Lawrence and Cassandra (née Burnell) Southwick were early immigrants to colonial America and devout

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

who, along with their children, were severely persecuted for their religious beliefs.

Biographies

Early lives

Lawrence and Cassandra were married 25 January 1623/4 at

Kingswinford Kingswinford is a town of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the English West Midlands, situated west-southwest of central Dudley. In 2011 the area had a population of 25,191, down from 25,808 at the 2001 Census. The current economic focus ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Along with their four surviving children, John, Josiah, Mary, and Daniel, the Southwicks emigrated to

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 ...

, sometime between mid-1637 and early-1639 when they were admitted to the First Church in Salem. Lawrence was one of the first glassmakers in America, and practiced his craft in the part of Salem now known as Peabody, which was the first glass manufacturing district in America. Lawrence left the industry in 1642, and turned his attention to

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starti ...

at which he was very successful.

Persecution as Quakers

In 1657 the Southwicks were put in jail for hosting two visiting Quaker preachers, John Copeland and

Christopher Holder Christopher Holder (1631–1688), was an early Quaker evangelist who was imprisoned and whipped, had an ear cut off, and was threatened with death for his religious activism in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and in England. A native of Gloucestersh ...

. Lawrence Southwick was found to be a member of the First Church of Salem and was released to be dealt with by the leaders of that church. Cassandra remained in jail for seven weeks and was fined forty shillings for possessing a paper written by their two visitors. The paper was considered heretical by Governor

John Endicott John Endecott (also spelled Endicott; before 1600 – 15 March 1664/1665), regarded as one of the Fathers of New England, was the longest-serving governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He ser ...

and others. In 1658 the Southwicks and their son Josiah were put in jail for twenty weeks for being Quakers. In 1659, the two youngest of the Southwick's children, a daughter named Provided Southwick and a son named Daniel Southwick, were sentenced to be sold as slaves in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

for unpaid fines - fines related to their being Quakers. The sentence was not carried out, however. Lawrence and Cassandra went to

Shelter Island, New York Shelter Island is an island town in Suffolk County, New York, United States, near the eastern end of Long Island. The population was 3,253 at the 2020 census. Geography Shelter Island is nestled between the North and South Forks of Long Island. ...

together. In 1660 Lawrence then his wife Cassandra died within three days of each other on Shelter Island due to privation, starvation, and exposure.

Legacy

A plaque in Southwick Hall at

University of Massachusetts Lowell The University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell and UML) is a public research university in Lowell, Massachusetts, with a satellite campus in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It is the northernmost member of the University of Massachusetts public u ...

commemorates "Royal Southwick, Lowell's anti-slavery

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

senator and manufacturer and a descendant of Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick who were despoiled, imprisoned, starved, whipped, banished from

Massachusetts Colony 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 ...

and persecuted to death in the year 1660 for being Quakers."

References

Citations

External links

Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick: * http://members.tripod.com/~ntgen/bw/south_index.html "Cassandra Southwick", the poem by John Greenleaf Whittier based on the experience of Provided and Daniel. (Whittier appears to have considered the name Cassandra to be more poetic than Provided.): * http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/cassandra-southwick/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Southwick, Lawrence and Cassandra 1600s births 1660 deaths American Quakers Kingdom of England emigrants to Massachusetts Bay Colony Converts to Quakerism English Quakers People from Kingswinford 17th-century Quakers