The Journey of the Mayflower

By Elaine Marie Cooper I

t’s been called the most important journey in history. Indeed, the three thousand miles across the Atlantic Ocean, undertaken by 102 passengers on board the ship called Mayflower, changed the future of America, England and the politics of the world. Sixty-six days on water, that changed the course of history, starting in 1620. The journey began in Leiden, Holland. Many of the “Separatists” as these Puritans were called, had escaped there to be allowed to practice Christianity without being forced into the Church of England. Staying in England put these believers at risk of being fined, imprisoned, or even sentenced to death. 

But the very freedom in Holland that allowed the Pilgrims to worship as they wished, also allowed other beliefs and behaviors that the English Christians found offensive. Their children were becoming too “Dutch.” Purchasing a small vessel called the Speedwell, these pilgrims were intent upon sailing to the New World, rather than risk the adversities in both England and Holland. On July 22, 1620. The Speedwell took off from the Port of Delfshaven to join the other Separatists in Southhampton, England. There, they met up with the Mayflower.

On August 15, the two ships with their passengers joined together and sailed for the New World. The Speedwell, however, “Leaked like a sieve.” Both ships turned back for England. Those Pilgrims intent upon completing the journey, boarded the Mayflower, and left Plymouth on September 6, 1620. By now, the travelers were at great risk of running into dangerous weather conditions. Ideally, they should have left in April or May at the latest. To leave in the Fall was considered by some to be “foolhardy.” Those fears of the experienced naysayers were played out in the treacherous journey that ensued:

When October arrived, so did the high winds and waves. Separatist passenger William Bradford, later to become Governor of Plymouth Colony, wrote in Chapter 9 Of Plymouth Plantation, “In many of these storms the winds were so fierce, and the seas so high, as they could not bear a knot of sail, but were forced to heave to [face into the wind to stop the ship], for many days together.” 

“Today in Our History – Adventures on the Atlantic in 1620” 

 During an especially fierce storm that autumn, a main beam cracked, causing fear even among the experienced sailors. A great iron screw brought onboard by the Separatists, secured the beam in what many believed was a providential rescue from a watery grave. Many of the passengers suffered greatly from seasickness. The stench of vomit in the close quarters below deck as well as the chamber pots that had to sit for long periods of time before they could be thrown out into the ocean, added to the nauseating voyage. 

With three of the women onboard the Mayflower pregnant, it’s difficult to imagine their distress onboard. The baby boy of passengers Elizabeth and Stephen Hopkins was born on the ship and named “Oceanus.” All of the storms endured on the voyage darkened the sky with clouds, preventing the ship’s crew from navigating the stars. This lack of direction led the ship to head further north than planned. While they were headed toward Virginia, they ended up landing in what became New England. After docking in Cape Cod Harbor, another baby boy was birthed. Susanna and William White called him “Peregrine” which means, “traveler.”

After landing at Cape Cod, the Pilgrims were face-to-face with many natives who had long inhabited the “New” World. A member of the Patuxet tribe named Squanto began to speak in English to the astonished Pilgrims. Years prior, Squanto had been kidnaped by an English explorer who brought the native to Spain. There he was sold into slavery. Squanto escaped and finally made it home to the Patuxet region in 1619—just in time to be an interpreter for the passengers. 

 That first winter was harsh and deadly. Fully half their number of 102 Pilgrims died of illness in that first year. The following November the survivors were able to celebrate a meal of thanks for God’s many provisions and for their survival.  

When I think of all the trials endured by John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, I am truly astonished. Priscilla was the sole survivor in her family, losing her father, mother, and younger brother that winter. John Alden was the ship’s cooper, or barrel maker. He had come onboard as part of the crew and was the only member of the workers to remain behind when the vessel returned to England. 

Before the Atlantic crossing, the future couple had never met. When they fell in love is the subject of fictional romantic speculation. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow shone the spotlight on the young couple in his poem, “The Courtship of Myles Standish.” Henry is also a descendant of John and Priscilla. 

 John rose to become a prominent member of Plymouth Colony. He was a signer of the Mayflower Compact and for many years, served as an assistant to the Governor. About 1623, Priscilla and John married and had 10 children. Those ten, produced 70 grandchildren! It’s no wonder their descendants are numbered near a million or more. 

 I am descended from Ruth Alden, the couple’s 6th child. I am the 6th child in my own family. ;) When I first learned from my mother’s cousin that I was a descendant, I was delighted. I had spent many years living in Massachusetts and I’d always felt such a connection to that state. Knowing the Aldens’ were my ancestors sealed the deal for me. My roots truly belonged in New England.

Award-winning author, Elaine Marie Cooper, never thought she’d see her name listed on published books. Now researching her eighth novel and ninth book, she is too caught up in her passion to write to stop any time soon. She says the Lord called her to create books and she’ll obey that calling until He says to stop. Her most recent releases are “Scarred Vessels,” winner of the 2021 Selah Award, and “Love’s Kindling,” finalist in the 2020 Selah Award, and Book 1 in the Dawn of America series. Her only non-fiction release is the memoir of her daughter, Bethany who passed away from a brain tumor in 2003. It was also a Selah Winner in 2015. Cooper is a mom of 2 grown sons and GiGi to 5 of “the most beautiful grandchildren ever. https://www.mayflower400uk.org/education/my-mayflower/the-mayflower-400th-anniversary-special-history-hit-live/the-mayflower-400th-anniversary-special-history-hit-live/

The Pilgrims and Our Spiritual Roots

                         By Elaine Marie Cooper

   Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite meal of the year. There’s nothing like the traditional turkey, dressing, and pumpkin pie to make my mouth water!

This holiday takes on added meaning for me as well, because my ancestors arrived on the Mayflower nearly 400 years ago. So when we share food with loved ones while thanking our God Who has provided the abundance, we are recreating the spiritual roots and grateful attitude of the Pilgrims who knew their survival depended on the Almighty. 

Our family tradition in my home has been allowing each member to voice what they are grateful for in the last year. Sometimes the answers are amusing, sometimes incredibly heartwarming. 

   While we understand that the First Thanksgiving was celebrated here by the Mayflower survivors along with the Native Americans who helped them, the first official proclamation that was decreed to celebrate such a holiday was in 1777. It was a recommendation to the thirteen states by the Continental Congress to set aside December 18^th that year as a “solemn thanksgiving” to celebrate the first major victory for the Continental troops in the American Revolution: the Battle of Saratoga. 

   The Battle of Saratoga has significant interest for my own family since one of my ancestors was a soldier there. But he was not on the American side—he was a British Redcoat. After surrendering to the Americans, he escaped the line of prisoners and somehow made his way to Massachusetts and into the life and heart of my fourth great-grandmother. 

This family story was the inspiration for my Deer Run Saga that begins in 1777. 

Some may wonder why such detail was afforded this holiday in my novels set in Massachusetts, while Christmas is barely mentioned. The reason is simple: Thanksgiving was the major holiday in the New England colonies, with Christmas considered nothing more special than a workday. It was also considered a “papist” (i.e. Catholic) holiday.

According to Jack Larkin in his book, The Reshaping of Everyday Life, “The Puritan founders of New England and the Quaker settlers of Pennsylvania had deliberately abolished (holidays) as unscriptural.”

   But Thanksgiving was begun as a way to give thanks to God for His provision. It usually began with attending church services in the morning, followed by an elaborate feast in the afternoon. The food for this meal was prepared for weeks in advance.

   Since the individual state governors chose their own date to celebrate the holiday, it was theoretically possible for some family members—if they lived in close proximity—to celebrate multiple Thanksgiving meals with family and friends across state borders. The dates chosen could be anywhere from October to December, according to Dennis Picard, former Director of the Storrowton Village Museum in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

  Chicken was most commonly served, said Picard, as it was readily available in the barnyard. And the oldest woman in the home had the honor of slicing the fowl for dinner. 

   Pies were made well in advance of the holiday and stored and became frozen in dresser drawers in unheated rooms.

   “I like the idea of pulling out a dresser drawer for, say, a clean pair of socks, and finding mince pies,” said Picard, tongue in cheek.

   Indeed.

   I hope your Thanksgiving was blessed!!

Elaine Marie Cooper has two historical fiction books that released in 2019: War’s Respite(Prequel novella) and Love’s Kindling. Love’s Kindling is available in both e-book and paperback. They are the first two books in the Dawn of America Series set in Revolutionary War Connecticut. Cooper is the award-winning author of Fields of the Fatherless and Bethany’s Calendar. Her 2016 release (Saratoga Letters) was finalist in Historical Romance in both the Selah Awards and Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She penned the three-book Deer Run Saga and has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies including the recent Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive, Live Happy. Scarred Vessels, a novel about black soldiers in the American Revolution, will release in 2020. You can visit her website/ blog at www.elainemariecooper.com

  

Childbirth in Colonial America

by Elaine Marie Cooper

In a recent conversation with my very pregnant daughter-in-law, we discussed childbirth practices, from the time I gave birth to my son—her husband—to the current trends. Back when I had my babies, hospital births were the norm and mostly male physicians delivered babies. 

Today, my daughter-in-law sees a doctor regularly but will have a midwife assisted birth in the hospital. If any complications occur, a doctor is just a step away.

While most childbirths throughout history have involved midwife assistance, the last centuries of doctor-assised birthings may leave many with misunderstandings about the history of giving birth. In summation, midwives have delivered most of earth’s inhabitants throughout the millenia. 

In fact, the introduction of male-assisted birth practitioners in the late 18^thcentury was quite shocking to many.

         In 1998, I was thrilled to visit the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. While I have forgotten many of the historical displays, one definitely stands out in my memory. It was a poster depicting a “Man Midwife.” 

The title alone was enough to intrigue me, especially since I was a registered nurse, then working in a mother/baby unit at a local hospital. The display at the Smithsonian highlighted the debate going on in the late 1700s concerning male physicians undertaking the business of delivering babies. I believe I remember the phrase “Half Man, Half Midwife: Man Midwife.” 

This picture shows a person of two parts— half physician with his tools of the trade, including forceps and medications; the other half, a female midwife with her arms outstretched in motherly care. The symbolism of interfering medical practitioner vs. comforting, female arms was loud and clear. But the image was also prompted by the disapproval of many who were offended by males becoming involved in such intimate medical care of women.

  A letter addressed to “All men in general and to all married men in particular,” was written in 1764 by Philip Thicknesse. His words expressed his outrage at the growing practice:

“Let it be remembered that my motive is thereby to put a stop to impure acts, immodest actions, and the indelicate, unchaste, and unnecessary transactions of Men Midwives, such as they avowedly and publicly profess and such that every man of sense, decency, sentiment, and spirit must and will disapprove, or be totally indifferent as to his wife’s conduct or his own honor.”

             Considering the history of childbirth, it is not surprising that only female midwives were considered the acceptable assistants in the birthing process. 

Since earliest recorded childbirths in the Bible, midwives were called upon to assist in a birth. And ever since Bridget Lee Fuller delivered the first Colonial babies on board the Mayflower in 1620, midwives had established themselves as the ones to call upon when labor began in the New World. For the next 200 years, midwifery reigned.

 Midwives did not go to school to learn the craft—the skill was taught by other women. There was no formal training in the early colonies until 1765 when an institute for training was offered in Philadelphia. But many could not afford such schooling and most still apprenticed under more experienced trainers. Many midwives were widows who delivered babies as a way to make a living.

  When a pregnant woman knew that birth was imminent, she “called her women together” for the event. Friends, relatives, the midwife—whoever a woman wanted to attend her and speak words of comfort to her—became a part of the birthing scene. It was definitely a female affair, although occasionally, husbands were needed to assist.

  Childbirth in Early America was especially difficult. One in eight births resulted in the death of the mother, usually as a result of exhaustion, dehydration, infection, or excessive bleeding. Women often looked toward impending childbirth with dread, one referring to it as “the greatest of earthly miseries.” 

  A midwife with great skills was highly valued. A diary kept by a late 18^thcentury midwife from Maine named Martha Ballard describes the difficult life that she faced—fording rivers in winter, spending hours and days tending to laboring patients, and occasionally, preparing a deceased patient for burial. But Martha’s record was a successful one for the times: Out of 996 deliveries, there were only four fatalities.

  Highly devoted to her profession, Martha continued delivering infants in her community until just before her death in 1812 at the age of 77.

  But long before Martha Ballard passed away, the tide was beginning to turn.

  By the late 1700s, doctors in England had begun to play a greater role in childbirths. They, in turn, influenced American doctors who trained across the ocean and then brought these ideas home. The practice of physician-assisted childbirth became popular in the urban areas of Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. These man-midwives brought with them medications and forceps. While the forceps could be helpful during difficult deliveries—perhaps saving many infants and mothers who would otherwise have died—the physicians tended to interfere more in a delivery rather than allowing the child to be born at a natural pace like the midwives.

  By 1790, midwifery was losing ground to the doctor-assisted delivery. But midwives continued to reign in many areas as the main caregivers of laboring women.            

Today the art of midwife-assisted deliveries is on the rise. Approximately 9% of American babies slip into the world with the help of a midwife. There are currently over 12,000 Certified Nurse Midwives in the United States.

 The shift towards the middle ground, with many certified midwives assisting births and physicians available in case of emergency, makes it seem like the perfect time for my daughter-in-law to give birth.   
(Update on my daughter-in-law: She gave birth on August 17 to Endeavor James Cooper, 8 lbs. 13 oz. Endeavor "Indy" was born on my son's birthday—his daddy! Brianna had a midwife assisted delivery.) 

Elaine Marie Cooper is the author of several historical novels including War’s Respite(Prequel novella) and Love’s Kindling. Love’s Kindling is available in both e-book and paperback. They are the first two books in the Dawn of America Series set in Revolutionary War Connecticut. Cooper is the award-winning author of Fields of the Fatherless and Bethany’s Calendar. Her 2016 release (Saratoga Letters) was finalist in Historical Romance in both the Selah Awards and Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She penned the three-book Deer Run Saga and has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies. You can visit her website/ blog at www.elainemariecooper.com

   

Plymouth: The Faith Behind the Feast

That iconic first feast at Plymouth may not have looked much like ours.

What kind of faith bears believers across oceans and sustains them through the valley of the shadow of death?
We don't know that much about the Pilgrims' feast, but we know a great deal about their faith.

Their Feast: What We Don’t Know

Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fowling that so we might after a more special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruit of our labours.
– Edward Winslow

The truth is, we don’t know as much about the quintessential American feast as you might suppose. We don’t know the precise date, although we can narrow it down to between mid-September and mid-November of 1621. “Wild fowl” and venison are mentioned, but we don’t know what else was for dinner. 

Cranberry sauce? No. While cranberries would have been available, sugar in the quantity needed to sweeten them was not. Potatoes, white or sweet? No and no. Pie? Probably not. Dessert may have been something like this: Sweet Pudding of Indian Corn. 

We do know from Edward Winslow’s description that they “entertained and feasted” for three days. And we know about 140 attended. At that point, the settlement at Plymouth consisted of 52 men, women and children who’d survived the voyage and that first brutal winter—just over half the 103 who’d sailed from Plymouth. The settlers welcomed guests: the “great king”, Massasoit, “with some ninety men.” The guests contributed five deer.  

 

Their Faith: What We Do Know

William Bradford’s 1592 Geneva Bible, on display at Pilgrim Hall Museum.
It traveled with him from England to Holland to Plymouth.

While we don’t know so much about their iconic feast, we know quite a bit about their faith. In William Bradford’s words, the Puritans “endeavored to establish the right worship of God and the discipline of Christ in the Church according to the simplicity of the gospel and without the mixture of men’s inventions.” 
This attitude put them at odds with King James and the Anglican church. 
In England, the Reformation had replaced an authoritarian and traditionalist Roman Catholic church with an Anglican church that looked… authoritarian and traditionalist. A monarch in London had taken the place of a pope in Rome. Those found “disobedient in matters of religion”—meeting in house churches to study their chosen translation of the Bible which didn’t happen to be the “authorized” one, rejecting church doctrine, straying from the Common Book of Prayer—faced fines, imprisonment under potentially deadly conditions—even the gallows. 

 

“Pilgrims” 

We don’t know when the Plymouth settlers were first called “pilgrims” but we think we know why. Bradford and the Puritan band escaped to Holland in 1608. But like Abraham once he’d gone out from Ur and traveled as far as Haran (Gen 11:31), they felt the Lord’s call to go further. William Bradford, the colony’s governor for some thirty-five years, wrote this about their decision to leave Holland:

So they left that good and pleasant city… but they knew they were pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lifted up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country." 

- William Bradford, Of Plimouth Plantation

This is a clear reference to Hebrews 11:13-16, which in the Puritans’ favored Geneva Bible reads:

All these died in faith, and received not the promises, but saw them afar off, and believed them, and received them thankfully, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth…. But now they desire a better [country], that is an heavenly… (Heb 11:13-16)

The “these” in the passage are Abraham and Sarah and other patriarchs of the faith.

By faith Abraham… went out, not knowing where he was going… (Heb 11:8)

You can see where Bradford and his company would have identified. Like Abraham, the pilgrims left behind everything familiar. Many families split, sending men and older boys ahead to establish a settlement—“offering up” their Isaacs to a highly risky venture (Heb 11:17). 

“Not knowing where they were going….” They intended to settle further south but the vagaries of storm and sea drove them to Massachusetts. Like Abraham, the settlers would “live as aliens” (Heb 11:9) among tribes that already dwelt there. And like Abraham, they would have skirmishes with hostiles (Gen 14:12), but by and large would be blessed to live in peace and cooperation with their neighbors (Gen 23:6).

 

Tested 

Although they didn’t “live in tents,” the bitter first year could not have been more difficult. They landed too late in the season to build, so they were forced to winter on the cramped and unsanitary Mayflower. Scurvy, pneumonia and tuberculosis ravaged them, claiming nearly half their lives. Bradford wrote: 

But it pleased God to visit us then with death daily, and with a disease so disastrous that the living were scarcely able to bury the dead, and the healthy not in any measure to tend the sick.

But he also testified: 

…they had borne their sad afflictions with as much patience and contentedness as I think any people could do. But it was the Lord who upheld them, and had beforehand prepared them….

 

The Crux of the Story 

And here, for me, is the crux of the story. How could people who gave up everything to obey God’s call—only to face weeks of illness, the loss of wives, husbands, children—not start to question at least a little?

“God, are You really in this thing? Heavenly Father, are You there?”

But the Pilgrims' accounts give no hint of this. Instead, they

• Accept God’s sovereign will when they experience it as adversity;
• Thank Him when they experience it as blessing; and
• Approach Him with an attitude of trust at all times.

They stood prepared even to “die in faith, without receiving the promises,… having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” (Heb 11:13)

The Pilgrims' story reminds us that sometimes—many times—the rewards that come from keeping faith with God aren’t immediately visible. 

Lord, make me ready to “confess myself a stranger and pilgrim” for whom “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21).

Read more in Linda's free eBook, The True Story Isn't the Turkey: TWO Holiday Stories Every Believer Should Know, or visit her at her blog, Five Stones and a Sling.
Linda's debut novel, The Plum Blooms in Winter, launches next October from Mountain Brook Ink. Inspired by a remarkable true story from World War II's pivotal Doolittle Raid, the novel follows a captured American pilot and a bereaved Japanese woman on her quest for ritual revenge.
Linda lives just outside Phoenix with her husband, a third-generation airline pilot who doubles as her Chief Military Research Officer. They share their home with two all-grown-up kids and a small platoon of housecats.

John Billington of the Mayflower

The Mayflower brought some stalwart, devout, and admirable men to America in 1620. It also brought John Billington.

Susan Page Davis here. Last month I told you about my ancestor, John Alden. Today I’ll tell my husband’s family’s side of the story.

The Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor, but William Halsall

John Billington is known as the black sheep of the Mayflower.  William Bradford, who wrote the classic Of Plimouth Plantation, said about him in a letter, “…he is a knave, and so will live and die.”
Problems with John began on the voyage.  He and his wife, Elinor, embarked with their two sons, John Jr. and Francis. The boys were about ages 15 and 13 when the Mayflower sailed.

Like John Alden, Billington was a Stranger, one of the passengers who was not part of the Separatist group on the Mayflower. Bradford described the Billington family as far from pious, being “one of the profanest families amongst them.” Some sources say John Billington left England to escape his creditors.

On board the ship, John was disliked for his foul language and the escapades of his sons.  Francis endangered all aboard when he fired a gun inside the ship, near an open keg of gunpowder. Though the father was already known as a troublemaker and implicated in a near mutiny on board, he did sign the Mayflower Compact when they anchored.

Signing of the Mayflower Compact, by Jean L. G. Ferris

On shore, Billington did not endear himself to the other colonists. He meddled where he pleased and disobeyed orders from the group’s military captain, Miles Standish. On several occasions, he publicly insulted Standish. In 1622, he was found guilty after he “showed contempt of the Captain’s lawful command with several speeches.” His sentence was to have his head and heels tied together for a period of time, but after he apologized, this punishment was stayed. Elinor, known as a gossip, was later put in the stocks and whipped for slander.

During the first winter, the cruel weather and lack of provisions contributed to the death of half the colonists, reducing their number to fifty. The Billington family was the only one that survived without losing at least one member.

In 1624, a scandal rocked the Plymouth Colony. Several people revolted against the rule of the Plymouth church, led by a minister who arrived on the ship Charity, John Lyford. Lyford was loyal to the Church of England, not the Separatists, and apparently sent letters to England to undermine the Plymouth Colony and the authority of Governor Bradford. John Billington was named among Lyford’s supporters. However, Billington insisted he was innocent and was never officially punished.  Lyford was banished from the colony.

His real claim to fame—or infamy—came in 1630. By this time, many other ships had brought new colonists, and the Massachusetts Bay Colony was also growing at Boston. A young man who arrived about 1624, John Newcomen, got in the bad graces of Billington and several others who were now landowners, by poaching on their property. Apparently, this was a matter of contention for some time, and he had been repeatedly warned against it.

As Bradford recorded it, Billington waylaid Newcomen in the woods “about a former quarrel and shot him with a gun, whereof he died.” Other sources tell us Newcomen hid behind a tree when Billington accosted him. Primary sources are few, but most accounts say Billington shot him in the shoulder and that Newcomen lingered several days. Infection set in, and he died.

William Bradford 

 

Bradford wrote that John Billington was “found guilty of willful murder, by plain and notorious evidence. And was for the same accordingly executed.”

Some modern descendants have tried to defend John Billington, saying that William Bradford had it in for him from the start. There may be something to that, but the authorities at Plymouth did call in John Winthrop of Massachusetts Bay and others to help them make the right decision, as there was some question as to whether the colonists had jurisdiction to carry out a death sentence.

John Billington was hung in September, 1630. He was the first white man convicted of murder and hung in New England.

John Jr. was already dead at the time of his father’s execution. The younger son, Francis Billington, married Christian Penn Eaton, also a Mayflower passenger, in 1634, and they had nine children. Francis apparently overcame the family stigma and became an upright member of the community. It is from Francis and Christian that my husband is descended.




Susan Page Davis is the author of more than fifty published novels. A history major, she’s always interested in the unusual happenings of the past. She’s a two-time winner of the Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award, and also a winner of the Carol Award and the Will Rogers Medallion, and a finalist in the WILLA Awards and the More Than Magic Contest. Visit her website at: www.susanpagedavis.com .

To enter a drawing for a paperback or e-book copy of Susan's Colonial-era novel, The Prisoner's Wife, leave a comment with your contact information below.

John Alden, Cooper

The story of John Alden, 

by Susan Page Davis

        My husband and I both had ancestors on the Mayflower, and the two men from whom we are descended seem to have been opposites in character. Today I’ll tell you about the good guy.

        John Alden was about 21 years old when he sailed on the Mayflower. He was not one of the company of Separatists who had been living in Holland. He was working as a cooper in Southhampton, where the Mayflower stopped for provisions before heading across the Atlantic. When he signed on with the ship, he was given the choice to stay in America or return to England, as he pleased. He chose to stay.
 
        Little is known of his life before he came to America. An Alden family residing in Harwich, Essex County, England, was related by marriage to Christopher Jones, the master, or captain, of the Mayflower. It’s possible that John Alden made the connection to the voyage through family.
 

Sculpture by John Rogers, Smithsonian American Art Museum

       John was probably apprenticed to a cooper as a boy to learn his trade. A cooper was a maker of barrels and other containers made of staves and bound by hoops. These included casks, buckets, tubs, butter churns, and many other vessels of special sizes or uses. Some were called tuns, butts, firkins, and hogsheads.

       Many commodities were shipped and stored in barrels. Some of the items on the Mayflower that may have been in barrels include fresh water, gunpowder, and various food supplies. A cooper was a valuable craftsman for the new colony.
 
        In 1622 or 1623, John married fellow Mayflower passenger Priscilla Mullins. She had sailed with her parents and brother, but they had all died during the first winter at Plymouth. Any romance between Priscilla Mullins and Miles Standish was probably a figment of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s imagination. 

Postcard by illustrator Ellen Clapsaddle

       John became a prominent member of the community. He and Priscilla had ten children. I am descended from their son Joseph.
 
        John became an assistant to the governor and was one of the leaders of the Plymouth Colony’s fur trade venture on the Kennebec River in what is now Maine.
       
       A dispute with a trapper outside their company, John Hocking, resulted in Hocking shooting one of Plymouth’s men, Moses Talbot. Hocking was shot by Talbot’s companions, and under Alden’s leadership they continued loading furs. Word of the shootings preceded them, and when they reached Boston with their boat full of furs, John Alden was arrested. He was the captain of the expedition and was perceived as a witness and possible suspect in the Hocking affair.

George H. Boughton's Priscilla and John Alden

       Alden’s arrest outraged his friends at Plymouth, and they sent Miles Standish to speak to Governor Dudley in Boston. Alden was released—and Standish was jailed. No one knows why, really. Maybe it was something Standish said to the governor.

       It took some doing to straighten everything out, but after more witnesses were heard, Standish was released and none of the Plymouth contingent was held responsible.
 
       John Alden was also one of the founders of the town of Duxbury, Mass., north of Plymouth. He and Standish built houses there, perhaps as early as 1629. In 1653, he built the Alden House, which still stands today.

John Alden House in Duxbury, Mass.; photo by Christopher Setterlund

       Alden held many positions in the Plymouth Colony, including the post of treasurer, and was well respected. He died in 1687, at the age of 89, one of the last surviving passengers of the Mayflower.

To enter a drawing for a copy of Susan Page Davis’s book Maine Brides, leave a

comment below, including your contact information.

            Susan Page Davis is the author of more than fifty published novels. A history major, she’s always interested in the unusual happenings of the past. She’s a two-time winner of the Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award, and also a winner of the Carol Award and the Will Rogers Medallion, and a finalist in the WILLA Awards and the More Than Magic Contest. Visit her website at: www.susanpagedavis.com .