Clymer Weir Cox Genealogy » GEN. HUMPHREY ATHERTON (1607-1661)

Persoonlijke gegevens GEN. HUMPHREY ATHERTON 

• Hij is geboren op 16 februari 1607.
• Hij is overleden op 16 september 1661 in Run in with cow, hij was toen 54 jaar oud.
• Deze gegevens zijn voor het laatst bijgewerkt op 8 juni 2022.

Gezin van GEN. HUMPHREY ATHERTON

Hij is getrouwd met MARY (WALES ?) (KENNISON) KENNISTON.

Zij zijn getrouwd op 29 maart 1625, hij was toen 18 jaar oud.

Kind(eren):

1. Catherine Kennison Atherton  1628-1684 
2. Elizabeth Kennison Atherton  1628-???? 
3. Margaret Kennison Atherton  1638-???? 
4. Mary Kennison Atherton  
5. Thankful Kennison Atherton  1644-???? 

Notities over GEN. HUMPHREY ATHERTON

ANCESTOR OF DIANA HART (FRICKE)
ANCESTOR OF ELIZA HART (SPALDING)ANCESTOR OF BRENDA COX (MCLAUGHLIN)
THROUGH FATHER EDWARD GLIDDEN COX
ANCESTOR OF BRENDA COX (MCLAUGHLIN)
THROUGH MOTHER Henrietta Tibbetts Twombly

Maj. Gen.HumphreyAtherton
Born28 Sep 1608inWinstanley, Lancashire, England
ANCESTORS
SonofEdmund Atherton[uncertain] andElizabeth (Molineaux) Atherton[uncertain]
Brother ofAnne (Atherton) Fairclough,Margaret AthertonandElizabeth (Atherton) Barton
Husband ofMary (Kennion) Atherton– married 29 Mar 1625 in Winwick, Lancashire, England
DESCENDANTS
Father ofJonathan Atherton,Elizabeth (Atherton) Mather,Isabella (Atherton) Wales,Mary (Atherton) Weeks,Margaret (Atherton) Trowbridge,Rest (Atherton) Swift,Increase Atherton,Thankful (Atherton) Bird,Consider Atherton,Hope AthertonandWatching Atherton
Died16 Sep 1661atage 52inDorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay
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Profile last modified28 Jan 2022| Created 1 Mar 2011
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This profile is part of theAtherton Name Study.

Humphrey Atherton migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1620-1640).
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Contents
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•1Biography
•2Origin and Emigration
•3Political and military life
•4Persecutions
•5Native Americans
•6Land speculation
•7Death
•8Legacy
•9Sources
Biography
Based on baptismal records of the Church of St. Thomas the Martyr in Upholland, "Humfra sonne of Edm?d Atherton gent(leman) Winstanley" was baptised on Sept. 4, 1607 (Parish of Wigan, Upholland Chapel of Ease - Folio 3A, Baptisms, 1607) The register is held by the "Lancashire Record Office or LRO." (See photo.)
He was baptized 4 September 1607 in England[1]
"The extract given belowmayrefer to the Major Gen. Humphrey Atherton [of Dorchester, MA]:
Inquisition taken at Wigan, 18 January, 11th James-- 1613-14... after the death of Edmund Atherton of Winstanley... the said Edmund was seised of a messuage in Billindge and 4 acres of arable land, 4 acres of meadow and 6 acres of pasture thereto belonging, which are held of Richard Fleetwood, Knt. and Bart. as of his Barony of Newton, in free and common socage by fealty and a pepper-corn rent, and are worth per annum (clear) 20s.

Edmund Atherton died 10 April last (1613); Humphrey Atherton, his son and next heir is aged at the time of taking this Inquisition 4 years and 3 months or there abouts."..
On the 23 Aug 1636 the newly constituted church at Dorchester, Massachusetts held its first communion service, all present clergy and congregation names were taken and recorded. It is noted that after Humphrey Atherton‘s name is quoted, the three letters Esq (Esquire) are written. This would be the term used to denote he was a ”Gentleman‘ at that time. This gives further credence to the belief he could have been a son of Edmund Atherton ”Gentleman‘ of Winstanley, Lancashire who died April 1613, as this title would have been passed onto his son.

... The necessary information to ascertain if the Humphrey Atherton [above] was the Major General of New England, can be easily obtained by the gentleman who is collecting material for a genealogy of the New England families of his name.[2]
He died 16-17 September 1661.[3][4]
Burial: First Burying Place, Dorchester, Suffolk, MA
NAME OF WIFE IS DISPUTED:Mary Wales or Mary Kenion--See below
He, with wife and three children (Jonathan, Isabel and Elizabeth), 'may havecome to America from Bristol, England in theJamesin 1635 with Rev. Richard Mather, as one of Richard's sons married Catharine, a daughter of Humphrey Atherton.[5]
They settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, where they had nine more children.
"First mentioned in records at Dorchester 18 March 1637; Freeman and Deputy 2 May 1638. Magistrate, deputy governor, active in the affairs of the United Colonies, Major-General (see many notices in historical works; epitaph in Reg. II, 382). As birth records of certain children at Winwick, England correspond with known facts about some of his children, it has been inferred that he came from that parish. Nathaniel Wales, Sr., calls him brother-in-law....He died 17 Sept. 1661 (16th, per his tombstone). His will not being left in legal form, administration was granted 27 Sept 1661 to his eldest son Jonathan and to his sons-in-law Timothy Mather, James Trowbridge and Obadiah Swift. Extensive estate."[6]
He was admitted freeman and granted lands in Dorchester in 1637.
He held many offices including one of the first wardens to manage the public school; served in th eAncient and Honorabe Artillery Company starting in 1638, promoted to Lieut. in 1645, Captain in 1650, Major in 1652 and Major General in 1661. He commanded the Suffolk Regiment. Selectman and town Treasurer. Deputy to General Court 1638-41. Speaker in 1659.[7]
In September, 1643, there was a successful military expedition sent to Rhode Island, Colonel George Cook was commander- in-chief with Lieut. Humphrey Atherton in command. The object of the expedition was to capture Samuel Gorton, and to break up his settlement. He claimed that the government had no jurisdiction over his country and affairs, and had sent letters "full of blasphemy against the churches and magistracy." On arriving there they found the place well fortified. The attack upon it lasted several days, but they finally surrendered and were taken prisoners and marched to Boston. "During the siege the fort caught fire three times, but was quenched amidst the fire of the enemy." Humphrey Atherton had twelve children.[8]
His [efforts to instruct the Native Americans] were referred to in the New England Confederation, and Eliot applied to him in behalf of the Neponsett tribe. He was employed in several expeditions against the Narragansett Indians.[citation needed]
He died as a result of a collision with a cow while reviewing his troops on horseback on Boston Common. He was thrown and killed.[9]On his gravestone (under a drawn sword) is the following effusion:

Here lies our Captain, and Major of Suffolk was withall;
A Godly Magistrate was he, and Major General,
Two troops of ours with him here came, such worth his love did crave;
Ten companies of foot also mourning marched to his grave.
Let all that Read be sure to keep the faith as he has done.
With Christ he lives now crowned, his name was Humphrey Atherton.[10]

The Quakers... had been subjected to much persecution at his hands, and they believed his horrible death to be God's visitation of wrath:
"Humfray Adderton, who at the trial of Wenlock Christison, did, as it were, bid defiance to Heaven, by saying to Wenlock, 'You pronounce Woes and Judgements, and those that are gone before you pronounced Woes and Judgements; but the Judgements of the Lord God are not upon us yet,' was suddenly surprised: having been, on a certain day, exercising his men with much pomp and ostentation, he was returning home in the evening, near the place where they usually loosed the Quakers from the cart, after they had whipped them, his horse, suddenly affrighted, threw him with such violence, that he instantly died; his eyes being dashed out of his bead, and his brains coming out of his nose, his tongue hanging out at his mouth, and the blood running out at his ears: Being taken up and brought into the Court-house, the place where he had been active in sentencing the innocent to death, his blood ran through the floor, exhibiting to the spectators a shocking instance of the Divine vengeance against a daring and hardened persecutor; that made a fearful example of that divine judgment, which, when forewarned of, he had openly despised, and treated with disdain."[11]
Estate decree of 1717 mentions children all dead except:
* Thankful, grandson Humphry (administrator) son of Consider,
* second son Consider,
* eldest son Jonathan,
* sons Hopestill and Watching, and
* daughters Elizabeth Mather, Rest Swift, Margret Trobridge, Isabel Wales,
Mary Weeks, Patience Humphrey, and Thankfull Bird.[citation needed]

The following is a copy of a letter written by Rev. Richard Mather, of Dorchester, relative to the settlement of the affairs of a distinguished parishioner, Major General Humphry Atherton, who had suddenly deceased...:

These for the right worll John Endecott Esqr & Richard Bellingham Esqr Governor & Deputy Governor of the Massachusetts.

May it please yor worps
Some frends having considered & confrerred togethr about the manadgemt of or honoure majors estate we have thought meet to commend to yor worps consideracon whethr in case the Will wch we here send you to prvse be not legally Valid, it were not meet in such case to comit Administracon to his eldest sonne though for present out of the countrey, & to these 3 sonnes in law who now attend yor worps for that intent. And seth Captayne Hutchinson hath also lands at Naraganset where a considerable part of the majors estate doth lye, & that Liuetent Clapp & Ensigne Foster were nominated by the major as overseers of his will, we intreat yt if they think not meet to be administrators, (though we could much desyre it) that yet they 3 may be nominated as overseers or Assistants to the Administrators; we doubt not but they will be ready to affoard to them their best advice & direcon upon all occasions; but if they were noiated hereunto by uthority, i tmight be more prvalant wth them to affoard it, & more satisfactory to the frends of the deceased. Craving pardon for my boldnesse I commend yor worps in this & all yor weighty Administracons to the direcon & blessing of the Lord, & rest
Yor. worps in all due observance, Richard Mather.
Dorchester this 27th of 7ber 61

Power of administration of the estate was granted to Jonathan Atherton, his eldest sonne, and Timothy Mather, James Trowbridge and Obadiah Swift, 3 of his sons in law, on behaalf of the widow, themselves and the rest of the children...[12]
Children[13]
1Jonathan, probably born England; mariner; mother left him five pounds "if he would come for it." He was in Boston in 1673. May have been the Jonathan Atherton, mariner, who married in St. Peter's Church, Cornhill, London, in 1663 Sarah Firebread, spinster of Ratcliffe (Lancashire).
2Isabel, probably b. England; m Nathaniel Wales, Jr.
3[Elizabeth, later corrected:] Katherine, prob b England; m Timothy Mather abt 1650
4Consider, probably born in New England; m Anne Annable 14 Dec 1671
5Mary; m Joseph Weeks, 9 Apr 1667
6Margaret, m James Trowbridge 30 Dec 1659
7Rest, bp 26 May 1639; m Obadiah Swift 15 Mar 1660/1
8Increase bapt 2 Jan 1642; at sea, Jonathan admin. Aug 1673
9Thankful, bapt 28 Apr 1644; m Thomas Bird Jr 2 Apr 1665
10Hope (rev.) bapt 30 Aug 1646; m Sarah Hollister 1674
11Watching, bapt 24 Aug 1651; m Elizabeth Rigby 23 Jan 1678/9
12Patience, bpt 2 Apr 1654; m Isaac Humphrey, 1685.
There were three baptisms of children of a Humphrey Atherton in Winwick[14], Lancashire.
1/ Elizabeth 28 Sep 1628
2/ Jhn Dec 1628
3/ Isabel 23 Jan 1630
Name of wife disputed: Mary Wales or Mary Kennion:
That Humphrey Atherton's wife, Mary, was Mary "Wales" is based on the will of Nathaniel Wales, SR, dated June 20, 1661, in which he calls Humphrey Atherton "my Brother in Law.[15]If they were brothers-in-law in today's use of the word, one would have had to marry the other's sister.
Lancashire (England) records as late as 1638 show that Humphrey Atherton's sisters Ann married Thomas Fairclough; Elizabeth married Richard Barton; and Margaret was single. All remained in Lancashire, England. So Nathaniel did not marry Humphrey's sister.
This leaves many to conclude that Humphrey married Mary Wales, the sister of Nathaniel and daughter of their father John. Yet the will of John Wales (d. 1610), the father of Nathaniel, mentions no daughter named Mary.[citation needed]
In addition, the original marriage records for Humphrey Atherton and Mary Kennion have been found in Winwick Parish Register showing Humphrey of Wigan Parish and Mary Kennion of Winwick, the marriage dated 29 March 1624/25.[citation needed](Winwick and Wigan are neighboring parishes.) Based on his 1607 baptismal records, we know that Humphrey lived in Wigan Parish giving even more credence that this is the same Humphrey Atherton.
The actual entry in the register reads Humphrey Atherton -Wigan Mary Kennion 'istius; ( this place, namely Winwick) March 29, 1624/25. At that time, the new year started on Lady Day 25th March, although this marriage entry is shown on a page for the year 1624, this date implies it would be in fact 5 days into the new year of 1625.
The term "in-law" simply signified any relationship established by marriage. Thus, the brother-in-law reference may have an entirely different interpretation. We know that Nathaniel Wales JR. married Humphrey's daughter Isabel. Thus, with the marriage of Nathaniel's son and Humphrey's daughter, the two men were jointly fathers-in-law and it could be this relationship that made them "brothers-in-law" which then had a broader meaning than what we use today.
Nathaniel Wales was also called "Brother Wales" by Edward Bullock of Dorchester, leaving some to conclude that Nathaniel married Edward Bullock's sister. However, the term "Brother" may also have referred to Nathaniel as a member of the same church, in which each member was called "Brother" or "Sister".
Humphrey was a polarizing figure even in his own time. Many thought of him as a hero, while others considered him a disreputable foe.
He had fought in multiple battles and held the highest rank of the colonial military. He organized the first militia in Massachusetts and held numerous public offices.
Humphrey was also very much a man of his times. He was very religious and believed in witches. In his role as Assistant Governor, he was instrumental in bringing about the hanging of Ann Hibbins as a witch, about forty years before the witch trials in Salem. He was said to be proud of this accomplishment.
Humphrey also played a role in the hanging of Mary Dyer, a Quaker who had been banished from Massachusetts. When she ignored this decree, and insisted on returning, she was hanged in Boston Common. Humphrey boasted that —she hung there like a flag“.
Humphrey had been involved in successful battles with various Indian tribes, he was seen as an expert in Indian relations. He was sent with a group of men to obtain an unpaid fine from an Indian leader. Humphrey threatened the man at gunpoint, seized him by his hair and dragged him to the ground. Since the leader did not have the money to pay the fine, he agreed to mortgage all of his land to the united Four Colonies of New England.
Humphrey used his position in the military to scout out prospective land purchases and became a land speculator, obtaining some of his property through sale and some through military might. On occasion he was known to have forcefully removed Indians from land he wished to own. When they were prohibited from selling him land due to legalities, he coerced them into offering the land to him as —gifts“.
Due to his —success“ in dealing with the Indians, he was eventually appointed the Superintendent of Indian Affairs.
Humphrey died in 1661, at the approximate age of 53. For a man who lived so dangerously, his death had a touch of comedy. One evening, as he rode home from drilling his troops, he passed through Boston Common. Somehow he failed to see a cow directly in his path, and he rode ride into it. He was thrown from his horse, and his head was split open. He died in the very place in which Quakers had been hanged, whipped, and humiliated. Some, especially the Quakers, took satisfaction in the location and manner of his death, and saw in it, an act of divine judgement. Humphrey was dealing with what he saw as very real threats to the stability and welfare of his community. Witches, Quakers, and Indians were all part of the dark forces that encroached upon the orderliness and Godliness of his colony. He spent his life serving his colony and fighting those forces. His death, while humiliating, occurred as a result of his commitment to his cause.
The epitaph on his tombstone in Dorchestor North Burying Place, shows that he was esteemed and admired by many in his lifetime:
"Here lies our Captain & Major of Suffolk was withall;
A godly magistrate was he, and Major General;
Two troop horse with him here comes, such worth his love did crave
Two companies of foot also mourning march to his grave,
Let all that read be sure to keep the faith as he has done
With Christ he lives now crowned, his name was Humphrey Atherton."
There is some mystery about the names and ages of some of his children. It is apparent that he had at least one daughter namedElizabeth Atherton Weeks Mather.
Origin and Emigration
Humphrey Atherton's date and place of birth are uncertain. It has been presumed by some that he was born in Lancashire, England, because the name Atherton is prominent there. However, genealogist Robert Charles Anderson, inThe Great Migration,states that this "does not come close to constituting proof of origin." The date of 1608 is sometimes given as his date of birth because Edmund Atherton of Wigan Lancashire, England died in 1612 leaving, as his heir, a four-year-old son named Humphrey. However, Duane Hamilton Hurd, in ,,History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts,stated that Atherton was 36 years old when he died in 1661. On the other hand, Charles Samuel Hall in Hall Ancestry, pointed out that when Atherton was made freeman and was granted property in 1638, "he must at that time reached his majority."

Lancashire Courts of Quarter Sessions, Ormskirk, Easter,1635
Examinations taken at Penketh before me Thomas Ashton of Penketh Esq, one of the Magistrates of the year for the County of Lancaster the 30th of March 1635.
Humphrey Atherton of Haydock in the aforesaid County Yeoman suborn and examined the day and year above said, Sayth that upon the 22nd of March 1634 being Palm Sunday , James Winstanley of Winstanley in the aforesaid County Labourer, came to a house of this Exam in Winstanley in the afternoon of the aforesaid day, as this Exam was informed by one Robert Horner of Winstanley in the said County Labourer and now resident in the aforesaid house of the Exam who came into Haydock to this Exam to let him understand that the aforesaid James Winstanley had been at this Exam‘s House and as it is maintained did break the said house door. And further sayth not.
Robert Horner of Winstanley in the aforesaid County Labourer suborn and examined the day and year aforesaid, Sayth that upon the 22nd of March 1634 being Palm Sunday he and his wife did go to church to receive the communion and as he went he did entreat his neighbour Henry Bret that he would suffer this Exam to leave a little girl his daughter and the key of his house door till his return, that and also the said Henry Bret would permit his son Richard Bret to walk now and then to this Exam‘s house to see that no harm should be done to it. And at his return this Exam calling for his daughter and the key of this house door, the aforesaid Richard Bret told this Exam that he going towards the said house in the afternoon of the aforesaid day heard a great knocking and coming to this Exam‘s house found their one James Winstanley Labourer the aforesaid town next neighbour, who told the said Richard Bret that he came to speak with the Exam about ploughing his fields. This Exam coming home found part of his house door broken ....... ...... ...... a strong lain staff lying by the door. Which he this Exam ...... ...... ...... he the said James Winstanley had crafted the ...... ....... ...... because he the said James Winstanley did see the said Exam and receive forty shillings about a week before and ...... .... ...., And further sayth not.
Richard Bret son of Henry Bret of Winstanley in the aforesaid County Husbandman Exam, Sayth that upon the 22nd of March being Palm Sunday, Robert Horner of Winstanley in the said County Labourer, did come to the house of this Exam‘s Father and entreated this Exam‘s Father to suffer this Exam to look to the house of the said Robert Horner till his return back from the Church, that no harm be done unto it .And this Exam walking towards said house in the afternoon of the said day did hear great noise almost to his Father‘s house being distant three fields breath, whereupon this Exam did make what haste he could coming to the said house found one James Winstanley of Winstanley in the said County Labourer in part of a new building adjoining to the house, where the said Robert Horner dwelt. And meeting with this Exam told him that he the said James Winstanley came to speak to the said Robert Horner, And further sayth not.
James Winstanley of Winstanley in the aforesaid County Labourer Exam the day and year above said , confesseth and sayth, that upon the 22nd of March 1634 being Palm Sunday he this Exam his wife not benign did not go to Church but in the afternoon of the said day did walk up to the house of one Robert Horner of this said town his next neighbour to know when the said Horner‘s Landlord would come thither, that this Exam might get him to help him to plow, and denying that he this Exam did any ways wrest the door but only knocked at it with his hands.
Penketh Coram, Thomas Ashton de Penketh Armiger---Jacobus Winstanley de Winstanley, Labourer Prorogue ye debt ........... XX‘s (20 shillings)
The condition of this prorogue is such that if the above bounden James Winstanley be and personally before his magistrates of the year, and at the next quarter sessions of the year to be held at Ormskirk, and in the mean keep the peace towards our Sovereign Lord the King and all his liege people and especially towards Robert Horner and not to depart the court without honour, then the prorogue to be void.
Notes on Court Record: -
(1/ In England, Lady Day was New Year‘s Day which began on 25 March until the year 1752, therefore from the 22nd of March 1634 to 30th March 1635 was a period of only 8 days.
2/ Robert Horner, Humphrey‘s tenant living in his house in Winstanley is also named as one of the witnesses to the Will of Humphrey‘s father-in-law James Kenion.
3/ This record infers Humphrey was staying with his Father-in-law in Haydock on 30th March 1635, just 54 days before leaving the U.K. on the ship James in Bristol on 23rd May 1635.)

Records from-Lancashire County Council Archive Re-QSB/1/150/51 and QSB/1/150/3

A descendant of his, Charles H. Atherton, said that Humphrey Atherton, his wife and three young children arrived at the colony in the shipJames,August 7, 1635, but there is no record of this. His descendant further said that Atherton and his wife were each about 15 years old when they were married.
There is a record of Nathaniel Wales having voyaged on theJames.Wales referred to Humphrey Atherton as his "brother-in-law" in his will, so it has been assumed that Atherton's wife, Mary, was Wales' sister. However, the term may have been used because Atherton's daughter, Isabel, was married to Nathaniel Wales, Jr. The identity of his wife is unknown.
Political and military life
Atherton had a very active public life having power and taking part in the law making, enforcing and interpreting affairs of the colony. Subsequent to his acceptance as a freeman, in 1638, he was frequently selectman or treasurer, and for several years a member of the Court of Assistants which gave him a say in the appointment of governors as well as judicial power in criminal and civil matters. In 1638 and 1639œ41 he was a governor's assistant in the General Court, and in 1653, he was Speaker of the House, leader of the Court of Deputies, which was the lower house of the General Court, representing Springfield, Massachusetts. He was also "long a justice of the peace, and solemnized many marriages". One of the marriages over which he officiated was that of Myles Standish, Jr. and Sarah Winslow.
Atherton was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company and he organized the first trained band (militia) in Dorchester. As Major-General in the Suffolk Regiment, he was the senior military officer in New England, which included the responsibilities of subduing and controlling Native Americans and apprehending criminals, such as those accused of heresy.
In 1644 Atherton was sent, with Captains Johnson and Cook, to Narragansett to arrest and try Samuel Gorton for heresy. It is hoped that Gorton's complaint of his treatment was exaggerated, for he said, in passing through Dorchester. 'A large concourse of persons assembled with several ministers to witness the passage of the troops, and the prisoners were stationed apart and volleys of musketry fired over their heads in token of victory.'
Persecutions
Harlow Elliot Woodword, in "Epitaphs from the Old Burying Ground in Dorchester", said that Atherton had believed in witches and "felt it to be a duty which he owed to God and to his Country to mete out to the poor creatures, against whom accusations were brought, the punishment, which, in his opinion, they so richly merited." Woodward said that, in his capacity as assistant, Atherton had been instrumental in bringing about the execution of Mrs. Ann Hibbins, a wealthy widow, who was executed for witchcraft on June 19, 1656. Hibbins was later fictionalized in Nathaniel Hawthorne's boo, "The Scarlet Letter". In that book she was depicted as the sister of Governor Bellingham.
Atherton was involved in the persecution of Quakers and there are two incidents in particular that the Quakers wrote about in relationship to Atherton. First, the case of Mary Dyer, a Quaker who was executed in 1660 after returning to Boston despite banishment. Atherton was assistant governor at the time, and at her hanging he was said to have remarked, "She hangs there like a flag." The Quakers understood this comment to be an insulting boast.
Secondly, there was the case of Wenlock Christison, a Quaker who had repeatedly returned to Massachusetts despite banishment, whose trial in May, 1661 put an end to the execution of Quakers. He was sentenced to death, but the law was changed soon after, and he was not executed. He was the last Quaker to be sentenced to death in Massachusetts. The Quakers believed that during an altercation between the accused and Atherton at the trial, Christison prophesied the outcome of his trial as well as the circumstances of Atherton's untimely death. Quaker writer George Bishop wrote, "Yea, Wenlock Christison, though they did not put him to death, yet they sentenced him to die, so that their cruel purposes were nevertheless. I cannot forbear to mention what he spoke, being so prophetical, not only as to the judgment of God coming on Major-general Adderton, but as to their putting any more Quakers to death after they had passed sentence on him." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow recreated the Christison trial in his play John Endicott which included the damnation of Atherton by the accused.
Native Americans
Ebenezer Clapp, in "The History of Dorchester", said of Atherton, "He had great experience and skill in the treatment of the Indians, with whom his public duties brought him in frequent contact. He manifested much humanity and sympathy for their ignorant and degraded condition, but exercised great energy and decision of character when necessary." In 1637 the colonists had sided with the Mohegans in the Pequot War, which wiped out most of the Pequot people. By the early 1640s tensions were building between the Mohegans and the Narragansetts. "In 1645, the New England Colonies met by representatives to consult upon the Indian problem, and appointed a Council of War; Capt. Miles Standish, of Plymouth, was chairman. Mason of Connecticut, Leverett and Atherton of Massachusetts, were the other councilors".[citation needed]
The New England colonies, with the exception of Rhode Island, formed a confederation called "The Four United Colonies of New England". Rhode Island, according to The Proceedings of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1881œ1882, was excluded, not for reasons of religious differences, but because its founder, Roger Williams, had been banished from Massachusetts "for denying the right of the magistrates to take the lands of the Indians with out compensating the owners". The United Colonies obtained Narragansett lands within the boundaries of Rhode Island by putting in motion a series of events that began with their promise of aid to the Mohegan Sachem, Uncas, whom they had supported during the Pequot War, if he declared war against the Narragansett Sachem, Miantinomo. During the ensuing war, Miantinomo was captured and brought to the commissioners of the Four United Colonies at Hartford. "After obtaining him as a captive, they could find no excuse for putting him to death; and, to avoid the responsibility, they referred his case for decision to a convention of ministers in Boston; [sic] Winthrop states, 'Miantinomo was killed near Hartford by a blow on the back of his head with a hatchet.' "
The Connecticut settlers demanded land from Uncas in return for their assistance to him. "Trumbull states, 'Mr. Leffingwell obtained nearly the whole township of Norwich for his services.'" Miantinomo's successor, Pessicus, declared war against Uncas and the colonies fined him 2000 fathoms of wampum for causing the hostilities, which he was unable to pay."
Humphrey Atherton was sent by the commissioners of the Four Colonies, with twenty armed men, to enforce the payment. As stated in Arnold's history of Rhode Island (vol. i., p. 199), 'Atherton forced his way, pistol in hand, into the wigwam, and, seizing the Sachem by the hair, dragged him out, threatening instant death if any resistance was offered.' The debt was settled by Pessicus giving a mortgage of all his lands to the commissioners of the Four Colonies.
In 1658, Atherton came into contact with Native Americans again when he was appointed by the General Court to the post of Superintendent of Indian Affairs, overseeing the praying Indians; Nipmuck Indians who had been converted to Christianity by John Eliot. He held that position until his death. "Though a terror to warlike Indians, yet he was the trusted friend of all who were well disposed, helping on their education and Christianizing, and guarding their rights, so that he had immense personal influence with them, and was a successful treaty-maker".
Land speculation
Humphrey Atherton was a successful land speculator. The land he owned in Dorchester included a large portion of South Boston. He also owned a share in what became Milton, Massachusetts. The General Court awarded 500 acres (2.0 km2) to him for his public service, but because some of it impeded the town on Hadley, Massachusetts, he was given a new grant that had an additional 200 acres (0.81 km2). Since he had represented Springfield in the General Court, he probably owned land in Springfield as well. When he died, his estate was worth 900 pounds, not including much of his land.
Atherton "played a key role in fighting and removing Indians from land he later owned." In 1659, he and some friends, including Connecticut Governor, John Winthrop, Jr., made some purchases of land from Native Americans on the western side of Narragansett Bay for which Rhode Island had claimed. The group, referred to as the Atherton Company, circumvented Rhode Island's law by acquiring the land when the Natives defaulted on a loan.
In 1660, commissioners of the Four Colonies, of whom John Winthrop, Jr. was one, transferred ownership of the mortgage of Pessicus's land to the Atherton Company for 735 fathoms of wampum. The Company then foreclosed on the mortgage. The land included the Narragansett property within the bounds of Rhode Island. Rhode Island found this transference of land to be illegal and prevented the sale of the land for several years. The company, which changed its name to "Proprietors of the Narragansett Country," eventually did sell 5,000 acres (20 km2) of the land to Huguenot immigrants who began a colony there called Frenchtown. The Huguenots lost the land when, in 1688, a Royal Commission determined the Atherton claim to be illegal.
Death
Humphrey Atherton died, September 16, 1661, from head injuries sustained in a fall from his horse. He was traveling through Boston Common, on his way home after drilling his troops when his mount collided with a cow.
Woodward, aforementioned author of Epitaphs from the Old Burying Ground in Dorchester, said that because of Atherton's persecution of the Quakers, "they believed his horrible death to be God's visitation of wrath." Woodword credits Joseph Besse, a Quaker author, with the following account of Atherton's death:
" Humfray Adderton, who at the trial of Wenlock Christison, did, as it were, bid defiance to Heaven, by saying to Wenlock, 'You pronounce Woes and Judgements, and those that are gone before you pronounced Woes and Judgements; but the Judgements of the Lord God are not upon us yet,' was suddenly surprised: having been, on a certain day, exercising his men with much pomp and ostentation, he was returning home in the evening, near the place where they usually loosed the Quakers from the cart, after they had whipped them, his horse, suddenly affrighted, threw him with such violence, that he instantly died; his eyes being dashed out of his head, and his brains coming out of his nose, his tongue hanging out at his mouth, and the blood running out at his ears: Being taken up and brought into the Courthouse, the place where he had been active in sentencing the innocent to death, his blood ran through the floor, exhibiting to the spectators a shocking instance of the Divine vengeance against a daring and hardened persecutor; that made a fearful example of that divine judgment, which, when forewarned of, he had openly despised, and treated with disdain. "
Longfellow repeated this sentiment in his account of Atherton's death in the final scene of John Endicott. In the scene Governor Endicott, while speaking to Richard Bellingham, asks if it is true that Humphrey Atherton is dead. Bellingham confirms that he is and adds, "His horse took fright, and threw him to the ground, so that his brains were dashed about the street." Endicott responds, "I am not superstitions, Bellingham, and yet I tremble lest it may have been a judgment on him."
Humphrey Atherton, whose wife, Mary died in 1672, is interred at the Dorchester North Burying Place in Boston. Engraved upon his tombstone are the following words:
"Here lies our Captain & Major of Suffolk was withall; A godly magistrate was he, and Major General; Two troop horse with him here comes, such worth his love did crave Two companies of foot also mourning march to his grave, Let all that read be sure to keep the faith as he has done With Christ he lives now crowned, his name was Humphrey Atherton "
Legacy
Humphrey Atherton and his wife, Mary, had twelve children. Jonathan was their first born and was probably born in England, as was Isabel, who married Nathaniel Wales, Jr. Elizabeth was married to Timothy Mather and Margaret was married to James Trowbridge. Mary was born 1636 and married to William Billings and Joseph Weeks. Rest was born 1639 and married Obadiah Swift. Increase was baptized February, 1641 and died at sea. Thankful was born 1644 and married Thomas Bird of Dorchester. Their son, Hope, was born 1646. He was minister of Hadley, Massachusetts and married Sarah Hollister. Their son, Consider, married Ann Anibal. Watching, who was born 1651, married Elizabeth Rigbee. Patience, born in 1654, married Issac Humphrey.
Among the family genealogies that the Humphrey Atherton family are included in are The History of the Dorchester Pope Family: 1634œ1888, by Charles Henry Pope and Hall Ancestry, by Charles Samuel Hall. George Caster Martin traced his ancestry to Atherton in his article Humphrey Atherton: Founder of the Atherton Family of New England in National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Volume 1, Issue 4. In the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Volume 60, some of Humphrey Atherton's descendants are included in the Belcher Genealogy. In the same volume, Samuel Edward Atherton's ancestry was traced to Humphrey Atherton. William B. Task claimed descent from Atherton in the 1899 New England Historical Genealogical Register.

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