Samuel Wilbur

Background

Samuel Wilbur was born in England and came to America some time before 1633.

Career

The first known fact about him is that he joined the First Church of Boston October 1, 1633. He turned to trade and soon became a person of considerable importance. He owned a parcel of land near the present site of the city of Revere, another near the Roxbury boundary, a house and lot on Essex Street in Boston, and still another house on Milk Street. His interest in public affairs is evinced by the fact that he was one of the small circle of men who bought the Common for Boston from William Blackstone in 1634. A year later he contributed £10 for the first Massachusetts free school. In 1637 he became involved in the Antinomian controversy and was banished for having been "seduced and led into dangerous errors. " Accordingly he turned south to the more liberal colony of Rhode Island. He was one of the eighteen purchasers of the island of Aquidneck (now the island of Rhode Island) from the Narragansett Indians, and a few months later established there his wife and four sons. He was one of the signers of the Portsmouth Compact, which organized the infant government; he farmed the lands granted to him; he built and managed the only planing mill in the community. He was chosen clerk of one of the train bands, and subsequently served as sergeant and constable. In 1645 he returned to Massachusetts to find the colony about to declare war on the Narragansetts, whose feud with the Mohegans of Connecticut was endangering the security of New England. Three messengers were therefore appointed to give back to the Indians the presents they had recently offered as promises of peace. Wilbur was one of those chosen for this critical task, which successfully frightened the Indians into submission. His last years proved to be more tranquil. Settling in Taunton, Massachussets, Wilbur devoted himself to his commercial interests and identified himself with the life of the town. He died in Boston, leaving a comfortable inheritance for his sons.

Achievements

• He was one of that courageous early group of settlers who by successfully meeting the many problems of frontier life in the seventeenth century founded American civilization in the wilderness.

Connections

His wife was Anne. They had four children. After the death of his first wife, he married Elizabeth Lechford, widow of Thomas Lechford, who had been Boston's only trained lawyer.

Spouse:

Anne