Rev. G. R. Alden was Isabella's beloved husband. They were married in 1866 in her hometown of Gloversville, New York. "Ross" was a minister, and their first pastorate was in Almond, New York. Their son Raymond was born in 1873.
While serving as pastor in a New York church, illness in the family prompted the Aldens to move south. They became part of the early Winter Park, Florida community in 1886, and Dr. Alden had the beautiful "Pansy Cottage" built for his family in 1887-88 (cottage is an understatement, it had six bedrooms!). The local papers painted him as a man who "handles a refractory carpet as easily as he does a pen. He is one of those men who succeed in whatever they undertake." He was an avid gardener, owned a 12-acre orange grove, hosted the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, and spoke for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. He also served on the board in the early years of Rollins College.
After several years in Winter Park, he and Isabella moved on to pastor a number of churches and he also supplied the pulpit as guest speaker when he was called upon. Summers were often spent in Chautauqua, New York in the atmosphere of that great institution of the 19th century. In later years, the couple lived near their son, Raymond, and his family in the various cities where served as university professor, eventually settling in Palo Alto, California.
He was an editor of "The Pansy" children's magazine from 1874 to 1896, and contributed articles regularly as Rev. G.R. Alden. In the early days of "The Pansy", he was the "pastor" of the "Church of the Little Pilgrims" which held "services" (a meeting in thought and prayer of Pansies all over the world) on the second Sabbath in the month at three p.m. He was also a member of family writing efforts like "A Sevenfold Trouble," which was written from seven family members' viewpoints. His book, "Glimpses of Boyhood" is ascribed to "A.G. Rossenburg", a delightful twist on his own name.
Ross was a loving husband, and the November 1892 issue of The Ladies' Home Journal states that "it would be difficult to find two people better suited to each other, more tenderly devoted, or more thoroughly one, in all their interests and aims, than are Mrs. Alden and her husband the Rev. G. R. Alden; and it would be hard to imagine a cheerier, brighter home than theirs in Washington." Theirs was a blessed union. Isabella lost both Ross and her son, Raymond, in 1924.
