Richard Denton, lll, Reverend - The Origins of Reverend Richard Denton

SAA. I like that. :)

Good. A little more definition. Lecturers could marry. But, for me, it does not change the analysis that Reverend Denton moved to Bolton after his marriage to Maria Durden in January, 1626. Of course, you knew that already. :)

Yes, and good point that Rev Denton would have known about Richard Rogers works and would not have hesitated to talk to his son Ezekiel. I can imagine a conversation in which Rev Denton says I can't go with you on the ship today. I have a family. But let me know if you hear of anything.

So a plausible theory for Rev Denton's arrival to Wethersfield CT

- in 1638 danger to livelihood & conscience arises with a new boss & likely enforcement of abhorrent theology
- a congregation in New England is in need of a new minister; it is possible Sherman & Denton learned of each other's situations through clothier relatives, Cambridge connections, or other more direct means. Was an offer made by a church to Denton?
- Denton & family hitch an ocean ride via Rev Rogers "20 Rowley families"
- no evidence anyone else from Halifax were with his immediate family, but it seems likely that individuals found him, then or later

There "had to have been" later ships from Hull to Rowley after the John of London. I'll pull up the Rowley register.

Rogers had to have been communicating back to England for the next year or so at minimum, and could very well have notified about the vacancy arising from Sherman's move. Hey Davenport could have offered it to Rogers! "not I, but I know another fellow ...."

"He had originally been solicited to take this group to assist with the settlement of New Haven Plantation by his acquaintance in faith, the Rev. John Davenport"

https://www.geni.com/projects/Rowley-Register-1643-Massachusetts-Ba...

I agree that there were likely later ships from Hull. If Rev Denton had been on the John, what did he do between its arrival and his arrival in Wethersfield? How would he have supported his family?

Deacon Maximillian Jewett

From Bradford, West Riding :):):)

From the town records, it seems that Maximilian was one of the leading men in his community. He was a representative to the General court, 1641-1643, 1648, 1651-1652, 1654-1656, 1658-1665, and again in 1672-1676. He was the overseer of the will of Rev. Ezekiel rogers, signed 17 Apr 1660. He was a clothier and with his brother Joseph, was either the first or close to it, to manufacture woolen cloth in the British American colonies.

The passengers from Hull wintered in Salem and started building Rowley in the Spring. Remember Daniel Denton's advice on what every astute colonist should bring with him in 1670? They needed more in 1638, so there would have been livestock (etc) with them.

Sarah Sophia Jewett 1st cousin, thrice removed. Her husband was a descendant of Deacon Maximilian. Still living in the area 200 years later.

http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/frederic-clarke-jewett/histor...

I think this answers some questions. From the Jewett Genealogy:

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The period at which they emigrated to America was one of the darkest
for the Puritans. Many ministers had been silenced or suspended. Fines and
the pillory, mutilation and torture, were remorselessly resorted to by the
friends of Archbishop Laud to compel conformity to the ceremonies of the
Established Church. The ministers of Charles the First were full of hope that
they should exterminate the pestilent heresy from the land.

Hunted down by tyranny, refused even the liberty of flight, the Puritans
were almost in despair. All who could leave, fled, most of them to America.
The same year in which our fathers emigrated, eight ships preparing to sail
for this country were by order of the Privy Council detained In the Thames.

The persecution under Archbishop Laud seems to have fallen with pecu-
liar weight upon the clothiers. This may have been owing to the fact that
many of the clothiers were descendants of Dutch and French Protestants.
Mr. Pyer in enumerating the petition for redress of grievances to Parlement
in 1640-41 instances under the head of trade, " Divers Clothiers having been
forced away who had set up their manufacturs abroad to the great hurt of
the kingdom." Smith, in the history of wool, cites the rigor of Archbishop
Laud's execution of the acts of conformity as the cause which drove many
clothiers out of the kingdom.

XA-iil Introduction

In the year 1638 there came from England to the new world, in all,
twenty ships and at least three thousand persons. Among them were our
ancestors, who sailed from Hull in the ship John of London, with about
twenty other Puritans and their families (some sixty persons in all), under
the leadership of Ezekiel Rogers, and landed in Boston about the first of
December, 1638.

The Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, a learned and eloquent minister of Rowley,
England, having been suspended for non-conformity, collected from his
hearers and his other Yorkshire friends this little company, and with them
came to America. It is stated that so great was the respect for Mr. Rogers
that though he was suspended from the active duties of his office he was
allowed to enjoy^ the profits of his living for two years afterwards, and per-
mitted to name a substitute who was afterwards himself suspended for refus-
ing to read the sentence against his predecessor. These two years we may
suppose were employed b}^ Mr. Rogers in gathering his future band of
emigrants. His project seems to have excited considerable attention among
the nobility and gentrj'. He states that he felt himself under obligations,
for the sake of many persons of high rank, to make choice of a good location
here.

Some of his company were doubtless his former parishioners, but the
Jewetts lived in Bradford, one hundred miles from Rowley. Mr. Rogers may
have gone to Bradford for the purpose of obtaining accessions to his com-
pany, or our ancestors may have heard of the intentions of the great minister
and sought him out.

Upon their arrival in Boston their first act illustrates their dignity and

It's only 9 miles from Bradford to Halifax.

I am feeling heat in the kitchen.

I suppose it's possible Denton was on a ship closer to 1640 than 1638, but here's the argument that he was in fact on the John of London or an accompanying ship.

England was a cash economy and Denton didn't have a job under Marsh. Colonists were self supporting without need for cash from day 1. It looks like the Rowley group was especially well prepared; Rogers had two years to organize in England and looks like he enjoyed some wealthy English Puritan support for the expedition, "attention from the gentry.". The passengers were not economic adventurers. I have to look up the Northends again (I thought the 2nd gen was a bad seed) but look at these Jewetts! Any colony would be thrilled to have them.

If Rev Denton was as smart as I think he was, Rogers is the star to hitch his wagon to. There was no one better or better connected.

EXCELLENT!!!

"In the year 1638 there came from England to the new world, in all,
twenty ships and at least three thousand persons."

So to be thorough should try and get an idea of where these other ships were from.

But there's too many points of intersection with the Rogers party to ignore. I would even think it possible he hung out in Rowley until the Wethersfield appt.

In other words, I'm saying Denton quit Coley when Marsh was appointed. If he was even a little bit as popular in his parish as Rogers was - and there's every reason to think Denton was loved as a minister - his congregation covered his absence, paid his salary, and fudged over his escape. And if Anna (Denton) Dean Priestley was his sister, he could stay rent free in Priestley Green.

Some were iiterally refugees travelng under assumed names. Remember too that ships were turned back. But there's probably a simpler explanation like a doctored manifest. There's only 20 family heads listed for a ship that held at least 100, and where was the livestock and supplies? Two years in the planning, patent to purchase a town, and only 20 colonists? Come on ...

Agreed. I always thought that manifest for the James looked light. Given the blockade of the ships in the Thames, I can see why this might have been a clandestine operation.

http://bcw-project.org/biography/archbishop-william-laud

You will notice an absurdity re Rev Denton's legendary wife (the one who died before 1605)

"However, he used his influence with the King to secure preferments for his friends, including Sir Francis Windebank, who was appointed secretary of state in 1632, ..."

If Rev Denton had had a brother in law who was a buddy of Laud's, he would not have become an itinerant preacher in the Colonies.

People get blinded by Royal Ancestry.

Assuming Rev. Denton arrived in New England in December 1638 or January 1639 and knowing that the deed for his property in Wethersfield was dated 10 April 1640, would his name appear in other records during the interim? For example, as a freeman in Wethersfield or New Haven? If his name did not appear in records like that would that indicate he had not yet arrived?
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I wonder what source informed Frederic Jewett about the 20 ships and 3,000 people in 1638. Was there some 19th century history book about the history of Yorkshire? Or, perhaps a history book about New England.

For anyone who may want another format for the "History and genealogy of the Jewetts of America," Frederic Clarke Jewett (1908), p. xviii: https://archive.org/details/historygenealogy01jewe
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Yes, the desire to claim a king as a great grandfather can be overwhelimg.

From "Pilgrims: New World Settlers and the Call of Home," Susan Hardman (2010), p. 230
https://books.google.com/books?id=LkAsLiLKWS8C&pg=PA230&lpg...

12. See for example, various ships bound for England with dozens of passengers aboard, of whom only a tiny handful can be identified: Winthrop, Journal pp. 414-15, 598-9, 643—4: Winthrop Papers, V, p. 119: Edward Winslow. New-Englands Salamander (London, 1647), p. 20. The dificulties of assessing the number and identity of migrants from what survives are illustrated by another fragment from Winthrop's Journal. In the summer of 1638 Winthrop reckoned, 'twenty ships, and at least three thousand persons' came to New England; yet of these only seven ships can be identified and the surving passenger lists name only 260 migrants - or one in twelve: Winthrop Journal, p. 261. The New England Historic Genealogical Society's 'Great Migration Project,' as it evolves may shed more light on this: http://www.greatmigration.org.

From "Winthrop's Journal, 'History of New England 1630-1649'" Vol. 1, J.K. Hosmer, ed. (1908), p. 274

There came over this summer twenty ships, and at least three thousand persons, [fn. 1] so as they were forced to look out new plantations. One was begun at Merrimack, and another four or five miles above Concord, and another at Winicowett.

1. The immigration, which two years later suddenly ceased, was now at its height.

https://books.google.com/books?id=JKIMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA274&lpg...

More from Winthrop

The above quote from Winthrop's Journal on page 274 was an entry made in the summer of 1638. A couple of pages prior to that another entry made prior to 3 August 1638, Winthrop described his knowledge of the religious troubles in England and Scotland at page 271:

Many ships arrived this year, with people of good quality and estate, notwithstanding the council's order, that none such should come without the king's license; but God so wrought, that some obtained license, and others came away without. The troubles which arose in Scotland about the book of common prayer, and the canons, which the king would have forced upon the Scotch churches, did so take up the king and council, that they had neither heart nor leisure to look after the affairs of New England; yet, upon report of the many thousands, which were preparing to come away, the archbishops caused all the ships to be stayed. But, upon the petition of the masters, and suggestion of the great damage it would be to the commonwealth in hindering the Newfound land trade, which brought in much money, etc., they were presently released. And in this and other passages it plainly appeared, that near all the lords of the council did favor this plantation; and all the officers of the custom house were very ready to further it, for they never made search for any goods, etc., but let men bring what they would, without question or control. For sure the Lord awed their hearts, and they and others (who savored not religion) were amazed to see men of all conditions, rich and poor, servants and others, offering themselves so readily for New England, when, for furnishing of other plantations, they were forced to send about their stalls, [fn. 1] and when they had gotten any, they were forced to keep them as prisoners from running away.

1. Decoys

"Winthrop's Journal, 'History of New England 1630-1649'" Vol. 1, J.K. Hosmer, ed. (1908), p. 271

Re: Assuming Rev. Denton arrived in New England in December 1638 or January 1639 and knowing that the deed for his property in Wethersfield was dated 10 April 1640, would his name appear in other records during the interim? For example, as a freeman in Wethersfield or New Haven? If his name did not appear in records like that would that indicate he had not yet arrived?

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I have seen people first appearing in extant records 20-30 years after they presumably arrived (for example, deposed in 1670 that ...).

One of the reasons Rev Denton is busted as not having arrived in 1634 etc is that he was not on lists of freemen.

Nailing his arrival date framework tighter is to be figured out from England, I think. But as far as we know he didn't own property there, so I don't know what kind of record could be found, outside of his work records.

"Among the congregation were John BOYNTON, and his brother William.  Their cousin Sir Matthew Boynton (26 Jan 1591 – 12 Mar 1647), (Wikipedia)  helped finance the Rowley expedition."

https://minerdescent.com/2012/03/06/ezekiel-rogers/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Matthew_Boynton,_1st_Baronet

https://archive.org/stream/cu31924092524374#page/n137/mode/2up helped the Hull merchants against the King

Friend and associate of Saltonstall, both had planned with Winthrop to establish a Saybrook CT colony

www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/boynton-s...

in 1638 vice-president Sir Edward Osborne*, noting that Boynton ‘lives altogether out of the country, and I think ever will’, removed him from the lieutenantcy. By the end of the year he had joined Constable at Haarlem, and in 1640 the two men and Sir Richard Saltonstall, another frustrated Saybrooke colonist, had joined the Independent congregation of Philip Nye and Thomas Goodwin at Arnhem.33

Boynton had returned to England by July 1641, when he assigned part of his estate to raise portions for his younger children. He and his second son Matthew served with the parliamentarian forces in Yorkshire, ....

http://library.albany.edu/preservation/brittle_bks/Crawford_Familie...

The Saltonstall name comes from a village or hamlet in the township of WARLEY in the parish or vicarage of Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England

More reason to like the Saltonstalls for financial backing. I wonder if there were any Saltonstall sisters, nephews or nieces around Halifax under a different surname (because of marriage) that may have migrated between 1638 and 1640. That could have been another reason for the Saltonstalls to finance travel.

This does not sound like thinking Rev Denton would find comfortable:

http://ia331409.us.archive.org/3/items/descendantsofjoh00inbroc/des...

"Also with them came Theophilus Eaton, a prosperous merchant, Deputy Governor of the East Land Company, and who for several years had resided in Denmark as an agent of King Charles I. On his return to London he left the Established Church and became a member of the Puritan congregation of the Rev. John Davenport. He had been one of the original patentees of the Charter of Massachusetts. Not only the people of Boston, but the whole Colony of Massachusetts were desirous that this company should settle within its Commonwealth and made liberal proposals to them, but this was not in accord with the purposes of either Davenport or Eaton. Davenport's idea seemed to be to found a colony which should be absolutely controlled by the church; only church members eligible to office, or even allowed to vote, transferring to this country the English idea of "Church and State"; only, instead of the Episcopal Church, it must be a Church of the Congregational order with which he was identified."

https://archive.org/stream/theophiluseatonf00bald#page/12/mode/2up

In 1627 Theophilius Eaton joined with Sir Richard Saltonstall and others in buying up the grant of that year made in the Mass Bay ...