lden, John, c. 1599-1687, Puritan settler
in Plymouth Colony. He came to America on the Mayflower and was
prominent as assistant to the governor of the colony. He moved (c.
1627) to Duxbury and there was a neighbor and friend of Miles
Standish. Alden’s marriage to Priscilla Mullens gave rise to
the romantic legend made familiar by Longfellow’s poem, The
Courtship of Miles Standish. [The Illustrated Columbia
Encyclopedia, 1969]
Alden, John (1599?-1687), one of the Pilgrims, born in Southampton, England. He went to America on the Mayflower in 1620 and was a signer of the Mayflower Compact. He was one of the founders of Plymouth, the first permanent English settlement in New England. In 1623 Alden married Priscilla Mullens, another Pilgrim. In 1627 or shortly afterward, together with the Plymouth colonist Miles Standish, he founded Duxbury, where he lived until his death. Alden was active in the affairs of Plymouth Colony, serving alternately as assistant to the governor and as deputy from Duxbury. He lived longer than any of the other signers of the Mayflower Compact.
Alden's fame rests chiefly on the romantic tale written by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Courtship of Miles Standish" (1858). In the poem, Alden, deeply in love with Priscilla Mullens, proposes to her on behalf of his shy friend Standish, whereupon she inquires, "Why don't you speak for yourself, John?" [Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia]
