Priscilla Alden

Biography

Priscilla Alden carried a family connection from Duxbury, Massachusetts, into a new household in Stonington, on Connecticut’s southeastern coast. The daughter of David Alden and Mary Southworth, she married Samuel Chesebrough at Duxbury on January 4, 1699/1700. Their marriage joined two established New England families, but the surviving records also reveal Priscilla acting in her own right as a daughter with an interest in family land. In October 1724, she and Samuel conveyed a quarter share of David Alden’s land to John Seabury.

The couple’s seven recorded children were Mary, Priscilla, Nathaniel, Amos, Hannah, Sarah and Prudence, born between 1702 and 1722. Their son Nathaniel died in April 1709, while still a small child; Amos had been born only weeks earlier.

Priscilla was still living when Samuel made his will on January 19, 1735/36. He named her in that document, and the inventory of his estate recorded his death on March 2. Priscilla's own death date remains uncertain.