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Ancestors: Origins
Origins of
The Mayflower’s John Alden and Priscilla Mullins
John Alden
and Priscilla Mullins, my 9th great grandparents, were two of the people
on the historic 1620 voyage of the Mayflower from England to what would be the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. John and
Priscilla are well-documented in American history. They had 10 children and many descendants; in
fact, there is an organization called Alden Kindred of America (alden.org) today which,
among other things, preserves their house in Duxbury, MA.
Much of the
story of their voyage is already well known.
The Mayflower carried 102 passengers and 30 crew from Southampton, County
Hampshire, England bound for the Colony of Virginia but was forced by storms to
anchor at Provincetown on Cape Cod, Massachusetts in November 1620. John was a signer of the “Mayflower Compact,”
a pledge to govern themselves by law and order, sometimes viewed as a precursor
to the US Constitution. John chose to stay with the Pilgrims and not return to
England with the Mayflower. Half the
crew and 49 passengers died the first winter, including Priscilla’s parents and
brother, leaving her with no family members. But what were John and Priscilla’s origins?
First, it is
important to know that while Priscilla and her family were Pilgrims (wanting to
separate from the Church of England), John Alden was a crew member on the
Mayflower. So, they stepped aboard the
historic ship for very different reasons.
Priscilla was
born in Dorking, County Surrey England, in 1602, which made her 16 or 17 years
old at the Mayflower sailing. Multiple
documents indicate that this family, as well as other Pilgrim families, were
recruited for the sailing by Thomas Weston of London Merchant Adventurers.
Twenty-one
at the time of sailing, John Alden was probably born in Harwich, County Essex,
England in 1599. John was hired as a “cooper”
or barrel maker for the ship, which was a critically important position as
barrels held drinkable water and other provisions, and his carpentry skills
were very desirable during voyage and later.
Some genealogists think John was from a group of Aldens in Southampton
and some claim he was from the Aldens of Harwich. To my eye, the preponderance of the evidence
favors Harwich. Mayflower’s Captain
Christopher Jones was from Harwich and the Mayflower’s homeport was Harwich, so
on balance I attribute John’s origins to Harwich, County Essex. Diving into the conflicting research on John’s
origins could be another good project for another time.
Let’s take a
closer look at Surrey and Essex Counties where Priscilla and John
originated. Both counties are what is
known as “home counties” in the United Kingdon because they are close to
London, with Surrey to the southeast and Essex to the northwest of London. In today’s modern world, Surrey and Essex could
be regarded as London suburbs with many people commuting into London.
Surrey is a
land locked county, bordering the River Thames.
It has very strong ties to London by proximity and economics. One historical note of interest is that King
John signed the 1215 Magna Carta in Runnymede, which is in the northern part of
County Surrey. With not especially fertile
soil, sheep predominated in Surrey and therefore woolen cloth manufacturing was
a key industry for centuries in Surrey.
Now, the economy, heavily influenced by nearby London, is driven by
financial services and a large number of company headquarters.
Essex borders the North Sea. The northern part of the county is agricultural while residents in the southern part of the county typically work in London. The Port of Harwich is in the northeast tip of the county, right on the North Sea, and has a long history of ship building. For some time in the 1600’s, Harwich was designated a Royal Naval Dockyard. Harwich is only about 30 miles from another port city, Ipswich in County Suffolk, which is much larger now and was the launching point for many ships that sailed to the colonies in the Great Migration in the later 1600s.
