Edward Hutchinson (mercer)

While his father and several of his uncles and brothers became prominent as clergymen, aldermen, sheriffs, and mayors in the city of Lincoln, Edward focused his efforts on his business after moving to the town of Alford.

Beginning in 1634, five of his nine surviving children and his widow immigrated to New England, and all six of them were exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a result of the events of the Antinomian Controversy from 1636 to 1638.

From Boston two of his children went south and became founding settlers of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and three of them, with his widow, went north to establish Exeter in the Province of New Hampshire, and then proceeded to Wells, Maine.

Edward Hutchinson was born about 1564 in the parish of St Mary le Wigford in Lincoln in the county of Lincolnshire, England.

[3] Anne bore two Hutchinson children, and both her son Edward and the husband of her daughter Mary Freeston were appointed as executors to her will.

[1][4] Probably the most remarkable aspect of Edward Hutchinson's life is what happened after he died: five of his nine adult children and his widow immigrated to New England, and all six of them were exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a result of the events of the Antinomian Controversy.

[5] During the controversy, the two most prominent antagonists of the established magistrates and clergy of the colony were Anne Hutchinson and John Wheelwright, both of them married to children of Edward.

While Wheelwright headed north to New Hampshire that winter, his family, including his mother-in-law Susanna, stayed at Mount Wollaston, waiting for spring before joining him.

[13] William, baptised 14 August 1586, grew up in Alford and became a merchant in the cloth trade, moving to London as a young man.

[16] Hutchinson's wife was described by historian Thomas W. Bicknell as "a pure and excellent woman, to whose person and conduct there attaches no stain.

"[15] Governor John Winthrop called her "a woman of ready wit and bold spirit," who had brought with her two dangerous theological errors, elaborating upon them in his journal.

She held private meetings at her home, drawing many people from Boston as well as other towns, including many prominent citizens, and treated them to a religious view that was antithetical to the rigid orthodoxy of the Puritan church.

[17] On 7 March 1638, before leaving Boston, William Hutchinson and other supporters of his wife signed an instrument, sometimes called the Portsmouth Compact, agreeing to form a non-sectarian government that was Christian in character.

[18] The group of signers considered going to New Netherland, but Roger Williams suggested they purchase some land on the Narragansett Bay from the Indians, which they did.

[19] William Hutchinson died in Portsmouth shortly after June 1641, after which his widow left Rhode Island to live in the part of New Netherland that later became Bronx in New York City.

[12][19] Samuel, baptised in Alford on 1 November 1590,[8] had religious leanings, was educated, and like his younger brother Edward, published theological treatises that displayed a command of Latin.

[21] The Antinomian Controversy was about at its peak when he arrived, and as a result a law had been passed requiring new immigrants to disavow the doctrine of the free-grace advocates (Anne Hutchinson, John Wheelwright, and their allies).

[24] In September 1641, after Wheelwright was forced to leave Exeter, Samuel Hutchinson and Nicholas Needham and some others negotiated with Thomas Gorges for land at Wells, Maine where most of the settlers soon proceeded.

[8] At some point Samuel returned to Boston, and in 1667 published a small treatise defending the concept of the Millennium (the creation of a "glorious church" before the Second Coming of Christ),[25] but it gives no hint of his attitude toward the theology of his in-laws Anne Hutchinson and John Wheelwright.

[29] They were still in Boston in 1638 when on 3 April Augustine was named in a deed of land from an Indian sagamore to a group of settlers preparing to establish Exeter in the Province of New Hampshire.

Mary's mother, the widowed Susanna Hutchinson, likely sailed to New England with the Wheelwrights, because she lived with this family for the remainder of her life.

[34] Once in New England, Wheelwright quickly became embroiled in the events of the Antinomian Controversy that was shaking the foundation of the young Massachusetts colony.

When he was banished, and spent the winter of 1637–1638 in southern New Hampshire, Mary, her children, and her mother stayed at their farm in Mount Wollaston, about ten miles south of Boston.

[34] They were together here as a family for almost ten years, but by 1655 they were back in Mary's home town in England where on 12 December a salary augmentation of £60 was to be granted "to John Wheelwright, minister of Alford, co. Lincoln, who has a great charge of children, beside[s] the £40 already allowed.

[34] Edward was baptised in Alford on 20 December 1607, was educated, and like his brother Samuel, published religious treatises that showed his fluency with Latin.

[41] As a young adult, Edward became caught up in the events of the Antinomian Controversy from 1636 to 1638, in which his sister-in-law, Anne Hutchinson, and his brother-in-law, John Wheelwright, were centrally involved.

[11] Online accounts that give his death date as 1675 are confusing him with his nephew Edward, who died that year from wounds received during King Philips War.