Thomas Dudley
Encyclopedia
Thomas Dudley was a colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later Cambridge, Massachusetts
, and built the town's first home. He provided land and funds to establish the Roxbury Latin School
, and signed the charter creating Harvard College
during his 1650 term as governor. Dudley was a devout Puritan
who was opposed to religious views not conforming with his. In this he was more rigid than other early Massachusetts leaders like John Winthrop
, but less confrontational than John Endecott
.
The son of a military man who died when he was young, Dudley saw military service during the French Wars of Religion
, and then acquired some legal training before entering the service of the Earl of Lincoln. Along with other Puritans in Lincoln's circle, Dudley helped organize the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, sailing with Winthrop in 1630. Although he served only four one-year terms as governor of the colony, he was regularly in other positions of authority.
Dudley's descendants include his daughter Anne Bradstreet
(1612–1672), who was the first poet in English North America, and many famous Americans. One of the gates of Harvard Yard
, torn down in the 20th century, was named in his honor, and Harvard's Dudley House is named for the family.
, a village near Northampton, England, on 12 October 1576, to Roger
and Susanna (Thorne) Dudley. His father, a captain in the English army, was apparently killed in battle. It was for some time believed he was killed in the 1590 Battle of Ivry
, but this is unlikely because Susanna Dudley was later found to be widowed by 1588. The 1586 Siege of Zutphen has also been suggested as the occasion of Roger Dudley's death. The family has long asserted connections to the Dudleys of Dudley Castle
; there is a similarity in their coats of arms
, but association beyond a probable common ancestry with them has never been conclusively demonstrated. Dudley's mother, Susanna Thorne, was descended from Henry II of England
through her Purefoy ancestors. As a young man, Thomas Dudley was a page
in the household of William, Baron Compton
. He raised a company of men following a call to arms by Queen Elizabeth
, and served in the army of King Henry IV
of France during the French Wars of Religion
, and was present at the 1597 Siege of Amiens.
After he was discharged from his military service, Dudley returned to Northamptonshire. He then entered the service of Sir Augustine Nicolls, a relative of his mother's, as a clerk. Nicolls, a lawyer and later a judge, was recognized for his honesty at a time when many judges were susceptible to bribery
and other malfeasance. He was also sympathetic to the Puritan
cause; the exposure to legal affairs and Nicolls' religious views probably had a significant influence on Dudley. After Nicolls' sudden death in 1616, Dudley took a position with Theophilus Clinton, 4th Earl of Lincoln, serving as a steward
responsible for managing some of the earl's estates. The earl's estate in Lincolnshire
was a center of Nonconformist
thought, and Dudley was already recognized for his Puritan virtues by the time he entered the earl's service. According to Cotton Mather
's biography of Dudley, he successfully disentangled a legacy of financial difficulties bequeathed to the earl, and the earl consequently came to depend on Dudley for financial advice. Dudley's services were not entirely pecuniary in nature: he is also said to have had an important role in securing the engagement of Clinton to Lord Saye's
daughter. In 1622, Dudley acquired the assistance of Simon Bradstreet
who was eventually drawn to Dudley's daughter Anne
. The two were married six years later, when she was 16.
Dudley was briefly out of Lincoln's service between about 1624 and 1628. During this time he lived with his growing family in Boston, Lincolnshire
, where he likely was a parishioner at St Botolph's Church, where John Cotton preached. The Dudleys were known to be back on Lincoln's estate in 1628, when his daughter Anne came down with smallpox
and was treated there.
. Dudley's name does not appear on the land grant issued to the company that year, but he was almost certainly involved in the formative stages of the company, whose investors and supporters included many individuals in the Earl of Lincoln's circle. The company sent a small group of colonists led by John Endecott
to begin building a settlement, called Salem
, on the shores of Massachusetts Bay
; a second group was sent in 1629. The company acquired a royal charter in April 1629, and later that year made the critical decision to transport the charter and the company's corporate governance to the colony. The Cambridge Agreement, which enabled the emigrating shareholders to buy out those that remained behind, may have been written by Dudley. In October 1629 John Winthrop
was elected governor, and John Humphrey was chosen as his deputy. However, as the fleet was preparing to sail in March 1630, Humphrey decided he would not leave England immediately, and Dudley was chosen as deputy governor in his place.
Dudley and his family sailed for the New World on the Arbella
, the flagship of the Winthrop Fleet
, on 8 April 1630 and arrived in Salem Harbour on 22 June. Finding conditions at Salem inadequate for establishing a larger colony, Winthrop and Dudley led forays into the Charles River
watershed, but were apparently unable to immediately agree on a site for the capital. With limited time to establish themselves, and concerns over rumors of potential hostile French action, the leaders decided to distribute the colonists in several places in order to avoid presenting a single target for hostilities. The Dudleys probably spent the winter of 1630–31 in Boston
, which was where the leadership chose to stay after its first choice, Charlestown
, was found to have inadequate water. A letter Dudley wrote to the Countess of Lincoln in March 1631 narrated the first year's experience of the colonists that arrived in Winthrop's fleet. It appeared in print for the first time in a 1696 compilation of early colonial documents by Joshua Scottow
.
in Cambridge
), and the town was surveyed and laid out. Dudley, Simon Bradstreet, and others built their houses there, but to Dudley's anger, Winthrop decided to build in Boston. This decision caused a rift between Dudley and Winthrop—it was serious enough that in 1632 Dudley resigned his posts and considered returning to England. After the intercession of others, the two reconciled and Dudley retracted his resignations. Winthrop reported that "[e]ver after they kept peace and good correspondency in love and friendship." During the dispute, Dudley also harshly questioned Winthrop's authority as governor for a number of actions done without consulting his council of assistants. Dudley's differences with Winthrop came to the fore again in January 1636, when other magistrates orchestrated a series of accusations that Winthrop had been overly lenient in his judicial decisions.
In 1632 Dudley, at his own expense, erected a palisade
around Newtowne (which was renamed Cambridge in 1636) that enclosed 1000 acres (404.7 ha) of land, principally as a defense against wild animals and Indian raids. The colony agreed to reimburse him by imposing taxes upon all of the area communities. The meetings occasioned by this need are among the first instances of a truly representative government in North America, when each town chose two representatives to advise the governor on the subject. This principal was extended to govern the colony as a whole in 1634, the year Dudley was first elected governor. During this term the colony established a committee to oversee military affairs and to manage the colony's munitions.
The colony came under legal threat in 1632, when Sir Ferdinando Gorges
, attempting to revive an earlier claim to the territory, raised issues of the colony's charter and governance with the Privy Council
of King Charles I
. When the colony's governing magistrates drafted a response to the charges raised by Gorges, Dudley was alone in opposing language referring to the king as his "sacred majesty", and to bishops of the Church of England
as "Reverend Bishops". Although a quo warranto
writ was issued in 1635 calling for the charter to be returned to England, the king's financial straits prevented it from being served, and the issue eventually died out.
, and the colony was split over the actions of Anne Hutchinson
. She had come to the colony in 1636, and began preaching Antinomianism
, while most of the older leadership, including Dudley and Winthrop, espoused a more Legalist
view. This split divided the colony, since Vane and John Cotton supported her. By 1638 Hutchinson was banished from the colony, and a number of her followers left the colony as a consequence. She settled in Rhode Island
, where Roger Williams
, also persona non grata
in Massachusetts over theological differences, offered her shelter. Dudley's role in the affair is unclear, but historians supportive of Hutchinson's cause argue that he was a significant force in her banishment, and that he was unhappy that the colony did not adopt a more rigid stance or ban more of her followers.
Vane was turned out of office in 1637 over the Hutchinson affair and his insistence on flying the English flag over the colony's fort
— many Puritans felt that the Cross of St George
on the flag was a symbol of popery and was thus anathema to them. Vane was replaced by Winthrop, who then served three terms. According to Winthrop, concerns over the length of his service led to Dudley's election as governor in 1640.
Although Dudley and Winthrop clashed with each other on a number of issues, they agreed on the banning of Hutchinson, and their relationship had some significant positive elements. In 1638 Dudley and Winthrop were each granted a tract of land "about six miles from Concord
, northward". Reportedly, Winthrop and Dudley went to the area together to survey the land and select their parcels. Winthrop, then governor, graciously deferred to Dudley, then deputy governor, to make the first choice of land. Dudley's land became Bedford
, and Winthrop's Billerica
. The place where the two properties met was marked by two large stones, each carved with the owner's name; Winthrop described the spot as the "'Two Brothers', in remembrance that they were brothers by their childrens' marriage".
, a document that contains guarantees that were later placed in the United States Bill of Rights
. During this term he joined moderates, including John Winthrop, in opposing attempts by the local clergy to take a more prominent and explicit role in the colony's governance. When he was again governor in 1645 the colony threatened war against the expansionist Narragansetts, who had been making war against the English-allied Mohegans. This prompted the Narragansett leader Miantonomi to sign a peace agreement with the New England colonies which lasted until King Philip's War
broke out 30 years later. Dudley also presided over the acquittal of John Winthrop in a trial held that year; Winthrop had been charged with abuses of his power as a magistrate by residents of Hingham
the previous year.
In 1649 Dudley was appointed once again to serve as a commissioner and president of the New England Confederation
, an umbrella organization established by most of the New England colonies to address issues of common interest; however, he was ill (and aging, at 73), and consequently unable to discharge his duties in that office. Despite the illness, Dudley was elected governor for the fourth and last time in 1650. The most notable acts during this term were the issuance of a new charter for Harvard College
, and the judicial decision to burn The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption, a book by Springfield
resident William Pynchon
that expounded on religious views heretical to the ruling Puritans. Pynchon was called upon to retract his views, but he chose to return to England instead of facing the magistrates.
During most of his years in Massachusetts, when not governor, Dudley served as either deputy governor or as one of the colony's commissioners to the New England Confederation. He also served as a magistrate in the colonial courts, and sat on committees that drafted the laws of the colony. His views were conservative, but he was not as strident in them as John Endecott
. Endecott notoriously defaced the English flag in 1632, an act for which he was censured and deprived of office for one year. Dudley sided with the moderate faction on the issue, which believed the flag's depiction of the Cross of St George had by then been reduced to a symbol of nationalism.
Nathaniel Morton
, an early chronicler of the Plymouth Colony
, wrote of Dudley, "His zeal to order appeared in contriving good laws, and faithfully executing them upon criminal offenders, heretics, and underminers of true religion. He had a piercing judgment to discover the wolf, though clothed with a sheepskin." Early Massachusetts historian James Savage wrote of Dudley that "[a] hardness in public, and rigidity in private life, are too observable in his character". In a more modern historical view, Francis Bremer observes that Dudley was "more precise and rigid than the moderate Winthrop in his approach to the issues facing the colonists".
, a childless colonist, bequeathed to the colony his library and half of his estate as a contribution to the college, which was consequently named in his honor
. The college charter was first issued in 1642, and a second charter was issued in 1650, signed by then-Governor Thomas Dudley, who also served for many years as one of the college's overseers. Harvard University's Dudley House, now only an administrative unit located in Lehman Hall after the actual house was torn down, is named in honor of the Dudley family. Harvard Yard
once had a Dudley Gate bearing words written by his daughter Anne; it was torn down in the 1940s to make way for construction of Lamont Library.
In 1643, Reverend John Eliot
established a school at Roxbury. Dudley, who was then living in Roxbury, gave significant donations of both land and money to the school, which survives to this day as the Roxbury Latin School
.
Dudley married Dorothy Yorke in 1603, and with her had five children. Samuel, the first, also came to the New World, and married Winthrop's daughter Mary in 1633, beginning the Dudley-Winthrop family
. He later served as the pastor in Exeter, New Hampshire
. Daughter Anne married Simon Bradstreet
, and became the first poet published in North America. The third child, Sarah, married Benjamin Keayne, a militia officer. This union was an unhappy one, and resulted in the first reported instance of divorce
in the colony; Keayne returned to England and repudiated the marriage. Although no formal divorce proceedings are known, Sarah eventually married again. Patience, the fourth child, also married a colonial militia officer, and Mercy, the last of his children with Dorothy, married minister John Woodbridge
. Dorothy Yorke died 27 December 1643 at 61 years of age, and was remembered by her daughter Anne in a poem:
Dudley married his second wife, the widow Katherine (Dighton or Deighton) Hackburne, in 1644. They had three children, Deborah, Joseph
, and Paul. Joseph served as governor of the Dominion of New England
and of the Province of Massachusetts Bay
. Paul (not to be confused with Joseph's son Paul, who served as provincial attorney general) was for a time the colony's register of probate.
In 1636 Dudley moved from Cambridge to Ipswich
, and in 1639 moved to Roxbury. He died in Roxbury on 31 July 1653, and was buried in the Eliot Burying Ground
there. Some of his descendants, including son Joseph and grandson Paul, are also buried there. Dudley's many famous descendants include John Kerry
, the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate
and United States Senator from Massachusetts, as well as former United States Supreme Court Justice David Souter
and past political figures such as U. S. President Herbert Hoover
and New Hampshire Senator Nicholas Gilman
. Dudley, Massachusetts
is named for his grandsons Paul and William, who were its first proprietors.
The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation owns a parcel of land in Billerica called Governor Thomas Dudley Park. The "Two Brothers" rocks are located in the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
in Bedford, in an area that has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places
as the Two Brothers Rocks-Dudley Road Historic District.
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...
. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, and built the town's first home. He provided land and funds to establish the Roxbury Latin School
Roxbury Latin School
The Roxbury Latin School is the oldest school in continuous operation in North America. The school was founded in Roxbury, Massachusetts by the Rev. John Eliot under a charter received from King Charles I of England. Since its founding in 1645, it has educated boys on a continuous basis.Located...
, and signed the charter creating Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
during his 1650 term as governor. Dudley was a devout Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
who was opposed to religious views not conforming with his. In this he was more rigid than other early Massachusetts leaders like 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...
, but less confrontational than John Endecott
John Endecott
John Endecott was an English colonial magistrate, soldier and the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. During all of his years in the colony but one, he held some form of civil, judicial, or military high office...
.
The son of a military man who died when he was young, Dudley saw military service during the French Wars of Religion
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants . The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise...
, and then acquired some legal training before entering the service of the Earl of Lincoln. Along with other Puritans in Lincoln's circle, Dudley helped organize the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, sailing with Winthrop in 1630. Although he served only four one-year terms as governor of the colony, he was regularly in other positions of authority.
Dudley's descendants include his daughter Anne Bradstreet
Anne Bradstreet
Anne Dudley Bradstreet was New England's first published poet. Her work met with a positive reception in both the Old World and the New World.-Biography:...
(1612–1672), who was the first poet in English North America, and many famous Americans. One of the gates of Harvard Yard
Harvard Yard
Harvard Yard is a grassy area of about , adjacent to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that constitutes the oldest part and the center of the campus of Harvard University...
, torn down in the 20th century, was named in his honor, and Harvard's Dudley House is named for the family.
Early years
Thomas Dudley was born in Yardley HastingsYardley Hastings
Yardley Hastings is a village in the English county of Northamptonshire. It is located south-east of the county town of Northampton and is skirted on its south side by the main A428 road to Bedford.-History:...
, a village near Northampton, England, on 12 October 1576, to Roger
Roger Dudley
Roger Dudley was an English soldier.Dudley was born in London, England, but some say that he was baptised in Yardley Hastings, Northamptonshire. However Dudley's parentage has never been satisfactorily established...
and Susanna (Thorne) Dudley. His father, a captain in the English army, was apparently killed in battle. It was for some time believed he was killed in the 1590 Battle of Ivry
Battle of Ivry
The Battle of Ivry was fought on 14 March 1590, during the French Wars of Religion. The battle was a decisive victory for Henry of Navarre, the future Henry IV of France, leading Huguenot forces against the Catholic League forces led by the Duc de Mayenne...
, but this is unlikely because Susanna Dudley was later found to be widowed by 1588. The 1586 Siege of Zutphen has also been suggested as the occasion of Roger Dudley's death. The family has long asserted connections to the Dudleys of Dudley Castle
Dudley Castle
Dudley Castle is a ruined castle in the town of Dudley, West Midlands, England. Dudley Zoo is located in its grounds. The location, Castle Hill, is an outcrop of Wenlock Group limestone that was extensively quarried during the Industrial Revolution, and which now along with Wren's Nest Hill is a...
; there is a similarity in their coats of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
, but association beyond a probable common ancestry with them has never been conclusively demonstrated. Dudley's mother, Susanna Thorne, was descended from Henry II of England
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
through her Purefoy ancestors. As a young man, Thomas Dudley was a page
Page (servant)
A page or page boy is a traditionally young male servant, a messenger at the service of a nobleman or royal.-The medieval page:In medieval times, a page was an attendant to a knight; an apprentice squire...
in the household of William, Baron Compton
William Compton, 1st Earl of Northampton
William Compton, 1st Earl of Northampton, KG , known as 2nd Baron Compton from 1589 to 1618, was an English peer.Northampton was the son of Henry Compton, 1st Baron Compton, and Frances Hastings. His maternal grandparents were Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon and Catherine Pole...
. He raised a company of men following a call to arms by Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
, and served in the army of King Henry IV
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
of France during the French Wars of Religion
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants . The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise...
, and was present at the 1597 Siege of Amiens.
After he was discharged from his military service, Dudley returned to Northamptonshire. He then entered the service of Sir Augustine Nicolls, a relative of his mother's, as a clerk. Nicolls, a lawyer and later a judge, was recognized for his honesty at a time when many judges were susceptible to bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
and other malfeasance. He was also sympathetic to the Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
cause; the exposure to legal affairs and Nicolls' religious views probably had a significant influence on Dudley. After Nicolls' sudden death in 1616, Dudley took a position with Theophilus Clinton, 4th Earl of Lincoln, serving as a steward
Butler
A butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...
responsible for managing some of the earl's estates. The earl's estate in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
was a center of Nonconformist
Nonconformism
Nonconformity is the refusal to "conform" to, or follow, the governance and usages of the Church of England by the Protestant Christians of England and Wales.- Origins and use:...
thought, and Dudley was already recognized for his Puritan virtues by the time he entered the earl's service. According to Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather, FRS was a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author and pamphleteer; he is often remembered for his role in the Salem witch trials...
's biography of Dudley, he successfully disentangled a legacy of financial difficulties bequeathed to the earl, and the earl consequently came to depend on Dudley for financial advice. Dudley's services were not entirely pecuniary in nature: he is also said to have had an important role in securing the engagement of Clinton to Lord Saye's
William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele
William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele was born at the family home of Broughton Castle near Banbury, in Oxfordshire. He was the only son of Richard Fiennes, seventh Baron Saye and Sele...
daughter. In 1622, Dudley acquired the assistance of Simon Bradstreet
Simon Bradstreet
Simon Bradstreet was a colonial magistrate, businessman, diplomat, and the last governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Arriving in Massachusetts on the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, Bradstreet was almost constantly involved in the politics of the colony but became its governor only in 1679...
who was eventually drawn to Dudley's daughter Anne
Anne Bradstreet
Anne Dudley Bradstreet was New England's first published poet. Her work met with a positive reception in both the Old World and the New World.-Biography:...
. The two were married six years later, when she was 16.
Dudley was briefly out of Lincoln's service between about 1624 and 1628. During this time he lived with his growing family in Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...
, where he likely was a parishioner at St Botolph's Church, where John Cotton preached. The Dudleys were known to be back on Lincoln's estate in 1628, when his daughter Anne came down with smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
and was treated there.
Massachusetts Bay Colony
In 1628 Dudley and other Puritans decided to form the Massachusetts Bay Company, with a view toward establishing a Puritan colony in North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. Dudley's name does not appear on the land grant issued to the company that year, but he was almost certainly involved in the formative stages of the company, whose investors and supporters included many individuals in the Earl of Lincoln's circle. The company sent a small group of colonists led by John Endecott
John Endecott
John Endecott was an English colonial magistrate, soldier and the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. During all of his years in the colony but one, he held some form of civil, judicial, or military high office...
to begin building a settlement, called Salem
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
, on the shores of Massachusetts Bay
Massachusetts Bay
The Massachusetts Bay, also called Mass Bay, is one of the largest bays of the Atlantic Ocean which forms the distinctive shape of the coastline of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Its waters extend 65 miles into the Atlantic Ocean. Massachusetts Bay includes the Boston Harbor, Dorchester Bay,...
; a second group was sent in 1629. The company acquired a royal charter in April 1629, and later that year made the critical decision to transport the charter and the company's corporate governance to the colony. The Cambridge Agreement, which enabled the emigrating shareholders to buy out those that remained behind, may have been written by Dudley. In October 1629 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...
was elected governor, and John Humphrey was chosen as his deputy. However, as the fleet was preparing to sail in March 1630, Humphrey decided he would not leave England immediately, and Dudley was chosen as deputy governor in his place.
Dudley and his family sailed for the New World on the Arbella
Arbella
The Arbella or Arabella was the flagship of the Winthrop Fleet on which, between April 8 and June 12, 1630, Governor John Winthrop, other members of the Company and Puritan emigrants transported themselves and the Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company from England to Salem, thereby giving legal...
, the flagship of the Winthrop Fleet
Winthrop Fleet
The Winthrop Fleet was a group of eleven sailing ships under the leadership of John Winthrop that carried approximately 700 Puritans plus livestock and provisions from England to New England over the summer of 1630.-Motivation:...
, on 8 April 1630 and arrived in Salem Harbour on 22 June. Finding conditions at Salem inadequate for establishing a larger colony, Winthrop and Dudley led forays into 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...
watershed, but were apparently unable to immediately agree on a site for the capital. With limited time to establish themselves, and concerns over rumors of potential hostile French action, the leaders decided to distribute the colonists in several places in order to avoid presenting a single target for hostilities. The Dudleys probably spent the winter of 1630–31 in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, which was where the leadership chose to stay after its first choice, Charlestown
Charlestown, Massachusetts
Charlestown is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and is located on a peninsula north of downtown Boston. Charlestown was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; it became a city in 1847 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874...
, was found to have inadequate water. A letter Dudley wrote to the Countess of Lincoln in March 1631 narrated the first year's experience of the colonists that arrived in Winthrop's fleet. It appeared in print for the first time in a 1696 compilation of early colonial documents by Joshua Scottow
Joshua Scottow
Joshua Scottow , was a colonial American merchant and the author of two histories of early New England: Old Men's Tears for Their Own Declensions and A Narrative of the Planting of the Massachusetts Colony Anno 1628 .Scottow emigrated to Massachusetts between 1630 and 1634 with his widowed mother...
.
Founding of Cambridge
In the spring of 1631 the leadership agreed to establish the colony's capital at Newtowne (near present-day Harvard SquareHarvard Square
Harvard Square is a large triangular area in the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street, and John F. Kennedy Street. It is the historic center of Cambridge...
in Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
), and the town was surveyed and laid out. Dudley, Simon Bradstreet, and others built their houses there, but to Dudley's anger, Winthrop decided to build in Boston. This decision caused a rift between Dudley and Winthrop—it was serious enough that in 1632 Dudley resigned his posts and considered returning to England. After the intercession of others, the two reconciled and Dudley retracted his resignations. Winthrop reported that "[e]ver after they kept peace and good correspondency in love and friendship." During the dispute, Dudley also harshly questioned Winthrop's authority as governor for a number of actions done without consulting his council of assistants. Dudley's differences with Winthrop came to the fore again in January 1636, when other magistrates orchestrated a series of accusations that Winthrop had been overly lenient in his judicial decisions.
In 1632 Dudley, at his own expense, erected a palisade
Palisade
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.- Typical construction :Typical construction consisted of small or mid sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at the top, and were...
around Newtowne (which was renamed Cambridge in 1636) that enclosed 1000 acres (404.7 ha) of land, principally as a defense against wild animals and Indian raids. The colony agreed to reimburse him by imposing taxes upon all of the area communities. The meetings occasioned by this need are among the first instances of a truly representative government in North America, when each town chose two representatives to advise the governor on the subject. This principal was extended to govern the colony as a whole in 1634, the year Dudley was first elected governor. During this term the colony established a committee to oversee military affairs and to manage the colony's munitions.
The colony came under legal threat in 1632, when Sir Ferdinando Gorges
Ferdinando Gorges
Sir Ferdinando Gorges , the "Father of English Colonization in North America", was an early English colonial entrepreneur and founder of the Province of Maine in 1622, although Gorges himself never set foot in the New World.-Biography:...
, attempting to revive an earlier claim to the territory, raised issues of the colony's charter and governance with the Privy Council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
of King Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
. When the colony's governing magistrates drafted a response to the charges raised by Gorges, Dudley was alone in opposing language referring to the king as his "sacred majesty", and to bishops of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
as "Reverend Bishops". Although a quo warranto
Quo warranto
Quo warranto is a prerogative writ requiring the person to whom it is directed to show what authority they have for exercising some right or power they claim to hold.-History:...
writ was issued in 1635 calling for the charter to be returned to England, the king's financial straits prevented it from being served, and the issue eventually died out.
Anne Hutchinson affair
In 1635, and for the four following years, Dudley was elected either as deputy governor or as a member of the council of assistants. The governor in 1636 was Henry VaneHenry Vane the Younger
Sir Henry Vane , son of Henry Vane the Elder , was an English politician, statesman, and colonial governor...
, and the colony was split over the actions of Anne Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson 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 had come to the colony in 1636, and began preaching Antinomianism
Antinomianism
Antinomianism is defined as holding that, under the gospel dispensation of grace, moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation....
, while most of the older leadership, including Dudley and Winthrop, espoused a more Legalist
Legalism (theology)
Legalism, in Christian theology, is a sometimes-pejorative term referring to an over-emphasis on discipline of conduct, or legal ideas, usually implying an allegation of misguided rigour, pride, superficiality, the neglect of mercy, and ignorance of the grace of God or emphasizing the letter of...
view. This split divided the colony, since Vane and John Cotton supported her. By 1638 Hutchinson was banished from the colony, and a number of her followers left the colony as a consequence. She settled in Rhode Island
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original English Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of North America that, after the American Revolution, became the modern U.S...
, where Roger Williams
Roger Williams (theologian)
Roger Williams was an English Protestant theologian who was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. In 1636, he began the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities. Williams started the first Baptist church in America,...
, also persona non grata
Persona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...
in Massachusetts over theological differences, offered her shelter. Dudley's role in the affair is unclear, but historians supportive of Hutchinson's cause argue that he was a significant force in her banishment, and that he was unhappy that the colony did not adopt a more rigid stance or ban more of her followers.
Vane was turned out of office in 1637 over the Hutchinson affair and his insistence on flying the English flag over the colony's fort
Fort Independence (Massachusetts)
Fort Independence is a granite star fort that provided harbor defenses for Boston, Massachusetts. Located on Castle Island, Fort Independence is the oldest continuously fortified site of English origin in the United States. The first primitive fortification was placed on the site in 1634 and...
— many Puritans felt that the Cross of St George
St George's Cross
St George's Cross is a red cross on a white background used as a symbolic reference to Saint George. The red cross on white was associated with St George from medieval times....
on the flag was a symbol of popery and was thus anathema to them. Vane was replaced by Winthrop, who then served three terms. According to Winthrop, concerns over the length of his service led to Dudley's election as governor in 1640.
Although Dudley and Winthrop clashed with each other on a number of issues, they agreed on the banning of Hutchinson, and their relationship had some significant positive elements. In 1638 Dudley and Winthrop were each granted a tract of land "about six miles from Concord
Concord, Massachusetts
Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 17,668. Although a small town, Concord is noted for its leading roles in American history and literature.-History:...
, northward". Reportedly, Winthrop and Dudley went to the area together to survey the land and select their parcels. Winthrop, then governor, graciously deferred to Dudley, then deputy governor, to make the first choice of land. Dudley's land became Bedford
Bedford, Massachusetts
Bedford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is within the Greater Boston area, north-west of the city of Boston. The population of Bedford was 13,320 at the 2010 census.- History :...
, and Winthrop's Billerica
Billerica, Massachusetts
Billerica is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,243 at the 2010 census. It is the only town named Billerica in the United States and borrows its name from the town of Billericay in Essex, England.- History :...
. The place where the two properties met was marked by two large stones, each carved with the owner's name; Winthrop described the spot as the "'Two Brothers', in remembrance that they were brothers by their childrens' marriage".
Other political activities
During Dudley's term of office in 1640, many new laws were passed. This led to the introduction the following year of the Massachusetts Body of LibertiesMassachusetts Body of Liberties
The Massachusetts Body of Liberties was the first legal code established by European colonists in New England. Compiled by the Puritan minister Nathaniel Ward, the laws were established by the Massachusetts General Court in 1641...
, a document that contains guarantees that were later placed in the United States Bill of Rights
United States Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and...
. During this term he joined moderates, including John Winthrop, in opposing attempts by the local clergy to take a more prominent and explicit role in the colony's governance. When he was again governor in 1645 the colony threatened war against the expansionist Narragansetts, who had been making war against the English-allied Mohegans. This prompted the Narragansett leader Miantonomi to sign a peace agreement with the New England colonies which lasted until King Philip's War
King Philip's War
King Philip's War, sometimes called Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, or Metacom's Rebellion, was an armed conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day southern New England and English colonists and their Native American allies in 1675–76. The war is named after the main leader of the...
broke out 30 years later. Dudley also presided over the acquittal of John Winthrop in a trial held that year; Winthrop had been charged with abuses of his power as a magistrate by residents of Hingham
Hingham, Massachusetts
Hingham is a town in northern Plymouth County on the South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and suburb in Greater Boston. The United States Census Bureau 2008 estimated population was 22,561...
the previous year.
In 1649 Dudley was appointed once again to serve as a commissioner and president of the New England Confederation
New England Confederation
The United Colonies of New England, commonly known as the New England Confederation, was a short-lived military alliance of the English colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. Established in 1643, its primary purpose was to unite the Puritan colonies against the Native...
, an umbrella organization established by most of the New England colonies to address issues of common interest; however, he was ill (and aging, at 73), and consequently unable to discharge his duties in that office. Despite the illness, Dudley was elected governor for the fourth and last time in 1650. The most notable acts during this term were the issuance of a new charter for Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
, and the judicial decision to burn The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption, a book by Springfield
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
resident William Pynchon
William Pynchon
William Pynchon was an English colonist in North America best known as the founder of Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. He was also a colonial treasurer, original patentee of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the iconoclastic author of the New World's first banned book...
that expounded on religious views heretical to the ruling Puritans. Pynchon was called upon to retract his views, but he chose to return to England instead of facing the magistrates.
During most of his years in Massachusetts, when not governor, Dudley served as either deputy governor or as one of the colony's commissioners to the New England Confederation. He also served as a magistrate in the colonial courts, and sat on committees that drafted the laws of the colony. His views were conservative, but he was not as strident in them as John Endecott
John Endecott
John Endecott was an English colonial magistrate, soldier and the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. During all of his years in the colony but one, he held some form of civil, judicial, or military high office...
. Endecott notoriously defaced the English flag in 1632, an act for which he was censured and deprived of office for one year. Dudley sided with the moderate faction on the issue, which believed the flag's depiction of the Cross of St George had by then been reduced to a symbol of nationalism.
Nathaniel Morton
Nathaniel Morton
Capt. Nathaniel Morton was a Separatist settler of Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, where he served for most of his life as Plymouth's secretary under his uncle, Governor William Bradford...
, an early chronicler of the Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town...
, wrote of Dudley, "His zeal to order appeared in contriving good laws, and faithfully executing them upon criminal offenders, heretics, and underminers of true religion. He had a piercing judgment to discover the wolf, though clothed with a sheepskin." Early Massachusetts historian James Savage wrote of Dudley that "[a] hardness in public, and rigidity in private life, are too observable in his character". In a more modern historical view, Francis Bremer observes that Dudley was "more precise and rigid than the moderate Winthrop in his approach to the issues facing the colonists".
Founding of Harvard and Roxbury Latin
In 1637 the colony established a committee "to take order for a new college at Newtown". The committee consisted of most of the colony's elders, including Dudley. In 1638, John HarvardJohn Harvard (clergyman)
John Harvard was an English minister in America whose deathbed bequest to the Massachusetts Bay Colony's fledgling New College was so gratefully received that the school was renamed Harvard College in his honor.-Biography:Harvard was born and raised in Southwark, England, the fourth of nine...
, a childless colonist, bequeathed to the colony his library and half of his estate as a contribution to the college, which was consequently named in his honor
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
. The college charter was first issued in 1642, and a second charter was issued in 1650, signed by then-Governor Thomas Dudley, who also served for many years as one of the college's overseers. Harvard University's Dudley House, now only an administrative unit located in Lehman Hall after the actual house was torn down, is named in honor of the Dudley family. Harvard Yard
Harvard Yard
Harvard Yard is a grassy area of about , adjacent to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that constitutes the oldest part and the center of the campus of Harvard University...
once had a Dudley Gate bearing words written by his daughter Anne; it was torn down in the 1940s to make way for construction of Lamont Library.
In 1643, Reverend John Eliot
John Eliot (missionary)
John Eliot was a Puritan missionary to the American Indians. His efforts earned him the designation “the Indian apostle.”-English education and Massachusetts ministry:...
established a school at Roxbury. Dudley, who was then living in Roxbury, gave significant donations of both land and money to the school, which survives to this day as the Roxbury Latin School
Roxbury Latin School
The Roxbury Latin School is the oldest school in continuous operation in North America. The school was founded in Roxbury, Massachusetts by the Rev. John Eliot under a charter received from King Charles I of England. Since its founding in 1645, it has educated boys on a continuous basis.Located...
.
Family and legacy
Dudley-Winthrop family
-Thomas Dudley:*Born: 1576, Yardley-Hastings, Northampton, England*Political position: Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony 1634, 1640, 1645, 1650*Father of Anne Dudley who married Simon Bradstreet*Father of Joseph Dudley...
. He later served as the pastor in Exeter, New Hampshire
Exeter, New Hampshire
Exeter is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The town's population was 14,306 at the 2010 census. Exeter was the county seat until 1997, when county offices were moved to neighboring Brentwood...
. Daughter Anne married Simon Bradstreet
Simon Bradstreet
Simon Bradstreet was a colonial magistrate, businessman, diplomat, and the last governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Arriving in Massachusetts on the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, Bradstreet was almost constantly involved in the politics of the colony but became its governor only in 1679...
, and became the first poet published in North America. The third child, Sarah, married Benjamin Keayne, a militia officer. This union was an unhappy one, and resulted in the first reported instance of divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
in the colony; Keayne returned to England and repudiated the marriage. Although no formal divorce proceedings are known, Sarah eventually married again. Patience, the fourth child, also married a colonial militia officer, and Mercy, the last of his children with Dorothy, married minister John Woodbridge
John Woodbridge
John Woodbridge VI was an English nonconformist, who emigrated to New England. He had positions on both sides of the Atlantic, until 1663, when he settled permanently in New England.-Life:...
. Dorothy Yorke died 27 December 1643 at 61 years of age, and was remembered by her daughter Anne in a poem:
Dudley married his second wife, the widow Katherine (Dighton or Deighton) Hackburne, in 1644. They had three children, Deborah, Joseph
Joseph Dudley
Joseph Dudley was an English colonial administrator. A native of Roxbury, Massachusetts and son of one of its founders, he had a leading role in the administration of the unpopular Dominion of New England , and served briefly on the council of the Province of New York, where he oversaw the trial...
, and Paul. Joseph served as governor of the Dominion of New England
Dominion of New England
The Dominion of New England in America was an administrative union of English colonies in the New England region of North America. The dominion was ultimately a failure because the area it encompassed was too large for a single governor to manage...
and of the Province of Massachusetts Bay
Province of Massachusetts Bay
The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a crown colony in North America. It was chartered on October 7, 1691 by William and Mary, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of England and Scotland...
. Paul (not to be confused with Joseph's son Paul, who served as provincial attorney general) was for a time the colony's register of probate.
In 1636 Dudley moved from Cambridge to Ipswich
Ipswich, Massachusetts
Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,987 at the 2000 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island...
, and in 1639 moved to Roxbury. He died in Roxbury on 31 July 1653, and was buried in the Eliot Burying Ground
Eliot Burying Ground
Eliot Burying Ground is an historic cemetery at Eustis and Washington Streetsin Boston, Massachusetts.Founded in 1630, the cemetery was added to the National Historic Register in 1974...
there. Some of his descendants, including son Joseph and grandson Paul, are also buried there. Dudley's many famous descendants include John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
, the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
and United States Senator from Massachusetts, as well as former United States Supreme Court Justice David Souter
David Souter
David Hackett Souter is a former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He served from 1990 until his retirement on June 29, 2009. Appointed by President George H. W. Bush to fill the seat vacated by William J...
and past political figures such as U. S. President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
and New Hampshire Senator Nicholas Gilman
Nicholas Gilman
Nicholas Gilman, Jr. was a soldier in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, a delegate to the Continental Congress, and a signer of the U.S. Constitution, representing New Hampshire. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives during the first four...
. Dudley, Massachusetts
Dudley, Massachusetts
Dudley is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,390 at the 2010 census.-History:Dudley was first settled in 1714 and was officially incorporated in 1732...
is named for his grandsons Paul and William, who were its first proprietors.
The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation owns a parcel of land in Billerica called Governor Thomas Dudley Park. The "Two Brothers" rocks are located in the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
The Great Meadows Wildlife Refuge, is a twelve-mile long river wetlands conservation area, in two major parcels, stretching from the towns of Billerica, Massachusetts to Wayland, Massachusetts , along the Concord and Sudbury rivers...
in Bedford, in an area that has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as the Two Brothers Rocks-Dudley Road Historic District.