Return from banishment
Although not as historic as his mother, Edward was indeed his mother’s son, fighting, in a quieter way, for freedom of belief. He had been raised at his mother’s knee, studying the Bible and learning to delve into its wisdom. He had followed her into banishment and then set out on his own, only to return to Boston, where he, like his mother would lose his life by the hand of American Indians.
Edward Hutchinson baptized 28 May 1613 in Alford, Lincoln, England, son of William Hutchinson and his wife Anne Marbury.
He married Catherine Hamby 23 October 1636 in Ipswich, County Suffolk, England where Catherine, the daughter of Robert Hamby and his wife Elizabeth Arnold was born in 19 October 1615.
He married secondly Abigail Firmage or Vermais the daughter of Alice (Blessing) Firmage. Abigail married first Robert Button by whom she had four children, including Abigail who was the second wife of Barnabas Lathrop, son the Rev. John Lathrop. Abigail died August 10, 1689 in Boston.
Edward died 19 August 1675, Marlborough, Middlesex, MA and was buried at Spring Hill Cemetery, Marlborough, Middlesex, MA
Edward and Catherine Hutchinson had the following children:
1. Elisha Hutchinson who was born and died in 1637, Boston, Suffolk, MA
2. Elizabeth Hutchinson born 04 November 1639 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died there 16 September 1718. She married Edward Winslow son of John and Mary (Chilton) Winslow and grandson of Mayflower passenger James Chilton.
3. Elisha Hutchinson born 16 November 1641 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died there 10 December 1717. He married Hannah Hawkins.
4. Anne Hutchinson born 17 November 1643 Boston, Suffolk, MA and died in 1717 in Newport, Newport, RI. She married Samuel Dyer, son of William and Mary (Barrett) Dyer (Line 12)
5. William Hutchinson born November 1645 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died young.
6. Catherine Hutchinson born 12 May 1648 Boston, Suffolk, MA. Died young.
7. Susanna Hutchinson born 19 May 1649 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died 26 May 1716 in Newport, Newport, RI. She married Nathaniel Coddington son of son of Governor William Coddington and his wife Ann Brinley
Edward and Abigail Hutchinson had:
8. Edward Hutchinson born January 1651/52 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died
9. Catherine Hutchinson born 13 February 1652/53 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and married Henry Bartholomew who was related to both William Bartholomew who came on the Griffin with Edward Hutchinson Sr.’s family and to Elizabeth Scudder who married John Lathrop’s son.
10. Benjamin Hutchinson born 08 April 1656 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died there 1675.
11. Hannah Hutchinson born 16 May 1658 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died 15 January 1703/04 in Taunton, Bristol, MA. She married Peter Walker
Edward was born in the year1613 in Alford, County Lincoln, England, where all his siblings except his youngest brother were born and baptized. He, as well as the rest of his family, came over on the Griffin with John Lathrop, John Cotton and William Bartholomew.
Nearly immediately, he became involved with community affairs and was made a freeman of Boston and admitted to the First Church of Boston. Two years later he returned to England where he married Catherine Hamby. Catherine came from a family with lines back to the Second King Henry of England. The trouble in Boston was beginning to brew by the time Edward returned there with his bride. The young couple followed his parents to Rhode Island but did not stay long. The town of Boston was forgiving and they received the young couple, returning the family property and allowing Edward to be active in the community. Edward, however, was much more tolerant of differences in theology and showed more sympathy to the Quakers and others who, though Christian, leaned toward teachings outside of the Puritan theology. It is to be expected, that Edward still sympathized with his mother’s teachings and his tolerance toward the Quakers and Baptists proved that. While he returned to the people who had banished his family, his experience must have tempered his heart, as he proved to be far more tolerant towards those who expressed theology outside the Puritan expression. His daughter, Anne Hutchinson (named for her grandmother) [see line 11.1], married the son of the Quaker martyr, Mary Dyer [who see, line 12].
Edward became known as Captain Hutchinson because of his activities in the militia. In the summer of 1675 the Boston militia was sent to negotiate with the Nipmuck Indians. “King Philip” the warrior son of Massassoit who had befriended the Pilgrims at Plymouth and then Boston. “Philip” as the colonist knew him, was called Metacom, Pometacom or Metacomet in his native tongue. With the arrest and death by illness of Philip’s brother Wamsutta, the warrior had an excuse to attack the English colonist, which led to the English colonist burning a Pokanoket village.
Philip aside, Edward Hutchinson had a good relationship with the Indians near Boston. He trusted them and they him. As an employer, the Indians who worked for him found him fair and respectful. The government of Boston often asked Hutchinson to negotiate with the natives of New England when the situation called for negotiations.
Because of the peaceful relationship the colonist had had with the native population while Massassoit (for whom Massachusetts was named), the war between the two peoples groups came as a surprise to the colonist. Many Indians were still friendly toward the colonist, but the threatened Nipmuck felt differently. Under Philip, they retaliated with violence. Capt. Thomas Wheeler and Capt. Edward Hutchinson went out to negotiate with the Nipmuc who ambushed them
Ephraim Curtis of Boston was sent to negotiate with the Nipmucs but was surprised by empty villages. The Nipmucs, unknown to Curtis, had already attacked the village of Mendon and had joined the rebellion that became King Philip’s War. Curtis did met up with Muttawmp, the Nipmuck chief in July who forged friendship, all the while knowing some of his warriors were attacking Mendon. He and Curtis arranged for a meeting in Boston. Curtis must have sensed something was not quit right as on returning to Boston, he sent Captain Edward Hutchinson and Captain Thomas Wheeler, 30 solders and Christian Natick Indians as guides, to continue the negotiations with the Nipmucks. They found the village empty. Curtis and the Naticks found the village near Brookfield. Negotiation didn’t go well except that Muttawmp agreed to meet with Hutchinson in Brookfield on the following day.
The Nipmuck, once again, had moved their camp and the stubborn English Captains decided to follow. The Indian guides, knowing ambush along the narrow swampy trail, protested. Hutchinson and Wheeler, however, decided to ignore the warning and walked into an ambush just 400 yards into their journey. The fleeing Englishmen were blocked on their retreat by other Nipmuc. Hutchinson and Wheeler as well as several of their men were wounded. Their saving grace was a Natick guide who took over command of the company out of the swamps. Edward Hutchinson died of his wounds several days later. Captain Wheeler survived and his son wrote an account of the skirmish.
A rustic gravestone in honor of Edward Hutchinson was erected by the Daughters of the Revolutionary War in 1921. It reads in part:
AGED 67 YEARES
WAS SHOT BY
AVGVST 2 1675
DYED 19 AVGVST
AGED 67 YEARES
WAS SHOT BY
AVGVST 2 1675
DYED 19 AVGVST
Through Edward’s line, Massachusetts would once again be touched by the Hutchinsons. His grandson, Thomas Hutchinson became governor of the colony of Massachusetts and again causing dissension in that state. Thomas, a loyalist in a fiercely rebellious state, was force to leave Massachusetts, like his great-grandmother.
1. "The Hutchinson Family of England and New England, and its Connections wit the Marburys and Drydens" by Joseph Lemuel Chester, New England Historical and Genealogical Register (NEHGR)
2. A Brief Genealogy of the Hutchinson Family by W. H. Whitmore from the Genealogies of RI Families from the NEHGR Vol I
3. Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis
4. "Family History, the Marbury Family" http://www.plix.com/~users/ncallahn
5. Vital Records of Boston, 1630-1699
6. http://genweb.net/~blackwell/blql "Hutchinson Ancestry" by David C. Blackwell
7. Internet "Register Report - Hutchinson" by Sam Behling
8 Will of Edward Hutchinson Senr. of Boston, 1675
10 New England Historical and Genealogical Register April 1991 "The Ancestry of Katherine Hamby, Wife of Captain Edward Hutchinson of Boston, MA" by Wayne Howard Miller Wilcox, page 258
11. Find a Grave www.findagrave.com
12. "Memoir of Governor Hutchinson, "New England Historical and Genealogical Register" Vol. I, October 1847, No. 4