Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by (1882) Capt. John Alden Sr. 1598–1687) was a crew member on the historic 1620 voyage of the Pilgrim ship.
![Crackston Crackston](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c3/Mary_Allerton_Cushman_grave_in_Plymouth_MA.jpg/220px-Mary_Allerton_Cushman_grave_in_Plymouth_MA.jpg)
![Mayflower Mayflower](https://kids.kiddle.co/images/thumb/0/08/MayflowerHarbor.jpg/290px-MayflowerHarbor.jpg)
Rather than return to England with the ship, he stayed at what became. He was hired in Southampton, England, as the ship's, responsible for maintaining the ship's barrels. He was a signatory to the. He married fellow Mayflower passenger, 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, Captain 's militia company, a member of the, Treasurer of, and Commissioner to.
John Crackston came to Plymouth Colony aboard the Mayflower with his son John Jr. The elder John signed the Mayflower Compact on 11 November 1620, but apparently his son was under twenty-one as he did not also sign it. In addition to John Jr., he also had a daughter Anna, whom married Thomas Smith on 12 December 1618. John Alden Sr. 1598–1687) 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.
Contents • • • • • • • • • • English origins [ ] Many theories have been ventured about the English origins of John Alden. Robert Charles Anderson, general editor of the multi-decade 'Great Migration' effort to establish the earliest European immigrants to New England, says that although one or two of the hypothesized origins are 'tempting,' none of them are proved. Research by historian Charles Edward Banks published in 1929 theorized that John Alden may have come from the Alden family of in Essex, England. Harwich is an ancient North Sea port, northeast of, which was the homeport of the ship Mayflower and home of its captain,. 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 's words that Alden 'was hired for a cooper, (barrel maker) at, 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. The tax list of in 1602 list the names of George Alden and John's future father-in-law William Mullins. Voyage of the Mayflower [ ].