John Alden

M, #73, b. circa 1599, d. Sep 12, 1687
Relationship9th great-grandfather of Malcolm Kenyon McKown Jr.
Pedigree

Family

Priscilla Mullens b. circa 1602, d. circa 1685
Children

Chronological Events

Birth*circa 1599 John Alden was born circa 1599 at Southampton, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom. 
Marriage*May 12, 1621 He married Priscilla Mullens, daughter of William Mullens and Alice Atwood, on May 12, 1621 at Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. 
Death*Sep 12, 1687 John Alden died on Sep 12, 1687 at Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. 
Burial*Sep 13, 1687 He was buried on Sep 13, 1687 at Myles Standish Burying Ground Cemetery, Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, Find A Grave Memorial# 15.1 
Book Excerpt* 
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.

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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.2
 

Citations

  1. [S58] Gravestones - Death Cert, Find-A-Grave, BillionGraves.
  2. [S805] Site - One World Tree (SM), online at http://www.ancestry.com