The Alden Family

The beautiful poem of Longfellow has done much to add to the glamour and romance of our Alden line.  The sportsmanlike spirit displayed by John Alden in pleading the cause of his friend, Miles Standish, and Priscilla’s wonderful insight into human nature are unrivaled in prose or verse: "As he warmed and glowed, in his simple and eloquent language, Quite forgetful of self, and full of the praise of his rival, Archly the maiden smiled, and, with eyes everrunning with laughter Said, in tremulous voice, ‘Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?’ "
JOHN ALDEN, born in England about 1599, was the first of our male ancestors to reach the American Continent. He came over on the Mayflower. On September 16, 1620, this ship sailed from Plymouth, England, on her memorable voyage.   One hundred passengers and the crew were aboard the Mayflower, a large number for such a small ship.  The Mayflower was 88 feet long and 24 feet wide.   The passengers were almost evenly divided between English and Dutch. The ship had sailed from Holland before landing at Plymouth. Among the passengers were a few women, about 28 children, and 24 indentured servants.  The balance were men.
When the Mayflower was being loaded at Plymouth, John Alden came bounding down the wharf, a bag of tools in one hand, a roll of baggage under his arm. John came over with the Puritans but he was not a member of that group. He had signed on as a cooper.
When loading was completed, the Mayflower set sail for America. She ploughed slowly westward for the next 97 days. The settlers did not see a ship pass. They were alone in this tiny boat, on this great, gray, endless sea, seeking a new and strange land.
One day the sky turned slate gray and violent winds struck the ship. The ship tossed and rolled like a cork on the sea. Water washed across the deck in torrents. The great beam—the one that supported the mainmast— burst. Fortunately, the Dutch had brought a great iron screw, and the cracked beam was repaired. The storm finally subsided, and the ship sailed on.
During the long voyage, John became friendly with all of the settlers. That was his nature. One of those whom John noticed right away was a young girl, Priscilla Mullens, who was going to the New World with her parents. Another passenger with whom John became friendly was Captain Miles Standish, an English soldier. The Captain was a short, stocky man with bright red hair, and a hot temper.
Finally, on November 9, 1620, the long voyage was over. Land was sighted. The settlers rushed up the hatchways to the main deck for a first look at the New World. What they saw were low sandy hills covered with sea grass and knotted trees.
Elder Brewster led the group in prayer. He thanked God for leading them safely across the great waters and asked for his blessing, which he firmly believed would follow them all the days of their lives.
The Mayflower anchored near what is now Provincetown on Cape Cod on November 21, 1620. There they took on wood and water and mended their sails. They sent scouting parties to see if the land was suitable for settle­ment. After exploring the coast, they decided to move on.
On December 21, 1620, they reached Plymouth Harbor and explored the area and found it suitable for settlement.
While anchored at Provincetown and before the sight of the settlement was chosen, forty-one men aboard the Mayflower signed the Mayflower Com­pact, an agreement as to the government of the colony to be established. John Alden, Captain Miles Standish, William Mullens and Elder William Brewster were among those who signed the Mayflower Compact.
Thus our hardy ancestors braved uncharted seas, and hardship and privation to find a land of freedom—a land of opportunity.
John, of course, was among those who went ashore. However, he was not obligated to remain as he signed on as a cooper. He could have returned on the Mayflower to England. But he remained with the settlers. John was said to be the first to step on Plymouth Rock and the youngest to sign the Mayflower Compact. Governor Bradford states in his History of Plymouth Plantation that John Alden was "hired for a cooper at Southampton, where the ship 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."
John was a man of splendid physique and pleasing manners, and was much liked by his neighbors. He was spoken of as "the tallest of the Colony," and his son, Captain John Alden, was known as the "tall man of Boston."
John Alden was a man of great force and character and exercised a commanding influence over his associates. He was active in public affairs and for more than sixty years was one of the most familiar figures in New England. For many years he was Assistant to the Governor.
In 1621, John Alden married Priscilla Mullens (or Molens), daughter of William Mullens and Alice Poretiers.   As already stated, the Mullens family also came over on the Mayflower. William Mullens, his wife and only son, died during the first winter when it seemed that the whole colony would perish. They left their only daughter, Priscilla, an orphan, alone in a strange land. But the following year she found a protector for life when she married the "tallest man in the colony." Several years after their marriage, John and Priscilla Alden moved to Duxbury, Massachusetts, which was a few miles north of Plymouth. They were the parents of at least eleven children, one of whom was Elizabeth, the first white female born in New England. Priscilla Alden died at Duxbury, Massachusetts, about 1660. John died at the same place on September 12, 1687, being 88 years of age. He was the last male survivor of those who came to New England on the May­flower in the terrible winter of 1620.
ELIZABETH ALDEN, born at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1625. On December 26, 1644, she married William Peabody, of Duxbury, Massachus­etts, son of John Peabody and his wife, Isabel.
The Alden family thus merges with the Peahody family.