John Alden

John Alden (c. 1598 – September 12, 1687) was an English cooper and later colonial magistrate, best known for being one of the passengers on the 1620 voyage of the Mayflower which brought the English settlers, commonly known as Pilgrims, to Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. He was hired in Southampton, England, as the settlers' cooper, responsible for making and maintaining the barrels that the colony would need. He was on Governor Bradford's list of settlers and was one of the original signers of the Mayflower Compact. He had the choice to return to England but decided to remain in Plymouth Colony and married there. He was the seventh and last surviving signatory to the Mayflower Compact. He married fellow Mayflower passenger Priscilla Mullins, whose entire family perished in the first winter in Plymouth Colony. The marriage of the young couple became prominent in Victorian popular culture after the 1858 publication of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's fictitious narrative poem The Courtship of Miles Standish. The book inspired widespread depictions of John and Priscilla Alden in art and literature during the 19th and 20th centuries. Alden was one of Plymouth Colony's most active public servants and played a prominent role in colonial affairs. He was annually elected to the Governor's Council nearly every year from 1640 to 1686. He served as Treasurer of Plymouth Colony, Deputy to the General Court of Plymouth, a member of the colony's Council of War, and a member of the colony's Committee on Kennebec Trade, among other posts. He was the last surviving signer of the Mayflower Compact upon his death in 1687. The approximate location of his grave in the Myles Standish Burial Ground was marked with a memorial stone in 1930. The site of his first house in Duxbury, Massachusetts is preserved and marked with interpretative...