John Alden

Notes:

John Alden was born in England around 1599.

He was a cooper and crew member on the Mayflower. After arriving in America, he signed the Mayflower Compact and decided to stay rather than returning to England. Alden performed extensive public service for the colony, serving in roles such as Treasurer and Assistant Governor.

In 1623 he married fellow passenger Priscilla Mullins, and the two raised 10 children together. Descendants of John and Priscilla Alden comprise one of the largest groups of Mayflower descendants living today.

When he died in Duxbury in 1687, Alden was the last surviving signer of the Mayflower Compact.
American Colonial Figure. One of the charter members of the Plymouth Colony in America, he arrived on the first voyage of the "Mayflower". At the time of the sailing of the vessel in 1620 for America, he was about twenty-one years old. William Bradford, second governor of the colony, wrote that John Alden was "hired for a cooper, at South Hampton (England), where the ship victualed (brought on food for the voyage); 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." His trade of cooper (barrel maker) was one of the vital trades needed by the colonists. John married fellow Mayflower pilgrim Priscilla Mullins, May 12,1622. He became one of the Purchasers and Undertakers for the colony, serving also as Assistant in the Colony government, Deputy Governor, Colony Treasurer, and a member of the committee in charge of revising laws. He was one of the founders of Duxbury, Massachusetts, and owned several pieces of property. Although he died without a will, an inventory of his property at the time of his death was taken in November 1687. A legend of a rivalry between himself and pilgrim Miles Standish for Priscilla Mullins arose, and was first published in the book, "Collection of American Epitaphs and Inscriptions" in 1814, by Timothy Alden. The story was popularized by the poem, "The Courtship of Miles Standish" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1858, however, there is no documentation of such a rivalry to have existed in any of the records of the Plymouth Colony.

Birth:
this location is uncertain

John married Priscilla Mullins in 1623. Priscilla (daughter of William Mullins and Alice Atwood) was born in 1600 in Dorking, Surrey, England; died in 1650. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Elizabeth Alden was born in 1623 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA; died on 31 May 1717 in Little Compton, Newport, Rhode Island, USA.
2. David Alden was born about 1646 in Duxbury, Plymouth Colony, Colonial America; died about 1719 in Duxbury, Plymouth Colony, Colonial America.
3. John Alden was born in 1626; died on 14 Mar 1701.
4. Priscila Alden was born in 1630.
5. Jonathan Alden was born in 1632.
6. Sarahl Alden was born in 1634.
7. Joseph Alden
8. Ruth Alden
9. Mary Alden
10. Rebecca Alden