William Pynchon

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 26 Dec 1590, Springfield, Essex, England
• Alternate birth: Abt 27 Dec 1590, Springfield, Essex, England

Notes:

The chief founder of Springfield, Massachusetts, he named it after his native village in Essex.

From Hale, House and Related Families (citation details below):

Mr. Pynchon was one of the Patentees of the Charter granted by King Charles I to the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, 18 Mar. 1628/9. He came to America in Governor Winthrop's Fleet in 1630, from Springfield, England, and settled in Roxbury, Mass.

He was Assistant to Massachusetts Bay, 1629 to 1636 inclusive, and Treasurer, 1632-3. He was one of the original proprietors of Springfield, Mass., in 1636, and was one of the Commissioners appointed in March, 1636, by the General Court of Massachusetts Bay to govern the Connecticut River settlements. He was Magistrate of Connecticut Colony, 1636 and 1638, while Springfield belonged in that jurisdiction, and thereafter was again Assistant to Massachusetts Bay, 1643 to 1650 inclusive. He was governing Commissioner of Springfield, 1636 to 1651.

In 1650 he published in England The Meritorious Price of Christ's Redemption which was so disapproved by the Massachusetts authorities that they deposed him from the magistracy and publicly burned the book in Boston by order of the Court. Mr. Pynchon rejected the Calvinistic doctrine of the atonement which was then orthodox theology with the New England clergy. The entire text of the controversial book was republished in full in Burt's History of Springfield (Vol. 1, pp. 89-121). Doubtless Mr. Pynchon was surprised that his book created such a furor and that it was savagely attacked. Turning over his large Springfield holdings to his son John, he returned in 1652 to England, where he bought a comfortable property at Wraysbury, Buckinghamshire. Here he divided his remaining years between his business affairs and polemic writing and, in 1655, published an answer to Rev. Mr. Norton's printed objections to his book.

From Robert Charles Anderson (citation details below):

Once back in England, William Pynchon continued his career as a controversialist, publishing two more such pamphlets--The Jewes Synagogue (London, 1652) and A Treatise of the Sabbath (London, 1654)--in addition to works of a less controversial nature.

No evidence survives that indicates that William Pynchon attended either Oxford or Cambridge, but he was certainly well educated, probably at one of the better English grammar schools and perhaps also at one of the Inns of Court, as he was skilled in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew and was also familiar with the law.

William married Anne Andrew about 1618. Anne (daughter of William Andrew and Bridget Rysley) died between 1630 and 1631 in Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. John Pynchon was born about 1620; died on 17 Jan 1703 in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts.
2. Mary Pynchon was born about 1622; died on 25 Oct 1657.

Notes:

He matriculated at New College, Oxford, 20 Dec 1577; B.A., 6 Apr 1581. Settled in Springfield, Essex.

John married Frances Brett. Frances was born in of Terling, Essex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Jane Empson. Jane (daughter of Richard Empson, Speaker of the House of Commons and Jane) died between 10 Nov 1587 and 14 Feb 1588. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Yeoman. Perhaps an innkeeper.

"[M]arried first, a daughter of Richard Stephen, gent., by his wife, ----- Campyn; married second, Elizabeth Allen, sister of Richard Allen. The maternity of his children is in doubt, though it seems somewhat probable that John (with Edward and Henry) was by the first wife, and George by the second." [Hale, House and Related Families, citation details below.]

Notes:

From Wikipedia:

Early in the reign of Henry VII he became associated with Edmund Dudley in carrying out the King’s rigorous and arbitrary system of taxation, and in consequence he became very unpopular. Retaining the royal favour, however, he was knighted at the creation of the future Henry VIII as Prince of Wales on 18 February 1504, and was soon High Steward of the University of Cambridge,and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, but his official career ended with Henry VII's death in April 1509.

Thrown into prison by order of the new King, Henry VIII, he was charged, like Dudley, with the crime of constructive treason, and was convicted at Northampton in October 1509. His attainder by Parliament followed, and he was beheaded on 17 August 1510. In 1512 his elder son, Thomas, was "restored in blood", meaning that his father's attainder was reversed so far as it affected him, by Act of Parliament.

Richard married Jane. Jane died after Aug 1510. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Towcester, Northamptonshire, England

Notes:

"The story that [Richard Empson] was the son of a sieve maker, first recorded by John Stow, was adopted by Francis Bacon but has no known factual basis--Peter Empson was of local consequence in Northamptonshire, holding property at Towcester and in nearby Easton Neston." [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]

Peter married Elizabeth Joseph. Elizabeth died after 1474. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]