Memorial Stones of John and Priscilla Alden

Memorial Stones of John and Priscilla Alden. Gravestone of Captain Jonathan Alden. , Capt. John Alden, Sr. (c. 1599 - September 12, 1687) was a crew member aboard the Mayflower and arrived in Plymouth Colony in the late-fall of 1620. It is believed that he was from the Alden family of Harwich, England, homeport of the Mayflower. Although not a Separatist, he was hired for the journey as the cooper (barrel maker). Rather than returning to England with the ship, however, he chose to remain in Plymouth Colony as a settler., In 1628, John acquired by lot a 100-acre grant of land in Duxbury near the Bluefish River. He was a prominent leader in the Plymouth Colony and held several high positions of public service, including a term on the Governor's Council of Assistants and served as acting governor. , Priscilla Mullins (c. 1602 - c. 1685) was most likely born in Surrey, England, and was only 18 when she boarded the Mayflower in 1620, with her mother, father, and brother, for the voyage to the New World. Her parents and brother died in the first winter in the Plymouth Colony, leaving 19 year-old Pricilla as the only surviving member of her family in the New World. , Priscilla Mullins married John Alden on May 12, 1622. They had ten children. Little is known of the life of Pricilla Alden in the Colony. She died a few years before the death of John, and both were buried in the Old Burying Ground, although it is not certain where their actual burial places are. , Captain Jonathan Alden (c. 1632-1697), a son of John and Priscilla, was the captain of the local militia and heir to the Aldens' Duxbury farm. At the time of his death, Puritan austerity had given way to more traditional burial observances. Jonathan was accompanied to the grave by his neighbors and fellow soldiers, and ceremonially "buried under arms". At Jonathan's funeral, Rev. Ichabod Wiswall of Duxbury gave the eulogy, which sermon is recognized as one of the earliest funeral sermons in the American colonies. , 50 years after Jonathan Alden's death, when this burying ground had fallen into disrepair, Ezra Weston, IV, an Alden descendant, discovered Jonathan's headstone lying on its side in the overgrown grass. Weston brought it to his house, where it remained until 1880. It was then given to Lucia Alden Bradford, also a direct descendant of Jonathan Alden. She kept the stone in the parlor of her house. Prior to her death in 1893, she wrote a note, requesting that the headstone be returned to its proper place in the Old Burying Ground. Her nephew honored that wish and chose a spot on what seemed to be the remains of the lower part of the headstone. Jonathan's headstone is the earliest surviving headstone in the cemetery. In 1930, the Alden Kindred of America installed two reproduction gravestones near Jonathan's, one for John and another for Priscilla. , While the real-life Pricilla left almost no trace in the historical record, the Pricilla of the mostly-fictional epic poem, The Courtship of Miles Standish by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, first published in 1858, became in the judgment of some one of the most important women in American history, praised for taking her destiny in her own hands. In the poem, Priscilla is portrayed as the unrequited love of newly-widowed Captain Myles Standish, the Plymouth Colony's military advisor. According to the poem, Standish asked his good friend John to propose to Priscilla on his behalf, but upon doing so, Priscilla is written to have asked: "Why don't you speak for yourself, John?". While the poem may be based more on a romantic version of family tradition than independent historic evidence (Longfellow was an Alden family descendent, and the poem embellished an Alden family anecdote), the romantic poem's popularity elevated John and Priscilla Alden and fellow Pilgrim Myles Standish, to American folk-heroes., Captions , Representation of John and Priscilla Alden; from a postcard, c. 1940., The note written by Lucia A. Bradford regarding resetting of the Johnathan Alden gravestone. , Courtesy of the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society, Alden House Historic Site , Courtesy of The Alden Kindred of America, Inc.