may 29, 1626 - Captain John Alden Jr.

Description:

Capt. John Alden Jr. was a 17th-century American soldier, politician, merchant, and sailor.

He was a well-known public figure in his time but is now chiefly remembered as a survivor of the Salem witch trials, of which he wrote a much quoted and studied account.

Born: 1626/1627, Plymouth Colony

Parents:
John Alden
Priscilla Mullins

Grandparents:
William Mullins
Alice Mullins

Great Grandparents:
John Mullins
Joane

Spouse(s):
Phyllis Carver (died young)
Elizabeth Phillips Everill

Children: 14, Zachariah Alden

Great grandchild: Mary Kneeland

Died:
March 25, 1702, age 75
Province of Massachusetts Bay

Occupation:
Shipmaster, merchant, soldier, politician, sailor

Known for:
Survivor and written account of the Salem witch trials

John was the first son of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins. After arriving on the Pilgrim ship the Mayflower, they settled in Plymouth Colony in 1620.

John and his older sister Elizabeth are listed in the records of the division of cattle among the residents of Plymouth, which occurred on June 1, 1627. The family later moved across the harbor to form Duxbury as the terms of settlement set by the financial backers of Plymouth Colony in London had changed and the settlers were free to spread out as they wished.

John was a sea captain, a merchant in Boston, and a charter member of Rev. Samuel Willard's Old South Meeting House and Third Church in Boston.

He became a prominent member of society within early Boston as evidenced by the many documents in the state archives recording his activities, as well as information on the large house he occupied.

There is evidence that he may have participated in King Philip's War as a young man and as the son of John Alden, a major commander in the war and a prominent member of society in both Plymouth and Duxbury.

He held a military command during King William's War and was involved in the Naval battle off St. John, in 1691.

He married Elizabeth Phillips Everill in 1660 and they had twelve children, he had 2 children from his prior marriage:

John Alden III, born 20 November 1660, died young

Elizabeth Alden, born 9 May 1662, died 14 July 1662

John Alden IV, born 12 March 1663, had issue, became a sailor

William Alden I, born 10 March 1664, died young

Elizabeth Alden, born 9 April 1665, had issue

William Alden II, born 5 March 1666, died young

Zachariah Alden, born 8 March 1667, died young

William Alden III, born 10 September 1669, had issue

Nathaniel Alden, born 1670, had issue

Zachariah Alden, born 18 February 1673, had issue

Nathan Alden, born 17 October 1677, died young

Sarah Alden, born 27 September 1681, died young

John died on March 25, 1702, in what was then the Province of Massachusetts Bay. His gravestone reads:

"Here lyeth ye body of John Alden Senior aged 75 years deceased March ye 14 1701/2

"Senior" in this context indicates that he was himself father of a third John Alden. The stone is preserved at the portico of the present Old South Church in Boston after having been discovered during excavations where it had been dumped after the removal of the graves.

John was involved in a number of scandals and controversies, which featured heavily in the accusations against him for witchcraft.

The only known controversy occurred in Salem when he stopped there on his return home from Quebec, where he had gone in February 1692 to ransom New England settlers captured in the Candlemas attack on York, Maine.

According to the Massachusetts state archives, he had been involved in several exchanges of this type over the years; this fed mightily into controversies about the man as another piece of gossip that surrounded him was that he sold weapons to the enemy for personal profit, including Native American tribes like the Wabanaki, allies of the French in 1692.

When John arrived in Salem Village, he knew nothing of the trials and had the misfortune of having his son, also named John, taken as part of the prisoner exchange. Due to his father having been accused of witchcraft, and thus unable to return to Quebec to bargain, John Alden IV was taken to the Bastille in France, from whence he would not return for almost a decade.

John didn't know that one of the accusers, one of the "afflicted", was Mercy Lewis. She was orphaned in the latter half of 1689 in Casco Bay, Maine, during a raid on her village. Historians have speculated that she had an ulterior motive in accusing Alden, a desire for revenge on those she felt had failed to protect her family.

John's second wife, Elizabeth, had ties to Maine as her father was a wealthy lumber merchant, a business he inherited through marriage. He was a perfect target and was subsequently accused and convicted of witchcraft.

At the time of his trial, Salem jail was already full and so he was carted off to Boston. In the coming weeks of incarceration, he had been inclined not to make much of the matter, but was prevailed upon by some friends and broke out of jail, fleeing in the night on horseback.

It was mid-September and his decision to run away proved wise, as evidenced by the fact that Giles Corey was crushed to death within a few days of his departure. Per some sources it is said he escaped to New York, but it's more likely that he escaped south to his hometown, Duxbury. He had many relatives there, including his younger brothers David and Jonathan.

John hid with friends and family, until, as he later said, "the public had reclaimed the use of its reason". When he returned to Boston nearly a year later, he was cleared by proclamation.

The authorities do not seem to have searched for him with any diligence; one of the judges, Samuel Sewall, an old friend, is known to have expressed doubts about his guilt, and attended a prayer service at John's house in the hope of receiving guidance. Most judges remained unrepentant and John Hathorne, one of the three judges that presided over Alden's case, is known as the "Hanging Judge" because so few escaped the noose when he presided, which makes Alden's story all the more valuable.

John's vivid first-hand narrative of the witchcraft trials was published by Robert Calef's, 'More Wonders of the Invisible World'. The transcript from his trial still survives in which he recounts the bizarre behavior of the girls where they would at one moment be catatonic and then another moment would go into fits simply because he had looked at them.

He questioned the judges why it was that whenever he looked at them in the eyes, nothing happened. He had his sword taken from him, because the girls said it was an object of witchcraft. He was at some point asked to go outside in the sunlight so the girls could see his face better, and the girls were perfectly capable of walking out before convulsing.

The overall tone of the text suggests his thoughts on the matter were that the town had gone stark raving mad: two of the three judges on the court were completely convinced by the girls' antics. He relates how he appealed to his friend Bartholomew Gedney, the third judge, to clear his character; Gedney replied coldly that he had always looked on Alden as an honest man, but now must alter his opinion.

John said that he hoped in time to change Gedney's opinion again: unlike another socially prominent eyewitness, Nathaniel Cary, John never cast doubt on the judges' integrity, although he referred to the afflicted girls with contempt as "juggling wenches".

As he noted, much of their alleged evidence against him, that he sold whiskey to the Indians and had Indian wives and children, was simply gossip which they had presumably picked up from their parents.

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