Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1917 — Descendant of Priscilla Coming [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Descendant of Priscilla Coming

JUDGE GEORGE D. ALDEN, who will lecture here the last night of the Chautauqua, is a direct descendant of John Alden, who “cut out" Miles Standish—that is. after Priscilla had helped him along a little. Furthermore, John Alden's father was a cousin of the poet Longfellow. His ancestors, -both on his mother's side and his father’s side, came over in the Mayflower. One of his ancestors on his mother’s side was the president of Harvard. 'ln spite of all this Judge Alden doesn’t talk much about his forefathers. He aays it is always unsafe to shake the family tree because there are likely to be rotten apples on it as well as good ones. His own history is just as good as that of his ancestors. At twenty-two years of j#ge he ran for the Massachusetts legislature- At twenty-four he was appointed by Governor W. E. Rusnell as justice of one of the Massachusetts courts. He occupied that position fOr ten years. Then be went to New York city to practice law. His legal wining gives him conciseness of speech, his sense of humor the attention of his bearers, his experience on the bench a human sympathy. These qualities, with Ma native ability, fit him for the lecture on the closing day of the chauaanqua. Strickland GHlilan says of him,.“l never get sick and tired of being Wttfetbe CWk’ ** MW a never ending joy.* _