Nielsen Hayden genealogy

Rev. Solomon Stoddard

Male 1643 - 1729  (85 years)


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  • Name Solomon Stoddard 
    Prefix Rev. 
    Alternate birth 27 Sep 1643  Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Birth 4 Oct 1643  Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 3
    Gender Male 
    Death 11 Feb 1729  Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2, 4, 5
    Burial Bridge Street Cemetery, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [6
    Person ID I15385  Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of JTS
    Last Modified 22 Nov 2020 

    Father Anthony Stoddard,   b. Abt 1614   d. 16 Mar 1687, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 73 years) 
    Mother Mary Downing,   b. Abt 1618   d. 16 Jun 1647, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 29 years) 
    Marriage Abt 1639  [1, 7
    Family ID F9706  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Esther Warham,   b. Bef 8 Dec 1644   d. 10 Feb 1736, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location (Age > 91 years) 
    Marriage 8 Mar 1670  [1, 4, 5, 6
    Children 
    +1. Esther Stoddard,   b. 2 Jun 1672, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 19 Jan 1770, East Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 97 years)
    Family ID F9705  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 11 Mar 2020 

  • Notes 
    • From Hale, House and Related Families by Donald Lines Jacobus and Edgar Francis Waterman (citation details below)::

      He went to school in Cambridge to the famous Master Corlet. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1662, and was chosen Tutor of the College, 25 Nov. 1666. He is the first Librarian of the College on record. His health becoming impaired by too close application to his studies, he went to Barbados as Chaplain to Governor Serle. There he preached to the Dissenters.

      In 1669 he was planning a voyage to England and was to embark on the following day, when a request from the church in Northampton, Mass., caused him to change his plans and to go thither. On 4 Mar. 1669/70, the town voted him £100 annually if he settled with them, but he did not formally accept tor nearly two years, and was ordained 11 Sept. 1672. Soon after coming to Northampton, he married the young widow of Rev. Eleazer Mather, his predecessor in the pastorate.

      He was skilled in the learned languages and had a great reputation as a scholar. As a minister he was remarkably successful in gaining converts and in retaining the respect of his congregation. He was above the average in height, with good features and a venerable presence. He had a strong constitution, was seldom ill, and was a constant preacher for sixty years.

      A considerable number of his writings were published. The Doctrine of Instituted Churches in 1700 maintains that the Lord's table should be ac cessible to all persons who are not immoral. This brought him into conflict with the conservative Mathers, and as late as 1709 the subject was discussed in pamphleted sermons on either side of the controversy. The subject was ably treated by Stoddard, and his influence on the churches of Connecticut and of the river towns of central Massachusetts is seen in their adoption of the "Half-Way Covenant," which permitted the baptism of children of baptized but "unconverted" parents who were not full church members.

      In his old age, his grandson Jonathan Edwards became his colleague, and eventually his successor in the pastorate of the Northampton church. Oddly enough, it was the turning of Edwards from his grandfather's liberal doctrine towards a stricter Calvinsim which caused the Northampton church to dismiss him.

  • Sources 
    1. [S387] Hale, House and Related Families, Mainly of the Connecticut River Valley by Donald Lines Jacobus and Edgar Francis Waterman. Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut Historical Society, 1952.

    2. [S2044] George E. McCracken, "Who Was Aaron Burr?" The American Genealogist 40:65, April 1964.

    3. [S1589] The Wetmore Family of America and Its Collateral Branches by James Carnahan Wetmore. Albany, New York: Munsell & Rowland, 1861., year only.

    4. [S1589] The Wetmore Family of America and Its Collateral Branches by James Carnahan Wetmore. Albany, New York: Munsell & Rowland, 1861.

    5. [S1559] Autobiography of William Seymour Tyler, With a Genealogy of the Ancestors of Prof. and Mrs. William S. Tyler, prepared by Cornelius B. Tyler. 1912.

    6. [S388] FamousKin.com.

    7. [S1616] Myrtle Stevens Hyde, "A Study of the Downing Family in England, with Connections in Early New England." The American Genealogist 74:161, 74:299, July 1999 and October 1999.