James Atherton (settler)

Biographers agree that he travelled from Lancashire to Bristol and then sailed on the James, in the company of the Reverend Richard Mather; a minister from his home town and Humphrey Atherton, an elder relative (but not a sibling).

[5][6] However, quoting another source, it sailed days earlier;[7]“...the James left King's Road in Bristol on 23 May 1635 with her master, John Taylor, along with the Angel Gabriel, the Elizabeth (the Bess), the Mary and the Diligence.

1670, the following was recorded; At this moment,... their lives were given up for lost; but then, in an instant of time, God turned the wind about, which carried them from the rocks of death before their eyes.

They tried to stand down during the storm just outside the Isles of Shoals, but lost all three anchors, as no canvas or rope would hold, but on August 17, 1635, torn to pieces, and with not one death, all one hundred plus passengers of the James managed to make it to Boston Harbor.

He worked as a tanner [9][10] and once he met the required age he went on to serve in the local militia within Captain John Whiting's Company.

[11] Atherton having become of age in Dorchester,[12] was one of the earliest settlers of Lancaster, Massachusetts, accompanying John Prescott, who had obtained rights to settle in an area then known as Nashaway Plantation.

Initial lots of land had been allocated to Richard Linton, Lawrence Waters and John Ball, prior to the arrival c.1643 of Atherton and his peers; the Prescott's and the Sawyer's.

[22][23][24][25] His youngest son Joseph, served in Sir William Phips’ unsuccessful expedition against the French in Quebec.

In 1690 he was a member of Captain John Withington's Company of Dorchester,[26] along with his neighbor, Benjamin Willard, as part of a 2000 strong militia.

[33][34] He was related to Major General Humphrey Atherton, who up until his death in 1661 was the most powerful military leader in the colony.

[36] Humphrey sat on the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was instrumental in getting the settlement of Lancaster incorporated as a town in 1652.