Samuel Maverick (colonist)
Samuel Maverick (c. 1602 - c. 1670) was a 17th century English colonist in what is now 'Massachusetts,' the United States. Arriving ahead of the famed Winthrop fleet, Maverick became one of the earliest settlers, one of the largest landowners and one of the first slave-owners in Massachusetts. He signed his name Mavericke.
Samuel Maverick was born around 1602 to Anglican vicar John and Mary (Gye) Maverick. Rev. John Maverick was born in Awliscombe, Devon, baptized there on Dec. 28, 1578, and enrolled in Oxford University on Oct. 24, 1595, at age 18. He was the son of Rev. Peter Maverick (spelled Mavericke in old English records), the vicar of Awliscombe. Rev. John Maverick married Mary Gye in Ilsington, Dorset on Oct. 28, 1600.[1]
Rev. John Maverick became a Puritan and a member of Reverend John Warham's church, which was organized on March 19, 1630 as the West Country Company at Plymouth, England, the day before leaving England. He joined Roger Ludlow, John Mason and William Phelps, among others. On March 20, 1630, the ship sailed from Plymouth, England with 140 passengers aboard.[2] He arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony at Dorchester, Massachusetts on 30 May 1630, where he served as the first minister of the First Parish Church of Dorchester. He died there February 3, 1635/35, at "nearly sixty years of age," according to Gov. John Winthrop. John Maverick was later be eulogized by Cotton Mather and Governor John Winthrop. John Maverick's son Samuel turned up in 1622 in America, where he may have accompanied English explorer Capt. Christopher Levett[3], prior to Maverick's minister father's arrival in Dorchester several years later. Samuel Maverick first settled at Winnissimet, the area of previously failed colony of Wessagussut.[4]
Samuel Maverick settled in the area of modern-day Boston, after his arrival in Massachusetts, which he later claimed was in 1624. (Some historians have suggested that Maverick arrived in the area with English explorer Capt. Christopher Levett, who made an exploration of the New England coast about that time.[5]) Maverick built a fortified house to ward against Indian attacks and armed it with four guns. It is said to be the first permanent house in Massachusetts.
In 1628 Maverick married Amias, widow of fellow colonist David Thompson, who had been sent by Sir Ferdinando Gorges as an early explorer and settler to New Hampshire, and later settled on present-day Thompson Island in Boston Harbor. After Thompson's death, his wife inherited his properties, including Noddle's Island, the site of present-day Logan Airport. Maverick and Amias had three children, and Amias had a son from her previous marriage.
In 1631 the first ferry ran from the Maverick farm to Charlestown and Boston. In April 1633 general court granted Maverick property rights to most of the area of modern-day Chelsea excluding Prattville. In March 1635 Maverick sold his holdings outside his farm in Winnisimmet to Richard Bellingham, the deputy governor of Massachusetts, and moved to Noddle's Island. The same year he visited Virginia to buy seed corn and remained there for a year. When he returned he had two pinnaces and had also bought lots of livestock.
In 1638 Maverick bought black slaves, becoming one of the earliest slave-owners in Massachusetts. In 1640 Boston granted him 600 acres (240 ha) of land from Boston and 400 acres (160 ha) from Braintree. In 1664 he visited England and was granted an audience with the King Charles II on April 23. When he stated that he had been persecuted because he was an Anglican and a royalist, the king appointed him as one of the four commissioners to arbitrate disputes in New England. He was also to reduce Dutch influence in the colonies.
The commission was granted both military and civil powers in Massachusetts but was eventually unsuccessful. Maverick eventually gave up his possession in Noddle's Island and moved to New York.
The exact date of Maverick's death is unknown; the last sign of him is a letter signed October 15, 1669. He presumably died the following year.
[edit] References
- ^ The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Herny Fitz-Gilbert Waters, Henry Waters, Boston, 1915.
- ^ "The Mary and John Clearing House: Passenger List "A"". http://www.maryandjohn1630.com/passengerlist_a.html. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
- ^ A Documentary History of Chelsea: including the Boston precincts of Winnisimmet, Rumney Marsh, and Pullen Point, 1624-1824, Mellen Chamberlain, The Massachusetts Historical Society, 1908
- ^ Portland in the Past, William Goold, B. Thurston & Company, Portland, Maine, 1886
- ^ Wessagusset and Weymouth, Vol. 3, Charles Francis Adams Jr., Weymouth Historical Society1905
