| Notes |
- The story that John Alden fell in love with Priscilla Molines while the "Mayflower" lay at Southampton finds its duplicate in the tale of young Miles Morgan, who, wandering in January, 1636, on the wharves at Bristol, beheld the fair Prudence Gilbert, about to sail with her parents for America, and thereupon hastily determined to embark in the same ship.
On landing in Boston Miles joined the exploring party of Colonel William Pynchon, which located the town of Springfield. Although the only pioneer admitted who, was less than twenty-one years of age, he soon became second in command. No sooner had the youth received his allotment of land than he started back on foot with an Indian guide to Beverly, where the, Gilbert family had settled. There he and Prudence were married. He brought her back, also on foot, with the Indian and a horse purchased in Beverly, both laden with the bride's household goods, and going before, while Captain Morgan, following with his matchlock and with his bride by his side, made his way through the trackless forest to their new home in the wilderness. Here are a courtship and marriage as romantic as those of John Alden and Priscilla, waiting for a Longfellow to enshrine them in verse.
Source:
This story is gleaned from "The Family of Morgan," by the eminent Shakespearean scholar, Dr. Appleton Morgan.
http://www.terryfamilygenealogy.com/miles-morgan-1615
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1615 - 1699 (84 years)
