Background
John Lothropp was born at Etton, England in 1584 and baptized on December 20, 1584. He was the son of Thomas and Mary Lothropp of Cherry Burton and Etton, Yorkshire.
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John Lothropp
Edit ProfileEducation
Lothropp matriculated at Queen's College, Cambridge, and received the degrees of Bachelor of Arts in 1606 and Master of Arts in 1609.
Career
Lothrop was ordained a deacon in the Church of England and started to preach at Bennington, Hertfordshire, and at Cheriton and Egerton, Kent. Later he renounced his orders because he could no longer conform to the ceremonies of the Church of England. He united with a congregation of non-conformists and separatists which met in and about London in 1624, and succeeded Henry Jacob as pastor of the group in 1625. This congregation was tracked down at the house of Humphrey Barnett, a brewer's clerk, in Blackfriars, April 29, 1632, by Tomlinson, a pursuivant of Bishop Laud, and Lothropp and two-thirds of his congregation were arrested. He appeared before the Court of High Commission May 3 and May 8 and was committed to prison, where he remained for two years. He was liberated April 24, 1634, on a bond to absent himself from all private conventicles and to appear before the Court of High Commission in Trinity Term. At the invitation of the settlers of Scituate in the Colony of New Plymouth to become their pastor, and accompanied by some thirty followers, he fled to New England, where Winthrop recorded his arrival at Boston in the Griffin, September 18, 1634. He proceeded immediately to Scituate, arriving there September 27 and preaching twice on the following day.
On condition that a church should be organized at Scituate, the church at Plymouth on November 23 dismissed its members living at the former place. A church was gathered there January 8, 1634/1635, and Lothropp was chosen first pastor and ordained January 19. Services were held in homes until a meeting-house was completed and dedicated in 1636. He was admitted freeman of the Colony of New Plymouth June 7, 1637. With other freemen of Scituate he complained to the Court of Assistants of the Colony of scarcity of land at Scituate, January 1, 1637/1638, and he wrote to Governor Prence, September 28, 1638, and again February 18, 1638/1639, asking for the grant of a new site. The Colony granted the group Seppekann or Rochester January 22, 1638/1639, but this tract proved unacceptable and Lothropp and more than half of his congregation removed to Barnstable, October 11, 1639. A church was gathered there October 31, 1639, and services held in dwelling houses until a meeting-house was erected in 1646. There Lothropp served as pastor until his death at the age of sixty-nine.
Achievements
Religion
At the beginning of his career Lothropp served in the Church of England but in a time his views began to shift toward Protestant or "Puritan" beliefs and he found himself at odds with the King on the topic of religious freedom. He became a strong proponent of the idea of the Separation of Church and State.
Connections
Lothropp married Hannah House/Howse in England, on 10 October 1610. They had eight children. After Hannah's death, Lothropp married Ann Hammond in 1635, by whom he had six children.
References
- History of Scituate, Massachusetts: From Its First Settlement to 1831 (Classic Reprint)
- Alumni Cantabrigienses, Vol. 3: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, From the ... to 1900; Gabb-Justamond (Classic Reprint)
- Early Planters of Scituate Massachusetts
- A Genealogical Memoir of the Lo-Lathrop Family in This Country: Embracing the Descendants, as Far as Known, of the Rev. John Lothropp, of Scituate and ... Mass., And the First Generation of Descen
- Exiled: The Story of John Lathrop 1584-1653
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Born
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Died
January 8, 1653 (aged 69) -
Resting place
Lothrop Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States -
Nationality
English American -
Religion
Protestant