Notes for DEACON NATHANIEL DICKINSON:
Ref "Desc. of Nathaniel Dickinson," in August 1629 Nathaniel Dickinson and his brothers John and Thomas joined the Cambridge Company. It is assumed that they and Nathaniel's new bride, Anna, and his step-son William Gull, sailed for New England on one of the ships of the Massachusetts Bay Company in the spring of 1630. However, no record of their names has been found among the passenger listings of that period. Nor has any record been found of their residence in the Boston area between 1630 and 1635/6 when Nathaniel and his family appeared in the new town of Wethersfield, CT. It is thought that he settled temporarily in Watertown, MA and later traveled overland to Wethersfield along the trail used by the Rev. Thomas Hooker's party which settled Hartford. This sequence of events seems likely because many of the settlers of Wethersfield and later of Hadley had lived for a time in Watertown or Dorchester.
Nathaniel's ancestral background of business acumen, community service and leadership served him in good stead in the New World. He was admitted a freeman in Connecticut in 1637. He became town clerk or recorder in Wethersfield in 1640 and selectman in 1646. He was representative to the House of Magistrates at Hartford serving until 1656. He helped survey Wethersfield's Broad Street and lay out the homelots for some of the new settlers.
Disagreements developed in the settlements concerning the rules governing church membership, baptism and the rights of brotherhood. Parson Russell of the Wethersfield church and a majority of its members were not in favor of relaxing the standards set by earlier congregations. These people and residents of Hartford and Windsor who held similar views formed a group known as the "Withdrawers" for the purpose of establishing a new settlement where they could live in accordance with their deeply held religious beliefs. After obtaining permission to settle in Massachusetts, the Withdrawers purchased land from three Indian chiefs. This land was fifty miles up the Connecticut River near Northampton, MA, a trading post established in 1654.
On April 18, 1659, the Withdrawers met at Goodman Ward's house in Hartford and fifty-nine men signed an Agreement or Engagement for the establishment of a new settlement [Hadley, MA]. These included Nathaniel Dickinson and his sons John and Thomas. Nathaniel was one of five men chosen to go to the newly purchased lands and lay out fifty-nine homelots of eight acres each and a Broad Street twenty rods wide. This street with its wide common still remains virtually unchanged.
Nathaniel was active in civic affairs in the new settlement. He was Hadley's first town clerk, a selectman and an assessor. He served as a commissioner to end small claims. He was on the committee appointed in 1663 to make plans for the town's first meetinghouse and was one of the first deacons. Nathaniel was a member of the train band and one of ten Hadley men who joined with men from neighboring towns to form the Hampshire Troop of Horsemen in 1663. He was on the first board of trustees of Hopkins Academy, one of the oldest grammar schools in the United States (1664).
When Nathaniel died in 1676, he had lost three sons in the Indian Wars. Subsequently many other descendants were killed, wounded or captured by the Indians and a great-granddaughter, Captivity Jennings, was born in captivity in Canada.
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Ref "American Gen.," he came from England to Watertown, MA, 1634; removed to Wethersfield, CT, ca 1636, to Hadley, MA, 1659; served in Hampshire Guard, deputy General Court 1642.
"The Correct English Origins of Nathaniel Dickinson and William Gull..." by Clifford L. Stott, refers to the previous 14-generation descent of Nathaniel in the two prior genealogies as "mostly rubbish." He debunks it on impossible chronology, jumping around all over England, and non-existent parish records. What was actually known or conjectured from New England sources is that Nathaniel Dickinson arrived in Wethersfield, CT, no later than 1638. He was probably married to the widow Anna Gull in the mid-1620s, and they produced at least five children prior to their arrival in New England: John, Nathaniel, Joseph, Thomas, and Anna/Hannah. A family matching this exact description was found in the parish of Billingborough, Lincolnshire. The parish lies immediately south of Horbling, the home parish of Governor Simon Bradstreet, and the probable home of Anthony Colby, well-known immigrants of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
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The Ancestry of William Francis Joseph Boardman
Author: William F. J. Boardman
Call Number: R929.2 B662
This book contains the ancestry of William Francis Joseph Boardman of Hartford, Connecticutt.
Bibliographic Information: Boardman, William F. J. The Ancestry of William Francis Joseph Boardman. Harford, Connecticut. 1906.
NATHANIEL DICKINSON, one of the early proprietors of Wethersfield, Conn., was the son of William and Sarah (Stacey) Dickinson, of Ely, Cambridge, England, where he was born in 1600. It is said that he embarked at Gravesend about 1630 for New England, and settled first at Watertown, Mass. He was, however, in Wethersfield as early as 1637, and recorded there, March 7, 1649, a homestead situated at the lower end of Broad street on the west side. Fourteen pieces of land are entered at this time.
He was chosen the second Recorder, or Town Clerk, in 1640, and held the office until 1659. From 1646 to 1656 he was Deputy to the General Court at nineteen sessions. He was also one of the first Townsmen of whom we have any record, holding this office from 1646 to 1656. On October 16, 1642, he was a Juror of the Particular Court, and again in 1654, 1657, and 1658; Juror of "Quarter Courte" in 1656, 1658; Juror of Court of Magistrates in 1658, and Grand Juror, 1650 and 1654. At a session of the General Court held May 21, 1653, Mr. Wells and he were appointed a committee for the town of Wethersfield to "press men into service" for the expedition against the Dutch, pursuant to the action of the United Colonies. In October, 1654, the same committee was chosen to secure soldiers for the campaign against the Narraganset Indians.
When the religious controversies which had so long divided the people of Wethersfield into opposing factions reached a climax in 1659, Nathaniel Dickinson was one of those present at a meeting held in Hartford, at Goodman Ward's house, in April, and agreed with those assembled to leave Connecticut and seek a more congenial home in Massachusetts. Accordingly, when, during the same year, the migration to Hadley was commenced, Mr. Dickinson became a leading spirit in the movement. He, with many others who were unwilling to submit to certain restrictions which the church wished to impose, left Wethersfield, with their
At Hadley, as at Wethersfield, Nathaniel Dickinson was one of the leading men. He was chosen its first Recorder, and was one of the first Deacons of the church. He was one of the committee of seven chosen in town-meeting to build the first meeting-house in Hadley. When the Hopkins Fund was established "for the breeding up of hopeful youths in a way of learning, both at the grammar School and College," he was one of the five "able and pious men" chosen by the town to take charge of the bequest.
Nathaniel Dickinson, toward the end of his life, resided for a few years in Hatfield, but returned to his old home in Hadley, where he died June 16, 1676. The wife of Nathaniel Dickinson was ANN GULL, widow of William Gull, whom he married in East Bergholat, Suffolk County, England, in January, 1630. Some authorities give her first name as Anna.
CHILDREN OF NATHANIEL AND ANN DICKINSON.
I. John, b. 1630; m. Frances, dau. Nathaniel Foote, and d. 1676. She m. 2nd, Francis Barnard.
II. Joseph, b. 1632; m. in 1665, Phebe Bracey; d. Sept. 4, 1675.
III. Thomas, b. 1634; m. Mach. 7, 1667, Hannah, dau. of John Crow, and d. 1716. Res. Wethersfield.
IV. Hannah, b. 1636; m. 1st, June 16, 1670, John Clary; 2nd, Enos Kingsley.
V. Samuel, b. July, 1638; m. Jan. 4, 1668, Martha, dau. of James Bridgman, who d. July 16, 1711, ‘. 61. He d. Nov. 30, 1711.
VI. Obadiah (No. 100).
VII. Nathaniel, b. Aug., 1641; m. 1st, Hannah Beardsley, who d. Feb. 23, 1679; 2nd, in 1680, Widow Elizabeth Gillett; 3rd, in 1684, Elizabeth, wid. of Samuel Wright. He d. Oct. 11, 1711.
VIII. Nehemiah, b. 1643; m. prob. Mary, dau. John Cowles, and d. Sept. 9, 1723.
IX. Hezekiah, b. Feb., 1645; m. Dec. 8, 1679-80, Abigail, dau. of Samuel Blackman. He d. June 14, 1707. Res. Hatfield, Hadley, and Springfield.
X. Azariah, b. Oct. 4, 1648; d. Aug. 25, 1675. His widow, Dorcas, m. in 1676, Jonathan Marsh.
XI. Frances.
The family of Nathaniel Dickinson deserves especial mention for its services in King Philip's War. The second son, Joseph, while engaged with Captain Beers and thirty-six others in an attempt to rescue a garrison at Squakheag (Northfield), September 5, 1675, was attacked by a great number of Indians from a swamp, and lost his life in the struggle. Nehemiah, another son, fought in the battle of Turner's Falls, May 19, 1676, and his brother, John, was a sergeant in the same fight. The youngest son, Azariah, was slain by the Indians, August 25, 1675, in an engagement which took place near Hadley.
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ENGLISH ANCESTRY OF NATHANIEL DICKINSON. [Take the following with large grain of salt.]
From Walter de Caen, later Walter De Kenson, comes:
1. John Dykonson; Freeholder; Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire; married, A.D. 1260, Margaret Lambert; died 1316.
2. William Dykenson; Freeholder; Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire; died 1330-31.
3. Hugh Dykensonne; Freeholder; Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire; died 1376.
4. Anthoyne Dickinsonne; Freeholder; Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire; married 1376, Catheryne De La
Pole; died 1396.
5. Richard Dickinson; Freeholder; Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire; married 1399, Margaret Cooper; died
1441.
6. Thomas Dickinson; Freeholder; Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire; married 1430, Margaret Lambert. Alderman 1st ward, Hull, 1443-1444; Mayor of Hull, 1444-1445; died 1475.
7. Hugh Dickinson; Freeholder; married 1451, Agnes Swillington. Removed 1475, to Kenson manor, Yorkshire; died 1509.
8. William Dickinson; Freeholder of Kenson manor, Yorkshire; married 1475, Isabel Langton; died 1546.
9. John Dickinson; settled in Leeds, Yorkshire; married 1499, Elizabeth Danby; Alderman 1525-1554; died 1554.
10. William Dickinson; settled at Bradley Hall, Staffordshire; married 1520, Rachel Kinge; died 1590.
11. Richard Dickinson, of Bradley Hall, Staffordshire; married 1540, Eliza Bagnall; died 1605.
12. Thomas Dickinson; Clerk Portsmouth Navy Yard, 1567-1587. Removed to Cambridge, 1587; married 1567, Judith Carey; died 1590.
13. William Dickinson, settled at Ely, Cambridge; married 1594, Sarah Stacey of Ely; died 1628.
14. Nathaniel Dickinson, born in Ely, Cambridge, 1600; married Jan. 1630, at East Bergholat, Suffolk, Ann Gull, widow of William Gull.
[Descendants of Thomas Dickinson, by Fred Dickinson, Chicago, 1897.]
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More About DEACON NATHANIEL DICKINSON:
Fact 6: Comp. of American Gen. First Families of America by F. A. Virken
Fact 7: NEHGR, vol. 152, Apr. 1998
Fact 8: Desc. of Nathaniel Dickinson by Dr. Elinor V. Smith, pub. 1978
Fact 10: To the Desc. of Thomas Dickinson by Fredrick Dickinson
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