Daniel Gookin was the third son of Daniel Gookin of Carrigaline, Ireland, and his wife Mary Byrd, daughter of Canon Richard Byrd of Canterbury Cathedral. The father had lived in Kent and the younger Daniel may have been born in Kent, England, or County Cork, Ireland. The father was much interested in colonial ventures, Virginian and New England, but they proved unprofitable.
The earliest glimpse of Daniel was when he was eighteen years old, living temporarily on his father’s plantation in Virginia near Newport News.
In February 1634/5, young Daniel was granted 2, 500 acres on the south side of the James River. In 1639, he was in London and on November 11 of that year, a license, in which he was described as a widower, was issued for his marriage to Mary Dolling.
Since Edward Johnson later spoke of him as a Kentish soldier, it is possible that he may have seen military service during this stay in Europe.
Early in 1641, with his wife and infant son, he went to Virginia intending to settle there, on his Nansemond plantation. He was at once made a burgess and represented Upper Norfolk in the Assembly beginning January 1641/2.
He held other offices, including that of the captain of the train-bands, and in 1642 received a grant of 1, 400 acres additional.
After the passage of the Act of Conformity, Gookin decided to leave Virginia and took up lands in Maryland near the present Annapolis. He soon determined to emigrate to Massachusetts and arrived in Boston with his family on May 20, 1644, being admitted to the First Church May 26 and made a freeman on May 29.
He settled at Roxbury, but little is known of him for the next three or four years, except that he was one of the founders of the free grammar school there and made at least one visit to Virginia. He appears to have been engaged in the intercolonial coasting trade.
In 1648, he moved to Cambridge and was granted 500 acres there in 1649. He was made the captain of the train band, a post he held for nearly forty years, and in 1649 was elected deputy to the General Court.
The next year, he was in England, but was deputy again in 1651 and in 1652 was chosen Assistant, being chosen to that office every year, except 1676, for thirty-five years.
He was again in England in 1655 when he saw Cromwell and was appointed by him to push the matter of Jamaican settlement from New England, although Gookin did not approve of the venture.
After a visit to Massachusetts, he returned to England, 1658, and was made a collector of customs and afterward “Deputy Treasurer at War” at Dunkirk, but was at Cambridge again by 1660. He engaged in land deals, was one of the projectors and proprietors of the new town of Worcester; held various local offices; and became sergeant-major of the regiment of Middlesex and in 1681 major-general of all the forces of the colony.
In 1656 and again in 1661, he was “chosen to be ruler over the praying Indians, ” and his defense of them during King Philip’s War, when the frenzy of the people was directed against them as well as against the enemy, made him extremely unpopular in Massachusetts.
He wrote three books, none of which was published until long after his death.
Gookin was an ardent Puritan and one of the signers of the “Nansemond Petition” praying the Elders of the Church in Massachusetts to send clergy to Virginia.
Gookin was greatly interested in the welfare of the Indians and his efforts on their behalf were second only to those of Eliot.
In 1680, he came out strongly as a strict constructionist of the charter and was opposed to sending agents to England and to obeying the laws of trade.
Daniel's first wife is unknown. On 11 November 1639, Daniel married Mary Dolling. They had nine children. Mary died on October 27, 1683, and he married within two years Mrs. Hannah (Tyng) Savage.
1618 - 27 October 1683
7 March 1640 - 29 October 1688
9 May 1647 - 2 August 1647
14 March 1645 - 30 November 1700
1642 - 1702
1650 - 1718
22 October 1656 - 7 August 1692
1640 - 1644
20 June 1654 - 16 July 1654
8 April 1649 - 3 September 1649
