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Dedham Covenant
The Dedham Covenant was a covenant that governed the early settlement of Dedham, Massachusetts. It mandated that only those with similar, Puritan, community values could live in the town and set about a method for mediating disputes. It also required each resident to pay their fair share of taxes for the common good. Eventually 125 men would sign the covenant. Background In 1635 there were rumors in the Massachusetts Bay Colony that a war with the local Indians was impending and a fear arose that the few, small, coastal communities that existed were in danger of attack. This, in addition to the belief that the few towns that did exist were too close together, prompted the Massachusetts General Court to establish two new inland communities, Dedham and Concord. As Puritans, the first settlers came to Massachusetts in order to live and worship as they pleased. While they were subject to the General Court, they had wide latitude to establish a local government as they saw fit. The fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Covenant (historical)
In a historical context, a covenant applies to formal promises that were made under oath, or in less remote history, agreements in which the name actually uses the term 'covenant', implying that they were binding for all time. One of the earliest attested covenants between parties is the so-called Mitanni treaty, dating to the 14th or 15th century BC, between the Hittites and the Mitanni. Key elements of this type of Hittite international covenant treaty included a preamble identifying the king, a historical prologue that detail the monarch's deeds, the stipulated obligations of the vassal state, where the covenant would be stored, as well as an outline of the blessings if the document is obeyed and curses if the terms were broken. Historically, certain treaties and compacts have been given the name "covenant", notably the Solemn League and Covenant that marked the Covenanters, a Protestant political organization important in the history of Scotland. The term 'covenant' appears thr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Phillips (Massachusetts Politician)
Henry Phillips (died 1685) was a wealthy businessman and politician from Boston and Dedham, Massachusetts. Phillips was described as "tender and brokenhearted." Life in Dedham Phillips moved from Boston to Dedham in 1637, two years after the town was first settled and one year after it was incorporated. He was a member of the church and a militia officer. Though he received "better than average" dividends of land, he complained in 1656 that too many people had been admitted to the town commons, diluting the value of his interest. He led a group of dissatisfied settlers in a rare public complaint. He brought his complaint before the General Court, which was an action even more rare in a community whose covenant called for disputes to be resolved by local mediation. He served one term as selectman in 1645. He briefly owned the land that came to be known as Broad Oak. He had a brother, Nicholas, who also lived in Dedham, and was likely related to Rev. George Phillips of Watertown. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Hastings (colonist)
Thomas Hastings ( – c. September 15, 1685) was a prominent English immigrant to New England, one of the approximately 20,000 immigrants who came as part of the Great Migration. A deacon of the church, among his many public offices he served on the Committee of Colony Assessments in 1640 and as Deputy for Watertown to the General Court of Massachusetts in 1673. He held property in nearby Dedham between 1636 and 1639, although there is no evidence that he ever lived there. Background and family Hastings and his wife Susan left Ipswich, Suffolk, on ''The Elizabeth'' on April 30, 1634. Although his home in England is unknown, the make-up of their ship's company strongly suggests that he was from East Anglia and perhaps from the counties of Suffolk or Norfolk. The only major genealogy to treat the family, ''The Hastings Memorial'' (Boston, 1866), states that he was of noble birth by descent from the illustrious family that included the Earl of Huntingdon line. He is not know ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nathaniel Colburn
Nathaniel Colburn (1611–1691) was an early settler and selectman in Dedham, Massachusetts. Early life He was baptized in 1611 in Woolverstone, Suffolk, England. His parents were Leonard Colborne and Sara (née Lewes) and he had a sister named Sarah. In 1630, Governor John Winthrop organized a group of men to move to New England and Colburn joined the group. Dedham Colburn arrived in Dedham shortly after it was incorporated in 1636. Colburn married Priscilla Clarke on July 25, 1639, and together they had 11 children. He signed the Dedham Covenant and was an original proprietor. In addition to being selectman for five years, he held a number of roles and positions of responsibility within the new town including tithingman. He had 11 children, the youngest of whom was Joseph. Colburn was admitted to the First Church and Parish in Dedham on January 29, 1641, "after long and much inquisition into his case," nearly a year after his wife was. They lived nearby, on the west side ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Kingsbury (Dedham)
Joseph Kingsbury (1600–1676) was an early settler and selectman from Dedham, Massachusetts. Personal life Kingsbury was born in Boxford, Suffolk to John Kingsbury. He traveled to Massachusetts in the early 1630s with his younger brother, John Kingsbury, and his wife Millicent, whom he married in Boxford in 1628. He had a daughter, Sarah, born in 1635. Their second daughter, Mary, was the second child ever born in Dedham on September 1, 1637. Their third child, Elizabeth, was born in 1638. Four boys then followed, including Joseph, born 1640, John, born in 1643, Eleazer, born in 1645, and Nathaniel, born in 1650. Dedham Kingsbury was one of the ten men who were selected to seek out the "living stones" upon which First Church and Parish in Dedham would be founded. He was found to be "stiff" and "too much addicted to the world," however, and was not selected to be a founding member in 1638. He was later admitted in 1641. Some sources suggest he was displeased with the church after gi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Hinsdale
Robert Hinsdale (died September 18, 1675) was a colonial American Puritan cleric and a founder of Dedham, Medfield, and Deerfield, Massachusetts who died in the Battle of Bloody Brook. Early and personal life He was born in England, likely in Essex, and was a parishioner of Rev. John Rogers. He emigrated to Dedham, Massachusetts, becoming a proprietor of that town in 1637. Hinsdale married as his first wife, probably in England, Ann Woodward, the daughter of Peter Woodward of Dedham. With her he had six sons and two daughters: Elizabeth, Barnabas, Samuel, Gamaliel, Mary, Experience, John, and Ephraim. Ann was a sensitive and timid woman and she fainted when asked to make a public profession of her faith to join the First Church and Parish in Dedham on June 2, 1639. She died June 4, 1666. Hinsdale married for a second time around 1668 to Elizabeth Hawks, the widow of John Hawks of Hadley. They had no children. Elizabeth was a woman of different mold from Ann. The union did not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eleazer Lusher
Major Eleazer Lusher (died 1672) was a politician and military leader from Dedham, Massachusetts. Political career Lusher had unmatched political influence in Dedham and was one of the most powerful men in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was one of ten men, constituting five percent of the adult male population, who were reelected so many times to Dedham's seven member Board of Selectmen that they filled sixty percent of the seats between 1639 and 1687. He served 29 one-year terms in total. He was town clerk for 23 years, having first been elected in 1641. Lusher was also a signer of the Dedham Covenant. Between the years of 1650 and 1685, Lusher was one of three men elected to serve in the Massachusetts General Court. Additionally, he served on the Massachusetts Council of Assistants from 1663 to 1673. Other positions include being a diplomat, judge, and mediator. He was also on the commission that established the Angle Tree Stone. He led a trainband. In recognition of his se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Fisher (Massachusetts Politician)
Lieutenant Anthony Fisher represented Dedham, Massachusetts in the Great and General Court. He was also a selectman for three years. Fisher was baptized in Syleham, Suffolk in April 1591 and lived on the south bank of the River Waveney on an estate known as Wignotte. He came to America on board the ''Rose'' in 1637 and settled in Dedham. Once in Dedham he signed the Dedham Covenant. As of 2004, one of his descendants in Dedham still owned a part of his land. Fisher served as lieutenant in the French and Indian Wars of 1652. He briefly owned the land that came to be known as Broad Oak. He was a member of the First Church and Parish in Dedham but was not "comfortably received into the church until March 1645 on account of his proud and haughty spirit." He was made a freeman in May 1645. In 1646, 1647, and 1671 Fisher served as a selectman. He was a Suffolk County Commissioner in 1660 and 1666. In 1649, he served in the General Court. With his wife, Isabel, he had several children, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Morse (Massachusetts Politician)
John Morse was an American politician who represented Dedham, Massachusetts in the Great and General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, .... References Works cited * Members of the colonial Massachusetts General Court from Dedham Year of birth missing Year of death missing Signers of the Dedham Covenant {{Massachusetts-politician-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Metcalf (puritan)
Michael Metcalf (1586 – 27 December 1664) was an early English colonist in Massachusetts, who had been persecuted for his Puritan beliefs in his native England. Metcalf was from Norwich, England and worked as a master weaver. His father was a Puritan minister. He was persecuted by Bishop Wren and the Church of England for his Puritan beliefs and, upon fleeing to Massachusetts, wrote a long letter addressed to "all true professors of Christ's gospel" in Norwich. He spoke of the "great trouble" he had with the "Arch-Deacon's and Bishop's court at the hands of my enemies concerning the matter of bowing as well as for other matters of like consequence." Before the ecclesiastical court, Metcalf defended himself by quoting not only the Bible but also the church's own theologians. He related in his letter that their responses included "Blockhead, old heretic, the devil made you, I will send you to the devil." When his life was put in danger, his wife sometimes hid him in the thatched ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonathan Fairbanks
Jonathan Fairbanks (1594 – December 5, 1668) was an English colonist born in Heptonstall, Halifax, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England who immigrated to New England in 1633. Around 1641 Fairbanks built the Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts which is today the oldest surviving wood-framed house in North America. Family Fairbanks married Grace Smith in Halifax on May 20, 1617. Together they had six children. To celebrate the Fairbanks' 400th wedding anniversary, the Fairbanks Family in America offered half price admission to the house, as well as wedding cake and popcorn on May 20, 2017. Settlement in New England Jonathan Fairbanks arrived in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, with his family in 1633. The Fairbanks family remained in Boston about three years, before settling in Dedham, as one of the earliest settler families. The family purchased 12 acres of land, and in 1641 master carpenters began constructing their home. Jonathan Fairbanks signed the Coven ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Hayward (Massachusetts Politician)
John Hayward (died 1672) also known as John Haward, represented Dedham, Massachusetts in the Great and General Court in 1645. He served for nine years as a Selectman in Dedham. He was elected to office before he became a member of the First Church and Parish in Dedham. Previously he lived in Watertown, Massachusetts Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and is part of Greater Boston. The population was 35,329 in the 2020 census. Its neighborhoods include Bemis, Coolidge Square, East Watertown, Watertown Square, and the West End. Watertown .... Hayward died in 1672 in Charlestown. References Works cited * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hayward, John 1672 deaths Year of birth missing Dedham, Massachusetts selectmen Signers of the Dedham Covenant Members of the colonial Massachusetts General Court from Dedham People from Watertown, Massachusetts People from Charlestown, Boston ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
