General Notes

"Priscilla Mullins was the daughter of William Mullins, also a passenger on the Mayflower with his wife Alice and son Joseph. William, Alice and Joseph all died in the terrible sickness and deprivation of the first winter in Plymouth. Priscilla, who as probably still too young to be married, was orphaned, her only surviving kin her brother and sister in England. Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow celebrated the story of how Priscilla attracted the attentions of the newly-widowed Captain Myles Standish, who asked his friend John Alden to propose on his behalf only to have Priscilla ask, "Why don't you speak for yourself, John".  Most of the world draws its image of the Pilgrim story from Longfellow's epic narrative poem, The Courtship of Myles Standish. 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 his Collection of American Epitaphs and Inscriptions in 1814 (264-271). Rev. Timothy?s facts are not always correct (he was not born until 1736, fifty years after John?s death), and he embellishes in the typical style of his day, but his account of the famous courtship and description of John is as close to the original as we can get:
Mrs. Rose Standish, consort of Captain Standish, departed this life, on the 29 of January 1621. This circumstance is mentioned as an introduction to the following anecdote, which as been carefully handed down by tradition.
In a very short time after the decease of Mrs. Standish, the captain was led to think, that, if he could obtain Miss Priscilla Mullins, a daughter of Mr. William Mullins, the breach in his family would be happily repaired. He, therefore, according to the custom of those times, sent to ask Mr. Mullins? permission to visit his daughter. John Alden, the messenger, went and faithfully communicated the wishes of the captain. The old gentleman did not object, as he might have done, on account of the recency of Captain Standish?s bereavement. He said it was perfectly agreeable to him, but the young lady must also be consulted. The damsel was then called into the room, and John Alden, who is said to have been a man of most excellent form with a fair and ruddy complexion, arose, and, in a very courteous and prepossessing manner, delivered his errand. Miss Mullins listened with respectful attention, and at last, after a considerable pause, fixing her eyes upon him, with an open and pleasant countenance, said, "prithee John, why do you not speak for yourself?" He blushed, and bowed, and took his leave, but with a look, which indicated more than his diffidence would permit him otherwise to express. However, he soon renewed his visit, and it was not long before their nuptials were celebrated in ample form.
Obviously, in addition to the inevitable distortions of stories told and retold over the years, the Rev. Alden had already taken some poetic license with the family story before Longfellow took over. There would have been very little time between the death of Rose Standish on January 29th and the death of William Mullins on February 21st, if all of this took place while Mullins was still alive, and there is little chance even the flamboyant Captain Standish would have been courting Priscilla during those desperate months of sickness and starvation in the winter of 1621. A grain of truth probably exists in the family tradition, but most of the story that found its way to Longfellow's poem is pure imagination.

The marriage date of John and Priscilla is also unknown. They were certainly married at Plymouth. We know that William Bradford?s marriage to Alice Carpenter 14 August 1624 was the fourth marriage in Plymouth Colony (The Mayflower Descendant, vol. 30:4). 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 (TAG, 72:308-309). John Alden and Priscilla Mullins is likely the third.
Since Priscilla is not listed in the 1623 division of land (which probably took place in early 1623/4 ? see below), it is assumed their marriage took place before that list was made and, therefore, John Alden?s share included that of his wife. By the division of cattle in May 1627, the Aldens had two children, Elizabeth and John. No birth records for any of the Alden children survive, but from the death record of Elizabeth Alden it appears she was born about 1624-5 and was the eldest child. This places John and Priscilla?s marriage about 1623. Since no birth or baptism for Priscilla has been found, we can only make a wild guess that she may have been about sixteen to eighteen in 1620, slightly too young to marry in the first year or two after she was orphaned."

SOURCES: LDS FHL 1HKM-GT (familysearch.org) .
"Stimpson Family", Cory Stimpson cbstimpson@@hotmail.com, AWTP, who has generously shared the above narrative at AWTP.
"Descendants of Sir Violl VYVIAN of Trevidren in Cornwell" Bernard Casimir bjcasimir2003@@yahoo.com.au