1638

Not many people realize, and I didn’t realize until doing family genealogy stuff, that 1638 was actually a pretty significant year for Early America. Obviously, I found this out while researching my family, who were already in America then, and a part of most of the topics I will be discussing in this post. For instance, the first Porter, Peter Porter I, to come to America came aboard the Tyger, leaving in 1621 and arriving in 1622, near Jamestown, VA. In 1638, the church that he belonged to was built. He became an “Independent” or “Dissenter”, and was one that moved from VA to what is now, Anne Arundel County, MD.

A very famous example, that I didn’t know about, is commonly referred to as “The Anti-Nomian Controversy.” 1638 was when the actual trial of Anne Hutchinson was held. Following her trial, she left Massachusetts and went to the newly developed area of “Aquidneck Island” (aka Rhode Island as the state became known as.) Rhode Island was formed by Anne Hutchinson’s doctor, John Clarke, who had asked the Pilgrims in Plymouth if they owned certain land, of which they said yes to one area, but no to another area. So a purchase of Rhode Island from the Narangansette tribe was made, and many of the exiled Massachusetts believers went to an area of Portsmouth, Rhode Island under the guidance of Dr. and Minister, John Clarke in 1638.

Another significance in 1638 was the founding of Sudbury, Massachusetts by Edmund Rice, Thomas King, William Ward, and 12 other families. Now to tie some of this together, Edmund Rice and Anne Hutchinson’s stepfather (a preacher) had received a land grant in England, to the church, from the King of England to help with the relief of the poor… What an interesting view of facts! The same year that Anne Hutchinson is tried for pretty much being a believer in Jehovah God, her doctor (who was “learned” in Hebrew), founded Portsmouth, Rhode Island AND a close associate of her stepfather, through church, becomes one of the main founders of Sudbury, Massachusetts!

Jamestown VA

Sewell Point Church

Sewell’s

Peter Porter

Montague’s

Anne Hutchinson Trial

Portsmouth Rhode Island

John Clarke Writer of the Portsmouth Contract, Founder of Religious Freedom in America

The Cory Family William Cory

Timberlake’s

Earl Family

Coddington

Sudbury

Edmund Rice A Separist

Thomas King

William Ward

More to come on all of this later.