Francis MARBURY (1555 – 1611) was Alex’s 11th great grandfather, one of 4,096 in this generation of the Miner line.  According to wikipedia, he was a Cambridge educated English clergyman, school master, and Puritan reformer now remembered as a playwright and the father of Anne Hutchinson.

Francis’ daughter Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643)  is probably the most influential woman in Colonial American history. It was very rare during those times for a woman to have an independent impact on history (unless she was Royalty – including Pocahantus) for hundreds of years after her life.   Abigail Adams was famous because of her work with her husband.  I can’t think of anyone who surpassed Hutchinson until Susan B Anthony (1820-1906) which was over two hundred years later.  Can can you think of any woman in between who surpassed Hutchinson?

The story of Francis Marbury helps explain how her character was shaped.  He probably focused on his daughters education when he was under house arrest unable to work.  Francis wasn’t a big theological dissenter, but he did say the clergy was stupid and uneducated under the administration of a pompous Bishop of London and wrote a satirical play while imprisoned at Marshalsea Prison (of Charles Dickens fame).

Francis Marbury was born 27 Oct 1555 in Alford, Lincolnshire, England, though he may have been baptized at St. Pancras, Soper Lane, London, on 27 Oct 1555.  His parents were William MARBURY (1524 – 1581) and Agnes LENTON (1528 – 1581). He first married  about 1580 to Elizabeth Moore, and had three children with her. By the time he was released from prison for the last time, he was a widower and chose to move from Northampton. He married Bridget DRYDEN before 1591 and they settled in the town of Alford, Lincolnshire.    Francis died 14 Feb 1611 in Alford, Lincolnshire, England.

Bridget Dryden was born in 1563 in Canons, Ashby, Northamptonshire, England. Her parents were John DRYDEN (1525 – 1584) and Elizabeth COPE (1529 – 1584). Bridget was sister of Sir Erasmus Dryden,1st Baronet (1553–1632) grandfather of the poet John Dryden.  If I count my relatives correctly that makes them second cousins once removed.  John Dryden was also a second cousin once removed of Jonathan Swift.  After Francis died, she married in 1620 in London to Thomas Newman. Bridget died 02 Apr 1645 in Berkhamsted, Hartford, England.

Children of Francis and Elizabeth

	Name	Born	Married	Departed
1.	Elizabeth Marbury	c. 1581		buried 4 Jun 1601 Alford, Lincolnshire,England
2.	Mary Marbury	c. 1583		buried 29 Dec 1585 Alford, England
3.	Susan Marbury	bapt. 12 Sep 1585 Alford Lincolnshire, England	[__?__] Twyford	burried

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Children of Francis and Bridget:

	Name	Born	Married	Departed
4.	Mary Marbury	1588 Alford, Lincolnshire, England		18 Apr 1643 St Mary, Woolnoth, England
5.	John Marbury	bapt. 15 Feb 1588/89		Young
6.	Anne Marbury	bapt. 17 Jul 1591	William Hutchinson 9 Aug 1612 St Martin Vintry, London, Middlesex, England	20 Aug 1643 Pelham Bay, New York
7.	Bridget Marbury	bapt. 8 May 1593		15 Oct 1598 Althorp
8.	Francis Marbury	bapt. 20 Oct 1594	Judith [__?__]	18 Mar 1638/39 in St. Mary Woolnoth, London.
9.	Emme Marbury	bapt. 21 Dec 1595	John Saunders 9 Mar 1613/14 St. Peter, Paul’s Wharf, London, England.
10.	Erasmus Marbury	bapt. 15 Feb 1596/97		1627 England
11	Anthony Marbury	bapt. 21 Sep 1598		9 Apr 1601
12.	Bridget Marbury	bapt. 25 Nov 1599
13.	Jeremuth Marbury	bapt. 31 Mar 1601		1623 Alford, England
14.	Daniel Marbury	bapt. 14 Sep 1602 Alford, Lincolnshire, England		19 SEP 1611 Alford, Lincolnshire, England
15.	Elizabeth Marbury	bapt. 20 Jan 1604/05		9 Mar 1613/14 St. Peter’s, Paul’s Wharf, London
16.	Anthony Marbury	1608 St Martins, Vintry, London, England		1645 Alford, Lincolnshire, England
17.	Dr. Thomas Marbury	1607 London		1656 St Martins, Vintry, London, England
18.	Katherine MARBURY	1610	Richard SCOTT 7 Jun 1632 in England.	2 May 1687 in Newport, Rhode Island.

Ancestors

Thousands of Americans can claim the Marbury family’s lineal connections to their royal and noble ancestry, from William the Conqueror through Edward I. These ancestors include John, King of England, who signed the Magna Carta in 1215 at Runnymede, as well as many of the barons who witnessed his signature on that famous document. All later kings of Spain, Holy Roman and Austrian emperors, most later English and French kings, all kings of Prussia and Russian czars, beginning with Alexander I, are distant cousins as well.

Alex’s 12th Great Grandfather and Francis’ father, William MARBURY, of Birsby in Burgh-upon-Bain, co. Lincolnshire, gentleman, was born ca 1524 as he is listed as age one in 1525. He was matriculated as a fellow-commoner from Pembroke College, Cambridge in Easter, 1544. He married Agnes LENTON, daughter of John LENTON, esquire. In his will dated Jan 26, 1580/81 and proved Nov 16, 1581, Williams bequeathed to the poor students of Oxford and Cambridge, to “cousins” (probably means grandchildren) Thomas, Edward and George, to son Francis, during his mother’s life, to daughters Mary and Katherine, to daughter [Anne Blox]holme, to wife Agnes, to second son Edwards, to eldest son, William.

Alex’s 13th Great Grandfather and Francis’ grandfather Robert MARBURY of Girsby in Burgh-upon-Bain, Lincolnshire, was born probably about 1490, and mentioned as “neve” in the will of his uncle Robert who leaves him lands in Lowick, Oldwyncall, Islip, Denford and Boygstoke.

Robert married Katherine WILLIAMSON, who was born about 1508, the daughter of John WILLIAMSON and Jane ANGEVINE. On Jan 26, 1518, “…the aforesaid jurors further say that the aforesaid John Williamson died on the 24th day of March in the fourth year of the present lord King (1512/13) and that Katherine Williamson is the daughter and next heir of the same John Williamson and is of the age (at that time, i.e., 1517/18) of this inquisition of nine years and above, and is now committed by the lord King to the wardship to Thomas Hennage, esquire…”

It is possible that Katherine (Williamson) Marbury died in childbirth, as she died on Aug 11, 1525 at the age of about seventeen years, leaving her husband Robert Marbury and a son William, three-quarters of a year old in 1525.

The jurors of the inquisition into the estate of Katherine Marbury, taken at Horncastle on June 12, 1526 said that Katherine had died on August 11, 1525 alone seised of and in…”the messuage, five acres of pasture and forty ares of arable land…called Northorpe in Hemingby…and of and in two tofts (also in Hemingby)…and…one messuage and five acres of pasture…in the town and fields of Boston next to the stream called Old Fen Dike…and one messuage, 23 acres and 3 roods of land lying in Gattoft in Leake in a certain place called “the Hungate” next to the church of Leake..and in ten acres of land…in Wrangel…” As extended, these lands were worth together £2, 14s, 10d. yearly. “…and the aforesaid Katherine; being so seised…took as her husband Robert Marbury esquire, whereby the aforesaid Robert and Katherine were seised thereof in the right of the same Katherine; and the said Robert and Katherine had issue, lawfully procreated between them, a certain William Marbury and…the aforesaid Katherine died seised…and the aforesaid Robert Marbury survived her, and is still living, and remains entered as tenant, by the law of England by reason of the aforesaid offspring…and that the aforesaid William Marbury is the son and next heir of the same Katherine Marbury, and is of the age at the time…of this inquisition of three quarters of a year and above.”

This record confirms that Katherine Marbury and Katherine Williamson are the same person, for her lands in Hemingby, Boston and Leake correspond to the tenements held by her grandfather, Alexander Williamson or his son John, her father.

Robert Marbury was present at the English Court. In the funeral of Henry VII in 1509, he was a yeoman to the King’s Grandame (that is, Henry VIII’s grandmother, Lady Margaret Beaufort).

In 1510, as yeoman usher of the Queen’s Chamber, he had a grant to be feodary (A vassal or feudatory – i.e. one who holds land of an overlord on condition of homage) of the duchy of Excester within county Devonshire, during [the King’s] pleasure. In 1513, as Robert Marbury Jr. he was a feofee [a trustee who holds a fief (or “fee”), that is to say an estate in land, for the use of a beneficial owner]., along with Robert Marbury Sr. (his uncle), John Lenton (father of his son’s future wife), and John Marbury, clerk. In 1514, his cousin William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy, was the Queen’s Chamberlain. In the same year, Robert Marbury, yeoman usher of the Queen’s Chamber, was feodary noted above, for life. In 1517, he was appointed to be sergeant at arms, with 12d. a day in consideration of his services to Queen Catherine of Aragon.  In 1526, his yearly wage as serjeant at arms in the Royal Household was £18 5s., i.e. still 12d. a day.

In the Lincolnshire Rebellion of October 1536, Robert Marbury appears as follows: In the examination of Sir Edward Maddison before the King’s Council…Maddison, with his brother John Maddison and both his sons, then went up into Castrefeld to see the number of rebellious and there met Sir William Askew and Marbery the serjeant and one Boneteene of the Exchequer. The rebels took them all except Boneteyne and Marbury… In a letter from Sir Robert Kyrkham to [our ancestor] Richard CROMWELL: … “Yesterday night late” he was at Stanforde with Sir William Parre and others when Marbery and Madyson, the King’s servants came in, having escaped from the rebels who they say are 20,000…”

Robert died on August 5, 1645. His will made July 28, 1545 was proved on Sep 28, 1545 in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. His executors were “my brother Thomas Merbury, my cosyn John Merbury, my well beloved mother in law mistress Jane Woodfurth and my son William Merbury…and my son William is to have all my goods and land moveable and immovable.” There were many bequests. A curious feature of the will is the reference to his first grandchild , Francis’ brother Robert:

“Item. I will that Robert Merbury the first begotten son of my son William Merbury shall not inherit no part parcell or portion of my rent lands within the counties of Lincolnshire, Darbyshire and Northamptonshire. Item. I will that if my son William Merbury have hereafter issue lawfully begotten that they shall inherit the aforesaid lands, that in nowise the aforesaid Robert Merbury the son of the said William Merbuy shall not inherit any…portion of the foresaid lands…Robert Merbury was born in the month of June in the 37th year of the reign of our sovereign lord king Henry [1545, the month before the date of the will] at Old Wynkle in the house of his grandfather, John Leynton, gentleman. I bequeath to (this?) Robert Merbury forty pounds to be paid to him at the age of 21 years. Item. I will that if my son William Merbury has no issue lawfully begotten as god forbid then I will that my brother Thomas Merbury shall inherit all my foresaid lands and the heirs of his body lawfully begotten. Payment to the said Robert Merbury if he lives to the said 21 years other fourty pounds of sterling money and he to make to the said Thomas and his heirs a release of all such lands as he can make any title to of inheritance.”

Probably the unfortunate infant Robert had some obviously incapacitating birth defect, mental or physical, that would make his inheriting land impractical.

Two inquistions into the estate of Robert Marbury were taken, one in Lincolnshire, the other in county Northampton. In response to the writ dated October 15, 1545, the inquisition into the estate of Robert Marberye who held lands of the kind in chief was taken at the Castle of Lincoln on (15?) October 1545. The jurors said that Robert Marbery had died on August 7, 1545 and that William Marbery was the son and next heir of Robert Marbery his father and also the son and next heir of Catherine his mother, the wife of the aforesaid Robert, of all the aforesaid lands. The other inquisition into the estate of Robert Marburye calls him of Girsby, county Lincoln, esquire. It was taken on October 28, 1545 at Wellingborough, county Northampton. The jurors said that Robert Marburye had died at Girsby on August 7, 1545, at which time William Marburye, the son and heir, was of the age of twenty-one years and more. Robert died seised of three tenements in Lowick, county Northampton, and five in Slipton, Dentford, Woodford, Aldwinkle and Islip, as extended, with a total yearly value of £8 16s. The lands in Northampton were willed to him by his uncle Robert Marbury.

Alex’s 14th Great Grandfather and Francis’ great grandfather William MARBURY, of Lowick, Northampton county, England, esquire, was born ca 1445-53. That he was a man of considerable social standing and prestige in Northampton county is indicated by the fact that he is first mentioned in 1473 as an executor of the will of John Stafford,1st  Earl of Wiltshire,  the youngest son of Humphrey Stafford, the powerful 1st Duke of Buckingham.

William Marbury married about this time into the prominent family of Blount. His wife Anne BLOUNT, daughter of Sir Thomas BLOUNT and Agnes HAWLEY, was niece of Sir Walter Blount, Lord Mountjoy, K.G., who in 1467 had married Anne Neville, the widow of Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. The character of Westmorland in William Shakespeare’s plays Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V is based on Anne’s father Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland..

Sir Walter Blount, his wife Anne, Duchess of Buckingham, and William Marbury were co-executors of the will of Anne’s son, John, Earl of Wiltshire. In the will, dated April 21, 1473, the Earl of Wiltshire made William a guardian of his only son, Edward, then age three [ and later Sir Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire (1470 – 1498)] “Also I will pray William Marbury to be attendaunte to my sonne and he to have rule about him.” It was William’s brother, Robert, however, who attended the second Earl in the capacity of gentleman-usher for a period of twenty-five years. In 1494, Edward, the new Earl of Wilshire, alienated the noted old manor of Drayton to William Marbury, et al.

Five years later the Earl died. William Marbury was present when he made his will, and, according to later testamentary proceedings, the Earl entrusted his will (which was “sealed with a signet of gold”) to William Marbury. Marbury in the will is referred to as being enfeoffed of lands in co. Northampton. He, Robert Whittlebury, esquire, and Thomas Montague, gentleman, were made co-executors of the will, and under its terms were directed to form two chantries, one at Lowick, co. Northampton, the other at Pleshy, co. Essex, where the Duchess of Buckingham, the Earl’s grandmother, was buried in 1480. Pleshy was where William’s son, Humphrey, undoubtedly named after Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham, was installed later as minister.

From about 1500 on William Marbury’s name appears quite frequently in the records. From the time of the death of the Earl (1499) until his own death, he, individually, received and held the profits and income of the manors of Drayton and Lowick, his brother Robert holding the former and Robert Whittlebury the latter after his decease. He was an executor of the will of Henry Verr of Great Addyngton (Henry Veer is mentioned in the will of Robert Marbury). From July 9, 1500 to December 8, 1506 he is shown by the Patent Rolls to have been a Commissioner of the Peace at various times for the following counties: Leicester, Lincolnshire, Northampton, and Rutland. On Mar 1, 1500/01 he had founded the chantry at Culworth under the will of Edward, Earl of Wiltshire.

The exact date of death of William is not known. In the Inquisition Post Mortem on the Earl of Wiltshire, William Marbury is shown to have held the manors of Drayton and Lowick from 1499 to October 1 [1512], 28 Henry VII. It would seem that William Marbury died shortly before October 1 [1512], 28 Henry VII. But Henry VII reigned only 24 years! We know, however, that William Marbury was living December 8, 1506, the date he last became Commissioner of the Peace for co. Rutland and was deceased before August 8, 1513, the time of his brother’s will. A subsequent reference to the Inquisition to the church at Lowick being vacant 24 Henry VII suggests that 28 was an error for 24. Assuming this to be true, William Marbury died shortly before October 1, 1508, a date which, if not correct, is certainly approximate.

Anne Blount, who had been born between 1453 and 1462, died on Nov 20, 1537. The inquisition into the estate of Ann Marbury, widow, was taken at Boston, Lincolnshire, on March 14, 1537/38. Long before her death, she had been seised of her contingent shares of the inheritance of Robert Blount, esquire, deceased, as one of his (three) sisters and heirs. When Anne died, her son and heir Robert Marbury, esquire, was aged fifty years and more. Her estate, as extended, consisted of one third of each of fourteen tenements having a net yearly value of £15 10s. 10d. and one farthing.

Back to Francis’s Biography

Francis Marbury matriculated at Christ’s College, Cambridge in 1571, but is not known to have graduated.  About 1571, Francis Marbury began to teach and preach at the church in Northampton near the estate of his future wife Bridget Dryden.

Francis was ordained deacon on Jan 7, 1577/78. Although Francis himself was a brilliant Anglican clergyman and schoolmaster, he soon found that many of the Anglican ministers were not well educated but appointed to their positions by the ruling bishops for political reasons. As a young man he was a “hothead” and collided with the church authorities, and in particular with Bishop of London John Aylmer, over the issue of the provision of well-educated preachers.  His reformist preaching led to two years imprisonment in the Marshalsea

Aylmer called him an “overthwart, proud, puritan knave” in November 1578, and sent him to the Marshalsea, after hearing Marbury’s views on financing preachers by mulcting (fining) the bishops: “A man might cut a good large thong out of your hyde and the rest, and it would not be missed”.

Francis’ nemesis, John Aylmer was born at Aylmer Hall, Tilney St. Lawrence, Norfolk. While still a boy, his precocity was noticed by Henry Grey, 3rd Marquess of Dorset, later 1st Duke of Suffolk, who sent him to Cambridge, where he seems to have become a fellow of Queens’ College  About 1541 he was made chaplain to the duke, and tutor of Greek  to his daughter, Lady Jane Grey (the nine day queen)

Alymer’s first preferment was to the archdeaconry of Stow, in the diocese of Lincoln, but his opposition in Convocation to the doctrine of transubstantiation led to his deprivation and to his flight into Switzerland. While there he wrote a reply to John Knox‘s famous Blast against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, under the title of An Harborowe for Faithfull and Trewe Subjects, etc., and assisted John Foxe in translating the Acts of the Martyrs into Latin. On the accession of Elizabeth he returned to England. In 1559 he resumed the Stow archdeaconry, and in 1562 he obtained that of Lincoln. He was a member of the famous convocation of 1562, which reformed and settled the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England.

In 1576, just a year or two before his run in with Francis,  Alymer was consecrated Bishop of London, and while in that position made himself notorious by his harsh treatment of all who differed from him on ecclesiastical questions, whether Puritan or Roman Catholic. Various efforts were made to remove him to another see. He is frequently assailed in the famous Mar prelate Tracts, and is characterized as “Morrell,” the bad shepherd, in Edmund Spenser‘s Shepheard’s Calendar (July).   Aylmer’s work, particularly his characterisation of England as a mixed monarchy, oligarchy and democracy, would be important to later English constitutionalists.  His reputation as a scholar hardly balances his inadequacy as a bishop in the transition time in which he lived.

In 1578 Francis was given a public trial, of which, during a period of house arrest, he made a transcript from memory. He used this transcript to educate and amuse his children, he being the hero, and the Bishop of London being portrayed as a buffoon.

In the Marshalsea, Francis wrote an allegorical play entitled The Contract of Marriage between Wit and Wisdom in 1579.  It was a moral interlude or “wit play”, following The Play of Wyt and Science by John Redford, and an adaptation of its sequel The Marriage of Wit and Science.

The Vices in post-Reformation morality plays are almost always depicted as being Catholic. At times this depiction is achieved through their physical appearance. For example, Vices in post-Reformation morality plays would be dressed as cardinals, friars, monks, or the pope.  Often times, the Vice in post-Reformation plays admits that Catholic theology is flawed, and that by being Catholic the Vice is committing treason. Moreover, Vices often appear ignorant and naive, especially when it comes to their biblical understanding and knowledge of the New Testament.

The Marshalsea was a prison on the south bank of the River Thames in Southwark, now part of London made infamous in the works of Charles Dickens. From the 14th century until it closed in 1842, it housed men under court martial for crimes at sea, including those accused of“unnatural crimes”, political figures and intellectuals accused of sedition like Francis Marbury, and—most famously—London’s debtors, the length of their stay determined largely by the whim of their creditors.

Run privately for profit, as were all prisons in England until the 19th century, the Marshalsea looked like an Oxbridge college and functioned as an extortion racket. For prisoners who could pay, it came with access to a bar, shop, and restaurant, as well as the crucial privilege of being allowed out during the day, which meant debtors could earn money to satisfy their creditors. Everyone else was crammed into one of nine small rooms with dozens of others, possibly for decades for the most modest of debts, which increased as unpaid prison fees accumulated. A parliamentary committee reported in 1729 that 300 inmates had starved to death within a three-month period, and that eight to ten prisoners were dying every 24 hours in the warmer weather.

In fact, Marbury found himself imprisoned three times before age 23 for preaching against the incompetence of English ministers and thus by implication, the British monarchy.  He  spent time far from London in Northampton, and Alford, Lincolnshire, unable to preach.

Francis was married for the first time about 1580 to Elizabeth Moore, with three children. By the time he was released from prison for the last time, he was a widower and chose to move from Northampton. He married Bridget Dryden before 1591 and they settled in the town of Alford, Lincolnshire, about 140 miles north of London.  He was the curate [deputy vicar]   at St. Wilfred’s Church  In 1585 he also became the schoolmaster at the Alford Free Grammar School, one of many such public schools, free to the poor, begun by Queen Elizabeth. The school is still in existence and currently has 563 students.  The school motto is Cor Unum Via Una which translates as “One heart and goal are we,” and is also the title of the school song.

The Marbury home was a busy one, as Bridget Marbury gave birth over the years to fifteen children. By 1590, Francis was again in trouble over his quarrels with the Anglican leaders. They accused him of being a Puritan and, even though he won his trial, he was forbidden to preach again for several years.

In 1590, Marbury once again felt emboldened to speak out against his superiors, denouncing the Church of England for selecting poorly educated bishops and poorly trained ministers. The Bishop of Lincoln, calling him an “impudent Puritan,” removed him from preaching and teaching, and put him under house arrest Without employment, he tended his gardens and tutored his children, reading to them from his own writings, the Bible, and John Foxe‘s Book of Martyrs, which, with its gore, was fascinating reading to the Marbury children.  This experience must have been very important in the strong religious conviction  his daughter Anne Hutchinson later displayed in New England.

Somehow the family was able to survive, perhaps from borrowing from the Drydens.  Marbury, who had become desperate without a job, pleaded to church officials that he wasn’t a Puritan, and to return him to his posts.  He wrote to the new the Bishop of London, and also asked other ministers to vouch for his good character.

Finally, in 1594, he was permitted to once again preach and teach. From this point forward, Marbury resolved to curb his tongue, and not openly question those in positions of authority, and eventually he was promoted with a position back in London.  He became lecturer at St Saviour, Southwark. With the support of Richard Vaughan, the Bishop of London, he was rehabilitated and moved to London.  On June 24, 1605 Francis was finally ordained a priest and the Marbury family moved to the heart of London where Francis was installed as Rector of St Martin Vintry on October 28, 1605.  Here his Puritan views, though somewhat muffled, were nevertheless present and tolerated, since there was a shortage of pastors.

In 1608, he took on additional work as rector of St Pancras, Soper Lane several miles northwest of the city, traveling there by horseback twice a week.  In 1610 he was able to replace that position with one much closer to home, and became rector of  St Margaret, New Fish Street only a short walk from Saint Martin in the Vintry. Francis was holding two of these offices simultaneously when he died shortly before February 11, 1611. His nuncupative will, made June 25, 1610, was proved February 14, 1611. In it he left 200 pounds to each of his twelve living children and stated that the girls must stay with their mother until they married.

87 parish churches were destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666.  51 were rebuilt, but 35 were not including the three where Francis had been rector.

In 1670 a Rebuilding Act was passed and a committee set up under the stewardship of Sir Christopher Wren to decide which would be rebuilt.  St Martin Vintry  parish was united with that of St Michael Paternoster Royal.    St Pancras, Soper Lane parish was united with that of St Mary-le-Bow.  St Margaret Fish Street Hill  received many gifts from the pilgrims who passed it on the way to and from London Bridge. Following the fire it was united to St Magnus-the-Martyr

Bridget Dryden, was the daughter of John Dryden and Elizabeth Cope, large estate owners in central England. Many in her family were Puritans, and at least one relative had been imprisoned in the Tower of London for suggesting religious reforms.  Bridget Marbury spent much of her time helping others. She was a skilled midwife, and assisted the women of the community whenever they were giving birth. As she grew older, Anne accompanied her mother on these goodwill visits, and in time she herself became a midwife.

Children

6. Anne Marbury

Anne Hutchinson (1591–1643) was one of the most prominent women in colonial America, noted for her strong religious convictions, and for her stand against the staunch religious orthodoxy of 17th century Massachusetts. She was a Puritan whose religious ideas were at odds with the established Puritan clergy in the Boston area, and her popularity and charisma created a schism in the Boston church which threatened to destroy the Puritans’ religious experiment in New England. Creating the most challenging situation for the ruling magistrates and ministers during her first three years in Boston, she was eventually tried and convicted, then banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony with many of her followers.

Anne Hutchinson figures prominently in an excellent book , The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell.

Anne is a key figure in the study of the development of religious freedom in England’s American colonies and the history of women in ministry. She challenged the authority of the ministers, exposing the subordination of women in the culture of colonial Massachusetts. Although her religious ideas remain controversial, her implicit rejection of state authority to prescribe specific religious rites and interpretations, was later enshrined in the American Constitution. The State of Massachusetts honors her with a State House monument calling her a “courageous exponent of civil liberty and religious toleration.”

Born in Alford, Lincolnshire, England, Anne was the daughter of Francis Marbury, an Anglican minister with strong Puritan leanings,  he was also a school teacher, and when under house arrest, he used his time to teach his children, and Anne grew up with a far better education than most girls, who generally had few educational opportunities in 16th century England.

The Marburys lived in Alford for the first 15 years of Anne’s life, and with her father’s strong commitment to learning, she received a better education than most contemporary girls, and also became intimately familiar with scripture and Christian tenets.  While education at that time was almost exclusively offered to boys and men, one reason that Marbury may have focused on teaching his daughters is that his five oldest surviving children were all girls; another reason may have been that the ruling class in Elizabethan England began realizing that girls could be schooled, looking to the example of the queen, who spoke six foreign languages.

As a young adult living in London, she married there an old friend from Alford, William Hutchinson, and the couple moved back to Alford where they began a family and visited various churches in the area. Hearing of a dynamic young preacher named John Cotton in the market town of Boston, Lincolnshire, about 21 miles away, the couple went to hear him preach, and thereafter made the difficult trip by horseback at every opportunity. Enamored with Cotton’s preaching, Anne Hutchinson was distraught when Cotton was compelled to emigrate following threats of imprisonment for his Puritan messages and practices.

Anne’s husband William Hutchinson was born 14 Aug 1586 in Alford, Lincolnshire, England. His parents were Edward Hutchinson (1555 – 1631) and Susanna Kealle (1564 – 1645). He was the grandson of John Hutchinson (1515-1565) who had been Sheriff, Alderman, and Mayor of the town of Lincoln.  William died in 1642 in Boston, Suffolk, Mass.

In 1634, after the birth of her 14th child, Hutchinson followed Cotton to New England with her husband and 11 living children, and soon became well established in the growing settlement of Boston, in the English colonies. She was a midwife, and very helpful to those needing her assistance.  In 1637, Anne delivered a stillborn, deformed baby of her friend and future Boston Martyr, Mary Dyer.  Puritans believed that birth defects were punishments for the parents sins. See below for the story of Mary and Anne’s troubles with the Puritan authorities.

She was very forthcoming with her personal religious opinions and understandings. Soon she was hosting women at her house once a week, providing commentary on recent sermons, and sharing her religious views, including criticism of many local ministers. These meetings became so popular, that she soon began offering meetings to men as well, to include the young governor of the colony, Harry Vane, and up to 80 people a week were visiting her house to learn from her interpretations and views of religious matters. As a follower of Cotton, she espoused a “covenant of grace,” while accusing all of the local ministers (except for Cotton and her husband’s brother-in-law, John Wheelwright) of preaching a “covenant of works.” Several ministers complained about Hutchinson to John Winthrop, who served several terms as governor of the colony, and eventually the situation erupted into what is known as the Antinomian Controversy, resulting in Hutchinson’s 1637 trial, conviction, and banishment from the colony.

With encouragement from Roger Williams, Hutchinson and many followers established the settlement of Portsmouth in what would become the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. She lived there for a few years, but after her husband’s death, threats of Massachusetts taking over Rhode Island compelled her to move totally outside the reach of Boston, into the lands of the Dutch. Sometime in 1642 she settled with her younger children in New Netherland near an ancient landmark called Split Rock in what would later become Bronx, New York City. Here she had a home built, but tensions with the native Siwanoy were high, and following inhumane treatment by the Dutch, the natives went on a series of rampages known as Kieft’s War, and in August 1643, all but one of the 16 members of Hutchinson’s household  including six of her children were massacred during an attack.   The lone survivor, nine-year old Susanna Hutchinson, was taken captive, and held for several years before being returned to family members in Boston.  For more on this conflict, see the story of our ancestor Hendrick Thomasse Van DYKE (1610 – 1688) who commanded an attack during Klieft’s War.

7. Erasmus Marbury

Erasmus  matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford on 12 Apr 1616, age 19. He received his BA from there on 6 Jun 1616 and his MA on 9 Jul 1619.

10. Jeremuth Marbury

Jeremuth matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford on 11 Jun 1619, age 18.  He received his BA from Exeter College, Oxford on 23 Jan 1622/23.

13. Anthony Marbury

Anthony matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford on 20 Oxford 1626, age 18.  He received his BA from Pembroke College, Oxford on 22 Feb 1627/28.

14. Thomas Marbury

Thomas was a doctor in London.

15. Katherine MARBURY (See Richard SCOTT’s page)

Sources:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=26973691

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sam/marbury/francis.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Marbury

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=AHN&db=workman_family&id=I149