Charles Edward Banks, in his book The English Ancestry and Homesof the Pilgrim Fathers, 1929, puts forward a theory that John isthe son of George ALDEN and Jane (---) and grandson of Richardand Avys ALDEN of Southampton, England. Since BRADFORD says JohnALDEN was hired in Southampton, this would be a logical place tostart looking for ALDENS. No other supporting evidence has beenfound, and it has been noted by many researchers that the namesGeorge, Richard, and Avys do not occur anywhere in John ALDEN'sfamily. Naming children after parents and grandparents was anextremely common practice in the seventeenth century, and theabsence of such a name is nearly enough evidence to disprovethis theory. The currently popular theory is that John ALDEN came fromHarwich, Essex, England. There was a sea-faring ALDEN familyliving there, who were related by marriage to Christopher JONES,captain of the Mayflower. It has been suggested John ALDEN maybe the son of John ALDEN and Elizabeth DAYE, but this is notfully proven either.