Background
The names of his parents and the details of his early life are unknown, but he was probably a member of the Lechford family of Surrey, England.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
book
New-Englands advice to Old-England, or, Some observations upon New-Englands government, compared with the ancient government of Old-England: not ... in these miserable distracted times.
( Title: New-Englands advice to Old-England, or, Some obs...)
Title: New-Englands advice to Old-England, or, Some observations upon New-Englands government, compared with the ancient government of Old-England : not unfitting to be taken into serious consideration in these miserable distracted times. Author: Thomas Lechford Publisher: Gale, Sabin Americana Description: Based on Joseph Sabin's famed bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana, Sabin Americana, 1500--1926 contains a collection of books, pamphlets, serials and other works about the Americas, from the time of their discovery to the early 1900s. Sabin Americana is rich in original accounts of discovery and exploration, pioneering and westward expansion, the U.S. Civil War and other military actions, Native Americans, slavery and abolition, religious history and more. Sabin Americana offers an up-close perspective on life in the western hemisphere, encompassing the arrival of the Europeans on the shores of North America in the late 15th century to the first decades of the 20th century. Covering a span of over 400 years in North, Central and South America as well as the Caribbean, this collection highlights the society, politics, religious beliefs, culture, contemporary opinions and momentous events of the time. It provides access to documents from an assortment of genres, sermons, political tracts, newspapers, books, pamphlets, maps, legislation, literature and more. Now for the first time, these high-quality digital scans of original works are available via print-on-demand, making them readily accessible to libraries, students, independent scholars, and readers of all ages. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ SourceLibrary: Huntington Library DocumentID: SABCP01922300 CollectionID: CTRG96-B1361 PublicationDate: 16440101 SourceBibCitation: Selected Americana from Sabin's Dictionary of books relating to America Notes: Signed p. 8: Thomas Lechford. First issued in 1642 with title: Plain dealing. Collation: 8, 80 p. ; 20 cm. (4to)
https://www.amazon.com/New-Englands-Old-England-observations-government-compared/dp/1275692591?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1275692591
Lechford, Thomas: Plain Dealing or News from New England, with an Introduction and Notes (Library of New-England History. No. IV. 4)
https://www.amazon.com/Lechford-Thomas-Introduction-New-England-History/dp/B000OJUW6E?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B000OJUW6E
Note-Book Kept by Thomas Lechford, Esq., Lawyer, in Boston, Massachusetts Bay, From June 27, 1638, to July 29, 1641 (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Note-Book Kept by Thomas Lechford, Esq., Law...)
Excerpt from Note-Book Kept by Thomas Lechford, Esq., Lawyer, in Boston, Massachusetts Bay, From June 27, 1638, to July 29, 1641 The expense of printing has been partially met by a special subscription among the members of the Society, the Publishing Fund being unfortunately so small that the expense of printing the regular Proceedings of the Society exhausts all its income. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
https://www.amazon.com/Note-Book-Lechford-Massachusetts-Classic-Reprint/dp/1334456933?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1334456933
Thomas Lechford
Edit ProfileCareer
At some time before 1629 Lechford was living in London and was the auditor of Hugh Peter, lecturer at St. Sepulchre's. He was a member of Clement's Inn, and acquired some little skill in chirography. He was in Ireland with Lord Deputy Wentworth, but for how long and in what capacity are unknown. He opposed episcopacy and solicited the cause of William Prynne, for which he "suffered imprisonment, and a kind of banishment. " He declined preferment at the court of George R kóczy, prince of Transylvania and lord of lower Hungary, refused place and preferment from the Providence Company, and emigrated to New England, arriving at Boston June 27, 1638.
Lechford soon found himself out of sympathy with the leaders of Massachusetts Bay. His manuscript writings, the title of only one of which, "Of Prophesie, " has been preserved, were declared heretical by Deputy Governor Thomas Dudley (Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, III, 1859, 311-12; Collections, 4 ser. VII, 1865, 111-12); he was never received into church membership, and consequently could neither vote nor hold office in the colony.
In the summer of 1639 he hoped to be employed as clerk and notary public by the Massachusetts General Court but, because of the distrust with which he was regarded, he was refused all preferment and forced to earn a meager living as a copyist and by drafting petty legal documents, a record of which is preserved in his notebook. For trying to influence the jury out of court in the case of William and Elizabeth Cole vs. Francis Doughty, Lechford in September 1639 was debarred from pleading in the courts of Massachusetts Bay. As early as July 28, 1640, he was thinking of returning to England or Ireland.
In March 1640/41, he wrote to one "of no mean rank, " complaining of his sufferings and asking to be sent for, and it was supposed that Prynne sent him money for his passage home. On August 3, 1641, Lechford sailed from Boston, leaving his wife and household goods worth £6. 136. 10d. in Massachusetts (New-England Historical and Genealogical Register, April 1876, pp. 201-02), and by November 16, 1641, was once more at Clement's Inn, a much stronger supporter of monarchy and episcopacy than he had been before his sojourn in New England.
In 1642 he published Plain Dealing: or, Nevves from New-England, which was reissued in 1644 under the title New-Englands Advice of Old-England. (It was republished under the original title in Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 3 ser. III, 1833, and again, with an introduction and notes by J. H. Trumbull, in Library of New England History, No. IV, 1867). Lechford died soon after its first publication.
Achievements
Works
book
-
New-Englands advice to Old-England, or, Some observations upon New-Englands government, compared with the ancient government of Old-England: not ... in these miserable distracted times.
( Title: New-Englands advice to Old-England, or, Some obs...)
-
Note-Book Kept by Thomas Lechford, Esq., Lawyer, in Boston, Massachusetts Bay, From June 27, 1638, to July 29, 1641 (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Note-Book Kept by Thomas Lechford, Esq., Law...)
- Lechford, Thomas: Plain Dealing or News from New England, with an Introduction and Notes (Library of New-England History. No. IV. 4)
-
New-Englands advice to Old-England, or, Some observations upon New-Englands government, compared with the ancient government of Old-England: not ... in these miserable distracted times.
Connections
Lechford mentions his wife in an entry in his notebook (Trumbull, post) in 1639, but whether he married in England or in Massachusetts is uncertain. Her Christian name was Elizabeth, but her family name is unknown. After his death she married Samuel Wilbore some time before November 29, 1645, and, after Wilbore's death in 1656, married Henry Bishop (A Report of the Record Commissioners Containing Boston Births, Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths, 1630-1699, 1883, pp. 56, 58).
