Briggs Alden (1723 - 1796)

Born 8 Jun 1723 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Mercy (Wadsworth) Alden — married 19 Nov 1741 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, New England

Descendants

Died 4 Oct 1796 at age 73 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States

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Biography

Briggs, son of Col. John and Hannah (Briggs) Alden (and Mayflower descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins), was born at Duxbury, MA on June 8, 1723.

On May 22, 1740, Samuel Weston was appointed guardian of Briggs, a minor when his father died.^[1]

Son of John Alden and Hannah Briggs Col. John Alden dies in 1739, his wife Hannah Briggs Alden dies soon after. Their oldest son Samuel, living in England, becomes the owner of the Alden family home, while another son, Briggs Alden, continues to live in the house with his family. Samuel Alden dies in England in 1757 (age 44), leaving the house to his brother, Briggs. Briggs marries Mercy Wadsworth 18 Nov 1741, daughter of Ichabod Wadsworth (1686-1745) and Margaret Marshall (1702-1773). They live in the house and raise a family of 8 children until his death in 1796. Children of Briggs and Mercy Wadsworth Alden are Hannah (1743-1790) John (1744-1766) Son (1746-1746) Deborah (1748-1793) Major Judah (1750-1845) Nathaniel (1752-1833) Edith (1754-1815) Abigail (1755-1800) Samuel (1757-1779) Amherst (1759-1804).

The John and Priscilla Alden Sites property consists of the c. 1700 Alden house and the c. 1632 original Alden Homestead site. The property owes it significance to the cultural impact of The Courtship of Miles Standish, a poem about the courtship of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, written by Alden descendant Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and published in 1858. The public embraced the poem. It became one of the most popular national origin stories in American folklore. The property also is the location of important archeological fieldwork and analysis by Roland Wells Robbins (1908-1987), a pioneer in the field of historical archeology, making the site of national significance in the development in this field. Robbins located and excavated a foundation of the original Alden home in 1960, which yielded nationally significant data that shed light on the lifeways of the first English settlers in North America.

Probate

The will of Briggs Alden of Duxbury was dated 23 December 1793 and proved on 9 December 1796 in Plymouth. He mentioned his wife Mercy, and his children, Judah, Nathaniel, Edith, Abigail, Deborah, decd., and Amherst (executor). ^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ "Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G97D-NKFL : 20 May 2014), Probate records 1738-1742 vol 8 > image 101 of 288; State Archives, Boston.
2. ↑ "Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-897D-XZC6 : 20 May 2014), Probate records 1796-1802 vol 36-37 > image 38-39 of 636; State Archives, Boston.

• Esther Littleford Woodworth-Barnes, comp., Alicia Crane Williams, ed., Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, John Alden, Volume 16, Part 1 of 5, (Plymouth: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2002), pp. 127, 441-444

• Vital Records of Duxbury Massachusetts to the year 1850, (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1911), p. 16 (birth); p. 211 (marriage); p. 345 (death)

• Bowman, George Ernest. The Estate of Col. John Alden of Duxbury and the Will of His Widow Hannah, The Mayflower Descendant (Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, Boston, 1918) Vol. 20, Page 15. "Guardians of Briggs Alden and Abigail Alden"
• Find A Grave: Memorial #42305495: Mayflower Cemetery, Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts