Captain John Alden: Son of Pilgrims and Salem Witchcraft Suspect

In May 1692, one of Boston's most respected citizens walked into a Salem courtroom—and the accusers couldn't even identify him. Captain John Alden Jr., son of Mayflower passengers and decorated war hero, seemed an unlikely target for witchcraft accusations. But his connections to Native Americans and the French made him dangerous in the eyes of wartime Massachusetts.

What happened when Salem's witch hunt reached beyond the village to pull in a prominent Bostonian with impeccable colonial credentials? This episode examines how Captain Alden's examination revealed the absurdity and danger of the spectral evidence system and how his escape became one of the trial period's most dramatic moments.

From his parents' legendary Plymouth courtship to his own flight from justice, Captain Alden's story shows us who could be accused, who could survive, and what it took to navigate Salem's machinery of suspicion.

Episode Highlights:

• John Alden Sr. and Priscilla: The last surviving Mayflower passenger and the marriage that inspired Longfellow

• Captain Alden's controversial fur trading and the rumors that made him a target

• The chaotic May 31st examination where accusers needed prompting

• The touch test, the sword, and the claims of "Indian Papooses"

• His September escape to Duxbury and surprising return

Key Figures: Captain John Alden Jr., John & Priscilla Alden, Judges Bartholomew Gedney and John Richards, Rev. Samuel Willard, Robert Calef

The Thing About Salem examines the people, places, and events of the 1692 Salem witch trials. New episodes weekly.

Links

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts YouTube⁠

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts

The Thing About Salem website

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You probably aren't used to thinking of Salem witches and
Plymouth Pilgrims together, but who is it that bridges 2
important moments in Massachusetts and American
history connecting the Mayflowerto the Salem witch trials?
Welcome to the thing about Salem.
I'm Josh Hutchinson. And I'm Sarah.

(00:21):
Here's a post Thanksgiving treatfrom your friendly neighborhood,
Mayflower and Salem W Charles descendant, while you enjoy your
leftovers the umpteenth day in arow.
Hopefully not too many days. While you're settling in after a
busy or lazy Thanksgiving, we want to talk about a man whose
story reveals how social status could mean the difference

(00:43):
between life and death during the Salem witch hunt.
That man is Captain John Alden. He was the son of Mayflower
passengers, a decorated war hero, successful merchant, and
one of the most respected men inBoston.
He seemed untouchable, but in 1692, not even his rank in
society or his Mayflower peritage could protect him when

(01:08):
the accusations came. His experience shows us that
Witch Hunt Panic didn't just target the vulnerable and
marginalized, it eventually reached even the colonial elite.
So today we're looking at what happened when one of
Massachusetts most prominent citizens found himself accused
of witchcraft, and what his story tells us about the

(01:30):
machinery of the trials themselves.
Who was Captain John Alden? He was the son of signer of the
Mayflower Compact, John Alden Senior.
He passed just five years beforethe Salem Witch Trials.
His parents were Mayflower passengers John and Priscilla.

(01:51):
Priscilla's family came on the Mayflower and did not make it
past that first year. His parents married around 1622
or 1623, making theirs one of the first marriages in Plymouth.
So Captain John Alden, he was born in about 1626 and in 1659

(02:12):
he married Elizabeth Phillips Everell.
Captain John Alden was a sea captain during King William's
War, and he helmed one of the ships of the Massachusetts Navy
called the Mary. So in between October 1688 and
April 1692 during King William'sWar, Alden went up the coast

(02:33):
from Boston to northern New England and Acadia 16 times or
more on government business. His son, John Alden Junior, was
captured in Acadia and eventually ransomed.
In July 1690, Alden was ordered to go to Marblehead and get a

(02:58):
cannon from them to use in the war effort.
This was when Governor Phipps, before he was governor, he was
leading the military on expedition to take Quebec.
And so they were rounding up cannons everywhere.
But when they got to Marblehead,they beat the drums and all the
militiamen came out. There was 60 to 70 men angry

(03:22):
that confronted John Alden and he never got that cannon.
He was a Bostonian who was a charter member of Reverend
Samuel Willard's Old S Meetinghouse, also known as
Third Church in Boston in January 26th of 1692, which is

(03:45):
right at the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials.
He is in court. Yeah, John Alden was in court on
that date in Boston. He was there facing Anthony
Checkley, who had some legal background and had represented
Captain John Alden in some earlycourt cases that John wasn't

(04:09):
able to attend himself. But Checkley was there to sue
John for 5 lbs of back pay. Fortunately for Alden, the jury
found in his favor. But the court dismissed a
different action that Alden had taken a suit against Mark

(04:29):
Emerson for defamation of character.
They threw that one out. Emerson was formerly A hostage
and he was a redeemed captive basically of the French and
Native Americans. He had said that while he was in
captivity for 2 1/2 years in Maine, he had seen Alden sell

(04:55):
the Indians powder and shot. And so Alden was suing him for
defamation for saying that he sold that.
And the jury found for Emerson saying that Alden couldn't prove
that that was not true. On May 28th, a complaint was

(05:16):
filed by Joseph Holton and John Walcott against John Alden, but
also a host of other people. Martha Carrier, you might have
heard of her. Elizabeth Fostic Wilmot Red
Sarah Rice, Elizabeth Howe, William Proctor, John Flood,

(05:37):
Mary Toothacher, Margaret Toothacher, and Arthur Abbott.
Margaret was a child. Margaret was the daughter of
Rodger Toothacher. So a few days after the
complaint was issued on May 31st, an arrest warrant was
issued for Captain John Alden. And according to the warrant,

(05:58):
Alden was complained of by a whole series of afflicted
people, Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, Abigail Williams,
Elizabeth Booth, Elizabeth Hubbard and Putnam and Mary
Warren. Mary Walcott is one of the
people named in the warrant as being harmed by John Alden.

(06:20):
It was her brother John who was one of the two men who filed the
complaint against that whole slew of people, including John
Alden and Martha Carrier. All those people John Walcott
accused on behalf of his sister.He was arrested and apparently
it was uneventful enough that hedid not give a story about it to

(06:45):
Robert Kayla, who later gives his account, and there's no
other real details on it. But we do know the date, because
an order was sent by Salem magistrates to the prison keeper
in Boston. Yeah, they had arrested him down
in Boston and put him in that local jail, and the Salem judges
wanted them to come up there forexamination.

(07:08):
And when he did come up for examination, and that was
eventful, and he wrote a whole account of this in Robert
Caleb's book More Wonders of theInvisible World, which was
published 2 years before Alden passed.
He passed in 17 O 2 and published in 1700.
It's a great account and in it he refers to himself as senior

(07:32):
and a mariner. And he says this is a quote from
him. Those winches being present, who
played their juggling tricks, falling down, crying out and
staring in people's faces. That's how he referred to the
afflicted people. In his account, he recalls that
the judges asked the afflicted people to identify him and that

(07:56):
one pointed to a Captain Hill until a man whispered in an
afflicted girl's ear. Then she pointed out Alden.
So after this afflicted person did eventually point out Alden
in the meeting house where he was being examined, they ordered
the judges ordered everyone to go out into the street.

(08:19):
And in his account he says all were ordered to go down into the
street, where a ring was made. And the same accuser cried out
there stance Alden, a bold fellow with his hat on before
the judges. He sells powder and shot to the
Indians and French, and lies with the Indian squaws, and has
Indian papooses. Then was Alden committed to the

(08:42):
Marshall's custody and his swordtaken from him, for they said he
afflicted them with his sword. Later, Alden was made to stand
on a chair for all to see him. Judge Bartholomew Gedney said he
had known Alden many years and had been at sea with him and

(09:02):
always looked upon him to be an honest man.
But now he did see cause to alter his judgement.
Alden answered he was sorry for that but he hoped God would
clear up his innocency, that he would recall that judgement
again and added that he hoped that he should with Job,
maintain his integrity till he died.

(09:24):
The evidence against John Alden was pretty thin actually.
There was 1 testimony of Mary Warren and it was against George
Burroughs, John Alden, ElizabethCarey and Anne Prudiator.
So she's testifying against fourpeople at once.
The testimony goes. The testimony of Mary Warren,

(09:44):
aged 20 years or thereabouts, testifieth and saith that
sometime in July last Mr. Burroughs pinched me very much
and choked me almost to death. And I saw and heard him sound a
trumpet, and immediately I saw several come to him, as, namely,
Captain Alden Miscarry and GoodyPootieater, and several others.

(10:09):
And they urged me to go along with them to their Sacramento
meeting. And Mr. Burroughs brought to me
bread to eat and wine to drink, which I refusing he did most
grievously torment me, urging mevehemently to write in his book.
Also, I've seen Mr. George Burroughs or his appearance most
grievously tormenting Mary Walcott and Ann Putnam, and I

(10:31):
verily believe in my heart that Mister George Burroughs is a
dreadful wizard and that he has several times tormented me and
the aforesaid persons by his acts of witchcraft.
So the one testimony that mentions Alden is primarily
about George Burroughs. Alden just happens to be along
for the ride to the sacrament. So he's arrested and he goes to

(10:57):
the Boston jail for 15 weeks. It's a whole season.
So while Alden was in jail on July 20th, 1692, there was a
fast held at Captain Alden's house, I guess with his wife and
family hosting. This fast was held upon his

(11:18):
account. Cotton reported that Mister
Willard prayed, that he himself read a sermon out of Doctor
Preston and Captain Scottow prayed, Mr. Allen came in and
prayed, and that Cotton and Captain Hill sung together the
first part of Psalm one O 3, andthey were there till 5:00 PM.

(11:42):
So he spent 15 weeks in jail. And we have a couple sources
that reports that Captain Alden escapes.
Caleb says, observing the mannerof the trials and the evidence
then taken, which we've talked about this crazy evidence, the
touch test, the sore being bewitched, he prevailed to

(12:03):
escape and we know he went to Duxbury, MA, where his relatives
resided. He may have been helped to
escape by his minister, Samuel Willard.
On December 31st, Alden appearedbefore Judge John Richards, who
was one of the judges of the Court of Warrior and Terminer in

(12:24):
Salem, but was also a judge locally in Boston, and Judge
Richards released Alden on 200 lbs bond, which Alden paid along
with Nathaniel Williams and Samuel Checkley.
John Alden was cleared by proclamation on April 25th, 1693

(12:46):
in Boston. The court record states John
Alden of Boston, Mariner, who stood recognized for his
appearance at this court upon suspicion of witchcraft being
called, appeared and was discharged by proclamation.
So. He escaped, he comes back on his
own free will knowing things aregoing well and gets released on

(13:08):
bond. So he's a free man to reside in
his own home and do his own routine again while he waits for
this day. And he comes in for like 2
minutes and they're like, you'regood.
He. Like many others, only lived a
handful of years past the witch trials.

(13:28):
He died on March 14th, 17-O2. His gravestone can be visited in
the Old South Church in the portico.
But you mentioned other people who had also lived only a few
years after the witch trials. He made it about nine years
after the witch trials ended, but William Stoughton was

(13:53):
already dead by 17 O2 Sheriff George Corwin Ann and Thomas
Putnam. Governor Phipps had passed
Francis Nurse had passed James Howe, Captain Jonathan Walcott,
the father of the John and Mary that we mentioned earlier in the
show, Captain Bartholomew Gedney, the judge that had been

(14:18):
friends with Alden but changed his mind, Reverend John Hale who
published a book called A ModestInquiry into the Nature of
Witchcraft, and Samuel Paris's wife Elizabeth Senior.
They had all passed away alreadywithin 10 years of the Witch
house. So there you have it, the Alden

(14:40):
family bridge. 2 defining moments in early American
history John Alden senior signedthe Mayflower Compact in 1620,
helping establish the foundations of self governments
of the colonizers in the New World. 72 years later, his son,
Captain John Alden, a charter member of one of Boston's most

(15:00):
important churches and a decorated war hero, found
himself accused of witchcraft inSalem.
The. Alden story shows us that the
Panic of 1692 wasn't just about the vulnerable or marginalized
or just women. It could reach anyone, even the
most prominent colonial familieswith significant Mayflower

(15:21):
credentials. Captain Alden's experience
reveals both how far the accusations reached and how
someone with resources, connections and sheer audacity
could navigate the deadly machinery of the trials and
survive. From the deck of the Mayflower
to a Salem courtroom, the Aldenswitnessed and shaped the

(15:44):
earliest and darkest chapters ofNew England history.
Have a great today and beautifulleftovers.