Samuel GORTON

1592 - 1677  (85 years)

• Name	Samuel GORTON  [1]
  	Samuel Gorton, clothier, of London, was born in 1592 in Gorton (now incorporated within the city of Manchester), "where the fathers of his body had lived for many generations, not unknown to the Heraldry of England." He was reared in the Established Church. In an address to King Charles the first he said that he sucked in the so-called peculiar tenets attributed to him from the beasts of his mother the Church of England. To the fundamental doctrines taught by the church he ever firmly held, although he was a Nonconformist. England was under the rule of the Conformist King James. Laud was conspicuous in the universities; and they had declared it to be unlawful to be opposed to the king upon religion or any other subject. Gorton was instructed by private tutors, and, being of studious habits, he secured a classical education, became well read in English law and more than ordinarily skilled in the languages. "One of those noble spirits who esteemed liberty more than life, and counting no sacrifice too great for the maintenance of principal, could not dwell at ease in a land where the inalienable rights of humanity were not acknowledged." He left his native country, he says, "to enjoy liberty of conscience in respect to faith toward God and for no other end." He landed at Boston in March, 1636, with his wife Mary (daughter of John Maplet, gent, of St. Martin's le Grand, London, and Mary his wife), his son Samuel and one or two other children. At the time of his arrival the Massachusetts government was proceeding against Wheelright, the brother-in-law of Annie Hutchinson. He says he found the people of the colon at great variance in points of religion, prosecuting it very hotly in their courts unto fines and banishments. Their laws prohibiting non-subscribing churchmen from living there, he took up his residence in Plymouth, which was then a more liberal colony...... Samuel died in the year 1677 in December, probably the 10th day of the month, aged within a few days of eighty-six years. The time of Mary's death is unknown. His body rests in the Gorton Burial ground at Warwick, and her body also probably rests there. No monument of marble or stone has ever marked their graves. [1]
  Birth	1592  [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	Dec 1677  [1]
  Person ID	I103981	Main Tree
  Last Modified	6 Jan 2022

  
  

  Family	Mary MAPLET,   b. England
  Children	1. Mary GORTON,   b. Poss. England d. 1688, Tiverton, Bristol County, Rhode Island  [Birth] + 2. John GORTON   d. 3 Feb 1714  [Birth] + 3. Benjamin GORTON   d. 25 Dec 1699  [Birth]
  Family ID	F43488	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	6 Jan 2022

  
  

• Sources

  [S3068] Adelos Gorton, The Life and times of Samuel GORTON, the Founders and the Founding of The Republic.