June 20, 2025
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on Mayflower descendants, featuring the Alden Kindred Society family reunion held in California in 1929. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Today I continue my series on “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who,” featuring the Alden Kindred Society family reunion held in California in 1929.
In June 1929, 70 descendants of Mayflower passengers John Alden and Priscilla Mullins gathered for a family reunion in Echo Park, Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Daily Herald published a feature photo spread showing four generations of Alden descendants, accompanied by a photo of the Alden Homestead in Duxbury, Massachusetts, and a well-known illustration depicting the romantic meeting of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins as immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1858 poem, The Courtship of Miles Standish.
The poem tells the story of John Alden asking Priscilla Mullins if she would marry Alden’s shy friend Miles Standish. Mullins responds, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?” and marries Alden instead.
This one illustration and five photos show (left to right):
- John Alden and Pricilla Mullins;
- Colonel Melzar Clinton Richards (1855-1932) of South Pasadena, California, 10th generation descendant of the Aldens and president of the local branch of the Alden Kindred Society;
- Daughters born to Colonel Melzar Clinton Richards and his wife Eliza Lavilla (Nobles) Richards: Elizabeth Ambers (Richards) Jones (1884-1957), wife of Henry Philip Jones (1884-1969), and Helen Irene (Richards) Woodson (1890-1977), wife of Everard Meade Woodson (1882-1968), both 11th generation descendants of the Aldens;
- The Alden Homestead, built in 1653 by Jonathan Alden, son of John and Pricilla (Mullins) Alden in Duxbury, Massachusetts. and the seat of the Alden Kindred Society;
- Constance R. (Jones) Frawley (1906-1971), daughter of Henry Philip and Elizabeth Ambers (Richards) Jones, wife of Frank Hampton Frawley (1898-1986), 12th generation descendant of the Aldens;
- Corinne Iris Frawley (1926-2007), daughter of Frank Hampton and Constance R. (Jones) Frawley, great granddaughter of Colonel Melzar Clinton and his wife Eliza Lavilla (Nobles) Richards, 13th generation descendant of the Aldens.
Lineage:
- John Alden and Priscilla Mullins
- Ruth Alden and John Bass
- Sarah Bass and Ephraim Thayer
- Philip Thayer and Mary Wilson
- John Thayer and Rachel Skinner
- John Thayer and Achsah Powers
- Dolly Thayer and Lyman Willard Richards
- Melzar Thayer Richards and Catherine Smalenberger
- Melzar Clinton Richards and Eliza Lavilla Nobles
- Elizabeth Ambers Richards and Henry Philip Jones
- Constance R. Jones and Frank Hampton Frawley
- Corinne Iris Frawley
Below is a photo of three generations of Alden scions taken before Melzar Clinton Richards’ death in 1932. In this photo we see (left to right, back row): Elizabeth Ambers (Richards) Jones; Eliza Lavilla (Nobles) Richards; Helen Irene (Richards) Woodson; Everard Woodson; Melzar Clinton Richards holding granddaughter Elizabeth “Betty” Jones; (left to right, front row): Melzar “Bud” Charles Jones and Constance Jones, the children born to Elizabeth Ambers (Richards) Jones.
Nine Generations of Soldiers
Colonel Melzar Clinton Richards compiled a list of nine generations of military men in his family, published in the Alden Kindred Magazine in 1929:
- John Alden, who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620, is a historically recognized member of the militia group led by Captain Miles Standish.
- John Bass was a member of the company from Braintree, Massachusetts, during King Philip’s War in 1676.
- John Thayer served under Captain Sam Wadsworth, King Philip’s War, 1675. (See New England Genealogical Register, Vol. 40, p. 296.)
- Benjamin Skinner served as a surgeon in the Continental Army during a portion of the Revolutionary War. He is interred at the William Street Cemetery in Mansfield, Massachusetts, where his grave is designated by a Sons of the American Revolution (S.A.R.) marker with this inscription: “In Memory of Deac. Benjamin Skinner who Died July 29th 1782 in ye 72nd Year of his age.”
- Ebenezer Richards responded to the alarm in Lexington on 19 April 1775. He served as a corporal in Captain Ebenezer Battle’s Dedham Company, and later as a sergeant in the same company within Colonel McIntosh’s Regiment from 23 March 1778 to 19 April 1778 in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
- Colonel Melzar Thayer Richards (1822-1865) served in the Union Army during the Civil War. He held positions as captain, major, and lieutenant colonel in the 24th New York Infantry and Cavalry, U.S. Volunteers. On 5 April 1865, during the Battle of Amelia Springs in Virginia, Col. Richards was killed in action. He died shortly before Major General Crook’s cavalry division intercepted part of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s army, leading to Lee’s surrender on 9 April 1865. Richards had eight siblings and left his widow Catherine with seven children.
Below is a sword presented to Richards on 27 March 1864 by Companies G & I at the Parish Masonic Lodge in Parish Orange County, New York.
- There is a letter written by Col. Melzar Thayer Richards to his nephew. In it he mentions his 13-year-old son Charles Willard Richards (1848-1938), serving as the drummer boy for Company D of the 24th New York Infantry. He was taken prisoner at the Second Battle of Bull Run. You can read it on Spared & Shared.
Charles married Hannah Main and had four sons. He was the proprietor of the Hotel Richards until his death. He died on 6 March 1938, and has many descendants.
- Charles Willard Richards Jr. served in the Spanish American War with the 65th Regiment N.Y. Troops from Buffalo, New York, in 1898.
- Lieutenant Colonel Willard Karle Richards served in the U.S. Army during World War I. He began as a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York, in 1906. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1910, promoted to first lieutenant in 1915, and became a captain in 1917. In 1918, he held the ranks of major and later lieutenant colonel in the National Army. He was an instructor at the U.S. Artillery School in Fort Monroe, Virginia. Below is a photo of Richards when he was a cadet at West Point in 1910.
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Note on the header image: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
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