Roger Conant (colonist): Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
|||
| Line 5: | Line 5: | ||
==Early life== |
==Early life== |
||
Roger Conant was baptized in [[East Budleigh]], [[Devon]]shire, [[England]] on April 9, 1592.<ref>East Budleigh parish registers, cited by Conant, Frederick ODell, <u>History and Genealogy of the Conant Family</u>, Portland: Private Printing (1887).</ref> He was the eighth and youngest child of Richard Conant and Agnes Clark. Some sources say that he served an apprenticeship in [[London]] as a [[Worshipful Company of Salters|salter]].<ref>Anderson, Robert Charles, <u>The Great Migration Begins</u>, Profile of Roger Conant. On 20 Jan 1619/20, Roger, with brother Christopher, signed the Composition Bond of their brother John as “salter, of London”. [http://www.newenglandancestors.org/research/database/great_migration/default.asp NewEnglandAncestors.org]</ref> |
Roger Conant was baptized in [[East Budleigh]], [[Devon]]shire, [[England]] on April 9, 1592.<ref>East Budleigh parish registers, cited by Conant, Frederick ODell, <u>History and Genealogy of the Conant Family</u>, Portland: Private Printing (1887).</ref> He was the eighth and youngest child of Richard Conant and Agnes Clark. Richard was born in [[East Budleigh]] and Clarke was a distant descendant of British Royalty. Some sources say that he served an apprenticeship in [[London]] as a [[Worshipful Company of Salters|salter]].<ref>Anderson, Robert Charles, <u>The Great Migration Begins</u>, Profile of Roger Conant. On 20 Jan 1619/20, Roger, with brother Christopher, signed the Composition Bond of their brother John as “salter, of London”. [http://www.newenglandancestors.org/research/database/great_migration/default.asp NewEnglandAncestors.org]</ref> |
||
==Later life== |
==Later life== |
||
Revision as of 00:00, 19 March 2011
Roger Conant (c. 1592 – 1679) was the leader of the company of fishermen who founded Salem, Massachusetts (then called Naumkeag) in 1626. He was later supplanted by the governor sent by the Massachusetts Bay Company, John Endicott. He nevertheless remained in high standing with the community, giving long service as a juror and member of the Board of Selectmen, with duties including the establishment of boundaries for new communities.
Early life
Roger Conant was baptized in East Budleigh, Devonshire, England on April 9, 1592.[1] He was the eighth and youngest child of Richard Conant and Agnes Clark. Richard was born in East Budleigh and Clarke was a distant descendant of British Royalty. Some sources say that he served an apprenticeship in London as a salter.[2]
Later life
He married Sarah Horton in 1618 in London. He immigrated to Plymouth Colony in 1623 on the ship the Anne[3] with his wife and his son Caleb, possibly aboard the ship 'Anne' with his brother Christopher.[4] In 1624, he relocated to Nantasket because he was uncomfortable with the strictness of the Separatists. He also had his first child in America, Lot Conant.
In 1625, he went to Cape Ann to assess the struggling colony that had been overseen by Thomas Gardner since 1624. By 1626, he had obtained permission from the Dorchester Company to move the colony to the mouth of the Naumkeag river. This settlement, that was successfully established by some of the "old planters", became Salem, Massachusetts and, in Conant's words, laid the "foundation" for the Commonwealth. Conant was its first governor but, in 1627, was replaced by John Endicott. He remained active in town affairs and is today memorialized in a statue across from the Salem Common.[5][6] He died on November 19, 1679 in Beverly, a nearby town which he also helped found.[7]
One of the earliest known genealogies of Roger Conant and his descendants is the volume written by his descendant E. W. Leavitt and privately printed in 1890: "A Genealogy of One Branch of the Conant Family, 1581-1890."[8] An earlier Conant genealogy, published in Portland, Maine, in 1887 and written by Frederick Odell Conant also delved into the English origins of the Conant family.[9]
References
- ^ East Budleigh parish registers, cited by Conant, Frederick ODell, History and Genealogy of the Conant Family, Portland: Private Printing (1887).
- ^ Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Begins, Profile of Roger Conant. On 20 Jan 1619/20, Roger, with brother Christopher, signed the Composition Bond of their brother John as “salter, of London”. NewEnglandAncestors.org
- ^ A history and genealogy of the Conant family in England and America, thirteen generations, 1520-1887 : containing also some genealogical notes on the Connet, Connett and Connit families (1887) Frederick Odell
- ^ Anderson, supra, in a comprehensive review of records of the time, found no evidence that Roger Conant sailed aboard the Anne or that he was in New England in 1623. He did not receive the land grant that all other adult passengers on the Anne received. His brother Christopher did, however, arrive on the Anne and Roger is found in the area by 1624.
- ^ Founder of Salem profiles on Salem Website. SalemWeb.com
- ^ Salemweb.com
- ^ Early Records of Town of Beverly, MA. Boston: Eben Putnam (1907).Genealogy.rootsweb.com
- ^ Guide to Printed Books and Manuscripts Relating to English and Foreign Heraldry and Genealogy, George Gatfield, London, 1892
- ^ The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Henry Fitz-Gilbert Waters, Boston, 1888
Further reading
Shipton, Clifford Kenyon (1945). Roger Conant, a Founder of Massachusetts. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. p. 171.