ALDEN, Elizabeth

Notes:

Birth:
First white woman born in new America

Buried:
Old Commons Burial Ground

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: Mayflower passenger
• Great Migration: https://www.americanancestors.org/DB393/rd/12107/21/235171134
• Mayflower: Yes
• Web Address: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Alden
• Web Address: https://www.americanancestors.org/DB393/rd/12107/21/235171134
• Web Address: https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/john-alden-priscilla-mullin
• Web Address: https://www.mayflower400uk.org/education/who-were-the-pilgrims/2019/october/heartwarming-story-of-the-mayflowers-most-famous-love-story/
• Possessions: Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA; www.alden.org/our_house/househistory.htm
• _ORIG: Southampton, Hampshire, England
• Residence: 1599, England; I am saving this record as a source of names associated with Alden in England. Ailwan and Aylwin were family Alden names. These families were well known to be in all eastern counties of England during the Norman invasion of 1066.
• Residence: Between 1600 and 1890, USA
• Arrival: 1620, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA
• Misc: 1620, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA; Mayflower Pilgrim
• Residence: 1632, Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA
• Residence: 1633, Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA; Listed are John Alden's parents, possible grandparents, his wife, Priscilla, his children, and assorted Plymouth work he performed, generally associated with government
• Residence: 1638, Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA; A sampling of what life was like during this time period for John Alden and his pilgrim friends.
• Residence: 1640, Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA; Alden homestead was built here
• Record Date: 1687, Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Notes:

The youngest of the Pilgrims who became involved in government at the start of Plymouth Colony; when they arrived he was 21. Alden was at first assigned to live with the family of Captain Standish and he lived with this family until he was married. There is a story that after the death of Mrs. Standish, the Captain asked John to ask for the hand of Priscilla Mullins on his behalf. John is said to have been qite handsome, and Priscilla responded to him "Prithee, John, why do you not speak for yourself?" Later, John and Priscilla married and it is fabled that Captain Standish never forgave John. However, history doesn't really support this as John and Captain Standish spent the rest of their lives working together in the government, worshiping in the same church, and their children intermarried.

In 1626, John worked with Standish, Brewster, Howland and others to pay the debts, contracted in England, and to prevent the ruin of the colony's credit.

In 1631, John moved to Duxbury and settled on the land that had been granted hin there on the South side of the Bluefish river. He bult his house near Eagletree Pond. The original grant gave him 169 acres.

In 1633 he was appointed as a member of the Board of Assistants to the Governor, a position he continued in almost continually until his death. He often served as Deputy Governor and served as Governor in his absence. He was often on the council of war, many times an arbitrator, a surveyor of lands for the government and for individuals, and several times was authorized to serve as an agent or attorney for the colony. He was chosen treasurer in 1656 and held that office for 3 years. There was little pay for all these years of public service and while John Alden began with assets, these dwindled over time as he had little time to devote to his own affairs. When he died, he left an estate of only 50 pounds sterling. He is described as "He was possessed of sound judgment, and of talents, which though not brilliant, were by no means ordinary and disputable. The writers who mention him, bear ample testimony to his industry, integrity, and exemplary piety, and he has represented as a worthy and useful man, of great humility, and eminent for the sanctity of life. He was decided, ardent, resolute and persevering, indifferent of danger, a bold and hardy man stern and austere and unyielding, of incorruptible integrity, an iron-nerved puritan who could hew down forests and live on crumbs"

He died in Duxbury at age 87 on 12 Sep 1686. He was the last surviving signer of the Mayflower Compact.

The Mayflower Compact, signed by 41 English colonists on the ship Mayflower on November 11, 1620, was the first written framework of government established in what is now the United States. The compact was drafted to prevent dissent amongst Puritans and non-separatist Pilgrims who had landed at Plymouth a few days earlier. The Mayflower Compact was the first democratic document to be drafted in the New World, and became a model for later documents, such as the Constitution. Basically, the Mayflower Compact was the first governing document in America. The Mayflower Compact is the first document in American history demonstrating the attempt to form a government based of the concept that government should derive its power from the “consent of the governed.” The Mayflower Compact specified basic laws and social rules for the new colony and served as a foundation for the democratic structure of the settlers. The significance of the Mayflower Compact is that it contains extremely important concepts that helped to shape the History of America.

Fact 1: The significance of the Mayflower Compact is illustrated as it was based on the concept of majority rule
Fact 2: The significance of the Mayflower Compact is illustrated as it was the first known document that provided self-government in America
Fact 3: The significance of the Mayflower Compact is illustrated as it was the first democratic government to be established in the colonies - The colonists agreed to choose their leaders and make their own laws which they agreed to follow
Fact 4: The significance of the Mayflower Compact is illustrated because it stated that the adult males, not including servants, who settled at Plymouth, would have the right to vote on issues
Fact 5: The significance of the Mayflower Compact is illustrated by its democratic concept of law made by and for the people
Fact 6: The significance of the Mayflower Compact is illustrated as it expressed mutual regard for one another as equals in the sight of God
Fact 7: The significance of the Mayflower Compact is because it is often cited as one of the foundations of the US Constitution setting a precedent as the foundational document for the Plymouth Colony

The Mayflower Compact set a precedent and was an influential document for the Founding Fathers as they created the US Constitution. The Mayflower Compact made a significant contribution to the creation of a new democratic nation which would become the United States of America.

Immediately after agreeing to the Mayflower Compact, the signers elected John Carver (one of the Pilgrim leaders) as governor of their colony. They called it Plymouth Plantation. When Governor Carver died in less than a year, William Bradford, age 31, replaced him. Each year thereafter the "Civil Body Politic," consisting of all adult males except indentured servants, assembled to elect the governor and a small number of assistants. Bradford was re-elected 30 times between 1621 and 1656.

In the early years Governor Bradford pretty much decided how the colony should be run. Few objected to his one-man rule. As the colony's population grew due to immigration, several new towns came into existence. The roving and increasingly scattered population found it difficult to attend the General Court, as the governing meetings at Plymouth came to be called. By 1639, deputies were sent to represent each town at the other General Court sessions. Not only self-rule, but representative government had taken root on American soil.

The English Magna Carta, written more than 400 years before the Mayflower Compact, established the principle of the rule of law. In England this still mostly meant the king's law. The Mayflower Compact continued the idea of law made by the people. This idea lies at the heart of democracy.

From its crude beginning in Plymouth, self-government evolved into the town meetings of New England and larger local governments in colonial America. By the time of the Constitutional Convention, the Mayflower Compact had been nearly forgotten, but the powerful idea of self-government had not. Born out of necessity on the Mayflower, the Compact made a significant contribution to the creation of a new democratic nation.


Died:
Age: 87

John married MULLINS, Priscilla Sarah on 12 May 1622 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA. Priscilla (daughter of MULLINS, William and UNKNOWN, Alice) was born on 5 Feb 1602 in Dorking, Surrey, England; died before 1687 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA; was buried in Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: Mayflower passenger
• Mayflower: Yes
• Web Address: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priscilla_Alden
• Web Address: https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/john-alden-priscilla-mullin
• Name: Priscilla Sara MULLINS
• Possessions: Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA; www.alden.org/our_house/househistory.htm
• Residence: USA
• Arrival: 1620, Massachusetts, USA
• Misc: 1620, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA; Mayflower Pilgrim
• Residence: 1640, Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA; The Alden home was built here
• Death: 5 Feb 1688, Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA; Age at Death: 83

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: Between 1587 and 1620, All Saints South Elmham, Suffolk, England; Only All Saints is mentioned. But it was recorded in the Court Leet Books of Southampton between 1587 and 1620. His widow was Jane Alden. George was an arrow maker.

Notes:

Birth:
Scrooby, Hertfordshire, England

George married FOWLK, Jane in 1598 in Southampton, Hampshire, England. Jane was born in 1584 in Southampton, Hampshire, England; died on 10 Mar 1664 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Birth: 1580, Windsor, Berkshire, England

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: Mayflower passenger
• Great Migration: https://www.americanancestors.org/DB393/rd/12107/1315/235189380
• Mayflower: Yes
• Web Address: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Mullins_(Mayflower_passenger)
• Web Address: https://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/places/surrey/mole_valley/dorking/dorking_william_mullins_house/
• Web Address: https://www.mayflower400uk.org/education/who-were-the-pilgrims/2020/february/william-mullins/
• Occupation: 1612; Shoemaker
• Residence: 28 Dec 1612, 58-61 West Street, Dorking, Surrey, England; Purchased this home. Believed to be the only home of a Pilgrim Father to have survived intact
• Residence: May 1619, Dorking, Surrey, England; William Mullins sold his Dorking Manor holdings to Ephraim Bothell/Bothall for 280 pounds, apparently in preparation for his voyage on the Mayflower.
• Misc: 1620, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA; Mayflower Pilgrim

William married UNKNOWN, Alice in 1595 in Dorking, Surrey, England. Alice (daughter of ATWOOD, Nicholas and HARMAN, Olive) was born in Jan 1573; died on 15 Mar 1621 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: Mayflower passenger
• Mayflower: Yes
• Misc: 1620, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA; Mayflower Pilgrim

Notes:

From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Mullins_(Mayflower_passenger)

In the March 2012 Mayflower Quarterly, noted Mayflower researcher and biographer, Caleb Johnson, presented a hypothesis that William Mullins first married Elizabeth Wood who gave birth to his first four children, and died sometime prior to 1604; whereupon, he married Alice_____ who gave birth to his youngest child, Joseph. In that article, he stated, “I here put together this very speculative hypothesis, and leave it up to future research to determine if there is any further evidence to support, or disprove, this possibility. It should be emphasized that this is a speculative hypothesis based on limited concrete data....”[21] Unfortunately, some have interpreted his hypothesis as factual rather than speculative. It has been nearly ten years since Mr. Johnson wrote that article in the Mayflower Quarterly and in his own words “no additional evidence, supporting or disproving that hypothesis, has been published since that time.”[22]

In October 2021, Mr. Johnson added a second paragraph to the profile of Alice Mullins in his website, Mayflowerhistory.com. The profile of Alice Mullins, as it is currently written follows in its entirety:

“Little is known about Alice, the wife of William Mullins. She is named only once: in the 1621 will of her husband William Mullins. It is not known if she is the mother of all his children, some of his children, or none of them. There is no evidence she had the Atwood or Poretiers surnames claimed by some 19th and early 20th century authors.

“Recent research into her origins, undertaken by Caleb Johnson and Simon Neal, has focused on the Browne, Dendy, Gardinar, Hammon, and Wood families of Dorking and Holy Trinity, Guildford. In 2012 (Mayflower Quarterly, 78:44-57),

Caleb Johnson published a speculative hypothesis that William Mullins may have married twice, first Elizabeth Wood, and second Alice, perhaps widow of either William or Thomas Browne (possibly making Alice the mother or aunt of Mayflower passenger Peter Browne). While the speculative hypothesis matches all the known facts, it is by no means proven. No additional evidence, supporting or disproving that hypothesis, has been published since that time.”[22]

Accordingly, this section has been revised to remove Elizabeth Wood as his first wife and conform the family to the presentation in Volume 16, Part I of Mayflower Families through Five Generations, commonly referred to as the Silver Books.[23]

Birth:
St Martin in The Field, London, England

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Shoemaker

John + BRIDGER, Joane. Joane was born in Dorking, Surrey, England; died in 1588 in Dorking, Surrey, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Nicholas married HARMAN, Olive on 30 Jan 1570 in Westminster, Middlesex, England. Olive was born on 10 May 1548 in Sanderstead, Surrey, England; died in 1603 in Elstree Church, Herefordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]