Elisabeth (Alden) Pabodie (abt. 1624 - 1717)

Born about 1624 in Plymouth Colony

Ancestors

Wife of William Pabodie Sr — married 26 Dec 1644 (to 13 Dec 1707) in Duxbury, Plymouth Colony

Descendants

Died 31 May 1717 at about age 93 in Little Compton, Plymouth, Province of Massachusetts Bay Colony (now Newport County, Rhode Island)

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Elisabeth (Alden) Pabodie was related to a passenger on the Mayflower. Join: Mayflower Project Discuss: mayflower

Biography

Elisabeth Alden, daughter of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins was born about 1624 in Plymouth^[1]

Elisabeth married in Duxbury 26 (or 20) December 1644, William Pabodie^[2]

Elisabeth Pabodie died 31 May 1717 Little Compton, Newport, Rhode Island, at the impressive age of 95, and was buried there.^[2]

Children:

They were the parents of 13 known children:^[2]

1. John Pabodie, b. 4 Oct 1645,
2. Elisabeth (Pabodie) Rogers, b. 24 April 1647
3. Mary (Pabodie) Southworth, b. 7 Aug 1648;
4. Mercy (Pabodie) Simmons, b. 2 Jan 1649/5
5. Martha (Pabodie) Fobes, b. 24 FEb 1650/1
6. Priscilla Pabodie, b. 16 Nov 1632 (died young),
7. Priscilla (Pabodie) Wiswall, (again) b. 15 Jan 1653/4,
8. Sarah (Pabodie) Coe, b. 7 Aug 1656
9. Ruth (Pbodie) Bartlett, b. 27 June 1658
10. Rebecca (Pabodie) Southworth, b 16 Oct 1660
11. Hannah (Pabodie) Churchill, b. 15 Oct 1662
12. William Pabodie Jr, b. 24 Nov 1664
13. Lydia (Pabodie) Grinnell, b. 3 April 1667

In the Old Burying Ground in Little Compton, you can find a very special grave monument. It belongs to Elisabeth Alden, the first white girl born in New England. Her parents, John Alden and Priscilla Mullin (or Mullens), came to America on the Mayflower in 1620. Elisabeth, sometimes spelled "Elizabeth" was born in 1624 or '25 in Plymouth, the first of John and Priscilla's ten children.

Described by a contemporary as, "dignified, a woman of great character, and fine presence, very tall and handsome," Elisabeth married William Pabodie (or Paybody or Peabody) on December 26, 1644. They settled in Duxburough (later Duxbury, Massachusetts), close to other Mayflower families, including the Brewsters and Standishes. William served as town clerk there, succeeding Alexander Standish, and held other jobs at various times as well, including yeoman, boatman, planter, and surveyor. When he became Duxbury town clerk, the town records having been destroyed in a fire, he very carefully recorded his own marriage and the births and marriages of his thirteen children. Interestingly, one of the thirteen, Priscilla, died at only three months old and the next girl child was given the same name.

William was one of the original purchasers in 1673 of portions of "Saconett," lands that would become Little Compton^[3], and he also, along with Constant Southworth, performed the surveying work behind the purchases.

Around 1684 William and Elizabeth moved to Little Compton (then still part of Plymouth Colony), and several of their children and grandchildren followed and established their own families there. William traded on his employment experience in Duxbury to become Little Compton's first town clerk, a position that he held well into his old age. He also served as a school teacher. Around 1690, William and Elizabeth built a home on West Main Road. Much changed and expanded, it's now known as the Peabody-Wilbour Farm. (The "Wilbour" was Isaac C. Wilbour, who lived there in the 1890s, and the appearance of the house today reflects the tastes of his day. It originally was a simple two-story building consisting of four rooms).

William died on December 13, 1707, and Elisabeth followed him ten years later, on May 31, 1717, at the ripe age of ninety-three or ninety-four. Her obituary in the Boston Newsletter said in part, "She was exemplary, virtuous and pious, and her memory is blessed. She left a numerous posterity. Her granddaughter Bradford is a grandmother." In fact, it's estimated that at the time of her death she had eighty-two grandchildren and 556 great-grandchildren!

Source from Internet Genforum Genealogy 2001--from Timothy Alden, Jr., A collection of American Epitaphs and Inscriptions (1814), v.3, p. 279-280.

Little Compton, Rhode Island

623. Note: The following paragraph is from the Boston News-Letter, 17 June, 1717, and is retained in Judge Sewall's Phoenomena Quaedam Apocalyptica, published in 1727, in connection with sundry other statements, in evidence of the longevity of the first settlers of the Old Colony and of their immediate descendants.

"Little Compton, 31 May.

This morning died here Mrs. Elizabeth Paybody, late wife of Mr. William Paybody, in the 93 year of her age. She was a daughter of John Alden, Esq. and Priscilla, his wife, daughter of Mr. William Mullins. This John Alden and Priscilla Mullins were married at Plymouth, in New England, where their daughter, Elizabeth, was born. She was exemplary virtuous and pious and her memory is blessed. She has left a numerous posterity".

Sources

1. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles. The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004).
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Woodworth-Barnes, and Williams, Mayflower Families through Five Generations, Vol. 16 Part 1 of 3, John Alden, Boston, Mass. General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2002
3. ↑ Historic and Architectural Resources of Little Compton, Rhode Island. Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission. 1990. Page 5 (image 12) (https://preservation.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur406/files/pdfs_zips_downloads/survey_pdfs/little_compton.pdf#page=12)

• American Genealogy Tag Vol. 53:105, Charts and Chronicles pg 14.
• Quahog.org > Attractions > Grave of Elizabeth Alden Pabodie
• Genforum Genealogy 2001--from Timothy Alden, Jr., A collection of American Epitaphs and Inscriptions (1814), v.3, p. 279-280.

Little Compton, RI 623. Note: The following paragraph is from the Boston News-Letter, 17 June, 1717, and is retained in Judge Sewall's Phoenomena Quaedam Apocalyptica, published in 1727, in connection with sundry other statements, in evidence of the longevity of the first setlers of the Old Colony and of their immediate descendants.

"Little Compton, 31 May. This morning died here Mrs. Elizabeth Paybody, late wife of Mr. William Paybody, in the 93 year of her age. She was a daughter of John Alden, esq. and Priscilla, his wife, daughter of Mr. William Mullins. This John Alden and Priscilla Mullins were married at Plymouth, in New England, where their daughter, Elizabeth, was born. She was exemplarily virtuous and pious and her memory is blessed. She has left a numerouus posterity".

Buried in Commons Cemetery, Little Compton, Bristol, RI.

• American Genealogy Tag Vol. 53:105, Charts and Chronicles pg 14.
• Caleb Johnson's Mayflower History website : accessed 27 Jan 2018
• Lainhart, Ann Smith, & Wakefield, Robert S. Mayflower Families Through Five Generations (General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Plymouth, MA., 2004) Vol 16 Part 1 of 3, John Alden, Boston, Mass.: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2002.
• American Genealogical-Biographical Index, Godfrey Memorial Library, Middletown, CT, USA
• Alden Kindred of America website : accessed 27 Jan 2018
• Roser, Susan E., Mayflower Births and Deaths: From the Files of George Ernest Bowman at the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants. Volumes 1 & 2. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1992
• Torrey, Clarence Almon. Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, 1985)
• Mayflower Descendants and Their Marriages for Two Generations After the Landing (Bureau of Military and Civic Achievement, Washington, D.C., 1922) Page 9
• Death - "Rhode Island, Vital records, 1846-1898, 1901-1953", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL9K-HXFQ : 16 July 2017), Elisabeth Alden, 1717.
• Elisabeth Alden Pabodie on Find A Grave: Memorial #6868310 Retrieved 13:14, 19 January 2018 (EST).
• Dublin Core: Betty Alden House - Betty Alden and her husband, William Pabodie, moved to Little Compton in the 1680s, settling in this house, long memorialized as a shrine to the "first-born daughter of the Pilgrims." Betty Alden House, Little Compton, Rhode Island
• Mary Lanford Taylor Alden. "Elizabeth (alden) Pabodie and Descendants." Salem: Eben Putnam. 1897.
• http://alden.org/aldengenealogy/database/pafg01.htm#23792C

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