John
Endecott was born in Devon, England
in 1588. A Puritan,
he was sent to Massachusetts Bay in 1628 and after settling in Salem
and became leader of the community until the arrival of John
Winthrop in 1630.
In 1636 Endecott led a punitive expedition against the Algonquin in
Connecticut which led to the Pequot War. He was first elected as governor
in 1655 and his ten years in power was marked by Puritan intolerance
and resulted in the executions of religious dissenters. John Endecott
died Boston on 15th March, 1665.
(1)
Thomas Dudley, letter sent to England
(March, 1631)
In 1628 we procured a patent from His Majesty for our planting between
the Massachusetts Bay and Charles River on the south and the river
of Merrimac on the north and three miles on either side of those rivers
and bay. And the same year we sent Mr. John Endecott and some with
him to begin a plantation and to strengthen such as he should find
there, which we sent thither from Dorchester and some places adjoining;
from whom the same year receiving hopeful news, the next year, 1629,
we sent diverse ships over with about 300 people, and some cows, goats,
and horses, many of which arrived safely.
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