Thomas Hooker

Notes:

"A yeoman farmer and overseer of the Digby family's properties." [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]

He and his wife were ancestors of Aaron Burr.

Family/Spouse: (Unknown wife of Thomas Hooker). (Unknown died before 16 Apr 1631; was buried on 16 Apr 1631 in Marefield, Tilton, Leicestershire. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

After her husband's death, she emigrated to New England in the company of her brother, the Rev. Thomas Hooker. As "Dorothy Chester," her name is on the Founders Monument in downtown Hartford.

Dorothy married John Chester on 1 Jun 1609 in Birstall, Leicestershire, England. John (son of Leonard Chester and Bridget Sharp) was born in of Blaby, Leicestershire, England; died between 28 Jul 1628 and 15 Oct 1628 in Blaby, Leicestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

One of the most important founding figures of Connecticut. His name is on the Founders Monument in downtown Hartford.

From Wikipedia:

Thomas Hooker was a prominent Puritan colonial leader, who founded the Colony of Connecticut after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was known as an outstanding speaker and an advocate of universal Christian suffrage.

Called today "the Father of Connecticut," Thomas Hooker was a towering figure in the early development of colonial New England. He was one of the great preachers of his time, an erudite writer on Christian subjects, the first minister of Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of the first settlers and founders of both the city of Hartford and the state of Connecticut, and cited by many as the inspiration for the "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut," which some have called the world's first written democratic constitution establishing a representative government.

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

After leaving Cambridge, Hooker gave occasional sermons in his home county of Leicestershire, but his first settled post-academic position was as rector of St George's in Esher, Surrey. The patrons of that church were Sir Francis Drake and Joan, Lady Drake. Hooker became an important counsellor to Lady Drake, who was spiritually distraught, believing she had committed the unpardonable sin. Despite her previous care by several puritan ministers, including the venerable John Dod, it was Hooker, apparently drawing on the experience of his own recent spiritual struggles, who succeeded in bringing her relief. The case was witnessed by one Jasper Heartwell, a London barrister, whose pseudonymous Trodden Down Strength (1647) records the story, up to the moment of Lady Drake's death on 18 April 1625 in a state of assurance of her salvation.

On 3 April 1621 Hooker had married her woman-in-waiting, Susannah Garbrand, in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, Joan Drake's birthplace. [...]

Like many other puritans, Hooker was increasingly opposed to the English church's ecclesiastical hierarchy and to the use of 'human inventions' -- scripturally unauthorized ceremonies -- in the church's forms of worship. Still, his overarching message was one of spiritual encouragement. In the market town of Chelmsford, his audience included the full range of society. Hooker intentionally 'chose to be where great numbers of the Poor might receive the Gospel from him.' 'His lecture was exceedingly frequented' as 'his ministry shone through the whole county of Essex' (Mather, 1.304). His audience included 'some of great quality among the rest', the most prominent being 'the truly noble Earl of Warwick' (ibid., 1.304–5), a friend and protector of puritans, including, eventually, Hooker and his family. As Mather further notes, Hooker developed a reputation for special power in the 'Use' or 'Application' section of his sermons, the final, and often very long, section where the biblical exegesis and rational explanations of the text were 'brought home' through practical admonitions to the congregation.

Hooker's great popularity among his listeners was based on this ability to speak the language of the people while conveying the high truths of scripture. Since his ministry in England and later in New England was always focused on encouraging his listeners to think positively and actively about realizing God's 'promise' of salvation in their own lives, he stayed close to the experiences of their lives in the figures of speech that characterized his preaching. He preached in a plain style, eschewing the use of classical languages, in which he was fluent, enlivening his sermons instead with such dramatic tools as imagined dialogue, 'character' sketches, and invitations to his listeners to imagine themselves in real-life situations to which he gave deep spiritual meaning.

Thomas married Susannah Garbrand on 3 Apr 1621 in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England. Susannah (daughter of Richard Garbrand alias Harkes and Anne) was born about 1593; died on 17 May 1676 in Farmington, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Emigrated 1633; first at Watertown, then Wethersfield in 1636.

Surmounted by a crudely-rendered armorial shield, his grave at Wethersfield Village Cemetery, said to be the third oldest tombstone in Connecticut, proclaims his late-medieval ancestry:

HERE LYES THE BODY OF LEON
ARD CHESTER, ARMIGER LATE
OF THE TOWN OF BLABY AND
SEVERALL OTHER LORDSHIPS
IN LEISTERSHEIRE DECEASED
IN WETHERSFEILD ANNO
DOMINI 1648 ETATIS 39

Family/Spouse: Mary. Mary died on 30 Nov 1688 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachussets. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Sarah married Rev. John Wilson before 1649. Rev. (son of Rev. John Wilson and Elizabeth Mansfield) was born in Sep 1621 in London, England; died on 23 Aug 1691 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1635, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Notes:

Harvard 1653.

Samuel married Mary Willett on 22 Sep 1658 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts. Mary (daughter of Thomas Willett, Mayor of New York and Mary Brown) was born on 10 Nov 1637 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts; died on 24 Jun 1712 in Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut; was buried in East Norwalk Historical Cemetery, Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1634, of Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut

Notes:

He was a captain in King Philip's War, and deputy for Wethersfield many times.

John married Sarah Welles in Feb 1654 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut. Sarah (daughter of Thomas Welles, Governor of Connecticut and Alice Tomes) was born about 1633; died on 12 Dec 1698 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married Rev. James Pierpont on 26 Jul 1698 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut. James (son of John Pierpont and Thankful Stow) was born on 4 Jan 1660 in Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts; was christened on 8 Feb 1660 in Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts; died on 22 Nov 1714 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut; was buried in City Burial Ground, New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]