MULLINS FAMILY HISTORY FOLLOWS:

MULLINS FAMILY HISTORY FOLLOWS:

MULLINS FAMILY

August 1, 2016

William Mullins’ Mark:

1.JOHN MULLINS (MULLYNS) (1538-1583/84)

JOANNE BRIDGER (1553-1585)

JOHN MULLINS (MULLYNS) was born in about 1538, of Warham, Sussex, England, to unknown parents. He married Joanne Bridger, 8 July 1571, in Dorking, Surrey, England.

John Mullins died in about 1583, in Dorking, Surrey, England, age 45.

JOANNE BRIDGER was born about 1538, of Dorking, Surrey, England, to Richard Bridger and Margerie Elliot. Joanne married (1) *John Mullins 8 July 1751, in Dorking, England. Married (2) Vincent Benham, 1 November 1585.

Joanne Bridger passed away about 1585, in Dorking, Surrey, England, age 47.

Children of John Mullins and Joanne Bridger:

1.John Mullins Jr., b. 1577, of Dorking, England; d. 1643, Dorking, England.

2.William Mullins was born about 1572, in Dorking, Surrey, England, to John Mullins (1538-1583) and Joanne Bridger (1553-1585.) He married Alice Atwood or Unknown by 1593 in England. William and Alice Mullins, and their two youngest children: Joseph and Priscilla; and a servant, Robert Carver; arrived on the Mayflower, in December 1620. William Mullins passed away about 21 February 1621, at Plymouth, Massachusetts, a casualty of that first winter in the New World, age 43. His wife, Alice, and son, Joseph also died that winter.

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2. WILLIAM MULLINS (1572-1621)

ALICE ATWOOD (1573-1621)

WILLIAM MULLINS was born about 15782, in Dorking, Surrey, England, to John Mullins (1538-1583) and Joanne Bridger (1553-1585.) He was 12 when his father, John Mullins, died; and 14 when his mother, Joanne, died. He married Alice Atwood or Unknown by 1593 in England.

William and Alice Mullins, and their two youngest children: Joseph and Priscilla; and a servant, Robert Carver; arrived on the Mayflower, in December 1620. William Bradford writes: “Mr. Molines, and his wife, his sone, and his servant dyed the first winter. Only his daughter Priscilla survived, and married with John Alden, who are both living [in 1650] and have 11 children.”

The nuncupative (oral) will of William Mullins probably written 21 February 1621, the day of his death, and copied 2 April 1621 (reprinted here from The Mayflower Descendant, vol. 1:231-232):

In the name of God Amen: I comit my soule to God that gave it and my bodie to the earth from whence it came. Alsoe, I give my goodes as followeth That Forty poundes in the hand of Goodman Woodes I give my wife tenn poundes, my sonne Joseph tenn poundes, my daughter Priscilla tenn poundes, and my eldest sonne tenn poundes. Alsoe I give to my eldest sonne all my debts, bonds, bills (onelye yt forty poundes excepted in the handes of Goodman Wood) given as aforesaid wth all the sotck in his owne handes. To my eldest daughter I give tenn shillings to be paied out of my sonnes stock. Furthermore that goodoes I have in Virginia as followoeth To my wife Alice halfe my goodes & to Joseph and Priscilla the other halfe wquallie to be devided betweene them. I also have xxj dozen of shoes, and thirteene paire of bootes wch I give into the Companies handes for forty poundes at seaven years and if they like tham at that rate. If it be thought to deare as my Overssers shall thinck good And if they like them at that rate at the divident I shall have nyne shares whereof I give as followeth twoe to my wife, twoe to my sonne William, twoe to my sonne Joseph, twoe to my daughter Priscilla, and one to the Companie. Allsoe, if my sonne William will come to Virginia I give him my share of land furdermore I give to my twoe Overseers Mr John Carver and Mr Williamson, twentye shillings apiece to see this my will performed desiringe them that he would have an eye over my wife and children and be as fathers and friends to them; Allsoe to have a speciall eye to my man Robert wch has not so approved himselfe as I would he should have done.

This is a Coppye of Mr Mullens his Will of all particulars he hathe given. In witnes whereof I have sett my hande

John Carver, Giles Heale, Christopher Joanes

The will was carried back to England for probate by the Mayflower on her return voyage (ibid.):

“In the month of July Annon Domini 1621, on the 23d day issued a commission to Sarah Blunden, formerly Mullins, natural and legitimate daughter of William Mullins, late of Dorking in the County of Surrey, but deceased in parts beyond the seas, seized &c., for administering the goods, rights and credits of the said deceased because in that will he named no executor.”

Mullins’ will was discovered in the late 19th century by Henry F. Waters and published as part of his series, Genealogical Gleanings in England, in New England Historical & Genealogical Register, vol. 42:62-63. The will proves that William died before his wife, son, and servant, who are all mentioned in the instrument, and that Alice and Joseph were still alive when the Mayflower sailed back to England, or else Gov. Carver would have annexed a statement regarding the deaths of the two legatees. The date of the copy of the will also proves that the Mayflower did not leave New England until after 2 April 1621. The probate record proves that William Mullins resided at Dorking, County Surrey.

In 1612 William Mullins bought a holding in Dorking with a house and an acre and a half of land and outbuildings between West Street and Back Lane (now Church Street) for £122 and took over a mortgage of £200. He sold this to Ephraim Bothal in May 1619 for £280 (Dorking pamphlet).

On 29 April 1616, a warrant was issued to bring “one William Mollins before heir Lordships.” On 2 May he appeared before the Privy Council and was continued technically in their custody “untill by their Honours’ order hee be dismissed.” While the reason for this arrest is not given, it was most probably associated with the religious controversies of that time. The fact that he was a Dissenter may explain why William Mullin’s marriage record is not found in the Parish Register for Dorking, nor are the baptisms of his children.

William Mullins was a fairly well-to-do shoe and boot dealer from Dorking, Surrey, England. He purchased shares in the Pilgrims joint stock company, thereby becoming one of the Merchant Adventurers. He came to America on the Mayflower along with his wife and two of his children: Joseph (15) and Priscilla (17.) His two married children, William and Sarah, stayed in Dorking.

William Mullins passed away about 21 February 1621, at Plymouth, Massachusetts, a casualty of that first winter in the New World, age 43.

The following biography was submitted by Eleanor Johnson. The primary source of the information is Mayflowerfamilies.com. William Mullins was born about 1572. The possible parents were John and Joan (Bridger) Mullins of Dorking, Surrey, England. He married Alice, her maiden name has not been proven. William came on the Mayflower with his family, his wife Alice and two children, Priscilla and a son, Joseph. One source said that he brought over 250 shoes and 13 pairs of boots. He was a shoe and boot maker by trade. He died the first winter, 21 February 1621.His wife and son also died the first winter. His will was written shortly before his death. He mentions his wife in the will and children Priscilla and Joseph, and his children back in Dorking, William Mullins and Sarah Blunden. He is buried on the hillside above Water St. just overlooking Plymouth Rock...A sarcophagus is situated there with many people that died the first winter. William, Alice, his wife, and their son are buried in that memorial. The Pilgrims buried their dead at night in shallow graves so that the Indians would not know how many of them had died that first winter. Later the monument was built and the remains of the first winters dead were placed there on the hillside. I have been to the grave in Plymouth on a cold, windy day and it is very sobering to think of what they endured as they settled in this new land.

ALICE ATWOOD or UNKNOWN was born about 1574, of London, Middlesex, England, to unknown parents or Nicholas Atwood (1539-1586) and Olive Harman (1548-1603.) Alice married William Mullins by about 1593.

William and Alice Mullins, their two youngest children: Joseph (15) and Priscilla (17); and a servant, Robert Carver; arrived on the Mayflower, in December 1620. William Bradford writes: “Mr. Molines, and his wife, his sone, and his servant dyed the first winter. Only his daughter Priscilla survived, and married with John Alden, who are both living [in 1650] and have 11 children.”

Alice Mullins passed away after her husband after the date of 6 April 1621, at Plymouth Massachusetts, age 47, as a great Pilgrim. Her husband had died about 21 February and son, Joseph at some point that winter.

Alice Mullins was the wife of Pilgrim William Mullins. Alice may have been his second wife. There have been several different theories regarding this, but nothing has at all been proven. Together they had four children: Sarah, William, Priscilla and Joseph. They left their two oldest children behind in England and brought aboard the Mayflower Priscilla (probably 17 years old) and Joseph (probably 15). Alice, along with her husband William and son Joseph, died the first winter in Plymouth Colony. Priscilla was the lone survivor and married passenger John Alden the following year. Like many of the Pilgrim mothers, not much is known of Alice Mullins.

She died in Plymouth in the winter of 1620/1, 15 March 1621, age 47.

Children of William and Alice Mullins:

1.William was born about 1593. He married (1) _____ _____ by 1618 and had one daughter. He married (2) Ann Bell in Boston on May 7, 1656, as her second husband. He died in 1674.

2.Sarah was born about 1598, of Dorking. She married Robert Blunden by 1621. She was awarded administration of her father’s estate in Dorking in July 1621, but there is no further information.

3. Priscilla was born about 1600, to William (1572-1621) and Alice Mullins (1574-1621), in England. Priscilla, age 17, came to New England on the Mayflower in late 1620 with her parents and brother Joseph, age 15. All died but Priscilla that first winter. She married John Alden before 1623 and had eleven children. She died between 1651 and John’s death which was September 12, 1687.

4. Joseph was born about 1606 and died in Plymouth during the winter of 1620/1, age 15.

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HONORABLE JOHN ALDEN (1599-1687)

3. PRISCILLA MULLINS (1600-1685)

HONORABLE JOHN ALDEN

John Alden

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John Alden (c.1599–1687) was a crew member on the historic 1620 voyage of the Pilgrim ship Mayflower. Rather than return to England with the ship, he stayed at what became Plymouth Colony. He was hired in Southampton, England, as the ship's cooper, responsible for maintaining the ship's barrels. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact. He married fellow Mayflower passenger Priscilla Mullins, whose entire family perished in the first winter. He served in a number of important government positions such as Assistant Governor, Duxbury Deputy to the General Court of Plymouth, Captain Myles Standish's Duxbury militia company, a member of the Council of War, Treasurer of Plymouth Colony, and Commissioner to Yarmouth.

English origins

His origins are largely subject to speculation, but it is currently believed that he was from the Alden family of Harwich in Essex, England. Harwich is an ancient North Sea port, northeast of London, which was the homeport of the Pilgrim ship Mayflower and home of its captain, Christopher Jones. The Alden family of Harwich had distant connections to Jones, residing there in the 17th century and possibly related to him by marriage. The only certainty about his English background were Bradford's words that Alden “was hired for a cooper, (barrel maker) at Southampton, where the ship victuled; and being a hopeful young man, was much desired, but left to his liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed, and maryed here.” Author Charles Banks states that the employment of Alden “at Southampton” does not necessarily mean that he was a resident of the seaport and may have only been there to work temporarily when the Mayflower arrived. Banks notes a young John Alden about the same age as the Mayflower passenger was a seafarer in Harwich in the early 17th century.

Banks also reports that John Alden, said to have been born in 1599, residing in Southampton in 1620, may have been the son of George Alden the fletcher (arrow maker), who disappeared – probably dying in that year – leaving John, an orphan, free to take overseas employment. Jane, the widow, may have been his mother and Richard and Avys his grandparents. Records providing information from the tax list of Holyrood Ward in 1602 list the names of George Alden and John's future father-in-law William Mullins.

Voyage of the Mayflower

The Mayflower departed Plymouth, England, on September 6/16, 1620. The 100-foot ship had 102 passengers and a crew of about 30-40 in extremely cramped conditions. By the second month out, the ship was being buffeted by westerly gales, causing the ship’s timbers to be badly shaken with caulking failing to keep out sea water, and with passengers, even in their berths, lying wet and ill. This, combined with a lack of proper rations and unsanitary conditions for several months, attributed to what would be fatal for many, especially the majority of women and children. On the way there were two deaths, a crew member and a passenger, but the worst was yet to come. After arriving at their destination, in the space of several months, almost half the passengers perished in the cold, harsh, unfamiliar New England winter.

On November 9/19, 1620, after a month of delays in England and about two months at sea, they spotted the Cape Cod Hook. After several days of trying to get south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod Hook, now called Provincetown Harbor, where they anchored on November 11/21. The Mayflower Compact was signed that day.

Plymouth Settlement

John Alden was among the original settlers of the Plymouth Colony. Although not himself a Separatist he had been hired to repair Mayflower while she lay off Southampton, England, and decided to journey when she set sail, perhaps with the hope of becoming prosperous in the New World. Alden's engagement with rivaling Indians who plotted to kill newcomers is told elaborately in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Courtship of Miles Standish" (1858).

The Courtship of Miles Standish

The Courtship of Miles Standish 1858, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Related to the couple.) There are nine large sections to this poem. Please read on the Internet.

•The Courtship of Miles Standish I. Miles Standish

•The Courtship of Miles Standish II. Love and Friendship

•The Courtship of Miles Standish III. The Lover's Errand

•The Courtship of Miles Standish IV. John Alden

•The Courtship of Miles Standish V. The Sailing of the Mayflower

•The Courtship of Miles Standish VI. Priscilla

•The Courtship of Miles Standish VII. The March of Miles Standish

•The Courtship of Miles Standish VIII. The Spinning-Wheel

•The Courtship of Miles Standish IX. The Wedding-Day

From 1633 until 1675, he was assistant to the governor of the Plymouth Colony, frequently serving as acting governor and also on many juries.

Dispute of 1634

In 1634, Alden was jailed, in Boston, for a fight at Kenebeck in Maine between members of the Plymouth Colony and the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The fight involved a fur trading dispute that escalated into a killing of Plymouth colonist Moses Talbot by John Hocking by a shot to the head. Hocking was then immediately killed by Plymouth colonists by a shot to the head.

While Alden did not participate in the fight, he was the highest-ranking member from Plymouth that the Massachusetts Bay colonists found to arrest. It was only through the intervention of Bradford that he was eventually released.

Family

John Alden married Priscilla Mullins on May 12, 1622. She was the only survivor of the Mayflower Mullins family. They had ten children. Priscilla died in Duxbury between 1651 and her husband's death in 1687. Both were buried in the Myles Standish Burial Ground in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

Children of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins

1.Elisabeth Alden (c.1624 – 1717.) “Elizabeth Pabodie” as it is spelled on her headstone, was born about 1624 in Plymouth to John Alden (1599-1687) and Priscilla Mullins (1600-1685.) She was considered the first white girl born in the Plymouth Colony. She married William Pabodie, 24 December 1644, in Duxbury, Massachusetts, a civic and military leader of Duxbury where all 13 of their children were born. They moved to Little Compton, Rhode Island, where Elisabeth died in 1717 at the age of about 94.

2.John Alden was born about 1626 and died in Boston on March 14, 1701/2. He married Elizabeth (Phillips) Everill on April 1, 1660, and had fourteen children. He was a survivor of the Salem witch trials, of which he wrote a notable account.

3.Joseph Alden was born about 1628 and died in Bridgewater on February 8, 1696/7. He married Mary Simmons about 1660 and had seven children.

4.Priscilla Alden was born about 1630. She was alive and unmarried in 1688.

5.Jonathan Alden was born about 1632 and died in Duxbury on February 14, 1697. He married Abigail Hallett on December 10, 1672, and had six children. Jonathan was buried in the Old Cemetery in South Duxbury.

6.Sarah Alden was born about 1634 and died before the settlement of her father's estate in 1688. She married Alexander Standish about 1660 and had eight children.

7.Ruth Alden was born about 1636 and died in Braintree on October 12, 1674. She married John Bass in Braintree on February 3, 1657/8, and had seven children.

8.One of the children, Hannah, was the grandmother of John Adams, second President of the United States.]

9.Mary Alden was born about 1638. She was still alive and unmarried in 1688.

10.Rebecca Alden was born about 1640 and died between June 12, 1696, and October 5, 1722. She

married Thomas Delano in 1667 and had nine children.

11.David Alden was born about 1642 and died in Duxbury between July 2, 1718, and April 1, 1719. He married Mary Southworth by 1674 and had six children.

Final days and legacy

John Alden was the last survivor of the signers of the Mayflower Compact. He died at Duxbury on September 12, 1687. He left no will, having disposed most of his real estate during his lifetime. Both he and his wife Priscilla lie buried in the Myles Standish Burial Ground.

The Alden residence is also in Duxbury, on the north side of the village, on a farm which is still in possession of their descendants of the seventh generation.

John Alden's House, now a National Historic Landmark, was built in 1653 and is open to the public as a museum. It is run by the Alden Kindred of America, an organization which provides historical information about him and his home, including genealogical records of his descendants. John and Priscilla had the following children who survived to adulthood: Elizabeth, John (accused during the Salem witch trials), Joseph, Priscilla, Robert, Jonathan, Sarah, Ruth, Mary, Rebecca, and David. They have the most descendants today of all the pilgrim families.

John & Priscilla Alden’s Home:

References

1.A genealogical profile of John Alden, (A collaboration between Plymouth Plantation and New England Historic Genealogical Society) [1]

2.Robert Charles Anderson, Pilgrim Village Family Sketch of John Alden (A collaboration between American Ancestors and New England Historic Genealogical Society)

3.Society of Colonial Dames, 1897; Section 75.

4.Eugene Aubrey Stratton. Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620-1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), pp. 232–233.

5.Charles Edward Banks, The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers: who came to Plymouth on the Mayflower in 1620, the Fortune in 1621, and the Anne and the Little James in 1623 (Baltimore, MD.:Genealogical Publishing Co., 2006) pp. 27–28.

6.Eugene Aubrey Stratton. Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620-1691,(Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), p. 413.

7.George Ernest Bowman, The Mayflower Compact and its signers, (Boston: Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1920). Photocopies of the 1622, 1646 and 1669 versions of the document pp. 7–19.

8.Hawthorne, Julian. The History of the United States from 1492 to 1910 Volume 1: 1492-1910. BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2007.ISBN 1-4264-8541-7, ISBN 978-1-4264-8541-1.; p. 62.

Priscilla and John Alden depicted on a postcard:

Priscilla Alden (née Mullins or Mullens), (c. 1602 – c. 1685) was a noted member of Massachusetts's Plymouth Colony of Pilgrims, the wife of fellow colonist John Alden (c. 1599–1687). They married in 1621 in Plymouth.

Biography

Priscilla was most likely born in Dorking in Surrey, the daughter of William and Alice Mullins. She was just eighteen when she boarded the Mayflower. She lost her parents and her brother Joseph during the first winter in Plymouth. She was then the only one of her family in the New World, although she had another brother and a sister who remained in England.

Sweet of temper and blessed with great patience, she rose above her grief and spun wool and flax for the colony, taught the children and helped with the cooking. Priscilla Mullins and John Alden were married at Plymouth circa 1622, likely the third couple to be married in Plymouth Colony. Priscilla is last recorded in the records in 1650, but oral tradition states that she died within a few years of her husband (who died in 1687). Although she was buried at the Miles Standish Burial Ground in Duxbury, Massachusetts and there is a marker at the Burial Ground in her honor, no one knows the exact location of her grave.

John Alden and Priscilla Mullins were probably the third couple to be married in Plymouth Colony. William Bradford’s marriage to Alice Carpenter on August 14, 1623 is known to be the fourth. The first was that of Edward Winslow and Susannah White in 1621. Francis Eaton’s marriage to his second wife Dorothy, maidservant to the Carvers, was possibly the second.

The exact location of her grave is unknown, but there. She is known to literary history as the unrequited love of newly widowed Captain Miles Standish, the colony's military advisor, in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1858 poem The Courtship of Miles Standish. According to the poem, Standish asked his good friend John Alden to propose to Priscilla on his behalf, only to have Priscilla ask, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?”

Longfellow was a direct descendant of John and Priscilla, and based his poem on a romanticized version of a family tradition although, until recently, there was little independent historical evidence for the account. The basic story was apparently handed down in the Alden family and published by John and Priscilla’s great-great-grandson Rev. Timothy Alden in 1814.

Scholars have recently confirmed the cherished place of romantic love in Pilgrim culture, and have documented the Indian war described by Longfellow. Circumstantial evidence of the love triangle also exists. Miles Standish and John Alden were likely roommates; Priscilla Mullins was the only single woman of marriageable age. The families of the alleged lovers remained close for several generations, moving together to Duxbury, Massachusetts in the late 1620s.

The Alden Children

Priscilla and John Alden had ten children, with a possible eleventh dying in infancy. Although not documented, it's presumed that the first three children were born in Plymouth, and the remainder in Duxbury.

1.John Alden, Jr. (1623 - 1701) Born at Plymouth, John moved to Boston and married Elizabeth Phillips Everill, widow of Abiel Everill, 1 April 1660 at Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; John and Elizabeth had thirteen children. He was a mariner and became a naval commander of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was a member of the Old South Church of Boston and his headstone is embedded in the wall there. On a trip to Salem John Alden was accused of witchcraft and spent fifteen weeks in a Boston jail. He escaped shortly before nine other accused were executed during the Salem witch trials. Later exonerated, Captain John Alden died at Boston, Massachusetts, on 14 March, 1701.

2.Elisabeth Alden (c.1624 – 1717.) “Elizabeth Pabodie” as it is spelled on her headstone, was born about 1624 in Plymouth to John Alden (1599-1687) and Priscilla Mullins (1600-1685.) She was considered the first white girl born in the Plymouth Colony. She married William Pabodie, 24 December 1644, in Duxbury, Massachusetts, a civic and military leader of Duxbury where all 13 of their children were born. They moved to Little Compton, Rhode Island, where Elisabeth died in 1717 at the age of about 94.

3.Joseph Alden (c.1627 - c.1697) Moved to Bridgewater where he farmed land purchased from the Indians by his father and Myles Standish. He married Mary Simmons and they had seven children. Died 8 February 1696/97 at Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts

4.Jonathan Alden (c.1632 - 1697) married Abigail Hallett on 10 December 1672 at Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Jonathan and Abigail lived in Duxbury and raised six children in the original Alden home, which he received from his father, and which passed to his son upon his death on 14 February, 1697.

5.Sarah Alden (c.1628 - 1674), whose marriage to Alexander Standish, son of Miles Standish, belies any idea of a feud between the Alden’s and the Standish family. Sarah and Alexander had at least seven children and lived in Duxbury until Sarah’s death on 12 August 1674.

6.Ruth Alden (1634 - 1674) married John Bass 12 May 1657; had seven children; died 12 October 1674 at Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts.

7.Priscilla Alden (1639 - 1689) No record of marriage nor children

8.David Alden (c. 1645 - 1719) married Mary Southworth, daughter of Constant Southworth of Plymouth Colony, and had six children. Described as "a prominent member of the church, a man of great respectability and much employed in public business."

9.Rebecca Alden (c.1649 - 1688), married Thomas Delano of Duxbury before30 October1667. They had nine children.

10.Robert Alden (1649 - 1685)

11.Mary Alden (c.1659 - c.1688) No record of marriage nor children

References

1.Johnson, Caleb. “Priscilla. MayflowerHistory.com. Retrieved 2008-11-23.

2.The Mayflower Descendant, vol. 30:4.

3.Greene, David L. (July–October 1997). "Notes on Francis1 Eaton of Plymouth". The American Genealogist 72:305ff. at 308–309.ISSN0002-8592.OCLC4767535.

4.Timothy Alden, Collection, vol.3, pp. 264-271.

5.Bruce C. Daniels, Puritans at Play, 1995.

6.Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower, 2006.

7.John A. Goodwin, The Pilgrim Republic, 1915.

8.Encyclopedia Britannica, 2006.

9.Zachariah Alden and Henry Alden have both been incorrectly identified as sons of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins in various publications. For information on the genealogy of Henry Alden, see Mayflower Descendant 43:21-29,133-138; 44:27-30,181-184.

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