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Priscilla Mullins Alden was born 1602 in Dorking, Surrey, England, Kingdom of England to William Mullins (c1572-1620) and Elizabeth Wood (c1575-1604) and died 12 September 1687 Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Kingdom of England of unspecified causes. She married John Alden (c1599-1687) 1622 in Plymouth Colony, Plymouth, Massachusetts.


Noted member of Massachusetts's Plymouth Colony of "Pilgrims", was the wife of fellow colonist John Alden (c1599-1687); they married in 1623 in Plymouth. She is known to literary history as the unrequited love of the newly-widowed Captain Miles Standish, the colony's military advisor, in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1858 poem "The Courtship of Miles Standish".

Vital Statistics

Biography

Priscilla was the daughter of William and Alice Mullins. Priscilla was a seventeen-year-old girl when she boarded the Mayflower. She lost her parents and her brother Joseph during the first winter in Plymouth. She was then the only one of her family in the New World, although she had another brother and a sister who remained in England.

John Alden and Priscilla Mullins were likely the second couple to be married in Plymouth Colony. William Bradford’s marriage to Alice Carpenter on 14 August 1624 is known to be the fourth.[1] The first was that of Edward Winslow and Susannah White in 1621. Francis Eaton’s marriage to his second wife, Dorothy, maidservant to the Carvers, was possibly the second.

Priscilla is last recorded in the records in 1650, but oral tradition states that she died only a few years before her husband (which would be about 1680). She lies buried at the Miles Standish Burial Ground in Duxbury, Massachusetts. While the exact location of her grave is unknown, there is a marker honoring her.


1629 Alden House in Duxbury

John Alden House in Duxbury, Massachusetts

John Alden House in Duxbury MA. Built in 1653, replacing the first house he built in 1629.

By 1629, John Alden, Sr. and his family had moved to Duxbury, Massachusetts where they built their first family home, only 38 feet x 10 feet big, in which he would raise a family of 10 children. He would build a much larger home in 1653, which much of the business of Plymouth Colony was transacted as he served as court clerk. Today, 1653 Alden House, which stands on Alden Street, is operated as a Alden family history museum by Alden Kindred Society.


Marriage and Family

Courtship of Myles Standish

Standish Courtship

The Courtship of Miles Standish

The story of their courtship has been romanticized for all time in the story of The Courtship of Miles Standish written in poem by their descendant, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882).

The colony's military leader, Myles Standish (c1584-1656), desired the hand of Priscilla in marriage, but being to shy to speak himself, employed John as a go-between. However, Priscilla fell in love with John.

Set against the backdrop of a fierce Indian war, the tale focuses on a love triangle among three Pilgrims: Myles Standish (c1584-1656), Priscilla Mullins (1602-1680), and John Alden (c1599-1687). Longfellow claimed the story was true, but the historical evidence is inconclusive. Nevertheless, the ballad was very popular in nineteenth-century America, immortalizing the Mayflower Pilgrims.

Longfellow (a direct descendant of John and Priscilla) based his poem on a romanticized version of a family tradition, though there is no independent historical evidence for the account. The basic story was apparently handed down in the Alden family and published by John and Priscilla’s great-great-grandson, Rev. Timothy Alden (1771-1839), in 1814.[2]

Family

Priscilla and John Alden had ten children, with a possible eleventh dying in infancy. Zachariah Alden and Henry Alden have both been incorrectly identified as sons of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins in various publications.

1. John. Born 1622. Moved to Boston and married there Elizabeth (Phillips) Everill, widow of Abiel Everill. They also had thirteen children. He was a mariner and became a naval commander of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

2. Elizabeth. Born 1623. Married William Pabodie (Peabody), a civic and military leader of Duxbury, where all thirteen of their children were born. They moved to Little Compton, Rhode Island where Elizabeth died in 1717 at the age of about ninety-four.

3. Joseph. Moved to Bridgewater where he was a farmer on land purchased earlier from the Indians by his father and Myles Standish. He married Mary Simmons. They had a total of seven children. Joseph died sometime after 1696/7.

4. Sarah. Her marriage to Myles Standish's son, Alexander, undercuts any idea of a long-standing feud between the Aldens and the Standish clan.

5. Jonathan. Married Abigail Hallett December 10, 1672. Lived in Duxbury until his death February 14, 1697. Was the second owner of the Alden House which he received from his father.

6. Ruth. Married John Bass of Braintree, Massachusetts, where they lived and had seven children. Of the more illustrious descendants of this union came Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams.

7. Rebecca. Married Thomas Delano of Duxbury by 1667, a son of Philip Delanoye, one of the original settlers of Duxbury. They had nine children. Died in Duxbury sometime after June 13, 1688.

8. Mary. No record of birth or marriage. Died after June 13, 1688.

9. Priscilla. Same information as for Mary.

10. David. Married Mary Southworth, daughter of Constant Southworth of Plymouth Colony. Died sometime during 1718 or 1719. Six children.




Children


Offspring of John Alden (c1599-1687) and Priscilla Mullins Alden
Name Birth Death Joined with
John Alden (1622-1701) 16 May 1622 Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States 14 March 1701 Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States Elizabeth Phillips (1622-1695)
Elizabeth Alden (1623-1717) 1625 Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts 31 May 1717 Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island William Pabodie (1620-1707)
Joseph Alden (1627-1696) 22 May 1627 Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Kingdom of England 8 February 1697 Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Kingdom of England Mary Simmons (1638-1697)
Sarah Alden (1627-1674) 1627 Plymouth Colony, Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States 13 June 1688 Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States Alexander Standish (1627-1702)
Johnathan Alden (1633-1697) 22 May 1632 1629 Alden House, Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Kingdom of England 14 February 1697 Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Kingdom of England Abigail Hallett (1644-1725)
Mary Alden (1632-1688) 1638 1629 Alden House, Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Kingdom of England 13 June 1688 Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Kingdom of England
Ruth Alden (1643-1674) 1643 1629 Alden House, Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States 1674 Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States John Bass (1630-1716)
David Alden (1646-1718) 1646 1629 Alden House, Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States 20 May 1718 Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States Mary Southworth (c1650-1719)
Priscilla Alden (1647-1688) 1639 1629 Alden House, Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States 1688 Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States
Rebecca Alden (1649-1689) 1643 1629 Alden House, Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States 1688 Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States Thomas Delano (1642-1723)



Siblings


Offspring of William Mullins (c1572-1620) and Elizabeth Wood (c1575-1604)
Name Birth Death Joined with
William Mullins (1593-) 1593 Dorking, Surrey, England 1674 Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Unknown Mullins (c1595-)
Mary Ann Bell (c1595-)
Sarah Mullins (c1597-) 1597 Dorking, Surrey, England 9999 England Mr. Blunden (c1600-)
Elizabeth Mullins (1598-) 11 December 1598 Baptism at Holy Trinity Church, Guildford, Surrey, England 1620 Surrey, England
Priscilla Mullins (1602-1680) 1602 Dorking, Surrey, England, Kingdom of England 12 September 1687 Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Kingdom of England John Alden (c1599-1687)


Offspring of William Mullins (c1572-1620) and Alice Brown (1574-1621)
Name Birth Death Joined with
Joseph Mullins (1606-1621) 1606 Surrey, England 1621 Plymouth Colony, Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts


Vital Records

Bradfords Passenger List

From Gov Bradford's list of Mayflower passengers (written circa 1650):

John Alden was hired for a cooper, at South-Hampton, wher the ship victuled; and being a hopefull yong man, was much desifed, but left to his owne liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed, and maryed here.

Mr. William Molines, and his wife, and 2 children, Joseph and Priscila; and a servant, Robert Carter.

Mr. Molines, and his wife, his sone, and his servent, dyed the first winter. Only his dougter Priscila survived, and maried with John Alden, who are both living, and have 11 children. And their eldest daughter is maried, and hath five children.


Pilgrim Monument

Nmff1

National Monument to the Forefathers, commemorates the Mayflower Pilgrims, (including this person) who came to Plymouth Colony in 1620 on the Mayflower. Dedicated on August 1, 1889, it is thought to be the world's largest solid granite monument. Located on an 11 acre hilltop site on Allerton Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

References

  1. ^ The Mayflower Descendant, vol. 30:4.
  2. ^ Timothy Alden, Collection of American Epitaphs and Inscriptions, pp. 264-271.





Footnotes (including sources)

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