Hannah WETHERELL

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William Wetherell was of the educated class in England, where he was born in the year 1600. His education was completed at Cambridge, where he graduated with the degree of A.B. in 1623, and three yeas later he took the degree A.M. at the same university. In 1625 he was married to Mary Fisher, who was born in England in 1602.

With his wife, three children and one servant, he emigrated to New England, coming in the ship HERCULES, and in the ship's register he is recorded as "Schoolmaster," from Maidstone, England. He arrived in 1634 or sooner, and in 1635 he was employed in a grammar school at Charleston, Massachusetts, and in Cambridge during the two years following that.

In 1638 he removed to Duxbury, Massachusetts, where he purchased a house, but it has not been discovered what his occupation at that time was. In 1644 he moved to Scituate, Massachusetts, and on September 2, 1645, he was ordained as the first minister of the church organized there, and from that time the church records are in his handwriting until 1674. As his pastorate did not terminate at the latter date we conclude he was compelled by some infirmity to permit others to write the records after that. He died at Scituate April 9, 1684, aged 84 years.

He seems to have been a man of marked personality, and to have given the impress of his strong character on the community in a way that has left its legacy of legendary lore. One anecdote handed down by tradition will serve to illustrate alike the quality of the man and the customs of the day; customs so different from our own in church matters that it is difficult to fully realize it. One of his congregation had entered church after service had commenced, and at the close of his prayer Mr. Wetherell thus addressed him:

"Neighbor Bryant, it is to your reproach that you have disturbed the worship by entering late, living as you do within a mile of this place, and especially so, since here is Goody Barstow, who has milked seven cows, made a cheese, and walked five miles to the House of God in good season."

Dean's "History of Scituate, Massachusetts," gives some account of him, and credits the tradition that his mother was the daughter of John Rogers, the martyr of Smithfield. Beside attending to his schoolteaching and later to his ministerial duties, it would seem that he found time to court the muse, for it is recorded of him that he "was one of the best of the early colonial poets.

William married Mary FISHER in 1625 in England. Mary (daughter of Thomas FISHER and Joan LUKES) was born in 1602 in England; died before 29 Mar 1684. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]