Nicholas Danforth

Notes:

Before his emigration, he was a churchwarden in Framlingham, and served on the local leet jury.

He arrived in 1635 and settled at Cambridge. He was an innkeeper, and evidently an educated man. Deputy to the Massachusetts Bay general court several times between 8 Sep 1636 and 26 Sep 1637. Cambridge selectman on several occasions.

Cotton Mather, in his biographical sketch about Nicholas Danforth's son the Rev. Samuel Danforth in Magnalia Christi Americana, said of Nicholas Danforth that he was "a Gentleman of such Estate and Repute in the World, that it cost him a Considerable Sum to escape the Knighthood, which King Charles I imposed on all of so much Per Annum; and of such Figure and Esteem in the Church, that he procured that Famous Lecture at Framlingham in Suffolk, where he had a fine Mannour; which Lecture was kept by Mr. Burroughs, and many other Noted Ministers in their Turns; to whom, and especially to Mr. Shepard, he prov'd a Gaius, and then especially when the Laudian Fury scorched them."

Nicholas married Elizabeth Barber on 11 Feb 1618 in Aspall, Suffolk, England. Elizabeth died before 22 Feb 1629; was buried on 22 Feb 1629 in Framlingham, Suffolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 2 Dec 1704

Anne married Matthew Bridge before 1645. Matthew (son of John Bridge and (Unknown first wife of John Bridge)) was born about 1618; died on 28 Dec 1700. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He is often called Governor of Maine; of course, Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1820 and had no governors as such prior to that. He was "president in the district of Maine" in the 1680s. He was also Deputy Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1679 to 1686, and again from 1689 to 1692. He was politically and religiously conservative by inclination, but he was opposed to the Salem witch hysteria, particularly the decision by judge William Stoughton to unconditionally accept "spectral evidence". A letter by Thomas Brattle, dated 8 Oct 1692, includes Danforth in a list of "several about the Bay, men for understanding, judgement and piety...that do utterly condemn the said proceedings, and do freely deliver their judgment." After Bay Colony royal governor William Phips ordered Stoughton to disallow spectral evidence, Danforth sat alongside Stoughton and others on the final Superior Court convened to address the witchcraft accusations, and Danforth appears to have been by and large a force for moderation, even relocating some of the accused individuals to lands he owned west of Boston. Given all this, it seems a bit unfair of Arthur Miller to have, in his play The Crucible (1953), combined the various judges involved in the trials into a single domineering and prosecutorial judge named Danforth. The 1957 film adaptation, whose screenplay was written by Jean-Paul Sartre, made the same decision.

Thomas married Mary Withington on 23 Feb 1644. Mary (daughter of Henry Withington and Elizabeth Smith) was born about 1623; died on 26 Mar 1697 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Bef 17 Oct 1626

Notes:

From Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Volume I, by John Langdon Sibley (citation details below):

Rev. Samuel Danforth, M. A., of Roxbury, second son of Nicholas Danforth, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was born in Framlingham, in the County of Suffolk, in England, in September, 1626, and was "by the Desire of his Mother [Elizabeth], who died Three Years after his Birth, earnestly Dedicated unto the Schools of the Prophets. His Father brought him to New-England in the Year 1634. and at his Death, about four Years after his Arrival here, he committed this Hopeful Son of many Cares and Prayers, unto the Paternal Oversight of Mr. Shepard," of Cambridge, to whose church he belonged, and to whom he had "prov'd a Gaius, and then especially when the Laudian fury scorched them."

Cotton Mather says: "His Early Piety, answered the pious Education bestowed upon him; and there was One Instance of it somewhat singularly circumstanced : when he was reciting to his Tutor, out of the Heathen Poets, he still made some Ingenious Addition and Correction, upon those Passages, which ascribed those Things unto the False Gods of the Gentiles, that could not without Blasphemy be ascribed unto any, but the Holy One of Israel: His Tutor gave him a sharp Reprehension for this, as for a meer Impertinency; but this Conscientious Child reply'd, Sir, I can't in Conscience recite the Blasphemies of these Wretches, without Washing my Mouth upon it! Nevertheless, a fresh Occasion occurring, his Tutor gave him another sharp Reprehension, for his doing once again as he had formerly done; but the Tutor to the Amazement of them all, was terribly and suddenly siezed with a Violent Convulsion-Fit; out of which when he at last recovered, he acknowledg'd it as an Hand of God upon him, for his Harshness to his Pupil, whose Conscientiousness he now applauded.

"His Learning with his Virtue, e're long brought Him into the Station of a Tutor," or Fellow of the College, an office which he appears to have held till about the time of his ordination. The disbursement to him as "Read^r and ffellow 6 yeares" was £56 13s. 8d. In 1647 he was made freeman, and the name appears again in 1648. He is the second of the Fellows named in the College charter, dated 30 May, 1650. In 1656 he is credited with a donation of £1 4s. to the College.

"The Watchfulness, Tenderness and Conscientiousness of Aged Christianity accompanied him, while he was yet but Young in Years. His Manner was to Rise before the Sun, for the Exercises which Isaac attended in the Evening; and in the Evening likewise he withdrew, not only from the Conversation then usually maintained, which he thought hurtful to his Mind by its Infectious Levity, but from Supper it self also, for the like Exercises of Devotion.... The Sin of Unfruitfulness gave as much Perplexity to him, as more Scandalous and Immoral Practices do to other Men."

After the return of the Reverend Thomas Welde to England, Danforth was invited to assist the Reverend John Eliot, "whose Evangelical Employments abroad among the Indians, made a Collegue at Home to be necessary"; and he was ordained at Roxbury, 24 September, 1650. Neither "the Incompetency of the Salary" nor "the Provocation, which unworthy Men in the Neighbourhood sometimes tried him withal, could perswade him...to remove unto more Comfortable Settlements."

He was particularly watchful over his flock, very attentive to the sick, a faithful instructor of the convalescent, and a peacemaker "in rising Differences; being of the Opinion, That usually they have little Peace of Conscience, who do not make much Conscience of Peace."

He exerted his influence to have only such persons keep houses of public entertainment "as would keep Good Orders and Manners" in them. And when from his study window "he saw any Town-Dwellers tipling there, he would go over and chide them away."

His sermons "were Elaborate and Substantial; He was a Notable Text-Man, and one who had more than Forty or Fifty Scriptures distinctly quoted in One Discourse; but he much recommended himself by keeping close to his Main Text," and by such depth of feeling "that he rarely, if ever ended a Sermon without Weeping. On the Lord's Days in the Forenoons, he expounded the Old-Testament; in the Afternoons, he discoursed on the Body of Divinity, and many Occasional Subjects, and some Chapters in the Epistle to the Romans, until the Year 1661; and then he began to handle the Harmony of the Four Evangelists," and proceeded as far as Luke xiv. 14: "Thou shalt be recompenced at the Resurrection of the just: On which, having preached his Last Sermon, it proved indeed his Last." He never ventured "upon any Extemporaneous Performances," but wrote "his Sermons twice over...in a fair long Hand." "His Utterance was free, clear, and giving much in a little time; his Memory very tenacious, and never known to fail him, though he allowed no Assistances."

Danforth's ministry continued twenty-four years. "And when he then came to Dye, spending one whole Sleepless Night, in a Survey of his past Life, he said, He could find no remarkable Miscarriage (through the Grace of Christ) in all this time, to charge himself withal, but that with Hezekiah, he had served the Lord with a perfect Heart all his Days." "As his End approached he had strong Apprehensions of its Approach; and the very Night before he fell sick, he told his Wife, He had been much concerned, how she with her Children would subsist, if he should be removed; but now he had got over it, and firmly believed...that they should be...as well provided for, as they could be, if he were alive....Immediately after this, he fell sick of a putred Fever, occasioned by a Damp, Cold, Nocturnal Air, on a Journey; and in the Space of six Days, passed from Natural Health, to Eternal Peace, Nov. 19. 1674," in so happy a state that his venerable colleague, Eliot, would say, "My Brother Danforth made the most glorious End, that ever I saw!" His remains were laid in the Governor Dudley tomb. Welde wrote a poem upon him. Cotton Mather, alluding to his studies, wrote:

"Non dubium est, quin ed iverit, quo? Stellæ eunt, DANFORTHUS, qui Stellis semper se associavit."

After Danforth's "Contraction, according to the Old Usage of New-England, unto the Virtuous Daughter of [the Reverend] Mr. Wilson [of Boston] (whereat Mr. Colton preached the Sermon) he was married," 5 November, 1651. They had twelve children, of whom the first, Samuel, born 14 January, 1653, "at nine o'clock at night," baptized at Boston two days after by his grandfather, died at the age of six months; and the next three being attacked by the "Malady of Bladders in the Windpipe [Acute Laryngitis?]" in December, 1659, "it pleased God to take them all away at once, even in one fortnight's time." John, born in 1660, and Samuel, born 18 December, 1666, graduated respectively in 1677 and in 1683. Danforth's widow married Joseph Rock, Rocke, or Ruck, of Boston, where she died, 13 September, 1713, in the eighty-first year of her age.

WORKS.

1. Danforth devoted considerable time, particularly in early life, to astronomical studies, and for several years published Almanacs. "Those from 1646 to 1649, inclusive," John Farmer says he has "seen, and some of them are valuable for the chronological tables at the end. These tables were consulted and cited by Mr. Prince [H. U. 1707] in his New-England Chronology."

2. An | Astronomical Description | of the late | Comet | Or Blazing Star, | As it appeared in New-England in the | 9th, 10th, 11th, and in the beginning | of the 12th Moneth, 1664. | Together | With a brief Theological Application | thereof. || By S. D. Cambridge. 1665. 16mo. PP. 122. M.

In this tract the author maintains that comets move according to mathematical laws, and are portentous.

3. A brief | Recognition | of | New-Englands | Errand | into the | Wilderness; | Made in the Audience of the General Assembly of the | Massachusets Colony, at Boston in N. E. on the | It of the third Moneth, 1670, being the | Day of Election | there. || Cambridge: Printed by S. G. and M. J. 1671. 410. pp. (4), 23. The Address to the "Christian Reader," pp. 4, is signed "Thomas Shepard." M, P.

4. The | Cry of Sodom | Enquired into; | Upon Occasion of | The Arraignment and Condemnation | of | Benjamin Goad, | For his Prodigious Villany. | Together with | A Solemn Exhortation to Tremble at Gods Judgements, | and to Abandon Youthful Lusts. | —— | By S. D. || Cambridge: Printed by Marmaduke Johnson. 1674. 4to. pp. (2), 25. The Address to the "Christian Reader," pp. 2, is signed "John Sherman, Urian Oakes, Thomas Shepard." P, W.

5. Several specimens of poetry are found in his Almanacs.

6. Ellis says, "That part of the diary of the Pastors which he wrote indicates the interest he took in astronomy, by its frequent descriptions of the appearances of various phenomena, and of the situations and movements of heavenly bodies....From 1664 to 1670, it is filled with descriptions of prodigies, earthquakes, comas, &tc."

Rev. married Mary Wilson on 5 Nov 1651. Mary (daughter of Rev. John Wilson and Elizabeth Mansfield) was born on 12 Sep 1633 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; was christened on 15 Sep 1633 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; died on 13 Sep 1713 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Between 1646 and 1647

Anna married Samuel Livermore on 4 Jun 1668 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Samuel (son of John Livermore and Grace Sherman) was born on 11 May 1640 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut; was christened on 15 Aug 1641 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut; died on 5 Dec 1690 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 1681 and 1683

Sarah married Rev. Joseph Whiting about 1673. Joseph (son of Rev. Samuel Whiting and Elizabeth St. John) was born on 6 Apr 1641 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts; died on 7 Apr 1723 in Southampton, Suffolk, Long Island, New York; was buried in Old South End Burying Grounds, Southampton, Suffolk, Long Island, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was ordained pastor of the Taunton church in 1688. He also practiced medicine and law.

Rev. married Hannah Allen on 4 Oct 1688. Hannah (daughter of Rev. James Allen and Elizabeth Houchin) was born on 22 Jul 1668; died on 3 Dec 1761; was buried in Riverview Cemetery, Groveland, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Daniel married Mary Coolidge on 28 May 1697 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Mary (daughter of John Coolidge and Mary Wellington) was born on 27 Jun 1680 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts; died on 10 Dec 1702 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Jonathan married Rebecca Barns on 23 Nov 1699 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Rebecca was born about 1680. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Thomas married Sarah Leonard on 11 Jun 1730. Sarah (daughter of James Leonard and Hannah Walley) died on 22 May 1742. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married Nathaniel Sherman on 31 Mar 1726 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Nathaniel (son of Joseph Sherman and Elizabeth Winship) was born on 19 Sep 1696 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"Lived to the extraordinary age of 100 years, 8 months, and 5 days, thus living in three centuries...He possessed uncommon learning for his time, was an accurate surveyor and an excellent penman, owing to which circumstance the early records of the town appear in a remarkably fine state. He was the first parish or town clerk, which office he held many years; one of the first deacons of the Congregational church, resigning Oct. 2, 1782; he was much employed in public business, in surveying, laying out townships, etc., and was selectman in 1750, '55, '58 and '64. He was moderator in Westboro in 1758 and '64. A short time after he was 100 years old he rode on horseback from his house to a military review, near the middle of the town, a distance of three miles, and returned without fatigue." [Walter Eliot Thwing, citation details below]\

Jonathan married Abigail Ball on 23 Jun 1723. Abigail (daughter of James Ball and Elizabeth Fiske) was born on 1 Jun 1702 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts; died on 5 Jun 1775 in Northborough, Worcester, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

A DAR lineage says that he "was a private in Capt. Seth Gilbert's company, Col. John Daggett's, regiment, which marched in the Lexington Alarm of 1775."

Elijah married Susanna Copeland on 1 Oct 1761. Susanna (daughter of Deacon Benjamin Copeland and Sarah Allen) was born on 1 Apr 1740 in Norton, Bristol, Massachusetts; died on 12 Mar 1816. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"A cousin of the celebrated Roger Sherman of Connecticut." [Genealogy of the Brownings in America, citation details below]

He served in the Revolution as a lieutenant in Colonel Ward's Massachusetts regiment.

Asaph married Lucy Whitney in 1762 in Shrewsbury, Worcester, Massachusetts. Lucy (daughter of Samuel Whitney and Elizabeth Hastings) was born on 27 Aug 1744 in Massachusetts; died on 13 Aug 1809 in Barre, Washington, Vermont; was buried in Wilson Cemetery, Barre, Washington, Vermont. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Joshua Townsend. Joshua (son of Joshua Townsend and Elizabeth White) was born on 23 Jul 1731 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; died between 9 Jun 1812 and 4 Aug 1812 in Bolton, Worcester, Masaschusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Asa married Hannah Walker on 27 Nov 1806. Hannah (daughter of Eleazar Walker and Catherine "Caty" Carpenter) was born on 12 Jun 1785 in Norton, Bristol, Massachusetts; died on 3 Jun 1823. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Joseph Browning. Joseph (son of James Browning and Rebecca Scott) was born on 21 Nov 1760 in Rutland, Worcester, Massachusetts; died on 26 Dec 1831 in Barre, Washington, Vermont; was buried in Wilson Cemetery, Barre, Washington, Vermont. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Abigail married John Greenleaf on 3 Apr 1788. John (son of Calvin Greenleaf and Rebecca "Becke" Whitcomb) was born on 20 Mar 1767 in Bolton, Worcester, Masaschusetts; died on 22 Sep 1839 in Woodstock, Windsor, Vermont; was buried in Cushing Cemetery, Woodstock, Windsor, Vermont. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Asa married Catherine Ariana Rupert on 25 Feb 1839 in Pekin, Tazewell, Illinois. Catherine (daughter of Henry S. Rupert and Naomi Henkel) was born on 3 Dec 1819 in Point Pleasant, Macon, Virginia; died on 4 Feb 1901 in Washington, Tazewell, Illinois; was buried in Glendale Cemetery, Washington, Tazewell, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Lucy married Enos Towne in 1814. Enos (son of Enos Towne and Elizabeth Moore) was born on 20 Jun 1786 in Barre, Washington, Vermont; died in Jun 1836. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Rebecca married Joshua Sawyer Holman on 11 Feb 1818 in Templeton, Worcester, Massachusetts. Joshua (son of Jonathan Holman and Zilpha Sawyer) was born on 12 Apr 1794 in Templeton, Worcester, Massachusetts; died on 1 Nov 1846 in Winter Quarters, Nebraska; was buried in Mormon Pioneer Cemetery, Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

From his Find a Grave page (citation details below): "Henry attended Lombard College in Galesburg, IL. Along with his uncle, George W. Danforth, they built the town of Danforth, IL. and had a banking business there. He built the Danforth Bank and Danforth Hotel in Washington and also had a lumber company here. Besides being a successful businessman he also served as the Mayor of Washington."

Note that the Wikipedia page for Danforth, Illinois calls the town's founder "George M. Danforth", citing Henry Gannett's 1905 The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, which also calls him "George M. Danforth." From the evidence of Find a Grave, and also the town records of Norton, Massachusetts, this is an error both in Gannett's book and on Wikipedia. At https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40947601/george-walker-danforth, we find a page for an uncle of Henry Rupert Danforth whose gravestone at Glendale Cemetery in Washington, Illinois clearly reads "GEORGE W. DANFORTH 1807-1882". The page states that his middle initial W stood for "Walker". and that he was born 5 Sep 1807 in Norton, Bristol, Massachusetts, a son of Asa Danforth and Hannah Walker. And indeed the town records of Norton show a George Walker Danforth born 5 Sep 1807, "ch. Asa and Hannah".

Henry married Mary Elizabeth Wenger on 2 Nov 1865. Mary (daughter of Dr. Elias Wenger and Eliza Jane Smith) was born on 15 Nov 1843; died on 11 Jan 1930; was buried in Glendale Cemetery, Washington, Tazewell, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 5 Sep 1815, Barre, Washington, Vermont

Warren married Sarah E. Hemingway on 15 Nov 1840 in Framingham, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Sarah (daughter of Luther Hemingway and Betsy Cummings) was born in 1818 in Marlborough, Cheshire, New Hampshire; died on 6 Jan 1907 in Keene, Cheshire, New Hampshire; was buried in Woodland Cemetery, Keene, Cheshire, New Hampshire. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1836, Ohio

Family/Spouse: Walter Stevens. Walter (son of William Stevens and Marinda Thomas) was born on 17 Jan 1830 in Mount Pleasant, Brant, Ontario; died on 24 Jul 1914 in Nephi, Juab, Utah; was buried in Kirtland Cemetery, San Juan County, New Mexico. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Herman married Louise W. Leonard on 18 Oct 1905 in Pekin, Tazewell, Illinois. Louise (daughter of Frederick Leonard and Mary Lou Turner) was born in 1883 in Illinois; died in 1959 in Illinois; was buried in Glendale Cemetery, Washington, Tazewell, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The 1880 and 1900 US census both say that her father was born in Vermont and her mother in New Hampshire. As of the 1900 census she was a widow.

Sophronia married Henry Harrison Hartwell on 5 Feb 1869. Henry (son of Haskell F. Hartwell and Sarah Ann Ellis) was born on 18 Nov 1849 in Springfield, Windsor, Vermont; died on 21 Feb 1898 in Mansfield, Bristol, Massachusetts; was buried in Spring Brook Cemetery, Mansfield, Bristol, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

David Alma Stevens and Sariah Agnes Johnson were second cousins, both being great-grandchildren of Jonathan Holman and Zilpha Sawyer.

David married Sariah Agnes Johnson in 1881. Sariah (daughter of Benjamin Franklin Johnson and Sarah Melissa Holman) was born on 23 Oct 1863 in Panguitch, Garfield, Utah; died on 28 Apr 1945 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah; was buried in Salt Lake City Cemetery, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Lieutenant (JG), US Naval Reserve, WWII.

His ashes were scattered at sea by the US Navy.

Herman married Ruth Marie Gelpi in Nov 1944 in New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana. Ruth (daughter of Dr. Maurice Joseph Gelpi and Ruth Marie de Grange) was born on 10 Jan 1926 in New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana; died on 16 Dec 2000 in Scottsdale, Maricopa, Arizona. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1874, Foxboro, Norfolk, Massachusetts

Bert married Mabel Rebecca Geddes on 17 Oct 1900 in Easthampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts. Mabel (daughter of George E. Geddes and Isabella Jean Murray) was born on 28 Sep 1881 in North Easton, Bristol, Massachusetts; died on 25 Feb 1958 in Wilmington, Middlesex, Massachusetts; was buried in Spring Brook Cemetery, Mansfield, Bristol, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Benjamin married Harriet Viola Jackson on 25 Aug 1912 in El Paso, El Paso, Texas. Harriet (daughter of Joseph Jackson and Mary Ann Stowell) was born on 8 Aug 1892 in Colonia Juárez, Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico; died on 29 Jun 1987 in El Paso, El Paso, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was an MIT graduate and an electrical engineer.

Henry married Constance Elizabeth Nash on 26 Jun 1937. Constance (daughter of Thomas Vinson Nash and Daisy Maria Blanchard) was born on 14 Sep 1913 in Weymouth, Norfolk, Massachusetts; died on 11 Nov 2005 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts; was buried in Spring Brook Cemetery, Mansfield, Bristol, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: (Private). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: (Private). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]