Sir Richard Saltonstall (Halifax, England

Halifax, West Yorkshire

Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...

 4 April 1586 - October 1661) led a group of English settlers up the Charles River

Charles River

The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...

 to settle in what is now Watertown

Watertown, Massachusetts

The Town of Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,915 at the 2010 census.- History :Archeological evidence suggests that Watertown was inhabited for thousands of years before the arrival of settlers from England...

, Massachusetts in 1630.

He was a nephew of the Lord Mayor of London

Lord Mayor of London

The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...

 Richard Saltonstall

Richard Saltonstall (mayor)

Richard Saltonstall was an English politician and Lord Mayor of London.He was the uncle of New England colonist Sir Richard Saltonstall.He served as Sheriff of the City of London for 1589 and was elected Lord Mayor of London for 1597....

 (1517–1600), and was admitted pensioner at Clare College, Cambridge

Clare College, Cambridge

Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1326, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. Clare is famous for its chapel choir and for its gardens on "the Backs"...

 in 1603. Before leaving England for North America, he served as a Justice of the Peace

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 for the West Riding of Yorkshire

West Riding of Yorkshire

The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...

 and was Lord of the Manor of Ledsham

Ledsham, West Yorkshire

Ledsham is a village and civil parish north of Castleford and east of Leeds in the county of West Yorkshire, England. The village is in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough and near to the River Aire and the A1 Great North Road. It has a population of 162.There is an 8th century Anglo-Saxon...

. He was one of the grantees of the Massachusetts Company

Massachusetts Bay Colony

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The territory administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions...

 and left England on 26 August 1629 aboard the Arbella. He was named First Assistant to Governor John Winthrop

John Winthrop

John Winthrop was a wealthy English Puritan lawyer, and one of the leading figures in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the first major settlement in New England after Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the first large wave of migrants from England in 1630, and served as governor for 12 of...

.

Saltonstall arrived in Massachusetts with his wife, Elizabeth, and his children, Richard, Jr., Samuel, Robert, Henry, Grace, Rosamund, John, and Anne. The illness of one of his daughters caused him to return to England in 1631, along with his wife, daughters, and two of his sons. He maintained an interest in the colonies and was one of the patentees of the Connecticut Colony

Connecticut Colony

The Connecticut Colony or Colony of Connecticut was an English colony located in British America that became the U.S. state of Connecticut. Originally known as the River Colony, it was organized on March 3, 1636 as a haven for Puritan noblemen. After early struggles with the Dutch, the English...

. In 1644, he was appointed ambassador to Holland, where his portrait was painted by Rembrandt.

Saltonstall served as one of the judges who condemned the Duke of Hamilton

James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton

General Sir James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton KG was a Scottish nobleman and influential Civil war military leader.-Young Arran:...

 to death for treason

Treason

In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...

.

Family

Saltonstall's first wife was Grace Kaye. They had four children: sons Richard, Robert, and Samuel, and a daughter, Grace. After his wife died in 1625, Saltonstall married Lady Elizabeth West, by whom he had two additional children, Anne and John.

Although Saltonstall only remained in Massachusetts for a brief time, his descendents

Saltonstall family

The Saltonstall family is a Boston Brahmin family from the U.S. state of Massachusetts, notable for having had a family member attend Harvard University from every generation since Nathaniel Saltonstall—later one of the more principled judges at the Salem Witch Trials—graduated in 1659...

 played a major role in New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

 history.

Legacy

There are several monuments dedicated to Saltonstall in Watertown. These include Saltonstall Park on Main Street, Watertown and the Saltonstall Founders Memorial near the Charles River

Charles River

The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...

.

There is a small granite monument commemorating their settlement close to the Mt. Auburn Bridge in Cambridge.