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REV. RALPH CUDWORTH
Parents:
Rev. Ralph Cudworth married Mary Machell.
Children of Ralph Cudworth and Mary Machell:
Second Generation
GEN. JAMES CUDWORTH (d. 1682) of Scituate and Barnstable
Parents: Rev. Ralph Cudworth and Mary Machell
James Cudworth died in the autumn of 1682 in London. He is probably the James Cudworth who married Mary Parker on 1 Feb 1633/4 in Northam, Devonshire, England. Mary died before 15 Sep 1681, when she was not named in her husband's will. [Ref, pp. 254-5]
James was admitted freeman in Jan 1634/5. [Ref] Mr. Cudworth and his wife joined the church at Scituate on 18 Jan 1634. [Ref] He had one of the first houses in Scituate, before Sep 1634; it was small and plain. [Ref] He was later one of the Conihassett Partners of Scituate.
James Cudworth was on a 1640 list of inhabitants of Barnstable. [Ref] He was deputy to the General Court from Barnstable in 1640 and 1642. [Ref]
Thomas Byrd, a servant of James Cudworth of Barnstable, ran away and broke into a house or two in Barnstable, stealing food and clothes. On 2 Jan 1641/2, he was sentenced to be whipped. [Ref]
James is in the Scituate and Barnstable sections of the 1643 list of those between 16 and 60 able to bear arms in Plymouth Colony. [Ref]
He returned to Scituate after a few years in Barnstable. He was deputy to the General Court from Scituate in 1649. [Ref] He was captain of the militia in Scituate in 1652. [Ref] He was an Assistant in 1656 - 8. [Ref] He was a Commissioner of the United Colonies in 1657. [Ref]
James urged tolerance towards the Quakers. In 1658 he was left out of the magistracy and the board of Commissioners; he was deprived of his military command and, in 1660, disfranchised. [Ref] He was restored in Jul 1673 and was an Assistant again in 1674 - 80. [Ref]
During King Philip's War he was chosen "General and Commander in Chief". [Ref] In 1681 he was Deputy Governor and Commissioner. [Ref] In the summer of 1682 he was sent to England as an agent of the colony to obtain a new charter including Narragansett. He caught small pox in London and died there in the autumn of 1682. [Ref]
Children of James Cudworth and Sarah Unknown:
Third Generation
Parents: James Cudworth and Sarah Unknown
Mary Cudworth was baptised on 23 Jul 1637 in Scituate. [Ref][Ref] She married Robert Whitcomb on 9 Mar 1660/1. [Ref, p. 254] They were fined 10 pounds in Scituate for having a Quaker marriage.
References
Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. Vol. 1-3. Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. Online: New England Historic Genealogical Society website.
Anderson, Robert Charles, George F. Sanborn, Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Vol. 2, Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001.
"Letter of James Cudworth of Scituate, 1634," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 14, 1860, 101-104.
Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850. Online Database: NewEnglandAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2007.
Plymouth Colony Archive Project, http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/users/deetz, Court Records Laws and 17th Century Texts
David Hamblin, trans. "The First Settlers of Barnstable," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 2, 1848, 64-67.
Otis, Amos, trans., "Scituate and Barnstable Church Records," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 9, 1855, 279-287; 10,1856, 37-43, 345-351.
Shurtleff, Nathaniel B., "List of Those Able to Bear Arms in the Colony of New Plymouth 1643," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 4, 1850, 255-259.
W. H. W., "Early Marriages and Births in Scituate, Mass. Prior to 1700," New England Historical and Genealogical Society 18, 1864, 285-287.; 19, 1865, 219-221.
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