John Wheelwright

Background

John Wheelwright was born probably in 1592 at Saleby, Lincolnshire, England. His father, Robert, and his grandfather, John, were landholders in the Fen district and moderately well to do.

Education

Wheelwright was admitted sizar at Sidney College, Cambridge, April 28, 1611, and received the degrees of B. A. in 1614/15 and M. A. in 1618.

Career

He was ordered deacon at Peterborough, December 19, 1619, and priested the following day. Through the death of his father and other relatives he early became possessed of landed property. After the death of his father-in-law Wheelwright succeeded to the vicarage, April 9, 1623, and retained the position for ten years. In 1633, although apparently he had not resigned, a successor was inducted. In the meantime Wheelwright had become a nonconformist, and had probably come into conflict with his superiors, since he was silenced soon afterward. For three years he lived privately in Lincolnshire. It is possible that as early as 1629 Wheelwright with four associates had purchased land in New Hampshire from the Indians, though the authenticity of the so-called "Wheelwright deed" remains in question. At any rate, within some three years of his silencing, Wheelwright emigrated to New England, with his wife and five children, landing May 26, 1636, at Boston, where on June 12 he and his wife were admitted to church membership. It was suggested that Wheelwright become second teacher of the church there, where John Cotton was teacher and John Wilson pastor, but there was opposition to the proposal, and he became pastor of a new church at Mount Wollaston (now Quincy). Meanwhile the Antinomian controversy, of which his sister-in-law, Anne Hutchinson, was the storm center, had begun. Wheelwright and Cotton alone among the clergy supported her. On a fast day in January 1637 Wheelwright was asked to speak at the church in Boston and took occasion to denounce the holders of the opposing view, who formed the great majority of clergy and magistrates. Haled before the General Court for this utterance, he was tried and condemned as guilty of "sedition and contempt of the civil authority, " but further action was postponed. Much ill feeling had been aroused, however, and in September a synod was convened to review the whole controversy. Wheelwright attended; feeling was heightened; but the only definite result was the defection of John Cotton to the side of the majority. By the General Court meeting in November, however, Wheelwright, still refusing to retract the objectionable passages in his fastday address, was disfranchised and banished from the colony. He demanded an appeal to the king, but the magistrates answered that the charter gave them final jurisdiction in the matter, and Wheelwright removed from Massachusetts Bay to the Piscataqua region. After passing the winter probably at Squamscot, in April 1638 he bought land from the Indians at what is now Exeter, N. H. He was joined by his family and a number of friends, and despite the complaints of Massachusetts a community developed, a church was formed, and Wheelwright became its pastor. Shortly, however, Massachusetts extended its jurisdiction to include the new settlement, and some of the inhabitants, with Wheelwright, moved north to what is now Wells, Me. In 1643 he was allowed to visit Boston, and subsequently sent two letters to the authorities - one addressed to the General Court, the other to Governor Winthrop - in which he repented of his past conduct and asked for the release of his banishment; the sentence was reversed in May 1644. Meanwhile two pamphlets had been issued on the controversy: the first, A Short Story of the Rise, Reign and Ruine of the Antinomians (London, 1644), the joint work of Governor Winthrop and Thomas Weld, attacking Wheelwright; the second, Mercurius Americanus (1645), his reply. For about two years after his reconciliation with the Massachusetts colony he remained at Wells, and was then called to the church at Hampton, N. H. , removing to that place in the spring of 1647. Some eight or nine years later he went to England, but in 1662 returned to New Hampshire, becoming pastor of the church at Salisbury, where he served until his death.

Achievements

• He was most noted for being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the Antinomian Controversy, and for subsequently establishing the town of Exeter, New Hampshire.

Connections

On November 8, 1621, he married Marie, daughter of Thomas Storre, vicar of Bilsby. His wife died some time after the birth of their third child, and he married secondly Mary, daughter of Edward Hutchinson of Alford and sister of William, whose wife was the celebrated Anne. Wheelwright had 12 children.

Father:

Robert Wheelwright

Spouse:

Mary Hutchinson

Spouse:

Mary Storre

Grandfather:

John Wheelwright

References

• John Wheelwright 1592-1679