Priscilla Alden

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Portrait of Priscilla Mullins (Mullens/Alden)^[1]

Priscilla Alden (née Mullins) (c. 1602 – After 1650), noted member of Massachusetts's Plymouth Colony of "Pilgrims", was the wife of fellow colonist John Alden (c. 1599 – 1687); they married in 1623. The marriage date of John and Priscilla is also unknown. They were certainly married at Plymouth. We know that William Bradford’s marriage to Alice Carpenter 14 August 1624 was the fourth marriage in Plymouth Colony (The Mayflower Descendant, vol. 30:4). 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 (TAG, 72:308-309). John Alden and Priscilla Mullins is likely the third. With John she had ten children. Priscilla was most likely born in Dorking in Surrey, the daughter of William and Alice Mullins. Unfortunately, she lost her parents and her brother Joseph during the first winter in Plymouth.^[2] 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. But she rose above her grief and spun wool and flax for the colony and taught the children and helped with the cooking a great deal. She was sweet of temper and had great patience. 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 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". According to the poem, Standish asked his good friend, John Alden, to propose to Priscilla on his behalf only to have Priscilla ask, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?”. There is, however, no historical evidence that the poem is based on any actual events. Although many people who have researched this believe that something along those lines did occur, but the story was later romanticized by Longfellow (a direct descendant of John and Priscilla). The basic story was apparently handed down in the Alden family and published by John and Priscilla’s great-great-grandson, Rev. Timothy Alden, in his Collection of American Epitaphs and Inscriptions in 1814 (264-271).

[edit] Biographical Summary of the Alden Children

In order of birth, the children of John and Priscilla are listed and briefly described below. They have ten known children with a possible eleventh, dying in infancy. It is presumed, although not documented, that the first three children were born in Plymouth, the remainder in Duxbury.

Note: Zachariah Alden and Henry Alden have both been incorrectly identified as sons of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins in various publications. For information on the genealogy of Henry Alden, see Mayflower Descendant 43:21-29,133-138; 44:27-30,181-184.

1. Elizabeth. Married William Pabodie, 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 94. Their descendants were prominent in settling areas of Rhode Island and Connecticut. From Elizabeth’s line comes the one individual most credited with spreading the fame of John and Priscilla far and wide, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his "Courtship of Miles Standish."

2. John. Moved to Boston and married there Elizabeth (Phillips) Everill, widow of Abiel Everill. They also had 13 children. He was a mariner and became a naval commander of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was a member of the Old South Church of Boston and his ancient slate headstone is embedded in the wall there. Perhaps the best known event of his life is when, on a trip to Salem, he was accused of witchcraft, spending fifteen weeks in a Boston jail. He escaped shortly before nine of the other "victims" were executed. He was later exonerated.

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 son, Alexander, puts to rest any idea of a long-standing feud between the Aldens and the Standish clan. In fact, there is much evidence to suggest that John and Myles remained lifelong friends or, at the minimum, associates. Sarah and Alexander lived in Duxbury until Sarah’s death sometime before June 1688. (Alexander subsequently married Desire Doty, a twice widowed daughter of Pilgrim Edward Doty.) They had seven and possibly eight children. The Duxbury house where they lived still stands.

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. The house then passed to his own son, John. Six children. We gain a little insight into his life when, at his funeral oration, Jonathan was described as, "...a sincere Christian, one whose heart was in the house of God even when his body was barred hence by restraints of many difficulties which confined him at home."

6. Ruth. Married John Bass of Braintree where they lived and had seven children. Of the more illustrious descendants of this union came Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Ruth died on October 12, 1674.

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. Died sometime during 1718 or 1719. Six children. A man described as "a prominent member of the church, a man of great respectability and much employed in public business."

Priscilla lies buried at the Miles Standish Burial Ground in Duxbury MA, while no one knows the exact location of her grave, there is a marker honoring her.