=-1976598005

Biography
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=15a20102-51c0-442a-82c7-8e1bcc47789a&tid=261097&pid=-1976598005

Alden, John headstone
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=81cac72f-b228-4216-9936-37f815991044&tid=261097&pid=-1976598005

Alden, John and Priscilla (Mullins) headstones
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=447a9e88-b0ef-4caa-bedb-df6983821dd6&tid=261097&pid=-1976598005

Alden House Postcard 4
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=df259a74-05e7-4000-bdde-4ff27157d111&tid=261097&pid=-1976598005

Alden House Postcard 2
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=56c638a7-dfcd-4c08-94e2-d7af1f462314&tid=261097&pid=-1976598005

Mayflower passenger list
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=9f328677-c63f-4d79-8eb7-2c189edbfa12&tid=261097&pid=-1976598005

John Alden Bio
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=6e919b8e-200c-4255-bdfc-9a794d268a9b&tid=261097&pid=-1976598005

Alden House Postcard 3
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=6bcb341d-484b-4ec0-a492-f58d92e244cd&tid=261097&pid=-1976598005

Alden House Postcard 1
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=ee028b1a-335f-4c5a-96ec-eb724d9b6047&tid=261097&pid=-1976598005

One of the eldest surviving Mayflower Passengers
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=6d662624-2dc1-440c-a7fc-a7492c76415c&tid=261097&pid=-1976598005

From Book
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=53a3ce6b-23cf-4f54-af99-118323270f1c&tid=8276699&pid=-861836885

John Alden (1600 - 1687)
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=2c8aedff-c409-4f11-afab-f3f0a88dd300&tid=8276699&pid=-686667412

Of Mayflower fame. Possibly baptised New Windsor, Berkshire, England 6June
1602

Date: 13 MAR 2009

JOHN ALDEN


ORIGIN: Southampton
MIGRATION: 1620 on Mayflower
FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth
REMOVES: Duxbury 1632

OCCUPATION: Cooper
FREEMAN: In "1633" Plymouth list of freemen, among those admitted prior to 1 January 1632/3 [PCR 1:3]; also in lists dated in or near 1637, 1639 and 1658 (in the latter two listed as of Duxbury) [PCR 1:52, 8:174, 198].
EDUCATION: Although there is no direct evidence for his literary and educational attainments, his extensive public service, including especially his appointments as colony treasurer and to committees on revising the laws, certainly indicates that he must have been well-educated.
OFFICES: "Mr. John Alden Sen[ior]" is in the Duxbury section of the 1643 list of men able to bear arms [PCR 8:189].
Assistant, 6 February 1631/2 [WP 3:65], 1 January 1632/3, 1 January 1633/4, 1 January 1634/5, 5 January 1635/6, 3 January 1636/7, 6 March 1637/8, 4 March 1638/9 [PCR 1:5, 21, 32, 36, 48, 79, 116 (the assistants elected on 3 March 1639/40 were not sworn until 2 June 1640, so John Alden continued to serve as assistant at a few courts in early 1640)]. Deputy for Duxbury to Plymouth General Court 1641, 1642, 1644 and 1646 to 1649, and also at courts of 20 August 1644, 28 October 1645 and 3 March 1645/6 [PCR 2:16, 40, 72, 75, 94, 95, 104, 117, 123, 144]. Assistant each year from 1650 to 1686 [PCR 2:153, 166; 3:7, 30, 48, 77, 99, 114, 134, 162, 187, 214; 4:13, 36, 60, 90, 122, 147, 179; 5:17, 34, 55, 90, 112, 143, 163, 194, 229, 256; 6:9, 34, 58, 83, 106, 127, 164, 185]. Acted as Deputy Governor on two occasions, in absence of Governor, 7 March 1664/5, 30 October 1677 [PCR 4:81, 5:245]. Treasurer, 3 June 1656, 3 June 1657, 1 June 1658 [PCR 3:99, 115, 135]. Council of War, 27 September 1642, 10 October 1643, 2 June 1646, 6 April 1653, 12 May 1653, 1 June 1658, 2 April 1667 [PCR 2:46, 63, 100; 3:26, 28, 138; 4:145]. Committee to revise laws, 4 June 1645, 3 June 1657 [PCR 2:85, 3:117]. Committee on Kennebec trade, 3 March 1645/6, 7 June 1648, 8 June 1649, 5 March 1655/6 [PCR 2:96, 127, 144; 3:96]. Appointed to numerous other minor posts and committees by Plymouth General Court.
ESTATE: In 1623 Plymouth land division granted an unknown number of acres as a passenger on the Mayflower in 1620 [PCR 12:4]. In 1627 Plymouth cattle division, included in company of John Howland, along with wife Priscilla, daughter Elizabeth and son John [PCR 12:10].
Assessed £1 4s. in Plymouth tax lists of 25 March 1633 and 27 March 1634 [PCR 1:9, 27].
Assigned mowing ground for the year, 14 March 1635/6, 20 March 1636/7 [PCR 1:40, 56].
On 6 March 1636/7, "A parcel of land containing a knoll, or a little hill, lying over against Mr. Alden's land at Blewfish River, is granted by the Court unto the said Mr. John Alden in lieu of a parcel of land taken from him (next unto Samuel Nash's lands) for public use" [PCR 1:51].
Granted "certain lands at Green's Harbor," 5 February 1637/8 [PCR 1:76]. Granted to Miles Standish and John Alden three hundred acres "on the north side of the South River," 2 July 1638 [PCR 1:91]. Granted "a little parcel of land... lying at the southerly side of his lot," 3 September 1638 [PCR 1:95].
On 3 June 1657 "Liberty is granted unto Mr. John Alden to look out a portion of land to accommodate his sons withall, and to make report thereof unto the Court, that so it may be confirmed unto him" [PCR 3:120].
13 June 1660: "In regard that Mr. Alden is low in his estate, and occasioned to spend much time at the courts on the country's occasions, and so hath done this many years, the Court have allowed him a small gratuity, the sum of ten pounds, to be paid by the Treasurer" [PCR 3:195].
Granted "a competency of land" at Namasskett, 7 June 1665 [PCR 4:95]. Granted one hundred acres at Teticutt, 4 March 1673/4 [PCR 5:141].
On 1 April 1679 John Alden gave to his son Joseph "all that my share of land... within the township of Bridgewater" [PLR 3:194].
On 8 July 1674 John Alden of Duxbury "for love and natural affection and other valuable causes and considerations" deeded to "David Alden his true and natural son all that his land both meadow and upland that belongs unto him situate or being at or about a place called Rootey Brook within the Township of Middleborough ... excepting only one hundred acres," containing about three hundred acres [PLR 3:330].
A description of the land of "Mr. John Aldin, of Duxbery," is entered under date of 4 December 1637, but with the modern annotation that this is a later entry, and with the internal statement that one of the abuttors was "Philip Delano, deceased," which means that the entry must have been made in 1681 or later; this is immediately followed by an entry for another parcel of land which Alden bought of Edward Hall in 1651 [PCR 1:71, 73].
On 1 January 1684[/5] [36 Charles II] John Alden Sr. of Duxbury for "that real love and parental affection which I bear to my beloved and dutiful son Jonathan Alden" deeded to him all my upland in Duxbury, for which "see old book of grants and bounds of land anno 1637 folio 137," and all other lands at Duxbury whether granted by court at Plymouth or town of Duxbury [PLR 6:53].
On 13 January 1686[/7] [2 James II] John Alden Sr. of Duxbury for "that natural love and affection which I bear to my firstborn and dutiful son John Alden of Boston" deeded him one hundred acres at Pekard Neck alias Pachague with one-eighth of the meadow belonging to that place, and one hundred acres at Rootey Brook (brother David Alden is to have first right of purchase if John should wish to sell this hundred acres), together with a sixteen shilling purchase being the fifteenth lot, all in Middleborough, and one hundred acres, the first in a division of one thousand acres in Bridgewater [PLR 5:427].
On 19 August 1687 John Alden Sr. of Duxbury, cooper, gave to his sons Jonathan and David Alden five acres of salt marsh at Duxbury and "my whole proportion in the Major's Purchase commonly so-called being the thirty-fifth part of said purchase" [MD 9:145, citing PLR 4:65].
The inventory of John Alden's estate was taken on 31 October 1687 by Jonathan Alden, and totalled £49 17s. 6d., all movables. On 13 June 1688 the heirs of John Alden Sr. of Duxbury signed a release in favor of Jonathan Alden, stating that they had received their portion of the estate; those signing were Alexander Standish (in the right of his wife Sarah deceased), John Bass (in the right of his wife Ruth deceased), Mary Alden, Thomas Delano, John Alden, Joseph Alden, David Alden, Priscilla Alden and William Pabodie [PPR 1:10, 16; MD 3:10].

BIRTH: About 1599 (deposed aged 83 on 6 July 1682 [MD 3:120]; in his 89th year at death on 12 September 1687 [MD 9:129]; "about eighty-nine years of age" at death on 12 September 1687 [MD 34:49]).
DEATH: Duxbury 12 September 1687 [Sewall 150; MD 9:129, 34:49].
MARRIAGE: Plymouth about 1623 PRISCILLA MULLINS, daughter of WILLIAM MULLINS; she died after 1651, when she is mentioned in Bradford's summary of Mayflower passengers.
CHILDREN:

i ELIZABETH, b. about 1624; m. Plymouth 26 (or 20) December 1644 William Pabodie [PCR 2:79; DuVR]; she d. Little Compton 31 May 1717 [LCVR 143], "a. 92" [Boston News-Letter]. (Her tombstone at Little Compton gives her age at death as "in the 94th year of her age," but as the current monument was erected in 1882, this may not have been on the original stone.)


ii JOHN, b. about 1626; m. Boston 1 April 1660 "Elizabeth Everill, widow, relict of Abiell Everill, deceased" (although the correct date should probably be 1659, as a child was born to John and Elizabeth Alden on 17 December 1659 [BVR 69], and in the original form of the vital records, given in the second of the following citations but not in the first, this record is imbedded among others for 1659) [BVR 76; NEHGR 18:333; but see NEHGR 52:162 and Munsey-Hopkins 55, which interpret the 1659 birth record to imply that John Alden had had an earlier wife, also named Elizabeth]; she was born before 1640, daughter of William Phillips, and m. Boston 6 July 1655 Abiel Everill [BVR 52]; John Alden d. 14 March 1701/2 [Sewall 463]


iii JOSEPH, b. about 1627 (in list of men able to bear arms in 1643, and therefore at least 16 [PCR 8:189]); m. by about 1660 Mary Simons, daughter of MOSES SIMONS or SIMONSON and Sarah _____ [MD 31:60].


iv PRISCILLA, b. say 1630; living unm. in 1688 [PPR 1:16].


v JONATHAN, b. about 1632; m. Duxbury 10 December 1672 Abigail Hallett; he d. Duxbury 14 February 1696/7 "in the 65 year of his age" [MD 9:159; NEHGR 52:365]. (The date on the tombstone is 14 February 1697, but the double-dating problem is resolved by the probate papers, as administration on the estate was granted on 8 March 1696/7 [MD 6:174-78].)


vi SARAH, b. say 1634; m. by about 1660 Alexander Standish (date based on approximated birthdates of children [NEHGR 52:363-65]).


vii RUTH, b. say 1636; m. Braintree 3 February 1657/8 John Bass [BrVR 716].


viii MARY, b. say 1638; living unm. in 1688 [PPR 1:16].


ix REBECCA, b. say 1640; subject of unfounded rumor that she was "with child," 1 October 1661 [PCR 4:7]; m. in 1667, before 30 October, Thomas Delano [PCR 4:168, 8:122; NEHGR 102:83, 86].


x DAVID, b. say 1642; m. by 1674 Mary Southworth, dau. of CONSTANT SOUTHWORTH and Elizabeth Collier (in his will, dated 27 February 1678, Constant Southworth bequeathed to daughter Mary Alden [PCPR 4:1:18-20]).



COMMENTS: According to Bradford, "John Alden was hired a cooper at Southampton where the ship victualled, and being a hopeful young man was much desired but left to his own liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed and married here" [Bradford 443]. In his accounting of the Mayflower families in 1651, Bradford stated under William Mullins that "his daughter Priscilla survived, and married with John Alden; who are both living and have eleven [sic] children. And their eldest daughter is married and hath five children" [Bradford 445]. (As the marginal annotation for this entry gives the "increasing" as fifteen, and the eldest daughter already had five children, the correct number for John and Priscilla is more likely ten [MD 39:111].)
Many suggestions have been made as to the English origin of John Alden. Alicia Crane Williams has recently examined all the relevant evidence carefully and exhaustively, and comes to the conclusion that, although one or two of the suggested origins are "tempting," all are far from proved [MD 39:111-22, 40:133-36, 41:201]. By entering "Southampton" under ORIGIN above, we are only taking note of Bradford's statement that Alden was hired at that port; we are not implying that he was born or raised there.
The present account differs somewhat from other accounts in the birth order of the children, and the approximated ages. The estimated dates of birth for the first two children (Elizabeth and John) are reasonably well-defined because they fell between the 1623 land division and the 1627 cattle division. The third child (Joseph) must have been born late in 1627 to appear on the 1643 list of men able to bear arms. The next date which we are able to fix is that of Jonathan, who was said at his death early in 1697 to be in his sixty-fifth year, and so born in 1632 (or possibly early in 1633); note that this gives us a gap of about five or six years between Joseph and Jonathan. We arbitrarily place one of the unmarried daughters, Priscilla, in this gap, although it might as well be Mary who fits here. The remainder of the children are then ranged after Jonathan at two year intervals. This makes Ruth about twenty-two when she married John Bass, and Rebecca about twenty-one when she was the subject of the unfortunate rumor. Given the paucity of solid evidence on many of these points, other plausible arrangements may be easily constructed.
Some accounts of the family of John Alden include a son Zachariah, who had a daughter Anne Alden who married in 1699 Josiah Snell. In 1948 Hallock P. Long demonstrated that this son never existed, and that Anna Alden was almost certainly the daughter of John Alden's son Jonathan [NEHGR 102:82-86].
Attempts have been made to include Henry Alden of Billerica, Roxbury and Dedham as a descendant of John Alden, but this cannot be. Henry Alden was rated in Billerica in 1688 [NEHGR 31:303], so he must have been born no later than 1667. The wills of John Alden's sons John and Joseph make it clear that neither of them had a son Henry. John Alden's son Jonathan did not marry until 1672, and his son David apparently even later than that. Henry Alden must have been a late immigrant to New England, with no known genealogical connection with John Alden of Plymouth and Duxbury [MD 42:21ff.].
As noted above, John Alden was frequently a member of the committee on the Kennebec trade. He had actively participated in the trade himself, and in early 1634 he became involved in an incident in which a party of Plymouth men led by himself and John Howland became embroiled with a group of men from the Piscataqua settlement which would grow into Dover. One man on each side was killed, and in the aftermath Alden was detained at Boston as security against the final resolution of the conflict. [See WJ 1:155-56, 162-63; WP 3:167-68; MBCR 1:119; and Bradford 262-68, for the particulars of this incident.]
The results of a 1960 season of digging are given by Roland Wells Robbins in Pilgrim John Alden's Progress: Archaeological Excavations in Duxbury (Plymouth: The Pilgrim Society 1969).

Date: 26 OCT 2008

According to decendent Robert Q. King, John Alden served almost without interruption as Assistant to the Governors of the Plymouth Colony, 1632-1686. He was Acting Governor, 1664-1665, and in 1667; was a member of the Massachusetts Council of War in 1646, 1653, 1658 and 1667; was treasurer of the colony, 1656-1658, and was representative from Duxbury in the colonial Massachusetts court. He was the seventh and last surviving signer of the Mayflower Compact, and at the time of his death, was the last male survivor of the Mayflower Company. John Alden married Priscilla Mullins, daughter of WILLIAM MULLINS, tenth signer of the Mayflower Compact, and his wife Alice Atwood. John Alden and Priscilla Mullins were the parents of eleven children, one of whom was Ruth Alden.

Ref: Personal communication, email dated Thursday, July 31, 2008 1:05 PM, Sub: RQK Mayflower Descent

Date: 27 JUN 2009

From: New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial By William Richard Cutter
Found at: http://books.google.com/books?id=1M8UAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA640&dq=constant+southworth#PPA846,M1

John Alden, the immigrant ancestor, was born in England in 1599. He joined the Pilgrims on the "Mayflower" at Southampton as the ship was on its way to America. When the ship stopped there for supplies he was hired as a cooper. He had not been with them at Leyden and was probably not a member of the Independent church, but soon joined.

He cast his fortunes with the Pilgrims, after enduring the hardships of that first terrible winter at Plymouth when so many died. He was doubtless influenced in this decision by his love for Priscilla Mullins, the story of which, with some embellishments, is told in the "Courtship of Miles Standish." She was the daughter of William Mullins, who came on the "Mayflower" with his family. John and Priscilla were married in the spring of 1621.

When the common property of the colony was divided in 1627, Alden went with Captain Standish, Elder Brewster, John Howland, Francis Eaton and Peter Brown to Hattakeeset, the Indian name of that territory now included in Duxbury, Marshfield, Pembroke, Hanson and Bridgewater, Massachusetts.

For several years they were obliged to return to Plymouth during the winter seasons to combine all their forces against the possible Indian attacks. The residence at Plymouth in the winter also gave them an opportunity to attend worship, and the records show a written agreement of Alden and others in 1632 to remove their families to Plymouth in the winter.

In 1633 Alden was appointed assistant to the governor, an office which he held for nearly the whole of the remainder of his life, serving with Edward Winslow, Josiah Winslow, Bradford, Prince and Thomas Hinckley. From 1666 until his death he held the office of first assistant, was often called the deputy governor, and was many times acting governor in the absence of the governor. From 1640 to 1650 he was also deputy to the colonial council from Duxbury.

Winslow's "History of Duxbury" says of him : "Holding office of the highest trust, no important measure was proposed, or any responsible agency ordered in which he had not a part. He was one of the council of war, many times an arbitrator, a surveyor of lands for the government as well as for individuals, and on several important occasions was authorized to act as agent or attorney for the colony. He was possessed of a sound judgment and of talents which, though not brilliant, were by no means ordinary. Writers who mention him bear ample testimony to his industry, integrity and exemplary piety, and he has been represented as a worthy and useful man of great humility, and eminent sanctity of life, decided, ardent, resolute and persevering, indifferent to danger, stern, austere and unyielding, and of incorruptible integrity. He was always a firm supporter of the church and everything of an innovating nature received ceived determined opposition."

From the Puritan point of view Alden was a model, if this discription of his virtues is truthful. He took his part in making the lives of the Quakers at Plymouth colony intolerable. On the Alden farm stands the house built by his son Jonathan, having been occupied by eight generations in direct line. It is the oldest house in New England, with three exceptions : The old fort at Medford built in 1634, the Fairbanks
house at Dedham, built in 1636, and the old stone house at Milford, Connecticut, built in 1640. Here Alden spent his declining years.

He died in Duxbury, September 1, 1686, aged eighty-seven years, the last of the famous band of Pilgrim Fathers, and the last of the Mayflower company.

John Alden had eleven children, only eight of whom are known: John, born about 1622, at Plymouth ; Joseph, of whom further; Elizabeth, 1625; Jonathan, about 1627; Sarah, married Alexander Standish, son of Captain Miles Standish; Ruth, married John Bass, of Braintree, from whom the presidents Adams descended ; Mary ; David, a prominent man of Duxbury.

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From Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society By Massachusetts Historical Society
Found at: http://books.google.com/books?id=nCA8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA67&dq=constant+southworth#PPA62,M1

John Alden, who made one of the company which settled Plymouth colony, and is said to have been the
first who stepped upon the memorable rock, when they landed on that inhospitable shore, in December, 1620, was also an inhabitant of Duxbury. It is not certain what year he fixed his residence here ; but it is supposed it was soon after Capt, Standish and Mr. Brewster settled at Captain's Hill, and Gov. Winslow at Careswell (The name given by Gotr. Winslow to his farm), in the south part of what is now Marshfield, and adjoining to Duxbury.

In 1632, he, with Capt. Standish and Jonathan Brewster were desired to move to Plymouth for the winter. A pathway was early laid out from Plymouth over Jones's River, and crossing Island Creek, so called, wound along near the shore of the bay to accommodate Standish, Brewster, Sprague and others in the south and east part of the town, and then led over Blue River, near the head of the salt water, and passing John Alden's settlement on the north side of this river, was continued over Stony Brook, near Philip Delano, who had just began a farm there, by Duck Hill, to Careswell, abovementioned, the residence of Gov. Winslow. Soon after a path was made to Green's Harbour, a little northeast of Winslow's house, and thence to North River, where a ferry was established ; and from here to the settlements in Scituate, now become considerable.

John Alden had also land early granted him on the south side of Blue River, and several pieces of salt marsh in the vicinity. And at a later period he had land granted him at the North River in Bridgewater, and on Taunton River. The farm on which he lived is now in possession of Judah Alden, Esq. one of his descendants.

John Alden was quite a young man in 1620; only about 21 or 22 years of age. He-died in 1686, and was in his 89th year. Gov. Prince was also young ; but a few years older than Alden. He is named as one of the company, from the time of the first landing, and could not, therefore, have been a member of any other family, and was the fifth or sixth in order, on the list of purchasers, or " old comers," as they were denominated.

He was early a magistrate, a representative from Duxbury, an assistant for more than thirty years, often one of the council of war, an arbitrator, a surveyor of lands for the government and for individuals, and on several important occasions, was authorized to act as agent or attorney for the colony. He lived to a great age, as before observed, and was elected an assistant in 1686, the year he died.

This is evidence that he retained his strength and judgment to the last. It is believed that he survived all his early companions : Philip Delano died a few years before him : Gov. Prince died in 1673.

He frequently presided in the Court of Assistants, in the absence of the governour, being the eldest member for several years; and sometimes, on that account called deputy governour. For several years after the decease of Capt. Standish he was treasurer of the colony. He is represented as a man of strong intellect and good judgment, decideds, ardent, resolute and persevering.

The writers, who mention him, bear ample testimony to his industry, integrity and exemplary piety. He was a Puritan., both in theory and in conduct. He gave great support to the clergy and the church, and
discountenanced every thing of a disorderly or innovating kind.

He had a large family of children, all of whom were respectably established in the world ; and some were called to act in publick stations.

His son, John, lived in Boston, and for many years commanded an armed sloop belonging to Massachusetts.

His son, Joseph, inherited his land in Bridgewater, and settled there.

David, another son, was several years a representative from Duxbury.

Samuel, a son of David -, lived, to age of 93, in Duxbury, and died there in 1780. He
was father of Col. Ichabod Alden, who commanded one of the regular Massachusetts regiments in the war of the revolution, and was killed by the Indians, at Cherry Valley, in 1778.

Jonathan, another son of John Alden, was commander of the military company in Duxbury, and lived on the farm which his father had occupied. A son and grandson of his were members of the General Court of Massachusetts from that place, in more recent times.

One of his daughters was married to Mr. Bass of Braintree, in 1649 or 1650 ; and a daughter of theirs was the maternal ancestor of the venerable President ADAMS.

William Paybody, one of the first settlers of Duxbury, several years a representative from the
town, and who, in 1672, was called " an ancient freeman of the colony," married with another daughter.

One was married to Josiah Standish.

And Samuel Delano, son of P. Delano, married the fourth

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From: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncsmd/Ship/Ship.htm

THE MAYFLOWER

The first Mayflower left Plymouth, England on September 6, 1620 with 102 passengers and about 25 carefully selected crew, arriving in the New World 67 days later. She was a "sweet" ship in that she had been engaged in the wine trade in the Mediterranean since 1616. She had also been engaged in fur trade with Norway and had experienced the storms of the North Sea, a most treacherous body of water. The dimensions of the first Mayflower were 90 feet in length (12 Feet more than a tennis court), 26 feet in width, with a tonnage of 180. Small as she was she was larger than the Discovery, which landed at Virginia in 1607. There was a barn in Buckinghamshire, England, in which some roof timbers and the central cross beam were made from the original ship.

On July 4, 1955, construction started on Mayflower II, a replica of the original ship, in Brixham, England. She was designed by U.S. Naval Architect William Baker and commissioned by Plimouth Plantation. Although her dimensions and tonnage were similar, there were major updates. Mayflower II steered with a wheel instead of a tiller, had a generator, electricity, and tow-way radio, as well as superior pumps. She also had a galley without a refrigerator for the preparation of meals. The Pilgrims had a sandbox on which small fires could be kindled and at best they could stew in small pots. In bad weather, this cooking procedure could not be used due to the danger of fire from the burning coals. Mayflower II left England April 20, 1957 and arrived at Plymouth, MA on June 13. It is permanently berthed in Plymouth and well worth a visit.

Mayflower II was Captained by Alan Villiers, an Australian, and had an international crew that numbered 31. Two LIFE Magazine reporters were also on the voyage. The 1967 route went south to pass the Canary Islands, down below the Tropic of Cancer and back up to the west of Bermuda. In 1620 Captain Jones, the 1620 Captain, familiar with the charts and maps of explorers Cabot and Gosnold, took a shorter, more northern route in rougher seas, aiming to stay along the 42d parallel.

Article from the Tar Heel Pilgrim, May 2000.

Sources: Caffrey, Kate: Mayflower; Williston, George: Saints and Sinners; "California Mayflower," Apr. 1997; "Daughters," Publication of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Nov. 1996; "LIFE MAGAZINE," Apr. 17, 1957; "Mississippi Mayflower Messenger," Apr. 1997 and "New York Mayflower Newsletter," Spring 1998.

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From: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncsmd/Compact/MayflowerCompact.htm

The Mayflower Compact

Before the passengers went ashore, they drew up an instrument of self-government for the little band to replace the original patent. This immortal Mayflower Compact was modeled on the Covenant by which the Pilgrims had lived in Leyden for more than a decade and was later hailed by John Quincy Adams, among others, as the first example in modern times of a social compact or system of government instituted by voluntary agreement by men of equal rights. It was signed by all of the adult male passengers on the 11th of November (Old Style) 1620.

The Mayflower Compact was signed in the cabin of the Mayflower, November 21, 1620 (New Style). It was signed by forty-one of those who made the voyage. Lines of descent have been proven from twenty-four of these men. Richard Moore and Henry Samson were too young to sign.

The Mayflower Compact

In the Name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony: unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11 of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth Ano. Dom. 1620.

John Carver Edward Tilley Digery Priest*
William Bradford* John Tilley* Thomas Williams
Edward Winslow* Francis Cooke* Gilbert Winslow
William Brewster* Thomas Rogers* Edmund Margeson
Isaac Allerton* Thomas Tinker Peter Browne*
Miles Standish* John Ridgdale Richard Britteridge
JOHN ALDEN* Edward Fuller* George Soule*
Samuel Fuller* John Turner Richard Clarke
Christopher Martin Francis Eaton* Richard Gardiner
William Mullins* James Chilton* John Allerton
William White* John Crackstone Thomas English
Richard Warren* John Billington* Edward Doty*
John Howland* Moses Fletcher* Edward Leister
Stephen Hopkins* John Goodman

* Denotes those with proven descendants.
Order as given by Nathaniel Morton (1669) and Thomas Prince (1736)

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From: The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33 by Robert Charles Anderson

Found at: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=greatmigrationindex&f3=jumptoJOHNALDEN

JOHN ALDEN

ORIGIN: Southampton

MIGRATION: 1620 on Mayflower

FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth

REMOVES: Duxbury 1632

OCCUPATION: Cooper

FREEMAN:
In "1633" Plymouth list of freemen, among those admitted prior to 1 January 1632/3 [PCR 1:3]; also in lists dated in or near 1637, 1639 and 1658 (in the latter two listed as of Duxbury) [PCR 1:52, 8:174, 198].

EDUCATION:
Although there is no direct evidence for his literary and educational attainments, his extensive public service, including especially his appointments as colony treasurer and to committees on revising the laws, certainly indicates that he must have been well-educated.

OFFICES:
"Mr. John Alden Sen[ior]" is in the Duxbury section of the 1643 list of men able to bear arms [PCR 8:189].

Assistant, 6 February 1631/2 [WP 3:65], 1 January 1632/3, 1 January 1633/4, 1 January 1634/5, 5 January 1635/6, 3 January 1636/7, 6 March 1637/8, 4 March 1638/9 [PCR 1:5, 21, 32, 36, 48, 79, 116 (the assistants elected on 3 March 1639/40 were not sworn until 2 June 1640, so John Alden continued to serve as assistant at a few courts in early 1640)].

Deputy for Duxbury to Plymouth General Court 1641, 1642, 1644 and 1646 to 1649, and also at courts of 20 August 1644, 28 October 1645 and 3 March 1645/6 [PCR 2:16, 40, 72, 75, 94, 95, 104, 117, 123, 144].

Assistant each year from 1650 to 1686 [PCR 2:153, 166; 3:7, 30, 48, 77, 99, 114, 134, 162, 187, 214; 4:13, 36, 60, 90, 122, 147, 179; 5:17, 34, 55, 90, 112, 143, 163, 194, 229, 256; 6:9, 34, 58, 83, 106, 127, 164, 185].

Acted as Deputy Governor on two occasions, in absence of Governor, 7 March 1664/5, 30 October 1677 [PCR 4:81, 5:245].

Treasurer, 3 June 1656, 3 June 1657, 1 June 1658 [PCR 3:99, 115, 135].

Council of War, 27 September 1642, 10 October 1643, 2 June 1646, 6 April 1653, 12 May 1653, 1 June 1658, 2 April 1667 [PCR 2:46, 63, 100; 3:26, 28, 138; 4:145].

Committee to revise laws, 4 June 1645, 3 June 1657 [PCR 2:85, 3:117].

Committee on Kennebec trade, 3 March 1645/6, 7 June 1648, 8 June 1649, 5 March 1655/6 [PCR 2:96, 127, 144; 3:96].

Appointed to numerous other minor posts and committees by Plymouth General Court.

ESTATE:
In 1623 Plymouth land division granted an unknown number of acres as a passenger on the Mayflower in 1620 [PCR 12:4].

In 1627 Plymouth cattle division, included in company of John Howland, along with wife Priscilla, daughter Elizabeth and son John [PCR 12:10].

Assessed £1 4s. in Plymouth tax lists of 25 March 1633 and 27 March 1634 [PCR 1:9, 27].

Assigned mowing ground for the year, 14 March 1635/6, 20 March 1636/7 [PCR 1:40, 56].

On 6 March 1636/7, "A parcel of land containing a knoll, or a little hill, lying over against Mr. Alden's land at Blewfish River, is granted by the Court unto the said Mr. John Alden in lieu of a parcel of land taken from him (next unto Samuel Nash's lands) for public use" [PCR 1:51].

Granted "certain lands at Green's Harbor," 5 February 1637/8 [PCR 1:76

Granted to Miles Standish and John Alden three hundred acres "on the north side of the South River," 2 July 1638 [PCR 1:91].

Granted "a little parcel of land... lying at the southerly side of his lot," 3 September 1638 [PCR 1:95].

On 3 June 1657 "Liberty is granted unto Mr. John Alden to look out a portion of land to accommodate his sons withall, and to make report thereof unto the Court, that so it may be confirmed unto him" [PCR 3:120].

13 June 1660: "In regard that Mr. Alden is low in his estate, and occasioned to spend much time at the courts on the country's occasions, and so hath done this many years, the Court have allowed him a small gratuity, the sum of ten pounds, to be paid by the Treasurer" [PCR 3:195].

Granted "a competency of land" at Namasskett, 7 June 1665 [PCR 4:95].

Granted one hundred acres at Teticutt, 4 March 1673/4 [PCR 5:141].

On 1 April 1679 John Alden gave to his son Joseph "all that my share of land... within the township of Bridgewater" [PLR 3:194].

On 8 July 1674 John Alden of Duxbury "for love and natural affection and other valuable causes and considerations" deeded to "David Alden his true and natural son all that his land both meadow and upland that belongs unto him situate or being at or about a place called Rootey Brook within the Township of Middleborough ... excepting only one hundred acres," containing about three hundred acres [PLR 3:330].

A description of the land of "Mr. John Aldin, of Duxbery," is entered under date of 4 December 1637, but with the modern annotation that this is a later entry, and with the internal statement that one of the abuttors was "Philip Delano, deceased," which means that the entry must have been made in 1681 or later; this is immediately followed by an entry for another parcel of land which Alden bought of Edward Hall in 1651 [PCR 1:71, 73].

On 1 January 1684[/5] [36 Charles II] John Alden Sr. of Duxbury for "that real love and parental affection which I bear to my beloved and dutiful son Jonathan Alden" deeded to him all my upland in Duxbury, for which "see old book of grants and bounds of land anno 1637 folio 137," and all other lands at Duxbury whether granted by court at Plymouth or town of Duxbury [PLR 6:53].

On 13 January 1686[/7] [2 James II] John Alden Sr. of Duxbury for "that natural love and affection which I bear to my firstborn and dutiful son John Alden of Boston" deeded him one hundred acres at Pekard Neck alias Pachague with one-eighth of the meadow belonging to that place, and one hundred acres at Rootey Brook (brother David Alden is to have first right of purchase if John should wish to sell this hundred acres), together with a sixteen shilling purchase being the fifteenth lot, all in Middleborough, and one hundred acres, the first in a division of one thousand acres in Bridgewater [PLR 5:427].

On 19 August 1687 John Alden Sr. of Duxbury, cooper, gave to his sons Jonathan and David Alden five acres of salt marsh at Duxbury and "my whole proportion in the Major's Purchase commonly so-called being the thirty-fifth part of said purchase" [MD 9:145, citing PLR 4:65].

The inventory of John Alden's estate was taken on 31 October 1687 by Jonathan Alden, and totalled £49 17s. 6d., all movables. On 13 June 1688 the heirs of John Alden Sr. of Duxbury signed a release in favor of Jonathan Alden, stating that they had received their portion of the estate; those signing were Alexander Standish (in the right of his wife Sarah deceased), John Bass (in the right of his wife Ruth deceased), Mary Alden, Thomas Delano, John Alden, Joseph Alden, David Alden, Priscilla Alden and William Pabodie [PPR 1:10, 16; MD 3:10].

BIRTH:
About 1599 (deposed aged 83 on 6 July 1682 [MD 3:120]; in his 89th year at death on 12 September 1687 [MD 9:129]; "about eighty-nine years of age" at death on 12 September 1687 [MD 34:49]).

DEATH:
Duxbury 12 September 1687 [Sewall 150; MD 9:129, 34:49].

MARRIAGE:
Plymouth about 1623 PRISCILLA MULLINS, daughter of WILLIAM MULLINS; she died after 1651, when she is mentioned in Bradford's summary of Mayflower passengers.

CHILDREN:
i ELIZABETH, b. about 1624; m. Plymouth 26 (or 20) December 1644 William Pabodie [PCR 2:79; DuVR]; she d. Little Compton 31 May 1717 [LCVR 143], "a. 92" [Boston News-Letter]. (Her tombstone at Little Compton gives her age at death as "in the 94th year of her age," but as the current monument was erected in 1882, this may not have been on the original stone.)

ii JOHN, b. about 1626; m. Boston 1 April 1660 "Elizabeth Everill, widow, relict of Abiell Everill, deceased" (although the correct date should probably be 1659, as a child was born to John and Elizabeth Alden on 17 December 1659 [BVR 69], and in the original form of the vital records, given in the second of the following citations but not in the first, this record is imbedded among others for 1659) [BVR 76; NEHGR 18:333; but see NEHGR 52:162 and Munsey-Hopkins 55, which interpret the 1659 birth record to imply that John Alden had had an earlier wife, also named Elizabeth]; she was born before 1640, daughter of William Phillips, and m. Boston 6 July 1655 Abiel Everill [BVR 52]; John Alden d. 14 March 1701/2 [Sewall 463]

iii JOSEPH, b. about 1627 (in list of men able to bear arms in 1643, and therefore at least 16 [PCR 8:189]); m. by about 1660 Mary Simons, daughter of MOSES SIMONS or SIMONSON and Sarah _____ [MD 31:60].

iv PRISCILLA, b. say 1630; living unm. in 1688 [PPR 1:16].

v JONATHAN, b. about 1632; m. Duxbury 10 December 1672 Abigail Hallett; he d. Duxbury 14 February 1696/7 "in the 65 year of his age" [MD 9:159; NEHGR 52:365]. (The date on the tombstone is 14 February 1697, but the double-dating problem is resolved by the probate papers, as administration on the estate was granted on 8 March 1696/7 [MD 6:174-78].)

vi SARAH, b. say 1634; m. by about 1660 Alexander Standish (date based on approximated birthdates of children [NEHGR 52:363-65]).

vii RUTH, b. say 1636; m. Braintree 3 February 1657/8 John Bass [BrVR 716].

viii MARY, b. say 1638; living unm. in 1688 [PPR 1:16].

ix REBECCA, b. say 1640; subject of unfounded rumor that she was "with child," 1 October 1661 [PCR 4:7]; m. in 1667, before 30 October, Thomas Delano [PCR 4:168, 8:122; NEHGR 102:83, 86].

x DAVID, b. say 1642; m. by 1674 Mary Southworth, dau. of CONSTANT SOUTHWORTH and Elizabeth Collier (in his will, dated 27 February 1678, Constant Southworth bequeathed to daughter Mary Alden [PCPR 4:1:18-20]).

COMMENTS:
According to Bradford, "John Alden was hired a cooper at Southampton where the ship victualled, and being a hopeful young man was much desired but left to his own liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed and married here" [Bradford 443].

In his accounting of the Mayflower families in 1651, Bradford stated under William Mullins that "his daughter Priscilla survived, and married with John Alden; who are both living and have eleven [sic] children. And their eldest daughter is married and hath five children" [Bradford 445]. (As the marginal annotation for this entry gives the "increasing" as fifteen, and the eldest daughter already had five children, the correct number for John and Priscilla is more likely ten [MD 39:111].)

Many suggestions have been made as to the English origin of John Alden. Alicia Crane Williams has recently examined all the relevant evidence carefully and exhaustively, and comes to the conclusion that, although one or two of the suggested origins are "tempting," all are far from proved [MD 39:111-22, 40:133-36, 41:201]. By entering "Southampton" under ORIGIN above, we are only taking note of Bradford's statement that Alden was hired at that port; we are not implying that he was born or raised there.

The present account differs somewhat from other accounts in the birth order of the children, and the approximated ages. The estimated dates of birth for the first two children (Elizabeth and John) are reasonably well-defined because they fell between the 1623 land division and the 1627 cattle division. The third child (Joseph) must have been born late in 1627 to appear on the 1643 list of men able to bear arms. The next date which we are able to fix is that of Jonathan, who was said at his death early in 1697 to be in his sixty-fifth year, and so born in 1632 (or possibly early in 1633); note that this gives us a gap of about five or six years between Joseph and Jonathan. We arbitrarily place one of the unmarried daughters, Priscilla, in this gap, although it might as well be Mary who fits here. The remainder of the children are then ranged after Jonathan at two year intervals. This makes Ruth about twenty-two when she married John Bass, and Rebecca about twenty-one when she was the subject of the unfortunate rumor. Given the paucity of solid evidence on many of these points, other plausible arrangements may be easily constructed.

Some accounts of the family of John Alden include a son Zachariah, who had a daughter Anne Alden who married in 1699 Josiah Snell. In 1948 Hallock P. Long demonstrated that this son never existed, and that Anna Alden was almost certainly the daughter of John Alden's son Jonathan [NEHGR 102:82-86].

Attempts have been made to include Henry Alden of Billerica, Roxbury and Dedham as a descendant of John Alden, but this cannot be. Henry Alden was rated in Billerica in 1688 [NEHGR 31:303], so he must have been born no later than 1667. The wills of John Alden's sons John and Joseph make it clear that neither of them had a son Henry. John Alden's son Jonathan did not marry until 1672, and his son David apparently even later than that. Henry Alden must have been a late immigrant to New England, with no known genealogical connection with John Alden of Plymouth and Duxbury [MD 42:21ff.].

As noted above, John Alden was frequently a member of the committee on the Kennebec trade. He had actively participated in the trade himself, and in early 1634 he became involved in an incident in which a party of Plymouth men led by himself and John Howland became embroiled with a group of men from the Piscataqua settlement which would grow into Dover. One man on each side was killed, and in the aftermath Alden was detained at Boston as security against the final resolution of the conflict. [See WJ 1:155-56, 162-63; WP 3:167-68; MBCR 1:119; and Bradford 262-68, for the particulars of this incident.]

The results of a 1960 season of digging are given by Roland Wells Robbins in Pilgrim John Alden's Progress: Archaeological Excavations in Duxbury (Plymouth: The Pilgrim Society 1969).

Source Notes:

PCR = Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff and David Pulsifer, eds., 12 volumes in 10 (Boston 1855-1861)

WP = Winthrop Papers, 1498-1654, 6 volumes, various editors (Boston 1925-1992)

PLR = Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Deeds (from microfilm)

MD = Mayflower Descendant, Volume 1 through present (1899-1937, 1985+)

PPR = Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Probate Records (from microfilm)

Sewall = The Diary of Samuel Sewall, Volume One 1674-1708, Volume Two 1709-1729, M. Halsey Thomas, ed. (New York 1973)

DuVR = Vital Records of Duxbury, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Boston 1911)

LCVR = James N. Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 1636-1850, First Series, Volume 4, Part VI, Little Compton (Providence 1893)

BVR = Boston Births, Baptisms, Marriages, and Deaths, 1630-1699, Ninth Report of the Boston Record Commissioners (Boston 1883; rpt. Baltimore 1978)

NEHGR = New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 1 through present (1847+)

Munsey-Hopkins = D.O.S. Lowell, A Munsey-Hopkins Genealogy ... (Boston 1920)

BrVR = Records of the Town of Braintree, 1640 to 1793, Samuel A. Bates, ed. (Randolph 1886), pp. 627-940

PCPR = Plymouth Colony Probate Records (from microfilm)

Bradford = William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647, Samuel Eliot Morison, ed. (New York 1952)

WJ = John Winthrop, The History of New England from 1630 to 1649, James Savage, ed., 2 volumes (Boston 1853). Citations herein refer to the pagination of the 1853 and not the 1826 edition, even though the index to the 1853 edition continues to use the 1826 pagination.

WP = Winthrop Papers, 1498-1654, 6 volumes, various editors (Boston 1925-1992)

MBCR = Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1628-1686, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, ed., 5 volumes in 6 (Boston 1853-1854)

Date: 29 JUL 2009

Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691
Part One: Chronological Histories
Chapter 1: The Old Comers (1620-1627)Parts of Chapter 1 appeared in Stratton and Wakefield, "A Historical Background for Early Plymouth colony Genealogical Research," Genealogical Journal 13 (1984-85): 135-99. *
xxx One hundred and two passengers sailed from England on the Mayflower. One died at sea (William Butten), four died at Provincetown Harbor (Dorothy Bradford, James Chilton, Jasper More, and Edward Thompson), one was born at sea (Oceanus Hopkins), and one was born at Provincetown Harbor (Peregrine White), and thus there arrived at Plymouth ninety-nine of those we say "stayed." These included John Alden, a cooper who signed on the Mayflower at Southampton, and who accepted an offer to stay as part of the company,
Part One: Chronological Histories
Chapter 3: The Founding of Towns (1633-1643)
xxx Much has already been said in the previous chapter on the settlement of Duxbury, whose leading citizens were John Alden, Jonathan Brewster, Thomas Prence, and Miles Standish.
Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691
Part One: Chronological Histories
Chapter 7: The End of a Colony (1676-1691)
The Founding of Bristol
The venerable John Alden was still one of the Assistants in 1685, the last of the Mayflower passengers to occupy this position, and he was elected again in 1686, but Judge Sewall noted in his diary for 1687 "Monday, Sept. 12. Mr. John Alden, the ancient Magistrate of Plymouth, died."
-------------
Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691
Part Three: Biographical Sketches
Biographical Sketches
Alden, John

xxx ?In spite of various writings attempting to identify his English origin and parentage (e.g., Harry Hollingsworth, "John Alden?Beer Brewer of Windsor?," TAG 53:235. Nothing is known for certain of his English background other than Bradford's words that Alden "was hired for a cooper, at South-Hampton, wher the ship victuled; and being a [p.233] hopefull yong man, was much desired, but left to his owne liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed, and maryed here" (Bradford [Ford] 2:400). The Hollinsworth article also pointed out that Charles E. Banks had claimed that Alden was from Harwich, Essex, because an Alden family there was related by marriage to the master of the Mayflower, Christopher Jones. Alden is not a particularly common name, and researchers should keep in mind the fact that one of the Adventurers was a Robert Allden. John Alden married Priscilla Mullins, q.v.; became one of the Purchasers and the Undertakers; was for many years an Assistant; and presided as deputy governor on at least two occasions (PCR 4:81, 5:245). His progeny are among the most numerous of all
Mayflower descendants. His house in Duxbury may still be visited today. There is no thorough Alden genealogy, and Memorial of the Descendants of John Alden by Ebenezer Alden, (Randolph, Mass., 1867) is neither very complete nor very accurate. In 1660 the General Court noted that "In regard that Mr Alden is low in his estate, and occationed to spend much time att the courts on the countreyes occations. and soe hath done this many yeares, the Court have alowed him a smale gratuity, the sume of ten pounds, to bee payed by the Treasurer" (PCR 3:195). He may have become more than ordinarily conservative with
the years. James Cudworth wrote in 1660 that "Mr. Alden hath deceived the Expectations of many, and indeed lost the Affections of such, as I judge were his Cordial Christian Friends, [and he is] very active in such Ways?to be Oppressions of a High Nature," referring to the treatment of Quakers (Bishop, p. 176).
xxx John Alden died at Duxbury 12 September 1687 and left no will, having disposed of most
of his estate during his lifetime. His children were Elizabeth, John, Joseph, Rebecca, Ruth, Sarah, Jonathan, David, Mary, Priscilla, and an unnamed child which probably died young. Daughters Mary and Priscilla were unmarried as of 13 June 1688 (MD 3:10). That Rebecca was the daughter who married Thomas Delano has been controversial?see under Thomas Delano. The only direct proof for the existence of Rebecca Alden is PCR 4:7, showing that on Sprague and Bethiah Tubbs at Francis Sprague's house that Rebecca Alden and Hester Delano were with child and that "wee should have young troopers within three quarters of a yeare."
-------------------
John Alden's ancestry has not yet been discovered. According to Bradford, he was hired on as a Cooper aboard the Mayflower at Southampton, England. He was born about 1599 and died in his 89th year on 12 Dec 1687 in Duxbury, MA. He married Priscilla Mullins, daughter of William Mullins and died after 1651.

[MD 3:10+] John Alden died leaving no will, and the thirty-first of October the inventory of his estate was
taken by his son Jonathan, who was appointed administrator on the eighth of November. John Alden had
deeded certain parcels of land to his children during his lifetime, and since the inventory mentions no real estate it must all have been distributed before his death. This accounts for the smallness of the estate, only £49 17s. 6d.

In June of 1660, Plymouth Records show that "In regard that Mr. Alden is low in his estate, and
occasioned to spend much time and the courts on the country's occasions, and so hath done this many
years, the Court have allowed him a small gratuity, the sum of ten pounds, to be paid by the Treasurer."
[PCR 3:195]

Due to poor records, the children of John and Priscilla are somewhat difficult to account for
sequentially.

Longfellow's famous poem about the couple's courtship is endearing but not factual.

http://www.findagrave.com/ (see picture of gravestone)
http://www.alden.org/
http://members.aol.com/calebj/mayflower.html

History of North Bridgewater
GenealogyLibrary.com Main

THE ALDEN FAMILY.
1 Hon. JOHN ALDEN is the ancestor of all who bear the name of Alden in
this country. He came to Plymouth, in the "Mayflower," in 1620,
and is said to have been the first person that landed on Plymouth
Rock. He lived at Plymouth a few years, and then removed to
Duxbury, on a farm that is now in the possession of his descendants.
He was the youngest of those who signed the immortal compact of
civil government in the cabin of the "Mayflower" at Provincetown,
Nov. 15, 1620. He was a man of great integrity and worth, and was
held in the highest esteem by the men of that time, and filled many
offices of honor and responsibility with great credit. When he landed
on our shores, he was a single man, but soon after married Priscilla,
daughter of William Mullins, by whom he had eight children:--
2 John, married 1st, Elizabeth (???); 2d, Widow Elizabeth Everill. He
was captain of several armed vessels in the colony, and lived on
Alden Street, Boston; died March 14, 1702.
3 Joseph [10], married Mary Simmons, of Bridgewater.
4 David, was Selectman and Representative of Duxbury several years.
5 Jonathan, married Abigail Hallett, Dec. 10, 1672; was a captain; died
Feb. 1697.
6 Elizabeth, m. William Paybody, of Duxbury, May 31, 1717.
7 Sarah, married Alexander Standish, son of Captain Miles Standish.
8 Ruth, married John Bass, of Braintree.
9 Mary, married Thomas Delano, and lived in Duxbury.
The father died Sept. 12, 1687, aged 90.

10 JOSEPH (son of Hon. John 1) was one of the early settlers of Bridgewater,
in 1654. His posterity are very numerous throughout the
Bridgewaters. He married Mary, daughter of Moses Simmons.
Children:--

Page 443

Date: 12 SEP 2008

Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691
Part One: Chronological Histories
Chapter 1: The Old Comers (1620-1627)Parts of Chapter 1 appeared in Stratton and Wakefield, "A Historical Background for Early Plymouth colony Genealogical Research," Genealogical Journal 13 (1984-85): 135-99. *
xxx One hundred and two passengers sailed from England on the Mayflower. One died at sea (William Butten), four died at Provincetown Harbor (Dorothy Bradford, James Chilton, Jasper More, and Edward Thompson), one was born at sea (Oceanus Hopkins), and one was born at Provincetown Harbor (Peregrine White), and thus there arrived at Plymouth ninety-nine of those we say "stayed." These included John Alden, a cooper who signed on the Mayflower at Southampton, and who accepted an offer to stay as part of the company,
Part One: Chronological Histories
Chapter 3: The Founding of Towns (1633-1643)
xxx Much has already been said in the previous chapter on the settlement of Duxbury, whose leading citizens were John Alden, Jonathan Brewster, Thomas Prence, and Miles Standish.
Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691
Part One: Chronological Histories
Chapter 7: The End of a Colony (1676-1691)
The Founding of Bristol
The venerable John Alden was still one of the Assistants in 1685, the last of the Mayflower passengers to occupy this position, and he was elected again in 1686, but Judge Sewall noted in his diary for 1687 "Monday, Sept. 12. Mr. John Alden, the ancient Magistrate of Plymouth, died."
-------------
Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691
Part Three: Biographical Sketches
Biographical Sketches
Alden, John

xxx ?In spite of various writings attempting to identify his English origin and parentage (e.g., Harry Hollingsworth, "John Alden?Beer Brewer of Windsor?," TAG 53:235. Nothing is known for certain of his English background other than Bradford's words that Alden "was hired for a cooper, at South-Hampton, wher the ship victuled; and being a [p.233] hopefull yong man, was much desired, but left to his owne liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed, and maryed here" (Bradford [Ford] 2:400). The Hollinsworth article also pointed out that Charles E. Banks had claimed that Alden was from Harwich, Essex, because an Alden family there was related by marriage to the master of the Mayflower, Christopher Jones. Alden is not a particularly common name, and researchers should keep in mind the fact that one of the Adventurers was a Robert Allden. John Alden married Priscilla Mullins, q.v.; became one of the Purchasers and the Undertakers; was for many years an Assistant; and presided as deputy governor on at least two occasions (PCR 4:81, 5:245). His progeny are among the most numerous of all
Mayflower descendants. His house in Duxbury may still be visited today. There is no thorough Alden genealogy, and Memorial of the Descendants of John Alden by Ebenezer Alden, (Randolph, Mass., 1867) is neither very complete nor very accurate. In 1660 the General Court noted that "In regard that Mr Alden is low in his estate, and occationed to spend much time att the courts on the countreyes occations. and soe hath done this many yeares, the Court have alowed him a smale gratuity, the sume of ten pounds, to bee payed by the Treasurer" (PCR 3:195). He may have become more than ordinarily conservative with
the years. James Cudworth wrote in 1660 that "Mr. Alden hath deceived the Expectations of many, and indeed lost the Affections of such, as I judge were his Cordial Christian Friends, [and he is] very active in such Ways?to be Oppressions of a High Nature," referring to the treatment of Quakers (Bishop, p. 176).
xxx John Alden died at Duxbury 12 September 1687 and left no will, having disposed of most
of his estate during his lifetime. His children were Elizabeth, John, Joseph, Rebecca, Ruth, Sarah, Jonathan, David, Mary, Priscilla, and an unnamed child which probably died young. Daughters Mary and Priscilla were unmarried as of 13 June 1688 (MD 3:10). That Rebecca was the daughter who married Thomas Delano has been controversial?see under Thomas Delano. The only direct proof for the existence of Rebecca Alden is PCR 4:7, showing that on Sprague and Bethiah Tubbs at Francis Sprague's house that Rebecca Alden and Hester Delano were with child and that "wee should have young troopers within three quarters of a yeare."
-------------------
John Alden's ancestry has not yet been discovered. According to Bradford, he was hired on as a Cooper aboard the Mayflower at Southampton, England. He was born about 1599 and died in his 89th year on 12 Dec 1687 in Duxbury, MA. He married Priscilla Mullins, daughter of William Mullins and died after 1651.

[MD 3:10+] John Alden died leaving no will, and the thirty-first of October the inventory of his estate was
taken by his son Jonathan, who was appointed administrator on the eighth of November. John Alden had
deeded certain parcels of land to his children during his lifetime, and since the inventory mentions no real estate it must all have been distributed before his death. This accounts for the smallness of the estate, only £49 17s. 6d.

In June of 1660, Plymouth Records show that "In regard that Mr. Alden is low in his estate, and
occasioned to spend much time and the courts on the country's occasions, and so hath done this many
years, the Court have allowed him a small gratuity, the sum of ten pounds, to be paid by the Treasurer."
[PCR 3:195]

Due to poor records, the children of John and Priscilla are somewhat difficult to account for
sequentially.

Longfellow's famous poem about the couple's courtship is endearing but not factual.

http://www.findagrave.com/ (see picture of gravestone)
http://www.alden.org/
http://members.aol.com/calebj/mayflower.html

History of North Bridgewater
GenealogyLibrary.com Main

THE ALDEN FAMILY.
1 Hon. JOHN ALDEN is the ancestor of all who bear the name of Alden in
this country. He came to Plymouth, in the "Mayflower," in 1620,
and is said to have been the first person that landed on Plymouth
Rock. He lived at Plymouth a few years, and then removed to
Duxbury, on a farm that is now in the possession of his descendants.
He was the youngest of those who signed the immortal compact of
civil government in the cabin of the "Mayflower" at Provincetown,
Nov. 15, 1620. He was a man of great integrity and worth, and was
held in the highest esteem by the men of that time, and filled many
offices of honor and responsibility with great credit. When he landed
on our shores, he was a single man, but soon after married Priscilla,
daughter of William Mullins, by whom he had eight children:--
2 John, married 1st, Elizabeth (???); 2d, Widow Elizabeth Everill. He
was captain of several armed vessels in the colony, and lived on
Alden Street, Boston; died March 14, 1702.
3 Joseph [10], married Mary Simmons, of Bridgewater.
4 David, was Selectman and Representative of Duxbury several years.
5 Jonathan, married Abigail Hallett, Dec. 10, 1672; was a captain; died
Feb. 1697.
6 Elizabeth, m. William Paybody, of Duxbury, May 31, 1717.
7 Sarah, married Alexander Standish, son of Captain Miles Standish.
8 Ruth, married John Bass, of Braintree.
9 Mary, married Thomas Delano, and lived in Duxbury.
The father died Sept. 12, 1687, aged 90.

10 JOSEPH (son of Hon. John 1) was one of the early settlers of Bridgewater,
in 1654. His posterity are very numerous throughout the
Bridgewaters. He married Mary, daughter of Moses Simmons.
Children:--

Page 443

Date: 12 SEP 2008

Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691
Part One: Chronological Histories
Chapter 1: The Old Comers (1620-1627)Parts of Chapter 1 appeared in Stratton and Wakefield, "A Historical Background for Early Plymouth colony Genealogical Research," Genealogical Journal 13 (1984-85): 135-99. *
xxx One hundred and two passengers sailed from England on the Mayflower. One died at sea (William Butten), four died at Provincetown Harbor (Dorothy Bradford, James Chilton, Jasper More, and Edward Thompson), one was born at sea (Oceanus Hopkins), and one was born at Provincetown Harbor (Peregrine White), and thus there arrived at Plymouth ninety-nine of those we say "stayed." These included John Alden, a cooper who signed on the Mayflower at Southampton, and who accepted an offer to stay as part of the company,
Part One: Chronological Histories
Chapter 3: The Founding of Towns (1633-1643)
xxx Much has already been said in the previous chapter on the settlement of Duxbury, whose leading citizens were John Alden, Jonathan Brewster, Thomas Prence, and Miles Standish.
Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691
Part One: Chronological Histories
Chapter 7: The End of a Colony (1676-1691)
The Founding of Bristol
The venerable John Alden was still one of the Assistants in 1685, the last of the Mayflower passengers to occupy this position, and he was elected again in 1686, but Judge Sewall noted in his diary for 1687 "Monday, Sept. 12. Mr. John Alden, the ancient Magistrate of Plymouth, died."
-------------
Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691
Part Three: Biographical Sketches
Biographical Sketches
Alden, John

xxx ?In spite of various writings attempting to identify his English origin and parentage (e.g., Harry Hollingsworth, "John Alden?Beer Brewer of Windsor?," TAG 53:235. Nothing is known for certain of his English background other than Bradford's words that Alden "was hired for a cooper, at South-Hampton, wher the ship victuled; and being a [p.233] hopefull yong man, was much desired, but left to his owne liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed, and maryed here" (Bradford [Ford] 2:400). The Hollinsworth article also pointed out that Charles E. Banks had claimed that Alden was from Harwich, Essex, because an Alden family there was related by marriage to the master of the Mayflower, Christopher Jones. Alden is not a particularly common name, and researchers should keep in mind the fact that one of the Adventurers was a Robert Allden. John Alden married Priscilla Mullins, q.v.; became one of the Purchasers and the Undertakers; was for many years an Assistant; and presided as deputy governor on at least two occasions (PCR 4:81, 5:245). His progeny are among the most numerous of all
Mayflower descendants. His house in Duxbury may still be visited today. There is no thorough Alden genealogy, and Memorial of the Descendants of John Alden by Ebenezer Alden, (Randolph, Mass., 1867) is neither very complete nor very accurate. In 1660 the General Court noted that "In regard that Mr Alden is low in his estate, and occationed to spend much time att the courts on the countreyes occations. and soe hath done this many yeares, the Court have alowed him a smale gratuity, the sume of ten pounds, to bee payed by the Treasurer" (PCR 3:195). He may have become more than ordinarily conservative with
the years. James Cudworth wrote in 1660 that "Mr. Alden hath deceived the Expectations of many, and indeed lost the Affections of such, as I judge were his Cordial Christian Friends, [and he is] very active in such Ways?to be Oppressions of a High Nature," referring to the treatment of Quakers (Bishop, p. 176).
xxx John Alden died at Duxbury 12 September 1687 and left no will, having disposed of most
of his estate during his lifetime. His children were Elizabeth, John, Joseph, Rebecca, Ruth, Sarah, Jonathan, David, Mary, Priscilla, and an unnamed child which probably died young. Daughters Mary and Priscilla were unmarried as of 13 June 1688 (MD 3:10). That Rebecca was the daughter who married Thomas Delano has been controversial?see under Thomas Delano. The only direct proof for the existence of Rebecca Alden is PCR 4:7, showing that on Sprague and Bethiah Tubbs at Francis Sprague's house that Rebecca Alden and Hester Delano were with child and that "wee should have young troopers within three quarters of a yeare."
-------------------
John Alden's ancestry has not yet been discovered. According to Bradford, he was hired on as a Cooper aboard the Mayflower at Southampton, England. He was born about 1599 and died in his 89th year on 12 Dec 1687 in Duxbury, MA. He married Priscilla Mullins, daughter of William Mullins and died after 1651.

[MD 3:10+] John Alden died leaving no will, and the thirty-first of October the inventory of his estate was
taken by his son Jonathan, who was appointed administrator on the eighth of November. John Alden had
deeded certain parcels of land to his children during his lifetime, and since the inventory mentions no real estate it must all have been distributed before his death. This accounts for the smallness of the estate, only £49 17s. 6d.

In June of 1660, Plymouth Records show that "In regard that Mr. Alden is low in his estate, and
occasioned to spend much time and the courts on the country's occasions, and so hath done this many
years, the Court have allowed him a small gratuity, the sum of ten pounds, to be paid by the Treasurer."
[PCR 3:195]

Due to poor records, the children of John and Priscilla are somewhat difficult to account for
sequentially.

Longfellow's famous poem about the couple's courtship is endearing but not factual.

http://www.findagrave.com/ (see picture of gravestone)
http://www.alden.org/
http://members.aol.com/calebj/mayflower.html

History of North Bridgewater
GenealogyLibrary.com Main

THE ALDEN FAMILY.
1 Hon. JOHN ALDEN is the ancestor of all who bear the name of Alden in
this country. He came to Plymouth, in the "Mayflower," in 1620,
and is said to have been the first person that landed on Plymouth
Rock. He lived at Plymouth a few years, and then removed to
Duxbury, on a farm that is now in the possession of his descendants.
He was the youngest of those who signed the immortal compact of
civil government in the cabin of the "Mayflower" at Provincetown,
Nov. 15, 1620. He was a man of great integrity and worth, and was
held in the highest esteem by the men of that time, and filled many
offices of honor and responsibility with great credit. When he landed
on our shores, he was a single man, but soon after married Priscilla,
daughter of William Mullins, by whom he had eight children:--
2 John, married 1st, Elizabeth (???); 2d, Widow Elizabeth Everill. He
was captain of several armed vessels in the colony, and lived on
Alden Street, Boston; died March 14, 1702.
3 Joseph [10], married Mary Simmons, of Bridgewater.
4 David, was Selectman and Representative of Duxbury several years.
5 Jonathan, married Abigail Hallett, Dec. 10, 1672; was a captain; died
Feb. 1697.
6 Elizabeth, m. William Paybody, of Duxbury, May 31, 1717.
7 Sarah, married Alexander Standish, son of Captain Miles Standish.
8 Ruth, married John Bass, of Braintree.
9 Mary, married Thomas Delano, and lived in Duxbury.
The father died Sept. 12, 1687, aged 90.

10 JOSEPH (son of Hon. John 1) was one of the early settlers of Bridgewater,
in 1654. His posterity are very numerous throughout the
Bridgewaters. He married Mary, daughter of Moses Simmons.
Children:--

Page 443

Date: 31 DEC 2008

[ken connect 2.FTW]

[Brøderbund WFT Vol. 32 (Disk #2), Ed. 1, Tree #0177, Date of Import: Feb 21, 2004]

Both John Alden and Priscilla Mullins were Passengers on the Mayflower to settle in the United States of America. Before the Pilgrims Landed some Decisions regarding the government had to be made. On November 21, 1620 while the Mayflower was still of the coast of Cape Cod Massachusetts; forty one men met in a cabin and signed a compact calling for a "civil body politic" that would rule by just and equal laws. The Mayflower Compact served as the Pilgrim platform of government. John Alden was amongst the men to sign the Mayflower Compact. John Alden was a cooper from Hartwich England. He was hired on at Southampton England to look after the barreled beer brought to the new world as a safeguard against scurvy.
Records of this time in the United States are sketchy. John Married Priscilla in 1621 or 1622.
It may be interesting to note that the Poet Longfellow (who brought them to their Posthumous fame with the ever so famous "speak for yourself John" when another man (Miles Standish) spoke to Pricilla of John's love for her.) was a descendant.
John and Priscilla were married for sixty three years and had eleven children. John died at the age of eighty nine (having outlived most of his children). He is buried beside his beloved Priscilla on his farm in Duxbury near Eagle Tree Pond.
Priscilla's Father (William Mollines (later changed name to Mullins) was also a passenger on the mayflower. He was a bory (c 1580) prior to his Mayflower voyage. His wife Alice also died in 1621. Alice was thought to be the second or third wife of William and was probably not Priscilla's mother.
John and Priscilla moved to Duxbury Maine in c1632
John became assistant Governor from 1631-1639 and again from 1651-1686. John was arrested for Murder in 1634, and later released.
John oppressed religious toleration in 1645.
John was a leader in the Quaker and Babtist persecution in 1656. [Brøderbund WFT Vol. 32 (Disk #2), Ed. 1, Tree #0079, Date of Import: Feb 21, 2004]

Came to the colonies on the Mayflower.

He was a soldier for the colonies and a Deputy governor in 1655. He was a member of the Board of Assistants to the Governor.[Brøderbund WFT Vol. 1, Ed. 1, Tree #1142, Date of Import: Feb 21, 2004]






The Huguenot 1951-1953 Public. no 16

"There were many refugees who fled to Holland, watching the chance for the great adventure in unknown lands and when news came that the "Mayflower" was soon to sail from Plymouth England to America serveral Huguenot families made their way there and joined the valiant band of Puritan Pilgrims. Among these families was that of Guillaume Molines with wife, son and daughter. The daughter Prisdcilla married John Alden and became the ancestor of the celebrated New England family from this descent was John Adams, Henry Longfellow. The French names Molines soon became Anglescized. Much evidence is at hand also to support the claims that John Alden himself was a French Huguenot refugee.[Brøderbund WFT Vol. 5, Ed. 1, Tree #0034, Date of Import: Feb 23, 2004]

The Honorable John Alden was born in 1599 in England. A cooper by trade, he was hired by his Uncle John Smith,the Captain of the Mayflower, to accompany the ship to America. Once there, he could choose to stay or return to England. It is said that John Alden, a young nd able young man was the first person to that landed on Plymouth Rock. He lived at Plymouth for the first few years and became a Freeman. He then, removed to Duxbury, where he lived until his death. His farm is in the possession of the Alden Kindred of America and is the only property that was in continual ownership of descendents of a Pilgrim settler. He was the youngest of those who sign the Mayflower Compact outlining the details of city government. He was a man of great integrity and worth and served in several capacities for the government until his death. Alden was for many years one of the Governor's Assistants.

He married Priscilla Mullins in 1621, probably the second in the new colony. Tradition says that Priscilla was 18 years old when they landed. Her father, William Mullins and his wife died the first winter in America. Priscilla was known for her cooking skills and beauty of her dark eyes and hair.

John Alden died at Duxbury, the last survivor of the Signers of the Compact.
The Aldens had eight children.

John Alden the first and only Alden to immigrate, now has over 1million descendents in the country today.

Date: 16 OCT 2009

Extensive research has been done into the ancestry of John Alden, but nothing has conclusively been found. There are two major theories that have been presented over the years:

Charles Edward Banks, in his book The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers, 1929, puts forward a theory that John is the son of George Alden and Jane (---) and grandson of Richard and Avys Alden of Southampton, England. Since Bradford says John Alden was hired in Southampton, this would be a logical place to start looking for Aldens. No other supporting evidence has been found, and it has been noted by many researchers that the names George, Richard, and Avys do not occur anywhere in John Alden's family. Naming children after parents and grandparents was an extremely common practice in the seventeenth century, and the absence of such a name is nearly enough evidence to disprove this theory.

The currently popular theory is that John Alden came from Harwich, Essex, England. There was a sea-faring Alden family living there, who were related by marriage to Christopher Jones, captain of the Mayflower. It has been suggested John Alden may be the son of John Alden and Elizabeth Daye, but this is not fully proven either.


William Bradford wrote, in his history Of Plymouth Plantation: "John Alden was hired for a cooper [barrel maker] at Southampton where the ship [Mayflower] victualed, and being a hopeful young man was much desired but left to his own liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed and married here." and later wrote "John Alden married Priscilla, Mr. Mullin's daughter, and had issue by her as is before related."

John Alden was an assistant for the Plymouth colony for many years, and was deputy governor for two years. His marriage to Priscilla Mullins was the subject of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, "The Courtship of Myles Standish", which although a classic has little factual basis. John and Priscilla were among the founders of the town of Duxbury.

In 1634, John Alden was on the Kennebec River assisting in the forceful removal of John Hocking who was illegally fishing and trading on land that had been granted to the Pilgrims. Hockings refused to leave, and when the party arrived at his ship by canoe to board and remove him, he shot and killed Moses Talbot. In return, Hockings was shot and killed. The Massachusetts Bay Colony took matters into its own hands, and arrested John Alden (even though he was not the one who fired the shot). Myles Standish was sent by Governor Bradford to obtain Alden's release, which he successfully did.

In his later years, John Alden was on many juries, including even a witch trial--though in Plymouth's case, the jury found the accuser guilty of libel and the alleged witch was allowed to go free. Plymouth Colony only had two witch trials during its history, and in both cases the accuser was found guilty and punished.

John and Priscilla Alden probably have the largest number of descendants of any Mayflower passenger, but with stiff competition from Richard Warren and John Howland. They are ancestors to Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Vice President Dan Quayle.

Date: 27 JUN 2009

Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691
Part One: Chronological Histories
Chapter 1: The Old Comers (1620-1627)Parts of Chapter 1 appeared in Stratton and Wakefield, "A Historical Background for Early Plymouth colony Genealogical Research," Genealogical Journal 13 (1984-85): 135-99. *
xxx One hundred and two passengers sailed from England on the Mayflower. One died at sea (William Butten), four died at Provincetown Harbor (Dorothy Bradford, James Chilton, Jasper More, and Edward Thompson), one was born at sea (Oceanus Hopkins), and one was born at Provincetown Harbor (Peregrine White), and thus there arrived at Plymouth ninety-nine of those we say "stayed." These included John Alden, a cooper who signed on the Mayflower at Southampton, and who accepted an offer to stay as part of the company,
Part One: Chronological Histories
Chapter 3: The Founding of Towns (1633-1643)
xxx Much has already been said in the previous chapter on the settlement of Duxbury, whose leading citizens were John Alden, Jonathan Brewster, Thomas Prence, and Miles Standish.
Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691
Part One: Chronological Histories
Chapter 7: The End of a Colony (1676-1691)
The Founding of Bristol
The venerable John Alden was still one of the Assistants in 1685, the last of the Mayflower passengers to occupy this position, and he was elected again in 1686, but Judge Sewall noted in his diary for 1687 "Monday, Sept. 12. Mr. John Alden, the ancient Magistrate of Plymouth, died."
-------------
Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691
Part Three: Biographical Sketches
Biographical Sketches
Alden, John

xxx ?In spite of various writings attempting to identify his English origin and parentage (e.g., Harry Hollingsworth, "John Alden?Beer Brewer of Windsor?," TAG 53:235. Nothing is known for certain of his English background other than Bradford's words that Alden "was hired for a cooper, at South-Hampton, wher the ship victuled; and being a [p.233] hopefull yong man, was much desired, but left to his owne liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed, and maryed here" (Bradford [Ford] 2:400). The Hollinsworth article also pointed out that Charles E. Banks had claimed that Alden was from Harwich, Essex, because an Alden family there was related by marriage to the master of the Mayflower, Christopher Jones. Alden is not a particularly common name, and researchers should keep in mind the fact that one of the Adventurers was a Robert Allden. John Alden married Priscilla Mullins, q.v.; became one of the Purchasers and the Undertakers; was for many years an Assistant; and presided as deputy governor on at least two occasions (PCR 4:81, 5:245). His progeny are among the most numerous of all
Mayflower descendants. His house in Duxbury may still be visited today. There is no thorough Alden genealogy, and Memorial of the Descendants of John Alden by Ebenezer Alden, (Randolph, Mass., 1867) is neither very complete nor very accurate. In 1660 the General Court noted that "In regard that Mr Alden is low in his estate, and occationed to spend much time att the courts on the countreyes occations. and soe hath done this many yeares, the Court have alowed him a smale gratuity, the sume of ten pounds, to bee payed by the Treasurer" (PCR 3:195). He may have become more than ordinarily conservative with
the years. James Cudworth wrote in 1660 that "Mr. Alden hath deceived the Expectations of many, and indeed lost the Affections of such, as I judge were his Cordial Christian Friends, [and he is] very active in such Ways?to be Oppressions of a High Nature," referring to the treatment of Quakers (Bishop, p. 176).
xxx John Alden died at Duxbury 12 September 1687 and left no will, having disposed of most
of his estate during his lifetime. His children were Elizabeth, John, Joseph, Rebecca, Ruth, Sarah, Jonathan, David, Mary, Priscilla, and an unnamed child which probably died young. Daughters Mary and Priscilla were unmarried as of 13 June 1688 (MD 3:10). That Rebecca was the daughter who married Thomas Delano has been controversial?see under Thomas Delano. The only direct proof for the existence of Rebecca Alden is PCR 4:7, showing that on Sprague and Bethiah Tubbs at Francis Sprague's house that Rebecca Alden and Hester Delano were with child and that "wee should have young troopers within three quarters of a yeare."
-------------------
John Alden's ancestry has not yet been discovered. According to Bradford, he was hired on as a Cooper aboard the Mayflower at Southampton, England. He was born about 1599 and died in his 89th year on 12 Dec 1687 in Duxbury, MA. He married Priscilla Mullins, daughter of William Mullins and died after 1651.

[MD 3:10+] John Alden died leaving no will, and the thirty-first of October the inventory of his estate was
taken by his son Jonathan, who was appointed administrator on the eighth of November. John Alden had
deeded certain parcels of land to his children during his lifetime, and since the inventory mentions no real estate it must all have been distributed before his death. This accounts for the smallness of the estate, only £49 17s. 6d.

In June of 1660, Plymouth Records show that "In regard that Mr. Alden is low in his estate, and
occasioned to spend much time and the courts on the country's occasions, and so hath done this many
years, the Court have allowed him a small gratuity, the sum of ten pounds, to be paid by the Treasurer."
[PCR 3:195]

Due to poor records, the children of John and Priscilla are somewhat difficult to account for
sequentially.

Longfellow's famous poem about the couple's courtship is endearing but not factual.

http://www.findagrave.com/ (see picture of gravestone)
http://www.alden.org/
http://members.aol.com/calebj/mayflower.html

History of North Bridgewater
GenealogyLibrary.com Main

THE ALDEN FAMILY.
1 Hon. JOHN ALDEN is the ancestor of all who bear the name of Alden in
this country. He came to Plymouth, in the "Mayflower," in 1620,
and is said to have been the first person that landed on Plymouth
Rock. He lived at Plymouth a few years, and then removed to
Duxbury, on a farm that is now in the possession of his descendants.
He was the youngest of those who signed the immortal compact of
civil government in the cabin of the "Mayflower" at Provincetown,
Nov. 15, 1620. He was a man of great integrity and worth, and was
held in the highest esteem by the men of that time, and filled many
offices of honor and responsibility with great credit. When he landed
on our shores, he was a single man, but soon after married Priscilla,
daughter of William Mullins, by whom he had eight children:--
2 John, married 1st, Elizabeth (???); 2d, Widow Elizabeth Everill. He
was captain of several armed vessels in the colony, and lived on
Alden Street, Boston; died March 14, 1702.
3 Joseph [10], married Mary Simmons, of Bridgewater.
4 David, was Selectman and Representative of Duxbury several years.
5 Jonathan, married Abigail Hallett, Dec. 10, 1672; was a captain; died
Feb. 1697.
6 Elizabeth, m. William Paybody, of Duxbury, May 31, 1717.
7 Sarah, married Alexander Standish, son of Captain Miles Standish.
8 Ruth, married John Bass, of Braintree.
9 Mary, married Thomas Delano, and lived in Duxbury.
The father died Sept. 12, 1687, aged 90.

10 JOSEPH (son of Hon. John 1) was one of the early settlers of Bridgewater,
in 1654. His posterity are very numerous throughout the
Bridgewaters. He married Mary, daughter of Moses Simmons.
Children:--

Page 443

Date: 12 SEP 2008

Extensive research has been done into the ancestry of John Alden, but nothing has
conclusively been found. There are two major theories that have been presented over
the years:

Charles Edward Banks, in his book The English Ancestry and Homes of the
Pilgrim Fathers, 1929, puts forward a theory that John is the son of George Alden
and Jane (---) and grandson of Richard and Avys Alden of Southampton, England.
Since Bradford says John Alden was hired in Southampton, this would be a logical
place to start looking for Aldens. No other supporting evidence has been found, and it
has been noted by many researchers that the names George, Richard, and Avys do
not occur anywhere in John Alden's family. Naming children after parents and
grandparents was an extremely common practice in the seventeenth century, and the
absence of such a name is nearly enough evidence to disprove this theor

The currently popular theory is that John Alden came from Harwich, Essex, England.
There was a sea-faring Alden family living there, who were related by marriage to
Christopher Jones, captain of the Mayflower. It has been suggested John Alden may
be the son of John Alden and Elizabeth Daye, but this is not fully proven either.

Two commemorative broadsides (elegy poems) survive from John Alden's 1687
death. The first broadside is by an unknown author, and the second broadside was
written by John Cotton.



Biographical Summary:

William Bradford wrote, in his history Of Plymouth Plantation: "John Alden was
hired for a cooper [barrel maker] at Southampton where the ship [Mayflower]
victualed, and being a hopeful young man was much desired but left to his own liking
to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed and married here." and later wrote
"John Alden married Priscilla, Mr. Mullin's daughter, and had issue by her as is before
related."

John Alden was an assistant for the Plymouth colony for many years, and was deputy
governor for two years. His marriage to Priscilla Mullins was the subject of the Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow poem, "The Courtship of Myles Standish", which although a
classic has little factual basis. John and Priscilla were among the founders of the town
of Duxbury.

In 1634, John Alden was on the Kennebec River assisting in the forceful removal of
John Hocking who was illegally fishing and trading on land that had been granted to
the Pilgrims. Hockings refused to leave, and when the party arrived at his ship by
canoe to board and remove him, he shot and killed Moses Talbot. In return,
Hockings was shot and killed. The Massachusetts Bay Colony took matters into its
own hands, and arrested John Alden (even though he was not the one who fired the
shot). Myles Standish was sent by Governor Bradford to obtain Alden's release,
which he successfully did.

In his later years, John Alden was on many juries, including even a witch trial--though
in Plymouth's case, the jury found the accuser guilty of libel and the alleged witch was
allowed to go free. Plymouth Colony only had two witch trials during its history, and
in both cases the accuser was found guilty and punished.

John and Priscilla Alden probably have the largest number of descendants of any
Mayflower passenger, but with stiff competition from Richard Warren and John
Howland. They are ancestors to Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams,
poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Vice President Dan Quayle.

Date: 15 AUG 2008

arrived in Massachutts in 1620, age 18

Date: 20 AUG 2008

Source #1: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995.

ORIGIN: Southampton
MIGRATION: 1620 on Mayflower
FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth
REMOVES: Duxbury 1632

OCCUPATION: Cooper
FREEMAN: In "1633" Plymouth list of freemen, among those admitted prior to 1 January 1632/3 [PCR 1:3]; also in lists dated in or near 1637, 1639 and 1658 (in the latter two listed as of Duxbury) [PCR 1:52, 8:174, 198].
EDUCATION: Although there is no direct evidence for his literary and educational attainments, his extensive public service, including especially his appointments as colony treasurer and to committees on revising the laws, certainly indicates that he must have been well-educated.
OFFICES: "Mr. John Alden Sen[ior]" is in the Duxbury section of the 1643 list of men able to bear arms [PCR 8:189].
Assistant, 6 February 1631/2 [WP 3:65], 1 January 1632/3, 1 January 1633/4, 1 January 1634/5, 5 January 1635/6, 3 January 1636/7, 6 March 1637/8, 4 March 1638/9 [PCR 1:5, 21, 32, 36, 48, 79, 116 (the assistants elected on 3 March 1639/40 were not sworn until 2 June 1640, so John Alden continued to serve as assistant at a few courts in early 1640)]. Deputy for Duxbury to Plymouth General Court 1641, 1642, 1644 and 1646 to 1649, and also at courts of 20 August 1644, 28 October 1645 and 3 March 1645/6 [PCR 2:16, 40, 72, 75, 94, 95, 104, 117, 123, 144]. Assistant each year from 1650 to 1686 [PCR 2:153, 166; 3:7, 30, 48, 77, 99, 114, 134, 162, 187, 214; 4:13, 36, 60, 90, 122, 147, 179; 5:17, 34, 55, 90, 112, 143, 163, 194, 229, 256; 6:9, 34, 58, 83, 106, 127, 164, 185]. Acted as Deputy Governor on two occasions, in absence of Governor, 7 March 1664/5, 30 October 1677 [PCR 4:81, 5:245]. Treasurer, 3 June 1656, 3 June 1657, 1 June 1658 [PCR 3:99, 115, 135]. Council of War, 27 September 1642, 10 October 1643, 2 June 1646, 6 April 1653, 12 May 1653, 1 June 1658, 2 April 1667 [PCR 2:46, 63, 100; 3:26, 28, 138; 4:145]. Committee to revise laws, 4 June 1645, 3 June 1657 [PCR 2:85, 3:117]. Committee on Kennebec trade, 3 March 1645/6, 7 June 1648, 8 June 1649, 5 March 1655/6 [PCR 2:96, 127, 144; 3:96]. Appointed to numerous other minor posts and committees by Plymouth General Court.
ESTATE: In 1623 Plymouth land division granted an unknown number of acres as a passenger on the Mayflower in 1620 [PCR 12:4]. In 1627 Plymouth cattle division, included in company of John Howland, along with wife Priscilla, daughter Elizabeth and son John [PCR 12:10].
Assessed £1 4s. in Plymouth tax lists of 25 March 1633 and 27 March 1634 [PCR 1:9, 27].
Assigned mowing ground for the year, 14 March 1635/6, 20 March 1636/7 [PCR 1:40, 56].
On 6 March 1636/7, "A parcel of land containing a knoll, or a little hill, lying over against Mr. Alden's land at Blewfish River, is granted by the Court unto the said Mr. John Alden in lieu of a parcel of land taken from him (next unto Samuel Nash's lands) for public use" [PCR 1:51].
Granted "certain lands at Green's Harbor," 5 February 1637/8 [PCR 1:76]. Granted to Miles Standish and John Alden three hundred acres "on the north side of the South River," 2 July 1638 [PCR 1:91]. Granted "a little parcel of land... lying at the southerly side of his lot," 3 September 1638 [PCR 1:95].
On 3 June 1657 "Liberty is granted unto Mr. John Alden to look out a portion of land to accommodate his sons withall, and to make report thereof unto the Court, that so it may be confirmed unto him" [PCR 3:120].
13 June 1660: "In regard that Mr. Alden is low in his estate, and occasioned to spend much time at the courts on the country's occasions, and so hath done this many years, the Court have allowed him a small gratuity, the sum of ten pounds, to be paid by the Treasurer" [PCR 3:195].
Granted "a competency of land" at Namasskett, 7 June 1665 [PCR 4:95]. Granted one hundred acres at Teticutt, 4 March 1673/4 [PCR 5:141].
On 1 April 1679 John Alden gave to his son Joseph "all that my share of land... within the township of Bridgewater" [PLR 3:194].
On 8 July 1674 John Alden of Duxbury "for love and natural affection and other valuable causes and considerations" deeded to "David Alden his true and natural son all that his land both meadow and upland that belongs unto him situate or being at or about a place called Rootey Brook within the Township of Middleborough ... excepting only one hundred acres," containing about three hundred acres [PLR 3:330].
A description of the land of "Mr. John Aldin, of Duxbery," is entered under date of 4 December 1637, but with the modern annotation that this is a later entry, and with the internal statement that one of the abuttors was "Philip Delano, deceased," which means that the entry must have been made in 1681 or later; this is immediately followed by an entry for another parcel of land which Alden bought of Edward Hall in 1651 [PCR 1:71, 73].
On 1 January 1684[/5] [36 Charles II] John Alden Sr. of Duxbury for "that real love and parental affection which I bear to my beloved and dutiful son Jonathan Alden" deeded to him all my upland in Duxbury, for which "see old book of grants and bounds of land anno 1637 folio 137," and all other lands at Duxbury whether granted by court at Plymouth or town of Duxbury [PLR 6:53].
On 13 January 1686[/7] [2 James II] John Alden Sr. of Duxbury for "that natural love and affection which I bear to my firstborn and dutiful son John Alden of Boston" deeded him one hundred acres at Pekard Neck alias Pachague with one-eighth of the meadow belonging to that place, and one hundred acres at Rootey Brook (brother David Alden is to have first right of purchase if John should wish to sell this hundred acres), together with a sixteen shilling purchase being the fifteenth lot, all in Middleborough, and one hundred acres, the first in a division of one thousand acres in Bridgewater [PLR 5:427].
On 19 August 1687 John Alden Sr. of Duxbury, cooper, gave to his sons Jonathan and David Alden five acres of salt marsh at Duxbury and "my whole proportion in the Major's Purchase commonly so-called being the thirty-fifth part of said purchase" [MD 9:145, citing PLR 4:65].
The inventory of John Alden's estate was taken on 31 October 1687 by Jonathan Alden, and totalled £49 17s. 6d., all movables. On 13 June 1688 the heirs of John Alden Sr. of Duxbury signed a release in favor of Jonathan Alden, stating that they had received their portion of the estate; those signing were Alexander Standish (in the right of his wife Sarah deceased), John Bass (in the right of his wife Ruth deceased), Mary Alden, Thomas Delano, John Alden, Joseph Alden, David Alden, Priscilla Alden and William Pabodie [PPR 1:10, 16; MD 3:10].

BIRTH: About 1599 (deposed aged 83 on 6 July 1682 [MD 3:120]; in his 89th year at death on 12 September 1687 [MD 9:129]; "about eighty-nine years of age" at death on 12 September 1687 [MD 34:49]).
DEATH: Duxbury 12 September 1687 [Sewall 150; MD 9:129, 34:49].
MARRIAGE: Plymouth about 1623 PRISCILLA MULLINS, daughter of WILLIAM MULLINS; she died after 1651, when she is mentioned in Bradford's summary of Mayflower passengers.
CHILDREN:

i ELIZABETH, b. about 1624; m. Plymouth 26 (or 20) December 1644 William Pabodie [PCR 2:79; DuVR]; she d. Little Compton 31 May 1717 [LCVR 143], "a. 92" [Boston News-Letter]. (Her tombstone at Little Compton gives her age at death as "in the 94th year of her age," but as the current monument was erected in 1882, this may not have been on the original stone.)


ii JOHN, b. about 1626; m. Boston 1 April 1660 "Elizabeth Everill, widow, relict of Abiell Everill, deceased" (although the correct date should probably be 1659, as a child was born to John and Elizabeth Alden on 17 December 1659 [BVR 69], and in the original form of the vital records, given in the second of the following citations but not in the first, this record is imbedded among others for 1659) [BVR 76; NEHGR 18:333; but see NEHGR 52:162 and Munsey-Hopkins 55, which interpret the 1659 birth record to imply that John Alden had had an earlier wife, also named Elizabeth]; she was born before 1640, daughter of William Phillips, and m. Boston 6 July 1655 Abiel Everill [BVR 52]; John Alden d. 14 March 1701/2 [Sewall 463]


iii JOSEPH, b. about 1627 (in list of men able to bear arms in 1643, and therefore at least 16 [PCR 8:189]); m. by about 1660 Mary Simons, daughter of MOSES SIMONS or SIMONSON and Sarah _____ [MD 31:60].


iv PRISCILLA, b. say 1630; living unm. in 1688 [PPR 1:16].


v JONATHAN, b. about 1632; m. Duxbury 10 December 1672 Abigail Hallett; he d. Duxbury 14 February 1696/7 "in the 65 year of his age" [MD 9:159; NEHGR 52:365]. (The date on the tombstone is 14 February 1697, but the double-dating problem is resolved by the probate papers, as administration on the estate was granted on 8 March 1696/7 [MD 6:174-78].)


vi SARAH, b. say 1634; m. by about 1660 Alexander Standish (date based on approximated birthdates of children [NEHGR 52:363-65]).


vii RUTH, b. say 1636; m. Braintree 3 February 1657/8 John Bass [BrVR 716].


viii MARY, b. say 1638; living unm. in 1688 [PPR 1:16].


ix REBECCA, b. say 1640; subject of unfounded rumor that she was "with child," 1 October 1661 [PCR 4:7]; m. in 1667, before 30 October, Thomas Delano [PCR 4:168, 8:122; NEHGR 102:83, 86].


x DAVID, b. say 1642; m. by 1674 Mary Southworth, dau. of CONSTANT SOUTHWORTH and Elizabeth Collier (in his will, dated 27 February 1678, Constant Southworth bequeathed to daughter Mary Alden [PCPR 4:1:18-20]).



COMMENTS: According to Bradford, "John Alden was hired a cooper at Southampton where the ship victualled, and being a hopeful young man was much desired but left to his own liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed and married here" [Bradford 443]. In his accounting of the Mayflower families in 1651, Bradford stated under William Mullins that "his daughter Priscilla survived, and married with John Alden; who are both living and have eleven [sic] children. And their eldest daughter is married and hath five children" [Bradford 445]. (As the marginal annotation for this entry gives the "increasing" as fifteen, and the eldest daughter already had five children, the correct number for John and Priscilla is more likely ten [MD 39:111].)
Many suggestions have been made as to the English origin of John Alden. Alicia Crane Williams has recently examined all the relevant evidence carefully and exhaustively, and comes to the conclusion that, although one or two of the suggested origins are "tempting," all are far from proved [MD 39:111-22, 40:133-36, 41:201]. By entering "Southampton" under ORIGIN above, we are only taking note of Bradford's statement that Alden was hired at that port; we are not implying that he was born or raised there.
The present account differs somewhat from other accounts in the birth order of the children, and the approximated ages. The estimated dates of birth for the first two children (Elizabeth and John) are reasonably well-defined because they fell between the 1623 land division and the 1627 cattle division. The third child (Joseph) must have been born late in 1627 to appear on the 1643 list of men able to bear arms. The next date which we are able to fix is that of Jonathan, who was said at his death early in 1697 to be in his sixty-fifth year, and so born in 1632 (or possibly early in 1633); note that this gives us a gap of about five or six years between Joseph and Jonathan. We arbitrarily place one of the unmarried daughters, Priscilla, in this gap, although it might as well be Mary who fits here. The remainder of the children are then ranged after Jonathan at two year intervals. This makes Ruth about twenty-two when she married John Bass, and Rebecca about twenty-one when she was the subject of the unfortunate rumor. Given the paucity of solid evidence on many of these points, other plausible arrangements may be easily constructed.
Some accounts of the family of John Alden include a son Zachariah, who had a daughter Anne Alden who married in 1699 Josiah Snell. In 1948 Hallock P. Long demonstrated that this son never existed, and that Anna Alden was almost certainly the daughter of John Alden's son Jonathan [NEHGR 102:82-86].
Attempts have been made to include Henry Alden of Billerica, Roxbury and Dedham as a descendant of John Alden, but this cannot be. Henry Alden was rated in Billerica in 1688 [NEHGR 31:303], so he must have been born no later than 1667. The wills of John Alden's sons John and Joseph make it clear that neither of them had a son Henry. John Alden's son Jonathan did not marry until 1672, and his son David apparently even later than that. Henry Alden must have been a late immigrant to New England, with no known genealogical connection with John Alden of Plymouth and Duxbury [MD 42:21ff.].
As noted above, John Alden was frequently a member of the committee on the Kennebec trade. He had actively participated in the trade himself, and in early 1634 he became involved in an incident in which a party of Plymouth men led by himself and John Howland became embroiled with a group of men from the Piscataqua settlement which would grow into Dover. One man on each side was killed, and in the aftermath Alden was detained at Boston as security against the final resolution of the conflict. [See WJ 1:155-56, 162-63; WP 3:167-68; MBCR 1:119; and Bradford 262-68, for the particulars of this incident.]
The results of a 1960 season of digging are given by Roland Wells Robbins in Pilgrim John Alden's Progress: Archaeological Excavations in Duxbury (Plymouth: The Pilgrim Society 1969).

Source #2: Esther Littleford Woodworth-Barnes, compiler and Alicia Crane Williams, editor, "Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims Who Landed at Plymouth, Mass., December 1620" Volume 16, Part 1, Family of John Alden (General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1999) pp. 1-13

Date: 21 JUN 2008

John Alden appears to have originated from an Alden family residing in Harwich, Essex, England, that was related by marriage to the Mayflower's master Christopher Jones. He was about 21 years old when he was hired to be the cooper, or barrel-maker, for the Mayflower's voyage to America. He was given the option to stay in America, or return to England; he decided to stay.

At Plymouth, he quickly rose up from his common seaman status to a prominent member of the Colony. About 1622 or 1623, he married Priscilla, the orphaned daughter of William and Alice Mullins. They had their first child, Elizabeth, around 1624, and would have nine more children over the next twenty years. John Alden was one of the earliest freemen in the Colony, and was elected an assistant to the governor and Plymouth Court as early as 1631, and was regularly re-elected throughout the 1630s. He also became involved in administering the trading activities of the Colony on the Kennebec River, and in 1634 witnessed a trading dispute escalate into a double-killing, as Moses Talbot of Plymouth Colony was shot at point-blank range by trespasser John Hocking, who was then shot and killed when other Plymouth men returned fire. John Alden was held in custody by the neighboring Massachusetts Bay Colony for a few days while the two colonies debated who had jurisdiction to investigate the murders. Myles Standish eventually came to the Bay Colony to provide Plymouth's answer in the matter.

Alden, and several other families, including the Standish family, founded the town of Duxbury in the 1630s and took up residence there. Alden served as Duxbury's deputy to the Plymouth Court throughout the 1640s, and served on several committees, including the Committee on Kennebec Trade, and sat on several Councils of War. He also served as colony treasurer. In the 1650s, he build the house at left, in Duxbury, which still stands today. By the 1660s, Alden's frequent public service, combined with his large family of wife and ten children, began to cause his estate to languish, so the Plymouth Court provided him a number of land grants and cash grants to better provide for his family. Throughout the 1670s, Alden began distributing his land holdings to his surviving sons. He died in 1687 at the age of 89, one of the last surviving Mayflower passengers.

Mayflower emigrant.

Date: 21 APR 2009

[Brøderbund WFT European Origins Vol. E1, Ed. 1, Tree #0003, Date of Import: Dec 25, 1999]

Information gotten from JOHN ALDEN Young Puritan by Olive W. Burt a book from the Bacich library:
He was a Puritan - Mother and father died of fever when he was about 4 or 5
Went to live with his mothers brother William Jones and his wife Bridget and their child Ann. They lived in England in the town of Harwich. WIlliam Jones was a cooper which is where John Alden learned how to do the work. He also had an Uncle Chris who was William Jones brother. He was a sailor and later became the Captain of the Mayflower.
John went to Holland at the age of 8 with his Aunt and Uncle. First they lived in Amsterdam. When he was 10 they moved to Leyden. Somewhere around the age of 12 he returned to England to Southampton where he lived with his cousin Robert Alden until 1620 when he sailed to America.

Pricilla's parents and her younger brother died in the first round of sickness at Plymouth the first winter.

Youngest signer of the Mayflower Compact
Talest man in the Colony
daughter Elizabeth had 5 children
Priscilla noted for her cooking

theres was the 2nd or 3rd marriage in the Colony
lived in Plymouth until 1627 - then they moved to Duxbury
when their house burned down in Duxbury they went to live with their son Jonathan
John Alden lived with son Jonathan when he diedgrandson
Col. John Alden was grandson
original grant of land in Duxbury was 109 acres
1626 John Alden was one of the men who took on the Colony dept.
1633 chosen as a member of the Board of Assistents to the Gov. until death except 1640-1650 when Deputy of Duxbury
divided his estate between his childeren before he died

last surviving signer of the Mayflower Compact
In Captain Standish's company 1643
governor's assistant, 1632-1640, etc.,
deputy of general court
acting deputy governor, 1664-1677

Christopher Joanes (Jones) was the skipper of the Mayflower

He did not make a will, having distributed the greater part of his estate among his children during his lifetime.

Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow the author of "The Courtship of Miles Standish", romanticized the event of his ancestors.

Date: 05 MAR 2009

• Married: 12 MAY 1622 in Plymouth,Plymouth,Massachusetts,USA

1. Timothy ALDEN b: ABT 1618 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA
2. *Joseph B. ALDEN Sr. b: 22 MAY 1627 TO ABT 1649 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA c: in Duxbury,,Mass.
3. John (Capt) ALDEN b: ABT 1623 in Barnstable Town, MA, USA
4. Priscilla ALDEN b: ABT 1639 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
5. Jonathan ALDEN b: 22 MAY 1627 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA
6. Zachariah ALDEN b: ABT 1636 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA c: ABT 1650 in of Duxbury, Plymouth, Ma
7. Lydia ALDEN b: 3 APR 1652 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA
8. *Ruth Alden ALDEN b: 28 NOV 1634 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States c: 12 OCT 1674
9. *Mary ALDEN b: 3 APR 1652 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA
10. Robert ALDIN b: ABT 1649 in , Middlesex, Virginia, USA
11. James ALDEN b: ABT 1628 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA
12. *Elizabeth ALDEN b: 31 MAY 1624 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States c: ABT 1627 in (3-1627)
13. T ALDEN
14. *Rebecca ALDEN b: 3 APR 1652 TO ABT 1649 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA
15. Sarah ALDEN b: 22 MAY 1627 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
16. John ALDEN Jr. b: 22 MAY 1622 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA
17. David ALDEN b: ABT 1646 TO ABT 1650 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
18. Hannah Ames ALDEN b: ABT 1618 in Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts, USA
19. William PABODIE b: ABT 1615 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA
20. Thankful ALDEN b: in Massachusetts, USA
21. William Alfred HENDRICKSE III