COEUR d'ALENE - George Rodkey couldn't believe his eyes.

Rodkey forged an emotional connection with America's early history when the Post Falls man read a Thanksgiving story submitted last year to The Press by Coeur d'Alene's John Alden.

Family members of both Kootenai County men were among the 102 passengers on the Mayflower in 1620.

Alden's 10th grandfather, also named John Alden, was on the ship's iconic 66-day, 2,750-mile voyage from England to the new world as was Rodkey's 10th grandmother, Mary Chilton. Chilton is believed to be the first female passenger to step ashore at Plymouth.

Both of Chilton's parents died on the 100-foot ship - as did 45 other passengers during the harsh winter - leaving Chilton a 13-year-old orphan.

The Pilgrims who survived cared for Chilton, who later got married and had 10 children. Chilton, as an orphan, is believed to have become the ward of John Alden or Myles Standish.

Rodkey read about the younger Alden's connection to the Mayflower, a tagline at the end of the newspaper article told where Alden was living. That led Rodkey to Alden to thank him and his family for assisting Chilton in the new world.

"I told him that I was bringing greetings and thanks for the care of my family," said the 91-year-old Rodkey, choking up while recalling the moment. "I had a problem tearing and couldn't finish the story. The Aldens had a great influence on her life. I thanked him as part of the family of Mary Chilton and all these generations for the care that his (10th) grandfather rendered to Mary."

Alden, 89, said he was "flabbergasted" after Rodkey arrived.

"It was a time of rejoicing, but it took a few minutes to permeate this old soul," Alden said. "But, when it did, it was extremely relevant to the time of year (Thanksgiving). It was 400 years (394 to be exact) of silence broken."

Pilgrim connections

Most of Alden's research on Pilgrims had been on his own family and he knew little about Chilton.

Chilton, one of 11 juvenile girls on the Mayflower, was the daughter of James Chilton, who at 64 was the ship's oldest passenger. Of those girls, Chilton was one of the nine to survive the first year at Plymouth and would have been present at the famous first Thanksgiving in 1621.

Chilton married John Winslow, becoming the sister-in-law of Mayflower passenger Edward Winslow.

The elder Alden was the youngest signatory of the Mayflower Compact, the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. He married fellow Mayflower passenger Priscilla Mullins, whose family died in the first winter. Alden served in several key government positions, including assistant governor and treasurer of Plymouth Colony.

The 1653 house of the elder Alden's third son still stands in Duxbury, Mass., 30 miles south of Boston. It is one of the two remaining homes from that time in our history and became a museum in the 1980s.

"Most of the original occupants of the old Alden home were participants in that first extended time of thanksgiving and feasting (in 1621)," Alden said. "Those remaining Pilgrims who survived reached out in Christian love to their neighbors, maintaining peace and goodwill with the surrounding tribes. Thus, under God, was started the first official family-oriented colony of our great nation."

Getting acquainted

Alden and Rodkey's newfound connection deep in America's history has meant that the two men have gotten to know each other over the past year.

They've visited with each other several times. Although they have Thanksgiving plans with their own families this year, they said feasting on the holiday in the future is possible. Their historical roots and thoughts of family at Thanksgiving have expanded with their connection.

Both men believe their bond will only get stronger with the Pilgrim example of sharing and caring for one another being the glue. The Alden-Chilton story is already being passed to their families for future generations to share at Thanksgiving.

"We have a great deal in common,"Alden said of Rodkey. "(The relationship) should be exploited and it will be."

Rodkey said of Alden: "I consider him to be a very upstanding man."

Both men say they have stuck to their Christian roots. They admire their Reformer relatives for fleeing persecution and the clutches of King James and the Church of England for the new world and religious freedom.

"The sterling example the early Pilgrims exhibited was the foundation of these United States of America - period," Alden said. "This country was initiated by these people."

Rodkey said Thanksgiving is a time for families to remember the freedoms America enjoys thanks to the sacrifices of others. He said the story of the Alden family helping his on the journey to the new world drives home that point.

"Our families brought us up to respect people, be honorable and do the good things our country was founded on," he said.