Alden House Historic Site
105 Alden Street, P. O. Box 2754
Duxbury, MA 02331-2754
781-934-9092
fax: 781-934-9149

Alden Kindred
of America, Inc.
Closed for the season.
Tours by appointment.

John⁵ Adams (John,⁴ Hannah³ Bass, Ruth² Alden, John¹)

Sixth President of the U.S. (1825-1829). Second child and eldest son of John Adams.  Adams's career of public service was one of the most varied and distinguished in American history. He served his nation as a diplomat, senator, secretary of state, president, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Visit  Adams Historic Park

John Quincy⁶ Adams (John,^5-4 Hannah³ Bass, Ruth² Alden, John¹)

American historian, b. Quincy, Mass.; son of Charles Francis Adams.  His theory that civilization rose and fell according to the growth and decline of commerce was first developed in The Law of Civilization and Decay (1895). Adams applied it to his own capitalistic age, of which he was a militant critic, but failed to find the universal law that he persistently sought. His ideas greatly influenced his brother Henry Adams whose essays he edited in The Degradation of the Democratic Dogma (1919). In America's Economic Supremacy (1900), Brooks said that Western Europe had already begun to decline and that Russia and the United States were the only potential great powers left.

Brooks⁸ Adams (Charles F.,⁷ John Q.,⁶ John,^5-4 Hannah³ Bass, Ruth² Alden, John¹)

American diplomat and editor, grandson of John Adams and son of John Quincy Adams. In 1861 President Abraham Lincoln appointed him minister to Britain. His skillful handling of this position during the American Civil War is an outstanding chapter in the history of American diplomacy. He edited several books, including the Life and Works of John Adams (10 volumes, 1850-1856) and the Memoirs of John Quincy Adams (12 volumes, 1874-1877).

Charles Francis⁷ Adams (John Q.,⁶ John,^5-4 Hannah³ Bass, Ruth² Alden, John¹)

American writer and historian, b. Boston; son of Charles Francis Adams (1807–86). He was secretary (1861–68) to his father, then U.S. minister to Great Britain. Upon his return to the United States, having already abandoned the law and seeing no opportunity in the traditional Adams vocation of politics, he briefly pursued journalism. He reluctantly accepted (1870) an offer to teach medieval history at Harvard, but nonetheless stayed on seven years and also edited (1870–76) the North American Review. His exhaustive study of the administrations of Jefferson and Madison, History of the United States of America (9 vol., 1889–91; reprinted in a number of editions), is one of the major achievements of American historical writing. Famous for its style, it is deficient, perhaps, in understanding the basic economic forces at work, but the first six chapters constitute one of the best social surveys of any period in U.S. history.

Henry⁸ Adams (Charles F.,⁷ John Q.,⁶ John,^5-4 Hannah³ Bass, Ruth² Alden, John¹)

Minister whose life what depicted in the series of children's books by author Laura Ingalls Wilder and subsequently featured in the TV Series, "Little House on the Prairie."  For a full description of his life, refer to the Mayflower Quarterly, Vol. 64, No 4 (November, 1998).

Edwin Hyde⁸ Alden (Elam,⁷ Daniel,^6-5-4 Joseph,^3-2 John¹) and (Elam,⁷ Sarah⁶ Alden, Ezra,⁵ Eleazer,⁴ Joseph,^3-2 John¹)

The former Norma Jeane Baker, far better known as Marilyn Monroe, who had lived in an orphanage, was an actress, yes. She traded her head of average brown curls for blond-bombshell status, true. She was a walking confection of sexuality, a lonely and insecure little girl, an object of desire for the man in the street and the President in the White House. And when she died in 1962 of a drug overdose, at the age of 36, her acting teacher, Lee Strasberg, tried to describe her aura in a eulogy: ''She had a luminous quality,'' he said, ''a combination of wistfulness, radiance, yearning...to set her apart, and yet it made everyone wish to be part of it, to share in the childish naïveté which was at once so shy and yet so vibrant.''  From Entertainment Weekly Nov 5, 1999.  Link to information.  Link to information.

Norma Jean¹¹ Baker.  Her father is reputed to have been Charles Stanley¹⁰ Gifford (Frederick A.,⁹ Charles A.,⁸ Lydia F.⁷ Tompkins, Uriah,⁶ Micah,⁵ Sarah⁴ Coe, Sarah³ Pabodie, Elizabeth² Alden, John¹)

William Cullen Bryant was our " first American writer of verse to win international acclaim." (Tomlinson, 30) Bryant was considered a child-prodigy, publishing his first poem at age ten and his first book when he was thirteen, a political satire of an embargo policy of Thomas Jefferson.  Bryant received great praise for his poetry, but the critics did not give him unconditional laurels, due to the absence of a full range of poetry, such as epics, elegies, and verse drama.  Link to his literature.

William Cullen⁷ Bryant (Sarah⁶ Snell, Ebenezer,⁵ Zachariah,⁴ Anna³ Alden, Jonathan,² John¹)

The Chicago architect and city planner, a developer of the skyscraper.

Daniel Hudson^9-10 Burnham (Elizabeth Keith⁸ Weeks, Holland,⁷ Hannah⁶ Moseley, Sarah⁵ Capen, Ruth⁴ Thayer, Sarah³ Bass, Ruth² Alden, John¹). and (Elizabeth Keith⁹ Weeks, Harriet Byron⁸ Hopkins, Anna⁷ Whiting, Gamaliel,⁶ Elizabeth⁵ Bradford, Hannah⁴ Rogers, Elizabeth³ Pabodie, Elizabeth² Alden, John¹)

Frank Nelson⁹ Doubleday (Ellen Maria⁸ Dickinson, Horace,⁷ Mary⁶ Little, Ephraim,⁵ Elizabeth⁴ Southworth, Rebecca³ Pabodie, Elizabeth² Alden, John¹

Herbert Henry Dow⁹ Dow, Joseph Henry^8, Abigail^7, Jonathan^6, French, Jonathan,^5, Thayer, Esther⁴ Bass, Sarah^3,  Ruth^2, Alden, John¹

1849-1938, Naturalist, conservationist, editor of Field & Stream, founder of the Audubon Society.

George Bird⁹ Grinnell (George B.,⁸ George,^6-7 William,⁵ George,⁴ Lydia³ Pabodie, Elizabeth² Alden, John¹)

Congregational clergyman, abolitionist, founder of Grinnell, Iowa, and of Grinnell College, friend of Lincoln and Horace Greeley.

Josiah Bushnell⁸ Grinnell (Mylon,⁷ Reuben,⁶ Daniel,⁵ George,⁴ Lydia³ Pabodie, Elizabeth² Alden, John¹)

Martha¹⁰ Graham (Jane⁹ Beers, Mary⁸ Hamilton, Frances⁷ Staples, Job,⁶ John,⁵ Hannah⁴ Standish, Ebenezer,³ Sarah² Alden, John¹).

Granville Stanley⁹ Hall (Abigail⁸ Beals, Abigail⁷ Vining, Abigail⁶ Alden, Ezra,⁵ Ebenezer,⁴ Isaac,³ Joseph,² John¹)

Robert¹⁰ Lansing (Maria Lay⁹ Dodge, Jerusha Lay⁸ Sterling, Jerusha⁷ Ely, Jerusha⁶ Lay, Christopher,⁵ Mary⁴ Grinnell, Lydia³ Pabodie, Elizabeth² Alden, John¹)

Henry Wadsworth⁸ Longfellow (Zilpha⁷ Wadsworth, Peleg,^6-5 Mercy⁴ Wiswall, Priscilla³ Pabodie, Elizabeth² Alden, John¹) and (Zilpha⁷ Wadsworth, Peleg,⁶ Susannah⁵ Sampson, Priscilla⁴ Bartlett, Ruth³ Pabodie, Elizabeth² Alden, John¹)

(Charlotte¹⁰ Garrigue, Charlotte Lydia⁹ Whiting, William L.,⁸ John,⁷ William B.,⁶ Elizabeth⁵ Bradford, Hannah⁴ Rogers, Elizabeth³ Pabodie, Elizabeth² Alden, John¹)

Samuel Eliot⁹ Morison (Emily Marshall⁸ Eliot, Samuel,⁷ Margaret Boies⁶ Bradford, Alden⁵ [Bradford], Sarah⁴ Alden, Samuel,³ David,² John¹)

(Nathaniel⁷ Isaac,⁶ Sarah⁵ Dorman, Sarah⁴ Thayer, Sarah³ Bass, Ruth² Alden, John¹)

(Hannah⁷ Head, Daniel,⁶ Ruth⁵ Little, Fobes,⁴ Martha³ Pabodie, Elizabeth² Alden, John¹)

U.S. Vice-President under George Herbert Walker Bush

(James C.,¹¹ Marie Pauline¹⁰ Cline, Delia⁹ Burras, Oscar,⁸ Sally⁷ Standish, Peleg,⁶ Zachariah,^4-5 Ebenezer,³ Sarah² Alden, John¹)

1^ST U.S. Episcopal Bishop (of Connecticut and R.I.), loyalist, author.

(Samuel,⁴ Elizabeth³ Alden, David,² John¹)

U.S. Senator, son of Adlai Ewing Stevenson II, Governor of Illinois, Democratic Presidential candidate, diplomat.

(Ellen Borden,¹² John,¹¹ Mary DeGama¹⁰ Whiting, John T.,⁹ John L.,⁸ John,⁷ William B.,⁶ Elizabeth⁵ Bradford, Hannah⁴ Rogers, Elizabeth³ Pabodie, Elizabeth² Alden, John¹)

(brother of John Trumbull, above) , merchant, Revolutionary soldier, congressman (and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives), U.S. Senator, Governor of Connecticut

(brother of John and Jonathan, above) merchant, Commissary-General of the Continental Army

Opera singer

(Sara Worthington¹² Clucas, Frederica¹¹ Bull, Mary Helen¹⁰ Robinson, Margaret Downing⁹ Lanman, David T.,⁸ Abigail⁷ Trumbull, David,⁶ Faith⁵ Robinson, Hannah⁴ Wiswall, Priscilla³ Pabodie, Elizabeth² Alden, John¹)

An American actor and director.  In 1938 his radio production of HG Wells' War of the Worlds was so realistic that it caused panic in the USA.  In 1941 he wrote, produced, directed and acted in the film Citizen Kane, a revolutionary landmark in cinema technique.  In 1942 he produced and directed a screen version of Booth Tarkington's The Magnificent Ambersons.  Of his most memorable stage and film roles was that of Harry Lime in The Third Man.

(Richard H.,⁹ Mary Blanche⁸ Head, Orson S.,⁷ Jonathan,⁶ Ruth⁵ Little, Fobes,⁴ Martha³ Pabodie, Elizabeth² Alden, John¹)