John Alden and Priscilla Mullins were both passengers on The Mayflower when it arrived in Plymouth in 1620. John was not a Pilgrim, but had been hired to do repairs on The Mayflower when she was still in Southampton, England.He decided to make the journey to the New World perhaps with the hope of gaining prosperity or perhaps with the hope of winning the love of one of the passengers, Priscilla Mullins.
John was not the only passenger to fall in love with the lovely maiden; his good friend, Captain Miles Standish, planned to ask her for her hand in marriage.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, The Courtship of Miles Standish, tells the story of the resulting love triangle. Miles loves Priscilla, Priscilla loves John, and John loves both Priscilla and his friend, so decides to take no action.
Things look grim until Priscilla, who had been through quite a bit of suffering already, speaks up and challenges
"Why don't you speak for yourself, John?" He does, they marry, and all is well.
www.wikipedia/John Alden
