by Charles L. Ketchum, Jr.
This is my story of John Alden and his descendants, primarily emphasizing the lineage which has led to my family.
John Alden a tall Saxon type man with blue eyes, was my 9th great grand-father born about 1599 in England (possibly Harwich, Essex.) And died on September 12, 1687 in Duxbury, Massachusetts. He was married to Priscilla Mullens, a dark haired young woman, on May 12, 1622 in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Extensive research has been done into the ancestry of John Alden, but nothing has conclusively been found. There are several theories that have been presented over the years:
One theory is from 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 Aoys Alden of Southhampton, Hampshire, England. Since it has been said that John was hired in Southhampton, 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 or Aoys do not occur anywhere in John Aldens's family. Naming children after parents and grandparents was an extremely common practice in the seventeenth century, and the absence of such names are nearly enough evidence to disprove this theory.
The current popular theory is that a John Alden, a seafaring man, who hailed from Harwich, Essex, England married Elizabeth the daughter of William Russell, a merchant of that town. In William Russell's Will he mentions a number of children of the Aldens, including Peter, William and Thomas. Any of these sons could have been the father of John Alden of the Mayflower. An appealing part of this theory is that William Russell's son Robert, brother of Elizabeth married the widowed mother of Captain Christopher Jones, Captain of the Mayflower. Thus, if this theory is correct, Captain Jones would have been the step-son of the Mayflower Alden's great uncle, so John could have learned about the upcoming voyage to New England.
In 1620 John Alden as a young man, was hired to sail on the Mayflower to New England. The Mayflower was anchored at Southhampton, England and was hired as a cooper (barrel maker) to care for the passenger's precious barrels of beer, plain water, and strong water. He had been given the choice to return or to stay in America. As we know, he stayed in America and married Priscilla Mullens, who came over on the same voyage as her father William Mullens, her mother, her brother Joseph and a servant Robert Carter. William Mullens died on February 21, 1621 and his wife, his son Joseph and his servant Robert died the first winter, leaving Priscilla an orphan, her only surviving kin was her sister and brother in England.
On November 11, 1620, while the Mayflower was anchored in Provincetown harbor, John Alden joined the other free adult male passengers which were on board, to sign the "Mayflower Compact" whereby the passengers agreed to make and abide by their own laws. In 1621 this Compact was superseded in authority by the Peirce Patent, which not only gave the Pilgrims the right to self-government at Plymouth, but also had the advantage of being authorized by the King of England.
In 1623 division of land among the Plymouth colonists placed John in a group that received land on the "north side of the town." The acreage that John received was about four acres.
In 1626 an agreement between the Merchants in England who had financed the Plymouth Colony and 53 members of the colony (including John Alden) and five London men were to pay 180 pounds for all of the stocks, lands, and merchandise that belonged to the Company. In May of 1627 John Alden joined seven others, to undertake paying the debt the Company owed. In return, this group received the boats, fur, and other stores that had belonged to the Company as well as rights of trade for themselves for six years. Payment was to be made in corn and tobacco.
John Alden was granted land in Duxbury which was accessible by water from the bay and up the river, so that the whole length of the farm had water transportation. Their first home was a long narrow house with a field stone foundation and a root cellar under the west end. The present Alden house was believed to have been built in 1653, a date which had been carved in one of the beams or boards of the house.
John Alden was on the 1633 list of Plymouth freemen among those admitted prior to January 1, 1632/33. In 1634 a list was made of all colony men able to bear arms. John Alden Sr. and his sons John Jr. and Joseph were on the list from the town of Duxbury.
Also in 1634, John found himself imprisoned in Boston as a result of an incident on the Kennebec River. The Plymouth Colony had been given the right to settle and trade on the Kennebec River. When a trading ship from Piscataqua settlement under a John Hocking, attempted to horn in, and after ignoring the warnings to leave, orders were given to cut the ship's mooring lines. Hocking shot and killed the man who cut the line, and one of the Plymouth men shot and killed Hocking. John Alden was in Kennebec bringing supplies to the post at that time, but was not a party to the shootings. However, by the time he returned to Boston, the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a one sided version of the news had arrived before him, and as he was the nearest Plymouth Colony representative at hand, John was arrested.
Captain Myles Standish was dispatched with a letter from Thomas Prence, Governor of the Plymouth Colony to straighten out the officials in Boston. The letter of Prence was successful in convincing Governor Dudley that they had heard only half of the story, the part about Hocking having killed a man was omited, and John was released.
John Alden assumed a place of high responsibility in the Plymouth Colony, serving as an assistant to the Governor many times between 1632 to 1640 and 1650 to 1686. He acted as Deputy Governor on two occasions when the Governor was absent.
In April of 1667 John, as a member of the Council of War assembled at Plymouth to deal with threats from the French and Dutch, and the increasing problems with King Philip and the Narragansetts. The Council commissioned officers of the military companies and arranged for military watches during any possibility of danger. Plans for evacuation of women and children and orders of war for horse and foot soldiers were made. When King Philip's War broke out in 1675, John Alden was a senior advisor to Governor Josiah Winslow.
In his later years, John Alden was on many juries, including even a witch trial. The accuser was found guilty of libel and the alleged witch was allowed to go free. Plymouth Colony had two witch trials during its history, and in both cases the accuser was found guilty and punished.
John Alden's House still stands, and tours are given by the Alden Kindred of America.
2nd Generation - Elizabeth Alden
Elizabeth Alden my 8th great grand-mother was born about1623 in Plymouth, Massachusetts and married William John Pabodie on December 26, 1644 in Duxbury, Plymouth, MA, and died May 31, 1717, in her 83rd year at Little Compton, RI.
William was born in England but grew up in Duxbury with his father. He purchased land at various times, and was called a yoeman in 1648, a planter in 1672, and a wheelwright in 1681. He was also a land surveyor. He bought a dwelling house, garden, stables, land and a meadow on November 1, 1648 and possessed other tracts of land in the town. He also purchased, along with others, a share in the lands at Little Compton, RI, and moved there about 1684. While in Duxbury he was a town officer and a representative of the general court of Plymouth Colony. He was admitted a freeman of the colony on June 5, 1651. The couple had thirteen children.
3rd Generation - Lydia Pabodie
My seventh great grand-mother was Lydia Pabodie born April 3, 1667. She married Daniel Grinnell at Little Compton, RI, in 1683 and lived there until about 1703 when they moved to Saybrook, CT. Lydia was a charter member of the Congregational Church, founded in 1726 in West Parish, CT, (now called Westbrook). She died in Killingworth, CT (now called Clinton) about 4 miles west of Westbrook, on July 13, 1748, most likely in the home of a daughter.
This ends the Alden part of my family.
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