Author's Note

Nothing is known about John Alden's boyhood and youth. The records begin when he was twenty-one years old and was hired as a cooper aboard the Mayflower.

There is a tradition that he was the son of a minister, and that he was orphaned when very young. If he had any brothers or sisters, there are no records of them. Augustus E. Alden, who wrote a book called Pilgrim Alden, suggests that John might have been educated by John Alden, a lawyer of Hertfordshire. It is possible, too, that Robert Alden, on of the London Adventurers, might have been a relative, and that through him John Alden learned about the Mayflower and the voyage to America.

Nobody knows for sure. The first eight chapters, then, are a story of what might have been. They tell about the England in which John Alden grew up and the ideas which people had in those days. John Alden must certainly have served an apprenticeship with a cooper, for no one could learn a trade without and apprenticeship then. Mr. Brewster was pleased with John's skill and fine appearance, and hired him to take care of the Mayflower's cargo.

The rest of the story is true, except, perhaps, for the story about the courtship of John and Priscilla.  Augustus E. Alden tells us that the story was "carefully handed down by tradition" in the Alden family. This version has not been proved, he tells us. Again, it is something that could have happened. And it is a pleasant story.

The Pilgrims were, after all, very human people, fighting a grim battle to survive in a strange and unknown land. That they did survive is a tribute to their hard work and to their very real courage.

Cecil Pepin Edwards