Usually not a whole lot is known about the personal lives of colonial women aside from, possibly who their parents were, when and where they were born and died and whom they married. The Puritans in New England kept meticulous vital statistic records almost from the start but other then birth, marriage and death record, women were rarely mentioned in other records. Ever now and then, however, a New England woman stood above even the men of her community and made history. I had at least two of these women in my ancestral line, Anne Marbury Hutchison being one of them.
Anne Marbury baptized 20 July 1691 in Alford, Lincoln, England, daughter of Rev. Francis Marbury and his wife Bridget Dryden.
She married William Hutchinson 19 August 1612 in St. Mary Woolnoth's, London, England
She died August 1643 in Pelham Bay, NY
Anne and William Hutchinson had the following children:
1. Edward Hutchinson born May 1613 in Alford, Lincoln, England; died 19 August 1675 in Marlborough, Middlesex, MA; married Catherine Hamby
2. Susanna Hutchinson born 1614 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died and was buried there 08 September 1630
3. Richard Hutchinson born 1615 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died 1670 in London, Middlesex, England
4. Faith Hutchinson born 1617 in Alford, Lincoln, England; died 20 February 1651/52 in Boston, Suffolk, MA. She married Thomas Savage of St. Albons, England who died 1682 also in Boston, MA.
5. Bridget Hutchinson born in Alford, Lincoln, England; died August 1698 in Boston, MA. She married 1. Mr. Willis of Bridgewater 2. John SANFORD who died 1653. and 3. William Philips.
6. Francis Hutchinson born 1620 in Alford, Lincoln, England. He married Mary Cushman and died with his wife and mother and other family members 1643 in Pelham Bay, NY
7. Elizabeth Hutchinson born 1621 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died there 04 October 1630.
8. William Hutchinson born 1623 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died in 1643 along with his family in Pelham Bay, NY.
9. Samuel Hutchinson born 1624 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died in 1643 along with his family in Pelham Bay, NY.
10. Anne Hutchinson born 1626 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died in 1643 along with his family in Pelham Bay, NY.
11. Mary Hutchinson born 1627 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died in 1643 along with his family in Pelham Bay, NY.
12. Katherine Hutchinson born 1629 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died in 1643 along with his family in Pelham Bay, NY.
13. William Hutchinson born 1631 in Alford, Lincoln, England and died in 1643 along with his family in Pelham Bay, NY.
14. Susanna Hutchinson born 1633 in Alford, Lincoln, England; died 1713 in North Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island. She was captured by the Indians who killed her family and rescued by and married John Cole
15. Zuriel Hutchinson born 1636 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died in 1643 along with his family in Pelham Bay, NY.
Anne Marbury was born in Alford, Lincoln, England the daughter of Rev. Francis Marbury and his second wife Bridget Dryden. As mentioned in the chapter on her father, Anne was evidently well-educated and very intelligent woman. Early on, she was exposed to her father’s concerns about the English clergy and their lack of Biblical understanding. Francis Marbury’s large library and his and his wife’s intense study of the Bible was their children’s classroom. They must have instilled an attitude of wonder and excitement about God and learning in general to their children.
In 1612, Anne married William Hutchinson at St. Mary Woolnoth's, in London, England. William, himself, was of the reform movement, a good steady Puritan with a strong gift of leadership and yet a man who did not seem to be threatened by his wife’s intelligence and scholarly nature even when her wit and wisdom overwhelmed other men.
In England, the Hutchinsons closely followed the sermons of the Protestant minister John Cotton who was among the most influential Puritans of the early 1600s. John Cotton left with the Winthrop Fleet in 1634 for the Massachusetts colony. The William and Anne Hutchinson with their fifteen children, his mother Susanna and Anne’s sister Katherine Marbury (mentioned in Line 3) followed shortly after on the Griffin. Their fellow passengers included at least two other ancestors of mine, William Bartholomew (who would later testify at Anne’s trial) and John Lathrop. John Cotton, an intelligent and celebrated preacher and teacher of early Boston, would play a greater and harsher role in the Hutchinson’s life at a later date. He was a compassionate man but lived his puritan orthodoxy to a painful degree. His grandson, Cotton Matters, would play a role in the lives of other ancestors of mine, the Walcotts and the Putnams of Salem, Massachusetts.
Anne’s beliefs were based on what she had learned from John Cotton’s sermons with a measure of her own father’s beliefs and a lot of in-depth Bible study. She wasn’t content to just go by what other’s taught. She driveled into the Word and discovered much more then Cotton taught. She believed strongly in a personal relationship with God but also realized that she needed to temper her words so as not to appear vain and shortsighted. Once in the colony of Massachusetts, Anne began to hold Bible studies for women in her home so that they could express their own insights and theological ideas. Soon men, including pastors and magistrates began to attend her meetings. Governor Henry Vane was among her students. Anne’s teaching followed the Puritan theology in the salvation came from God’s grace, but she stopped there. It was God’s grace and man’s faith and acceptance in that grace that resulted in salvation. The saved man was no longer bound works. The Puritans felt that the Antinomians would be the end of Christianity with their “anything goes” theology and that moral anarchy would pursue.
In the summer of 1637, following John Winthrop’s election to the governorship of the colony, a synod was called to deal with the “errors” of Mrs. Hutchinson’s theology. The pro-Hutchinson deputies of the General Court were not allowed to take their seats. A synod was held and eight-two heresies committed by those who followed Anne’s teaching was read. Private meetings were banned. However The Rev. Wheelwright continued his preaching and Ann continued her meetings. Anne Hutchinson’s brother-in-law John Wheelwright was later banished because of a sermon preached on the grace issue. Mary Hutchinson Wheelwright left Boston with her husband and children to Exeter, New Hampshire and later to Salisbury, Massachusetts. The Wheelwrights were considered the founders of Exeter. John Wheelwright also spent some time in England where he renewed his friendship with a schoolmate of his, Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of England.
Back in Boston in November of 1637, Anne Hutchinson stood trial for heresy. Anne was accused of sedition. The procecution hounded her but she was able to defend herself with her biblical knowledge and her well thought out defense. But when Anne declared she had direction revolations from God, the court turned against her. John Winthrop denounced her meetings, calling them 'a thing not tolerable nor comely in the sight of God, nor fitting for your sex.' He called Anne, herself, “an American Jezebel, who had gone a-whoring from God' who should be 'tried as a heretic.” The court would not declare to the public the reasons she was banished. Governor John Withrop, when asked said “Say no more, the court knows wherefore and is satisfied.”
The court wasn’t totally heartless though. It was was winter and Mrs. Hutchinson’s was suffering from poor health. Instead of sending her on her way, she was placed underhouse arrest until a church trial could be conducted in the Spring. She was tutored by John Cotton where he and the Rev. John Davneport who tried to convince her of her errors.
In the spring of 1638 the Hutchinson family and 60 followers (including William and Mary Dyer – see Line 7) emigrated with her family to the colony on the island of Aquidneck, later known as Rhode Island. They purchased the island of Aquidnect also called Peaceable Island, from the Narragansetts Indians and founded the town of Portsmouth.
William Hutchinson, age about 56, died sometime in 1642. Without her husband and with the threat of Massachusetts colony taking over the Rhode Island colony, Anne and five of her children moved to the Dutch controlled Long Island and later to what is now Pelham Bay on the mainland. The other living children had either married or choose to stay in Rhode Island or return to Boston. While there is proof that Anne and her family got along with the local natives, a warring group of Mohegan Indians arrived in the area and slaughtered the entire Hutchinson family residing there except for one daughter, Susanna. She was taken captive by the Mohegans and later ransomed by the Dutch. Susanna married John Cole of Rhode Island in 1651. She and several other children of William and Anne Hutchinson married and had children; some of whom influenced the history of the colony and later state of Massachusetts.
Anne Marbury Hutchinson was a remarkable woman no matter what your opinion of her is. She was certainly an intelligent and likeable woman, an effective midwife, a faithful Christian with a hunger to know God. People, even many men of her age, were drawn to her thoughtful interpretations of the Bible, while others found her influences too strong and outside the established Boston beliefs, a real threat to their Calvinist biblical view. While her opposition was successful in driving her out of Boston, they weren’t successful in taking her out of the history boos. She is not a well know figure in history, but she will appear in a well written history of the New England colonies and her story was one of the reasons we are free to worship God in our chosen way in the United States of America.
My Hutchinson line:
John Hutchinson, Mayor of Lincoln, England m. Anne?
Edward Hutchinson, died 1632 in England m. Susanna? who died in Wells, Maine
William Hutchinson 1568-1642 m. Anne Marbury
Edward Hutchinson (Line 4) married Catherine Hamby
***SOURCES***
1. Passengers and Ships by Banks
2. "The Hutchinson Family of England and New England, and its Connections wit the Marburys and Drydens" by Joseph Lemuel Chester, NEHGR
3. The Royal Descents of 500 Immigrants by Gary Boyd Roberts, page 351 & 233
4."Family History, the Marbury Family" http://www.plix.com/~users/ncallahn
5. The American Genealogist Oct 1992 "The Well Beloved Mother-in-law of Robert Marbury"
6. http://genweb.net/~blackwell/blql "Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson, wife of William Hutchinson" by David C Blackwell
7. http://www.rootsweb.com/~nwa/ah.html "Notable Women Ancestors - Anne Hutchinson" from Text compiled by Sam Behling, 1998
8. "Anne Hutchinson" http://www.annehutchinson.com/anne_hutchinson_biography_001.htm
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