Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

JOHN ENDECOTT (c. 1588-1665)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 382 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

JOHN See also:ENDECOTT (c. 1588-1665)  , See also:English colonial See also:governor in See also:America, was See also:born probably at See also:Dorchester, See also:Dorsetshire, See also:England, about 1588 . Little is known of him before 1628, when he was one of the six " See also:joint adventurers " who See also:purchased from the See also:Plymouth See also:Company a See also:strip of See also:land about 6o m. wide along the See also:Massachusetts See also:coast and extending westward to the Pacific Ocean . By his associates See also:Endecott was entrusted with the responsibility of leading the first colonists to the region, and with some sixty persons proceeded to Naumkeag (later See also:Salem) where See also:Roger See also:Conant, a seceder from the See also:colony at Plymouth, had begun a See also:settlement two years earlier . Endecott experienced some troublewith the previous settlers and with See also:Thomas See also:Morton's settlement at " Merry See also:Mount " (Mount See also:Wollaston, now See also:Quincy), where, in accordance with his strict Puritanical tenets, he cut down the maypole and dispersed the merrymakers . He was the See also:local governor of the Massachusetts See also:Bay Colony from the 3oth of See also:April 1629 to the 12th of See also:June 163o, when See also:John See also:Winthrop, who had succeeded See also:Matthew See also:Cradock as governor of the company on the 20th of See also:October 1629, brought the See also:charter to Salem and became governor of the colony as well as of the company . In the years immediately following he continued to take a prominent See also:part in the affairs of the colony, serving as an assistant and as a military See also:commissioner, and commanding, although with little success, an expedition against the Pequots in 1636 . At Salem he was a member of the See also:congregation of Roger See also:Williams, whom he resolutely defended in his trouble with the New England clerical See also:hierarchy, and excited by Williams's teachings, cut the See also:cross of St See also:George from the English See also:flag in token of his hatred of all symbols of Romanism . He was See also:deputy-governor in 1641-1644, and governor in 1644-1645, and served also as sergeantmajor-See also:general (See also:commander-in-See also:chief) of the See also:militia and as one of the commissioners of the See also:United Colonies of New England, of which in 1658 he was See also:president . On the See also:death of John Winthrop in 1649 he became governor, and by See also:annual re-elections served continuously until his death, with the exception of two years (1650-1651 and 1654-1655), when he was deputy-governor . Under his authority the colony of Massachusetts Bay made rapid progress, and except in the See also:matter of religious intolerance—he showed See also:great bigotry and harshness, particularly towards the See also:Quakers—his See also:rule was just and praiseworthy . Of him See also:Edward See also:Eggleston says: " A See also:strange mixture of rashness, pious zeal, genial See also:manners, hot See also:temper, and harsh bigotry, his extravagances See also:supply the condiment of See also:humour to a very serious See also:history—it is perhaps the See also:principal See also:debt posterity owes him." He died on the 15th of See also:March 1665 . See C .

M . Endicott, See also:

Memoirs of John Endecott (Salem, 1847), and a " Memoir of John Endecott " in Antiquarian Papers of the See also:American Antiquarian Society (See also:Worcester, See also:Mass., 1879) . A lineal descendant, See also:WILLIAM CROWNINSHIELD ENDICOTT (1826-1900), graduated at Harvard in 1847, was a See also:justice of the Massachusetts supreme See also:court in 1873-1882, and was secretary of See also:war in President See also:Cleveland's See also:cabinet from 1885 to 1889 . His daughter, See also:Mary Crowninshield Endicott, was married to the English statesman Mr See also:Joseph See also:Chamberlain in 1888 .

End of Article: JOHN ENDECOTT (c. 1588-1665)
[back]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA
[next]
ENDIVE

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.