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Capt. Nicholas Danforth[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]

Male 1589 - 1638  (49 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    Event Map    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Nicholas Danforth 
    Prefix Capt. 
    Birth 1589  [6] 
    Gender Male 
    Baptism 1 Mar 1589  Framlingham, Suffolk, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 3, 8, 11, 13, 14] 
    Emigration 1634/5  England Find all individuals with events at this location  [8, 10, 13] 
    Property 20 Oct 1635  Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [8, 9, 15] 
    "... all the right, title and interest which he hath in those several parcels of land as they are recorded in this book in folio3"
    Office 23 Nov 1635  Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [8] 
    selectman
    Office From 1636 to 1637  Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [8] 
    deputy
    Where:
    Massachusetts Bay General Court
    Freeman 3 Mar 1635/6  [3, 4, 8, 16] 
    Office 3 Mar 1635/6  [8, 17] 
    committee to "set out the bounds of the new plantation above Charles River" and to "view the meadow about the Blue Hills & to inform the next General Court to what towns it may most conveniently be laid"
    Property 1 Apr 1636  Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [8] 
    "all the right which he hath in three acres and half of land lying on the southwest side of the highway to the oyster bank"
    Property 1 May 1636  Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [8, 9] 
    "all the right, title and interest which he hath in the parcel of land following, viz: in the Westend one dwelling house with outhouses, gardens and backside and planting ground about three acres and half ..., in the Old Field about three acres three roods ..., in Old Field about two acres ..., in the Neck of Land about two and thirty acres ..., in the Great Marsh about seven and twenty acres ..., in the marsh by Windmill Hill about five acres of land ..., in the Long Marsh about seven acres and half ..., in the Ox Marsh about two acres and half ..., with about seven and twenty acres in Rocky Meadow and all his part in the house and ground paled in and six acres of upland ground"
    Property 2 May 1636  Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [8, 9, 18] 
    "... about one acre of land being the lot of Edward Hopkins lying near the land of the said Nicho[las] Danforth"
    Property 30 May 1636  Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [8, 15] 
    "... all the right, title and interest which he hath in the Fresh Meadows and the Ox Pasture in Newtowne in the Massach[u]sets that is to say in Aylwife Meadows twelve acres and half and two acres of land in the Ox Pasture"
    Office 8 Sep 1636  [8, 17] 
    committee to "measure & set out the bounds of Roxbury, & such farms as lies near adjoining to the aforesaid plantation"
    Office 7 Nov 1636  [8] 
    committee "for surveying of all men's lots"
    Office 7 Nov 1636  Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [8] 
    selectman
    Office 4 Sep 1637  Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [8] 
    selectman
    Office 15 Nov 1637  [8, 17] 
    committee to "set out the purchased land belonging to Dedham" and to "set out the bounds between Dedham & Dorchester"
    Office 20 Nov 1637  [8] 
    committee to "take order for a college at Newetowne"
    Office 6 Mar 1637/8  [8, 17] 
    committee to lay out "Mr. Gurling's land"
    Occupation innkeeper  [8]
    Death 8 Apr 1638  Cambridge, Massachusetts Bay, British America Find all individuals with events at this location  [6, 8, 13, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23] 
    Person ID I9538  Duane's Ancestors
    Last Modified 24 Feb 2020 

    Father Thomas Danforth   d. Between 20 Apr 1621 and 7 Sep 1621 
    Mother Jane Sudbury,   b. 1563, Kelshall, Cheshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1601, Framlingham, Suffolk, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 38 years) 
    Marriage 24 Jan 1585  [2, 3, 11, 14] 
    Family ID F3995  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Elizabeth Barber,   b. Abt 1595   d. 20 Feb 1628/9, Framlingham, Suffolk, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 34 years)  [10, 13] 
    Marriage 11 Feb 1618  Aspall Parish, Suffolk, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 6, 7, 11, 16] 
    Notes 
    • Danforth is a corruption of Dane's Ford, the combination of a personal name and a place, a shallow stream. The spelling Danford is also seen.
      [24]
    Children 
     1. Elizabeth Danforth,   b. 1619, Framlingham, Suffolk, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 26 Jun 1680 (Age 61 years)
     2. Mary Danforth,   b. 1621, Framlingham, Suffolk, England Find all individuals with events at this location
    +3. Anna Danforth,   b. Abt 1622, Framlingham, Suffolk, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 2 Dec 1704, Lexington, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay, British America Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 82 years)
     4. Hon. Thomas Danforth,   b. 1623, Framlingham, Suffolk, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 5 Nov 1699, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay, British America Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 76 years)
     5. Lydia Danforth,   b. Abt 1624, Framlingham, Suffolk, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 16 Aug 1686, Saybrook Village, New London, Connecticut, British America Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 62 years)
     6. Rev. Samuel Danforth,   b. Sep 1626, Framlingham, Suffolk, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 19 Nov 1674, Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay, British America Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 48 years)
    +7. Capt. Jonathan Danforth, Sr.,   b. 29 Feb 1627/8, Framlingham, Suffolk, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 7 Sep 1712, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay, British America Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 84 years)
     8. Martha Danforth
    Family ID F3699  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 10 Apr 2020 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBaptism - 1 Mar 1589 - Framlingham, Suffolk, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - 11 Feb 1618 - Aspall Parish, Suffolk, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsEmigration - 1634/5 - England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsProperty - "... all the right, title and interest which he hath in those several parcels of land as they are recorded in this book in folio3" - 20 Oct 1635 - Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsOffice - selectman - 23 Nov 1635 - Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsOffice - deputy,Where:
    Massachusetts Bay General Court - From 1636 to 1637 - Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America    		 Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsProperty - "all the right which he hath in three acres and half of land lying on the southwest side of the highway to the oyster bank" - 1 Apr 1636 - Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsProperty - "all the right, title and interest which he hath in the parcel of land following, viz: in the Westend one dwelling house with outhouses, gardens and backside and planting ground about three acres and half ..., in the Old Field about three acres three roods ..., in Old Field about two acres ..., in the Neck of Land about two and thirty acres ..., in the Great Marsh about seven and twenty acres ..., in the marsh by Windmill Hill about five acres of land ..., in the Long Marsh about seven acres and half ..., in the Ox Marsh about two acres and half ..., with about seven and twenty acres in Rocky Meadow and all his part in the house and ground paled in and six acres of upland ground" - 1 May 1636 - Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsProperty - "... about one acre of land being the lot of Edward Hopkins lying near the land of the said Nicho[las] Danforth" - 2 May 1636 - Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsProperty - "... all the right, title and interest which he hath in the Fresh Meadows and the Ox Pasture in Newtowne in the Massach[u]sets that is to say in Aylwife Meadows twelve acres and half and two acres of land in the Ox Pasture" - 30 May 1636 - Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsOffice - selectman - 7 Nov 1636 - Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsOffice - selectman - 4 Sep 1637 - Newe Towne, Massachusetts Bay, British America Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 8 Apr 1638 - Cambridge, Massachusetts Bay, British America Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Notes 

    • NICHOLAS DANFORTH of Framlingham, Suffolk, England, was a man of position, with influence in civil and church affairs. Though a Puritan with religious convictions, there is nothing on record to indicate that he was persecuted because of them. He was a church warden and a generous tither. Cotton Mather said of him, "He was a gentleman of such estate and repute in the world, that it cost him a considerable sum to escape the knighthood which King Charles I imposed on all of so much per annum". He was the founder of the Framlingham Lecture in Suffolk "where he had a fine mannour".

      The wife of Nicholas is believed to have been Elizabeth, daughter of William Symmes, a minister of Canterbury, and sister of Rev. Zachariah Symmes, the long-time minister of Charlestown, Ma. Together on the Griffin in 1634 coming to New England were Rev. Symmes, his wife and six children; Rev. John Lothrop and family, later minister at Scituate; and William and Anne Hutchinson and their family. Nicholas, now nearly fifty years of age, may have been influenced by them to leave his comfortable home in East Anglia where his wife Elizabeth had recently died, in 1629, and join them on the Griffin, bringing with him his six young children. The Griffin was a ship of some 300 tons carrying "about 100 passengers and cattle for the plantations", arriving in Boston September 18, 1634.

      Although not sworn a freeman until March 3, 1636, Mr. Danforth was chosen a "townsman" (selectman) of New-Towne and re-elected in 1636 and 1637, serving until his death in April, 1638. In December, 1635, he and two others were appointed to build a bridge or causeway at the southerly end of present Dunster street "down to the low water mark" to accommodate the patrons of the ferry, and to set up a broad ladder on the farther side of the river for convenience in landing. He often served as surveyor for the town and colony, helping to "sett out the bounds" of Concord, of Roxbury in 1636, and in 1637 to establish the boundary between Dedham and Dorchester. He resided on what is now Bow street near Mount Auburn street, New Towne, and served as a deputy to the General Court, attending five sessions in 1636 and 1637. These sessions gave the town its present name of Cambridge and made the first recorded appropriation for public education in New England, Å“400 for the establishment of Harvard College. He was selected as one of eleven men given the responsibility of selling at retail "strong water", an early effort to place the sale of liquor in the hands of leading citizens.

      Historians have been generous in their praise of Nicholas Danforth and his noted sons. One wrote, "He was the progenitor of a family in New England ....... more than ordinarily distinguished in their day and generation, and whose name, honorable alike in Church and State (has been) the ornament and the oracle of each of the learned Professions in turn." Another called him the "founder of a veritable dynasty."

  • Sources 
    1.  1.  [S940] First Settlers of New England, Vol. 2, 7, 00191.

    2.  2.  [S168] Hamlin Family, 657, 00249.

    3.  3.  [S17] Penobscot Pioneers, Volume 3, 48, 00419.

    4.  4.  [S282] Watertown Settlers, 196, 00621.

    5.  5.  [S523] Danforth Genealogy, 1, 00116.

    6.  6.  [S482] Torrey 1st, 203, 00395.

    7.  7.  [S259] NEHGS Register, 141:218, 00390.

    8.  8.  [S576] TGMSP, Nicholas Danforth, 00516.

    9.  9.  [S576] TGMSP, Newsletter:7:12, 00516.

    10.  10.  [S1430] Symmes Memorial, 46, 01154.

    11.  11.  [S523] Danforth Genealogy, 3, 00116.

    12.  12.  [S1446] John Hill of Dorchester, Mass., 1633, 80, 01170.

    13.  13.  [S1446] John Hill of Dorchester, Mass., 1633, 73, 01170.

    14.  14.  [S23] Genealogical History of the Clark and Worth Family, 353, 00219.

    15.  15.  [S576] TGMSP, John White, 00516.

    16.  16.  [S23] Genealogical History of the Clark and Worth Family, 354, 00219.

    17.  17.  [S523] Danforth Genealogy, 4, 00116.

    18.  18.  [S576] TGMSP, Thomas Hooker, 00516.

    19.  19.  [S940] First Settlers of New England, Vol. 2, 8, 00191.

    20.  20.  [S168] Hamlin Family, 658, 00249.

    21.  21.  [S259] NEHGS Register, 1:74, 00390.

    22.  22.  [S282] Watertown Settlers, 752, 00621.

    23.  23.  [S523] Danforth Genealogy, 5, 00116.

    24.  24.  [S1122] Find A Grave, 00974.