John Alden is most famous as a character in a long poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, called The Courtship of Miles Standish; but actually he was a young man (not quite twenty-one years old) who sailed with the Pilgrims from England to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620, on the ship Mayflower. He was not really one of the "Pilgrim fathers," because he was hired to make the trip as a skilled worker, and did not come because of his religious convictions; but he stayed in Massachusetts and married Priscilla Mullens, daughter of one of the Pilgrims.
John and Priscilla had eleven children, and they were successful in living through the hard winters and periods when there was very little food and many of the settlers died. It has been estimated that more than one million Americans are descended from John and Priscilla Alden. The only other of the Pilgrims who might have more descendants is Governor William Bradford, who was the second governor of the Massachusetts colony.
Longfellow was one of the descendants of John and Priscilla, and that may be why he wrote his famous poem. Captain Miles Standish, a more important member of the colony, asks John Alden to go to Priscilla and ask her if she would marry him (that is, if she would marry Miles Standish). But Priscilla liked John Alden, who was a younger and more handsome man, and she said to him, "Speak for yourself, John." When Captain Standish heard about this, he persuaded John Alden to marry Priscilla.
David is the author of many articles including Best Friend Quotes and also the author of Best life quotes; other articles:
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