1846 – 1923

Mary Langford Taylor Alden, eldest child of the Hon. James Wickes Taylor and Chloe (Langford) Taylor, was born in 1846 in Westmoreland, Oneida County, New York, at the summer home of her grandfather, George Langford. She was educated in the Riheldaffer Seminary, Miss Gill’s School, in St. Paul, Minnesota, whither she had gone with her parents, and spent two years at the Female Seminary of Miss Jane Kelly, in Utica, New York. After her marriage to Charles Lucius Alden she lived in Troy, New York, then from 1900 until 1903 in Dorchester, Massachusetts. She then returned to Troy. In 1886 a summer home had been built at Little Compton, Rhode Island, and half of the year was spent there. Mrs. Alden became greatly interested in genealogical work, and wrote a number of interesting and valuable genealogies. She joined the Daughters of the Revolution in 1888, organizing the Rensselaerwyck Chapter in Troy, New York. At about the same time she also joined the society at large of the Daughters of the American Revolution. In 1898 the Rensselaerwyck Chapter decided to resign from the Daughters of the Revolution and join the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the name of the chapter was changed to that of Philip Schuyler. Mrs. Alden served as regent and historian, then as an honorary regent. She joined the First Presbyterian Church, of St. Paul, Minnesota, and transferred in 1869 to the First Presbyterian church of Troy, New York.

Her interest in Little Compton, RI is best testified by her home at 10 Atlantic Drive which she and her husband built in the mid-to-late 1880s. She also is remembered for her extensive genealogical work, including the book “Elizabeth (Alden) Pabodie and Descendants” published in 1897.

Mrs. Alden had seven (7) children, three of whom died as young children. She was survived by her daughter, Antoinette Spencer Alden Barnum, and three sons, John Gale Alden, the well-known yacht designer, Langford Taylor Alden, a civil engineer, and Charles Snow Alden, a U.S. naval officer.

Dr. Betsy Alden, great-granddaughter

October 2021

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