Captain Jonathan, Gentleman
The following story is about
th
Jonathan Danforth, my 8
great
grandfather. Jonathan was born
on
February
28,
1627
in
Framlingham, England and died at
the age of 85 on September 7,
1712
in
Billerica,
Massachusetts.
By
all
historical accounts, he was a
respected community leader and a
gifted
surveyor.
In
the
inventory of his estate, he is referred to as “Captain
Jonathan, Gentleman.”
Part Two touches on Jonathan’s involvement and response to
conflicts between Native Americans and colonists. The closing
part provides a brief story about Jonathan’s brother, Thomas
Danforth, who played a role in the Salem witch trials.
Click here to see the rest of the story!
Part One – Early New England Colonist, Gifted Surveyor,
Community Leader
When Jonathan was five years old, he came to America with his
father, Nicholas Danforth, brothers Thomas and Samuel and his
three sisters, Anna, Lydia, and Elizabeth. Jonathan’s mother
had died a week before he was a year old.
The Danforth family sailed on the Griffin, departing England
on August 1,1634 arriving in Boston on September 18. The
Griffin weighed 300 tons and carried about one hundred
passengers and cattle for the colonies plantations. It is
believed that he spent his youth in New-Towne (later
Cambridge) living with his father until his death in 1638 and
then lived with an elder, married sister. At the age of
twenty, he left Cambridge and was a founding father of
Billerica, Massachusetts. He married Elizabeth Poulter in
Boston on November 22, 1654 and together they had eleven
children. Elizabeth died on October 7, 1689. Their daughter,
Sarah (1676-1747), married William French (my 7 t h greatgrandfather).
Jonathan was a noted land surveyor and his descriptions of
this service fill some 200 pages in the first volume of Land
Grants. He held many public offices: deputy for the town, town
clerk, selectman and he also represented the town at the
General
Court
in
1684/5.
“He rode the circuit, chain’d great towns and farm, To good
behavior, and by well marked stations, He fixed their bounds
for many generations. His art ne’er failed him, though the
loadstone faile.
When oft by mines and streams it was
assailed.
All this is charming, but there’s something
higher. Gave him the lustre which we most admire.” Poem by
his nephew, the Rev. John Danforth of Dorchester.
Part Two – King Philip’s War and the Fate of Indian Children
It was also an especially bloody war—the bloodiest, in terms
of the percentage of the population killed, in American
history. The figures are inexact, but out of a total New
England population of 80,000, counting both Indians and
English colonists, some 9,000 were killed—more than 10
percent. Two-thirds of the dead were Indians, many of whom
died of starvation. Indians attacked 52 of New England’s 90
towns, pillaging 25 of those and burning 17 to the ground. The
English sold thousands of captured Indians into slavery in the
West Indies. New England’s tribes would never fully recover.
Blood and Betrayal: King Philip’s War
Starting in 1646, colonists began to establish “praying towns”
in an effort to convert New England tribes to Christianity.
By the year 1675, there were an estimated 1,100 Praying
Indians in Massachusetts located in fourteen Praying Towns.
These towns were situated so as to serve as an outlying wall
of defense for the colony. Wamesit, a praying town, was
located within five miles of Billerica.
Jonathan
Danforth
served
during King Philip’s War
under Major Daniel Gookin.
The town of Billerica had
twelve garrison houses, each
was providing a defensive
space for four to seven
families. The homes of
Jonathan Danforth and Jacob
French’s
served in this capacity.
(8th
great
grandfather) house both
During the war, Daniel Gookin,
Jonathan and Thomas Danforth were protective of their
neighbors, the Praying Indians, resulting in threats on their
lives for interceding….
Following the war, some Indian children where placed into
servitude in the homes of local residents where they “were to
be provided religious education and taught to read the english
tounge.” According to published accounts, “a boy of twelve,
son to Papa Meck, alias Dauid, late of Warwick or Cowesit,
Rhode Island, was apportioned or bound out to Jonathan
Danforth.” The boy, later known as John Warrick died on
January 15, 1686 at Billerica.
The following extract from the New England Historical and
Genealogical Register, 1854 (Indian Children Put to Service)
provides a listing of the children, the names and status of
their parents and to whom they were been placed.
Part III – Thomas Danforth – Judge not lest ye be judged
Jonathan’s brother Thomas Danforth
(portrait) was the first treasurer for
Harvard College and elected president of
the province of Maine, then independent of
the colony of Massachusetts.
One
published account observed, “Perhaps the
most intriguing characteristic of Thomas
Danforth was his willingness to stand up
for his convictions despite opposition.”
Considered a
progressive advocate for colonists’ rights, he also was
persecuted for his decent treatment of the Praying Indians
during King Philip’s War.
Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth traveled to Salem in the early
months of 1692 as part of a preliminary inquiry into the
matter of witchcraft being practiced. He was not appointed to
serve as one of nine judges name to the Court of Oyer and
Terminer (hear and determine) established for the Salem witch
trials and was vocal in his distaste for the manner the
witchcraft proceedings were conducted. As a demonstration of
his sympathy for those swept up in the hysteria, he provided
sanctuary on his own property (Danforth Plantation) for Salem
families seeking asylum, including Sarah Cloyes and her
husband and children. (Check out this great post – Witch Caves
& Salem End Road)
Additional Sources:
History of Framingham, Early Known as Danforth’s Farms
1640-1880; with a Genealogical Register by Temple, Josiah
Howard; published Framingham 1887.
The Danforth Family in America – Fifth Meeting; published
Boston 1886
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