The Story of John Alden and the Mayflower

As collected together by Bob Alden and placed on the Web, beginning in 1997 - an ongoing but interesting hobby. There will always be work to do here.

This is a personal story about my ancestors. I first learned of my connection to John Alden from my uncle, Len Alden, a long time ago while a child growing up in England at the end of World War II. He had spent years researching our family tree - I hope to track down the information he collected in the future. Here is my connection to John Alden as I am tracing it.

Several years later, having emigrated to Canada via Australia, I was in Massachusetts on holiday with my parents and we visited the Alden House in Duxbury. Many years later, with my wife Judy, I revisited the house in Duxbury and we brought back two references which I have used as the starting point for this web site :

• The Alden Family in the Alden House by Dorothy Wentworth
• Families of the Pilgrims - John Alden and William Mullins
• for more information

This history, as I have come to know it, is liberally laced with missing elements, inconsistencies, and differing beliefs from one location to another. I hope to receive input from those who can provide information to me and I will do my best to update this record as I learn more.

John Alden was born in England about 1599, crossed the Atlantic ocean in 1620 in the Mayflower where he met Priscilla, the daughter of William Mullins. They were part of the 102 Mayflower passengers who became known as "the pilgrims". The pilgrims named their landing location Plymouth after the town in England where they embarked.

John and Priscilla were married about 1623 and had about ten children. After the initial years in Plymouth they moved to the near-by town of Duxburrough - known today as Duxbury. John lived until 1687, Priscilla having passed away about five years earlier.

For information on-line, view the following web sites:

• Caleb Johnson's Mayflower Web Pages - a superb web site!

• The Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants

• The Alden House - The Alden Kindred of America (the source of the above images)

• Two Sites for Duxbury, Massachusetts - SeekOn Server , and SouthShore Server

• The Global Genealogy - on-line purchasing of supplies

• The Mayflower Steps - a shop in Plymouth, England, with interesting information and pictures about the Mayflower, its voyage and other tidbits.

• The Mayflower Paintings and other marine art - by Mike Haywood