Alden, << AWL duhn, >> John and Priscilla, came to America on the Mayflower in 1620. They became husband and wife, probably in 1622. They were among the first Mayflower passengers to be married in America. The Aldens had 11 children. Their descendants include President John Quincy Adams and American poets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and William Cullen Bryant. Longfellow wrote about the couple’s marriage in his fictional poem The Courtship of Miles Standish. About 1632, the Aldens moved to Duxbury, Massachusetts.
John Alden (1599-1687) was a cooper (barrelmaker) from Harwich, in the county of Essex, England. The Pilgrims hired him to accompany them on their voyage to America. When the Mayflower sailed from England, Alden had not yet decided whether he would stay in America. But he eventually became one of the leaders of the Plymouth Colony. Alden served as an assistant to the governor of the colony most of the time from about 1631 until he died. He served as treasurer from 1656 to 1658. In 1634, authorities held Alden on a technical charge of murder because he had favored defending a Plymouth outpost against attack, and in the resulting fight two men were killed. However, he was acquitted. Alden was a stern, unyielding man, and he led in the persecution of Quakers and Baptists.
Priscilla Mullens Alden (1602?-1685?) was the daughter of William Mullens, one of the Pilgrims. The Mullenses were from Dorking, in the county of Surrey, England.
