...............another found the maiden name of a colonial woman... 4. In the Alden Memorial, published in 1901, the wife of a John Alden of Boston is given as Elizabeth, daughter of William Phelps, senior." Two years ago I tried to confirm this identification without success, but it was not until reading through baptisms of the Old South Church that I came across the clue that led to the probable identification of John's wife's maiden name. There is no marriage record for John Alden and his wife Elizabeth. she was the mother of all John's children from 1687 through 1710, and she died on 26 November 1719 at the age of 50, thus making her born about 1669. Among their children there is one unusual naming pattern: twins named Gillam and Ann were born in Boston on 7 July 1699 and baptized in Old South Church on 9 July 1699. while reading through the baptisms at Old South, I found the family of Benjamin and Hannah Gillam, who were having children baptized from 1671 to 1682. I first thought that John's wife might therefore be Elizabeth Gillam but could find no birth record for one born about 1669. I did find Elizabeth Gillam, daughter of Benjamin and Ann ______________ Gillam, who married Thomas Gwinn about 1660 and had Elizabeth, born 16 October 1668. Here was an Elizabeth born about the same time as John Alden's wife and connected to the Gillam family..... ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com