Dorothy BULKELEY

Other Events and Attributes:

• Education Degree: 1604/5, A.B., St. John's Coll., Cambridge
• Fact 1: 1610-1635, Rector of Odell, succeeding his father
• Fact: Apr 1637, Ord. Cambridge, Mass. (for Concord); First minister of Concord, Massachuseets

Notes:

Name:
Rev. Peter Bulkeley was the son of Rev. Edward Bulkeley, D.D., Rector of All Saints Church at Odell (Woodhill) in Bedfordshire, and the twelfth in descent from the first Baron of Bulkeley in the County Palatine of Chester. Odell, where Peter Bulkeley was born, January 31, 1583, is situated in the midst of a rich and fertile country in a bend of the Ouse, a river so tortuous in its course, that fuller describes it as "more meandrous than the Meander." He was carefully educated under the direction of his father, and when about the age of sixteen was admitted to St. John's College, Cambridge, of which he was afterwards chosen Fellow and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. He remained at the university until 1608 when he returned to Odell. upon the death of his father, "a good benefice befell him, added unto the estate of a gentleman left him by his father, whom he succeeded in the ministry at the place of his nativity," which, says Cotton Mather, "one would imagine temptations enough to keep him out of a wilderness." About the year 1613, he married Jan Allen, daughter of Mr. Thomas Allen, of Goldington, whose nephew, Sir Thomas Allen was Lord Mayo of London. By this marriage he had ten sons and two daughters. For twenty years he continued Rector at Odell, being a moderate non-conformist, but unmolested because protected by his Diocesan, the famous Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, as was his father before him. "Towards the latter end of this time, his ministry had a notable success in the conversion of many unto God; and this was one occasion for a latter end for this time," for it led to complaints against him for non-conformity, and Bishop Williams having lost the favor of Laud and been sent to the Tower, these complaints were not long kept from the ears of the Archbishop, and the long-time Rector of Odell was silenced by Laud's Vicar General, Sir Nathaniel Brent. Like Cotton, Hooker, Mather, Eliot, Chauncy and others of his compeers, he was now compelled to look to America for that liberty of conscience which ecclesiastical tyranny did not permit him to enjoy at home. About this time, having been a widower for nearly eight years, he married Grace Chetwode, daughter of Sir Richard Chetwode of London, a lady of noble birth and seventeen years his junior.

Peter married Grace CHETWODE in Apr 1635. Grace (daughter of Sir Richard CHETWODE and Dorothy NEEDHAM) was born about 1602; died on 22 Apr 1669 in New London, New London Co., Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]