Elizabeth

Notes:

She may have been the "Elizabeth Higginson" buried at Claybrooke 19 Jun 1635.

Elizabeth married Rev. John Higginson between 1577 and 1578. John was born about 1543; died before 19 Feb 1624 in Claybrooke, Leicestershire, England; was buried on 19 Feb 1624 in Claybrooke, Leicestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptised: 6 Aug 1587, Claybrooke, Leicestershire, England

Notes:

"Many sources state the year of his baptism as 1586, but in the parish register this entry falls under the heading 'The Inventore of weddings Christeings and Buriings of Cleabroke frome The 29 Septemb[e]r 1586 unto the 29 of Septemb[e]r 1587'." [Randy West, citation details below.]

"In 1629 Francis Higginson kept a diary of his voyage to New England, and after his arrival he wrote a pamphlet entitled 'New England's Plantation,' which went through three editions in its first year. The diary, two editions of the pamphlet, and some other short writings by Higginson were collected and published in a limited edition in 1908 [New Englands Plantation with The Sea Journal and Other Writings (Salem 1908)]. [...] Cotton Mather wrote a lengthy biographical sketch on Higginson (not so long by Matherian standards, but longer than one might expect from the brief span of time that Higginson resided in New England." [Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins]

From Descendants of the Reverend Francis Higginson [citation details below]:

Francis Higginson was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, taking his degrees, B. A., 1609 and M. A., 1613. He was ordained deacon at Cawood Castle Sept. 25, 1614, by Toby Mathew, Archbishop of York when he was called curate of Scredingham. He was ordained priest at Bishopthorpe Dec. 8, 1614, by the same archbishop. Scredingham, now called Scrayingham, is in the East Riding of Yorkshire, eleven miles from York. He was collated (instituted) Apr. 20, 1615, by the Archbishop of York, the patron, to the rectory of Barton-in-fabis in the county of Nottingham and deanery of Bingham, which he resigned Apr. 4, 1616. Barton-in-fabis is six miles southwest of Nottingham, near the border of Leicestershire.

It is stated that Francis Higginson was for a time settled at Claybrooke as curate and assistant to his father. It appears certain that he was connected with the parish of St. Nicholas, Leicester, between 1617 and 1629, styling himself "minister" and afterwards "lecturer." Under date of May 17, 1627, in an account given in the State Papers of the doings of the Puritans in and about Leicester, his name is prominently mentioned.

Nichols, in his History of Leicestershire, records the fact that, "Mr. Francis Higginson, a Reverend Divine and sometime Preacher of God's word att the parish of St. Nicholas in this Borough of Leicester, gave divers bookes for and towardes the better furnishing of this Library [the town library of Leicester]; videlicet:

"Oecolampadius in omnes Prophetas et Job.
Strigelius in omnes Psalmos.
Sarcerius in Epistolas Dominicales.
Sarcerius in Evangelia Dominicalia."
(Nichols' Leicestershire, Vol. 1, p. 506).

Upon invitation of the Massachusetts Bay Company to go to New England, Francis Higginson sailed from Gravesend, in the Talbot, Apr. 25, 1629, and on June 29 landed at Salem. Here was founded the first church in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, when, on July 20, 1629, "the people made choice of Mr. Skelton for their Pastor and Mr. Higginson for their Teacher. And accordingly it was desired of Mr. Higginson to draw up a confession of faith and covenant in scripture language." This covenant was signed the "6 of 6th Month, 1629," and one year from that date, Aug. 6, 1630, Francis Higginson died.

Francis married Anne Herbert on 8 Jan 1616 in St. Peter's, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England. Anne died before 25 Feb 1640 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 6 Aug 1616, Claybrooke, Leicestershire, England
• Baptised: 31 Aug 1616, Claybrooke, Leicestershire, England

Notes:

"John Higginson was admitted freeman May 25, 1636, and the same year went to Saybrook, Conn., as chaplain at the fort, where he remained 'about four years.' In 1641 be taught school at Hartford, Conn., and later became assistant to Rev. Henry Whitfield at Guilford, Conn. Upon Mr. Whitfield's resignation in 1653, he was settled as pastor of the church, where he remained until 1659, when, with his family, he embarked for England. On account of bad weather, the vessel entered Salem harbor. While there he was invited to remain and become pastor of the church founded by his father. He was installed in August, 1660, and continued in the pastorate till his death." [Descendants of the Reverend Francis Higginson, citation details below.]

"Reverend Higginson was chosen by Cotton Mather to write the preface of the latter's Magnalia Christi Americana, since he had been a minister in New England for sixty of the seventy years of ecclesiastical history which that volume covered." [The Ancestry of Reverend Henry Whitfield, citation details below.]

He was much concerned with what he considered an excessive number of taverns, "ordinaries," in Salem. He was opposed to slavery. He wrote a treatise in opposition to the wearing of wigs. His funeral sermon was preached by Cotton Mather and then published under the title The Happy Dismissal of a Holy Believer, A Funeral Sermon on the Death of the Rev. John Higginson, with Memoirs of His Life.

Note: He was not a twin to his brother Theophilus, as widely reported; Theophilus was born a year later.

His name is on the Founders Monument in downtown Hartford.

John married Sarah Whitfield before 1646 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. Sarah (daughter of Rev. Henry Whitfield and Dorothy Sheafe) was born before 1 Nov 1620; was christened on 1 Nov 1620 in Ockley, Surrey, England; died on 8 Jul 1675 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Bef 28 Jan 1627, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

Anne married Thomas Chatfield before 1649. Thomas (son of Henry Chatfield and Jane Shepherd) was born about 1621 in Pagham, Sussex, England; died before 1687 in Easthampton, Suffolk, Long Island, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"John Higginson was one of the great merchants of Salem, and held many public offices. In 1678, he was chosen to keep the town books, and was frequently selectman. He was deputy from Salem, 1685, 1689, and 1691, and a member of the Council from 1700 until his death. He was also county treasurer and justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He was commissioned ensign in 1675 and promoted until, in 1701, he ranked as colonel." [Descendants of the Reverend Francis Higginson, citation details below.]

John married Sarah Savage on 9 Oct 1672 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. Sarah (daughter of Capt. Thomas Savage and Mary Symmes) was born on 25 Jun 1653 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; was christened on 26 Jun 1653 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; died before 26 Jun 1713; was buried on 26 Jun 1713 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Anne.

Admah married Josiah Stanborough on 24 Jul 1670. Josiah (son of Josiah Stanborough and Frances Gransden) was born in 1646 in Southampton, Suffolk, Long Island, New York; died in 1710 in Newark, Essex, New Jersey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]