Reverend Ichabod Wiswall (1637–1700) was the third pastor of the church in

Duxbury Duxbury (alternative older spelling: "Duxborough") is a historic seaside town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb located on the South Shore approximately to the southeast of Boston, the population was 16,090 at the 20 ...

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the British America, first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the pa ...

British America British America comprised the colonial territories of the English Empire, which became the British Empire after the 1707 union of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, in the Americas from 16 ...

. Though he is thought to have given the first known funeral sermon in British America at the burial of Capt. Jonathan Alden in 1697, American funeral sermons predate this event by several decades.

Biography

Wiswall was the son of

Thomas Wiswall Thomas Wiswall (1601–1683) was an early settler of British America, a prominent early citizen of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and a key figure in the founding of Cambridge Village, now known as the city of Newton, Massachusetts. Early life Wi ...

(1601–1683) and Elizabeth Berbage. The third of ten children, he was born in

Dorchester, Massachusetts Dorchester (colloquially referred to as Dot) is a Boston neighborhood comprising more than in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester ...

, on 3 June 1637.Ancestry.com
Ichabod WISWALL
Wiswall matriculated into

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1654, at 17 years of age. During his time of study at Harvard, the course of study was changed from three years to four years. Wiswall left Harvard in 1657, after only three years, thereby forfeiting the honor of being able to claim himself as an alumnus of that institution. Beginning on 7 March 1656, Wiswall served for at least three years as a teacher in the public school at Dorchester. He married Priscilla Pabodie (1653–1724). Priscilla was the daughter of

Elizabeth Pabodie Elizabeth Pabodie (1623–1717), also known as Elizabeth Alden Pabodie or Elizabeth Peabody, was allegedly the first white child born in New England. Life Elizabeth Pabodie was born Elizabeth Alden in 1623, the firstborn child of the Plymouth Col ...

, and the granddaughter of ''

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...

'' passengers

John Alden John Alden (c. 1598 - September 12, 1687) was a crew member on the historic 1620 voyage of the ''Mayflower'' which brought the English settlers commonly known as Pilgrims to Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts, US. He was hired in Sou ...

and

Priscilla Alden Priscilla Alden (, ) was a noted member of Massachusetts's Plymouth Colony of Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony), Pilgrims and the wife of fellow colonist John Alden (1687). They married in 1621 in Plymouth. Biography Priscilla was most likely born in ...

. He employed himself at sea as a deck officer on a merchantman trading "from the eastern shore to Barbados." and later in the ongoing fisheries enterprise of the late

Ferdinando Gorges Sir Ferdinando Gorges ( – 24 May 1647) was a naval and military commander and governor of the important port of Plymouth in England. He was involved in Essex's Rebellion against the Queen, but escaped punishment by testifying against the mai ...

off the coast of Arrowic, Maine where he met his bride. Wiswall later studied for the ministry, and was ordained as minister of the church in Duxbury in 1676. From 1676 until his death in 1700, Wiswall served as the third minister of the church in Duxbury, Massachusetts. In 1689, Wiswall went to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to petition for a new

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...

for the Plymouth Colony. There he encountered Reverend

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 administrati ...

, a fellow resident of Dorchester, but one who favored a charter which united the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies. The result of their combined and opposing efforts was the 1692 charter, which established the

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in British America which became one of the Thirteen Colonies, thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III of England, William III and Mary II ...

(now the Commonwealth of Massachusetts), merging the two colonies. In 1697, Wiswall officiated at the burial of Capt. Jonathan Alden, son of famous Pilgrims John and Priscilla Alden. This ceremony was conducted in Duxbury, Massachusetts. While Duxbury records claim that Wiswall's sermon at this event was the first known funeral sermon in British America, other funeral sermons (including James Fitch's sermon on the death of Anne Mason (Norwich, CT, 1672)) predate Wiswall's sermon by a quarter century. Wiswall himself would be buried in the same cemetery, three years later; he died on 23 July 1700. Wiswall's tombstone is located close to that of

Myles Standish Myles Standish (c. 1584 – October 3, 1656) was an English military officer and colonizer. He was hired as military adviser for Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts, United States by the Pilgrims. Standish accompanied the Pilgrims on ...

, in what is now known as the

Myles Standish Burial Ground The Myles Standish Burial Ground (also known as Old Burying Ground or Standish Cemetery) in Duxbury, Massachusetts is, according to the American Cemetery Association, the oldest maintained cemetery in the United States. The burying ground is th ...

in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

Notable relatives

* Wiswall's father,

(1601–1683), was a prominent early citizen of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...

and settler of Cambridge Village, Massachusetts. * Wiswall's brother,

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Noah Wiswall Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...

(1638–1690), was killed in battle at Wheelwright Pond at

Lee, New Hampshire Lee is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,520 at the 2020 census. The town is a rural farm and bedroom community, being close to the University of New Hampshire. History Lee was first settled by Eur ...

, during events leading up to the Battle of Quebec during

King William's War King William's War (also known as the Second Indian War, Father Baudoin's War, Castin's War, or the First Intercolonial War in French) was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), also known as the War of the Grand All ...

on July 6, 1690.Old East Parish Burying Ground
1st Settlers Monument
*

(1699–1786), grandson of Noah Wiswall (1638–1690). In 1775, at 76 years of age, he marched 28 miles from Newton to Lexington, where he was wounded at the Battle of Lexington. *

Jeremiah Wiswall Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning " Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewi ...

(1725–1809), Captain, East Newton Company of

Minutemen Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. Mi ...

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

and Dorchester,

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. He was the son of Noah (1699–1786), and was his commander on the battlefield.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiswall, Ichabod 1637 births 1700 deaths Harvard University alumni People from colonial Boston American Congregationalist ministers Massachusetts colonial-era clergy 17th-century Christian clergy American Calvinist and Reformed ministers People from Duxbury, Massachusetts Burials at Myles Standish Burial Ground People of colonial Massachusetts