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Early Government Of Dedham, Massachusetts
The early government of Dedham, Massachusetts describes the governance of Dedham from its founding in 1636 to the turn of the 18th century. It has been described as being both "a peculiar oligarchy" and a "a most peculiar democracy." Most freemen could participate in Town Meeting, though they soon established a Board of Selectmen. Power and initiative ebbed and flowed between the two bodies. Background The colonial settlers met for the first time on August 18, 1636 in Watertown. By September 5, 1636, their number grew from 18 at the first meeting to 25 proprietors willing to set out for the new community. By November 25th, however, so few people had actually moved to Dedham that the proprietors voted to require every man to move to Dedham permanently by the first day of the following November or they would lose the land they had been granted. A few young men without families set off to spend the winter there, including Nicholas Phillips, Ezekiel Holliman, and likely Ralph Shepar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,364 at the 2020 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest by Westwood, and on the southeast by Canton. The town was first settled by European colonists in 1635. History Settled in 1635 by people from Roxbury and Watertown, Dedham was incorporated in 1636. It became the county seat of Norfolk County when the county was formed from parts of Suffolk County on March 26, 1793. When the Town was originally incorporated, the residents wanted to name it "Contentment." The Massachusetts General Court overruled them and named the town after Dedham, Essex in England, where some of the original inhabitants were born. The boundaries of the town at the time stretched to the Rhode Island border. At the first public meeting on August 15, 1636, eighteen men signed the town covenant. They swore that they wo ... [...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] |
Edward Richards (Massachusetts Politician)
Edward Richards was an early settler of and nine term selectman in Dedham, Massachusetts. Richards was born circa 1610 -1615. He may have been the brother of Nathaniel Richards and, through his wife Susan, was brother-in-law of John Hunting. He may have traveled in 1632 on board the ''Lyon'' from England to Massachusetts with Nathaniel and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts until 1636. Nathaniel moved to Connecticut to found Hartford, but Edward Richards first appears in Dedham in 1636, which is where he married Susan in 1638. He signed the Dedham Covenant and was a member of First Church and Parish in Dedham First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco .... Though Dedham was intended to be a Utopian commune, and there was little disparity in wealth, Richards went by the tit ... [...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] |
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] |
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] |
Timothy Dwight (Massachusetts Politician)
Captain Timothy Dwight (1629–1718) represented Dedham in the Great and General Court of Massachusetts and was the progenitor of the Dwight family. Personal life Dwight was born in England in 1629 to John and Hannah Dwight and was brought to Dedham, Massachusetts in 1635 as a child. John Dwight was one of the first settlers of Dedham. Timothy was made a freeman in 1655 and was a member of the First Church and Parish in Dedham beginning in 1652. Dwight was married six times. The first time was on November 11, 1651, to Sarah Perman, who died in childbirth on May 29, 1652. On May 3, 1653, he married Sarah Powell, who died on June 27, 1664; she gave him four children. Anna Flynt, his third wife on January 9, 1664 – 1665, gave him 10 children, including Josiah Dwight. His fourth wife, the widow Mary Endwind of Reading, Massachusetts, married him on January 7, 1686 – 1687 and died August 30, 1688, without any children. Esther Fisher became his fifth wife on July 31, 1690, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Bullard (Dedham)
William Bullard (1594-December 23, 1686.) was an early resident and two term Selectman in Dedham, Massachusetts. He built the first bridge across the Charles River in Dedham at the site of the present day Ames Street Bridge. He also served in the trainband led by Eleazer Lusher. Bullard was born in England in 1594 and first settled in Watertown in 1635 before moving to Dedham. He signed the Dedham Covenant. He moved for a time to Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston .... He was an ancestor of Isaac Bullard. He died December 23, 1686, at the home of his daughter. References Works cited * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bullard, William Dedham, Massachusetts selectmen People from Watertown, Massachusetts 1594 births 1686 deaths Signers of the Dedham C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Powell (Massachusetts Politician)
Michael Powell represented Dedham, Massachusetts in the Great and General Court in 1641 and 1648. His daughter, Sarah, married Timothy Dwight. He was also town clerk for a total of four years, having first been elected in 1643. He was a selectman for four years, beginning in 1641. He was the first tavern owner in Dedham. Powell later moved to Boston and taught, without being ordained, at Second Church, Boston prior to Increase Mather Increase Mather (; June 21, 1639 Old Style – August 23, 1723 Old Style) was a New England Puritan clergyman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and president of Harvard College for twenty years (1681–1701). He was influential in the administ .... References Works cited * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Michael Dedham, Massachusetts selectmen Members of the colonial Massachusetts General Court from Dedham Year of birth missing Year of death missing Dedham Town Clerks Signers of the Dedham Covenant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Woodward (Massachusetts Politician)
Peter Woodward (died May 9, 1685) represented Dedham, Massachusetts in the Great and General Court in 1665, 1669, and 1670. He also served on the board of selectmen for 16 years, with his first term beginning in 1643 and his last ending in 1670. His daughter, Ann, married Robert Hinsdale, probably in England. He had at least two sons, William and Peter. William, a Harvard College graduate, was hired to assist John Allin in preaching at the First Church and Parish in Dedham in 1668, but died the following June. His brother collected his salary from the church 16 years later. He died May 9, 1685. The Town gathered on January 4, 1669, to elect selectmen for the year. At the end of the meeting, Woodward was declared one of the winners. Many supporters of Anthony Fisher Anthony Colin Fisher (born 10 March 1960) is an Australian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church and a friar of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans). Since 12 November 2014, he has been the ninth Catholic Archbish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Chickering
Henry Chickering was an early settler of Dedham, Massachusetts who served in the Great and General Court of Massachusetts and for six years on the Dedham Board of Selectmen. He may have been the brother of Francis Chickering, with whom he served in the General Court. He was granted land in Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ... in 1640 and was made a Freeman (Colonial), freeman in 1641. Chickering was a deacon of the First Church and Parish in Dedham. With his wife, Ann, he had a son, John. References Works cited * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chickering, Henry Dedham, Massachusetts selectmen People from Salem, Massachusetts Members of the colonial Massachusetts General Court from Dedham Deacons at First Church and Parish in Dedham ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Chickering
Francis Chickering was an early settler of Dedham, Massachusetts who served in the Great and General Court of Massachusetts and on that town's Board of Selectmen for 15 years. He was also a teacher in the first public school in America, today well known as the Dedham Public Schools. He arrived in Dedham in 1637 from Suffolk, England with his wife, Ann, and admitted as a freeman in 1640. Together they had Elizabeth in 1638, Bethia in 1640, and Mercy in 1648. He was possibly the brother of Henry Chickering, with whom he served in the General Court. He was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. Chickering was a part owner of a mill on Mother Brook, the first man made canal in America. The Town was displeased with the "insufficient performance" of the mill under Nathaniel Whiting's management and so, in 1652, Whiting sold his mill and all his town rights to John Dwight, Chickering, Joshua Fisher, and John Morse for £250. Whiting purchased it back the followin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
