Edward Rawson (abt. 1615 - 1693)

Born about 1615 in Gillingham, Dorset, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Rachel (Perne) Rawson — married about 1634 in England

Descendants

Died 27 Aug 1693 at about age 78 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay

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Edward Rawson migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 278) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Edward Rawson was one of the early leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and served as its first Secretary. He was also one of the ancestors of President William Howard Taft.

He was born 1615, the son of David Rawson and Margaret Wilson.^{[1] [2]} There is a record of the baptism of an Edward Rawson, son of David Rawson, 16 April 1615 at New Windsor, Berkshire, England. This record may pertain to Edward.^[3] His mother's grandmother, Elizabeth Grindall Woodhall, was the sister of Edmund Grindal, the Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England.^{[4] [5]}

Edward Rawson married Rachel Perne about 1635 in Dorsetshire, England. They were the parents of fourteen children, as follows:^[6]

1. Edward, grad. H.C. 1653; Entered the ministry and was possibly appointed vicar of Kingston by Canterbury, Kent, on 17 September 1655, which he left by 1656. He died in England;
2. Rachel, who married William Aubrey, a merchant of Boston, January 18, 1653;
3. Mary, born May 14 or 16, 1646; married Rev. Samuel Torrey, May 15, 1657. She died September 10, 1692. He died April 21, 1707;
4. Margaret, 1641, married John Woodmansey and died in 1660;
5. David, born May 6, 1644, who may have died by 1656;
6. Perne, 1646, married to George Broughton and died after 1696;
7. Grindal, 1648 and died young;
8. William, born May 21, 1651; married Anne Glover, July 31, 1673;
9. Hannah, 1653, died young;
10. Rebecca, born October 19, 1654 and died young;
11. Rebecca, born May 1656; married Thomas Rumsey, July 1, 1679; died at Port Royal, 1692;
12. Elizabeth, born November 12, 1657, and she probably died young.
13. Grindal, born January 23, 1659; married Susanna Wilson; died February 6, 1715.
14. John, went to England and did not return.

Edward Rawson died 27 August 1694 in Boston^{[7] [8]} and his remains were buried at the Granary Burying Ground in Boston.^[9]

The following biographical sketch, which has more extensive information on Edward Rawson, is quoted verbatim from New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation, Volume 1; by William Richard Cutter, January 1, 1913:

"Secretary Edward (2) Rawson, the immigrant ancestor, was born April 16, 1615, at Gillingham, Dorsetshire, England, son of David Rawson. He came to New England in 1637, and settled in Newbury, Massachusetts, where he became one of the grantees and proprietors." ^[10]

"He was the second town clerk of Newbury; notary public and register, serving from April 19, 1638, to 1647; was also selectman of the town and commissioner to hear and determine small causes; was deputy to the general court from Newbury in 1638 and nearly every year until 1650; was clerk of the house of deputies in 1645—46 and in 1649. He had a special grant of fifteen hundred acres of land in the Narragansett country on account of his services to the general court. He and Joseph Hills revised the laws of the province. He succeeded Increase Nowell, who had been secretary of the colony from the beginning in 1636, being elected May 22, 1650, and afterwards resided in Boston, being re-elected annually until Sir Edmund Andros came into power." ^[11]

"His home in Boston was on Rawson lane, now Bromfield street, and he owned several acres bordering on the common. He and his wife were members of the church under Rev. John Wilson, after whose death Mr. Rawson became one of the twenty-eight disaffected persons who left the First Church to form the Third or Old South Church, in May, 1669. He became the agent or steward of an English Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Indians in New England, in 1631. He countersigned the warrant sent to Massachusetts for the arrest of the regicides, Goffe, Whalley and Dixwell, but they were never arrested. The one blot on his good record was his participation in the persecution of the Quakers, a pretty general fault of the early Puritans. His salary as secretary was at first twenty pounds a year, later sixty pounds. He was subsequently elected recorder of Suffolk county. His family Bible is now or was lately in the possession of R. R. Dodge, of Sutton, Massachusetts, having descended in direct line. He was an efficient public officer, a useful and distinguished citizen. He died August 27, 1694."^[12]

Sources

1. ↑ Records in The Rawson Bible, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass., 1885, Vol. 39, Page 60
2. ↑ Clarke, Louise Brownell. The Greenes of Rhode Island (Knickerbocker Press, New York, 1903) Page 40
3. ↑ "England, Berkshire, Parish Registers, 1515-1993", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6DSY-PCFD : 22 November 2021), Edward Rawson, 1615.
4. ↑ Edward Rawson's great-grandmother, Elizabeth (Grindall) Woodhall (1523-1583) was the sister of Archbishop Edmund Grindall. The descent to Edward is as follows: Elizabeth Grindall Woodhall (1523-1583); her daughter, Isabel Woodhall Wilson (1546-1600); her daughter, Margaret Wilson Rawson (1590-1627); and her son, Edward Rawson (1615-1693).
5. ↑ Margaret (Wilson) (Rawson) Taylor, wife of London merchant David Rawson and mother of Edward Rawson, was a daughter of Rev. William Wilson, canon of St. George's chapel at Windsor Castle, and his wife Isabel Woodhall, whose mother Elizabeth was a sister of Edmund Grindal, Archbishop of Canterbury. Margaret also was a sister of Boston pastor John Wilson. Register 61:37-38; Crane, Ancestry of Edward Rawson, 10-11; Anderson, Puritan Pedigrees [note 55], 143-161. Schmidt, Alwin. "Rebecca’s Siblings: The Overlooked Children of Secretary Edward and Rachel (Perne) Rawson," The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 2019, Vol. 173, WN 689, page 168. American Ancestors (subscription)
6. ↑ Schmidt, Alwin. "Rebecca’s Siblings: The Overlooked Children of Secretary Edward and Rachel (Perne) Rawson," The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 2019, Vol. 173, WN 689, Page 26. American Ancestors (subscription)
7. ↑ Records in The Rawson Bible,The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass., 1885, Vol. 39, Page 60
8. ↑ Clarke, Louise Brownell. Space:The Greenes of Rhode Island|The Greenes of Rhode Island (Knickerbocker Press, New York, 1903) Page 40
9. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1618/edward-rawson : accessed 12 February 2022), memorial page for Edward Rawson (16 Apr 1615–27 Aug 1693), Find a Grave Memorial ID 1618, citing Granary Burying Ground, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by Find a Grave .
10. ↑ New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation, Volume 1; by William Richard Cutter, January 1, 1913, Lewis historical publishing Company[1] Starting on page 348
11. ↑ New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation, Volume 1; by William Richard Cutter, January 1, 1913, Lewis historical publishing Company[2] Starting on page 348
12. ↑ New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation, Volume 1; by William Richard Cutter, January 1, 1913, Lewis historical publishing Company[3] Starting on page 348

See also:

• Ellery B. Crane, The Ancestry of Edward Rawson, secretary of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay ... (Worcester, Mass. : Private Press of F.P. Price, 1887), title page; digital images, HathiTrust.
• Roberts, Gary Boyd; Ancestors of American Presidents. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009.
• The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) Leslie Mahler. "Medieval Ancestors of Edward Rawson of Newbury, Massachusetts." Vol. 83 (2008) pp 207-216.subscriber$
• Waters, Henry. Genealogical Gleanings in England, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, NEHGS, Boston, 1884 Vol. 38, Page 312: He is mentioned in the will of his mother-in-law, Rachel Perne
• Schmidt, Alwin. Rebecca’s Siblings: The Overlooked Children of Secretary Edward and Rachel (Perne) Rawson, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 2019, Vol. 173, WN 689, Page 26.
• WN 691, Page 238: "Edward likely was born in London, not Gillingham, ..."
• Ward, Gerald, W.R., Art Treasures at NEHGS, 'American Ancestry Magazine, NEHGS, Boston, Spring 2020) Vol. 21, No. 1, Page 25.
• Hassam, John T., "Early Recorders and Registers of Deeds for the County of Suffolk, Massachusetts. 1639-1735." Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society (The Massachusetts HistoricalSociety, Boston, Mass., 1897-1899) Second Series, Vol. XII, pages 219-225. GoogleBooks