Elizabeth Pabodie (née Alden; 1623–1717), also known as Elizabeth Alden Pabodie or Elizabeth Peabody, was the

first white child The birth of the first white child is a concept that marks the establishment of a European colony in the New World, especially in the historiography of the United States. Americas Snorri Thorfinnsson is the first person of European descent bel ...

born in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

Life

Elizabeth Pabodie was born Elizabeth Alden in 1623, the firstborn child of the

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes spelled Plimouth) was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on t ...

settlers

Priscilla Mullins Priscilla Alden (, – ) was a noted member of Massachusetts's Plymouth Colony of Pilgrims and the wife of fellow colonist John Alden ( – 1687). They married in 1621 in Plymouth. Biography Priscilla was most likely born in Dorking in Surre ...

and

John Alden John Alden ( – September 12, 1687) was an English politician, settler, and cooper, best known for being a crew member on the historic 1620 voyage of the ''Mayflower'' which brought the English settlers commonly known as Pilgrims to Plymouth ...

, who were both passengers on the ''

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English sailing ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reac ...

'' in 1620. She married William Pabodie (Peabody), a leader of

Duxbury, Massachusetts Duxbury (alternative older spelling: "Duxborough") is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb located on the South Shore approximately to the southeast of Boston, the population was 16,090 at the 2020 census. The tow ...

, on December 26, 1644. All 13 of their children were born in that settlement before Elisabeth eventually moved to

Little Compton, Rhode Island Little Compton is a coastal town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, bounded on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by the Sakonnet River, on the north by the town of Tiverton, Rhode Island, Tiverton, and on the east by the t ...

, in the 1680s. She died on May 31, 1717, in Little Compton and was buried in the cemetery on Little Compton Common, officially called Old Commons Burial Ground. Her memorial is on Find A Grave as memorial #6868310.

Descendants

Elizabeth Pabodie's first child was a daughter, Lydia; next came a son named William after his father. In 1683 Lydia married Daniel Grinnell Jr; they also had 13 children together. William the younger and his wife Judith had a daughter Rebecca Peabody, who married the Reverend Joseph Fish. Their daughter Mary Fish married

Gold Selleck Silliman Gold Selleck Silliman (1732–1790) was a Connecticut militia General during the American War for Independence. Biography Silliman was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, graduated from Yale University and practiced law and served as a crown attorne ...

(1732–1790), and they were the parents of

Benjamin Silliman Benjamin Silliman (August 8, 1779 – November 24, 1864) was an American chemist and science education, science educator. He was one of the first American professors of science, the first science professor at Yale University, Yale, and the firs ...

, the first person to distill petroleum, and grandparents of

Benjamin Silliman, Jr. Benjamin Silliman Jr. (December 4, 1816 – January 14, 1885) was a professor of chemistry at Yale University and instrumental in developing the petroleum industry. His father Benjamin Silliman Sr., also a famous Yale chemist, developed the pro ...

The Sillimans started the Chemistry Department at Yale, a forerunner of the

Sheffield Scientific School Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale University, Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Jos ...

. Benjamin Silliman, Jr. married Susan Huldah Forbes; their daughter Alice Trumbull Silliman married

William Richardson Belknap William Richardson Belknap (March 28, 1849 – June 2, 1914), for 28 years was president of the Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Company''The Cincinnati Enquirer'', June 2, 1914, p. 2. based in Louisville, Kentucky, one of the largest hardware A ...

(1849-1914). It is through this lineage that the Belknap and Humphrey families of Kentucky descended. Other descendants of Elizabeth Alden Pabodie and William Pabodie include Priscilla Pabodie, Rebecca Pabodie, Eleanor Belknap Humphrey (1876-1964),

William Burke Belknap William Burke Belknap the younger (1885–1965) was the son of William Richardson Belknap and Alice Trumbull Silliman. He was an entrepreneur in the family of William Burke Belknap, the elder (1811–1884), son of Morris Burke Belknap of Br ...

the younger, Alice Belknap Hawkes, Dr. Edward Cornelius Humphrey, Rev. Robert P. Shuler, Alice Humphrey Morgan, economist Thomas MacGillivray Humphrey, Barbara Morgan Meade, co-founder of the Washington, D.C., bookstore,

Politics and Prose Politics and Prose (sometimes stylized as Politics & Prose or abbreviated as P&P) is an independent bookstore whose main location is in Chevy Chase, Washington, D.C., on Connecticut Avenue. They have two other locations in the DC area, one o ...

, Charles Davis, Zechariah Vincent, and whistleblower

Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is a former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence contractor and whistleblower who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs. Born in 1983 in Elizabeth ...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...

was also a descendant of Elizabeth Pabodie. He made her parents John Alden and Priscilla Mullins famous through his poem ''

The Courtship of Miles Standish ''The Courtship of Miles Standish'' is an 1858 narrative poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow about the early days of Plymouth Colony, the colonial settlement established in America by the ''Mayflower'' Pilgrims. Overview ''Th ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pabodie, Elisabeth 1623 births 1717 deaths 17th-century American women People from colonial Massachusetts People from Duxbury, Massachusetts People from Little Compton, Rhode Island People from colonial Rhode Island Early colonists in America