Israel Stoughton (bef. 1603 - abt. 1644)

Born before 18 Feb 1603 in Great Coggeshall, Essex, England

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Knight) Stoughton — married 27 Mar 1627 in Rotherhithe, Surrey, England

Descendants

Died about 1644 after about age 40 in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England

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Israel Stoughton migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See Great Migration Begins, by R. C. Anderson, Vol. 3, p. 1773) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Disputed Wife

The wife of Israel Stoughton was formerly identified as the widow of William Knight of St Olave's. This was an error. His wife has been identified as the daughter of William Knight, who was also named Elizabeth. See [TAG 33:108; GMB 1773-77; Abandoning 286-87; NEHGR 165:245-60, 166:46-70; Foundations 1:46-50].

Biography

Israel Stoughton was baptized on 18 February 1602/3 at Great Coggeshall, Essex.^[1] He was a son of Rev. Thomas Stoughton and his wife Katherine. His mother died two months after his birth.^[2]

Israel Stoughton has been described as "well-educated" and "very self-confident." ^[3]

Israel Stoughton was a Harvard College Overseer from 1637-1644. He also donated 300 acres of land at his death in 1644. Stoughton Hall is named for Israel’s son, colonial lieutenant governor and Harvard overseer and benefactor William Stoughton (AB 1650) ^[4]

1632 -- Israel, with his wife Elizabeth arrived in New England following his brother Thomas and Thomas's wife, who sailed as part of the 1630 John Winthrop's Fleet. They settled at Dorchester.^[5]

The following family members^[6] are listed as sailing with Winthrop's Fleet:

• Smead, ____ From Coggeshall, Essex. No further record. Probably died soon.
• Smead, Judith (Stoughton) Wife of ____Smead. Sister of Israel Stoughton (Savage).
• Smead, William Son of Mrs. Judith Smead (Savage)."
• Stoughton, Israel (Dorchester) From Coggeshall, Essex. Was opposed to the rule of Winthrop and disfranchised for writing an heretical book. Returned to England and fought under Cromwell in the Civil War, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in Rainsborough's regiment. (Savage). He died 1644 at Lincoln.
• Stoughton, Elizabeth Wife of Israel.
• Stoughton, Thomas (Dorchester) From Coggeshall, Essex. Brother of Israel. Constable 28 Sept 1630. Applied freeman 19 Oct 1630 (M.C.R., I, 80); Freeman 18 May 1631 (ibid., 366). Married to Mrs. Margaret Huntington, widow of Simon Huntington, in 1635. He removed to Windsor, Conn. where he died in 1642.
• Stoughton, _____ Wife of Thomas (Savage).

Israel and Thomas Stoughton were two of the 25 out of 247 heads of families "of a social rank above that of yeoman or husbandmen." The early records gave Israel and Thomas "the prefix of 'Mr.'" ^[7]

Before November 1633 -- Israel was not admitted to the Dorchester church nor made a freeman (full citizen with the right to vote). ^[8]

November 5, 1633 -- Israel Stoughton took the Oath of Freemen. ^[9]

March 1635 -- Israel wrote and presented a written statement of 12 reasons why the Assistants in the Massachusetts Bay Colony General Court should not be able to exercise a veto or "negative vote." The area clergy discussed Israel's paper at its regular meeting, then John Cotton passed it on to John Winthrop. At the March 1635 Colony General Court, Stoughton was accused of saying that the Assistants in the General Court were merely law judges and had no powers of governance. ^[10]

June 1637 -- Captain Israel Stoughton, commander-in-chief of 120 soldiers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony arrived at the Pequot River in several ships to assist soldiers from the Connecticut Colony in the Pequot War. ^[11]

1635 - 1639 -- Israel's sister Judith Stoughton Denman Smead and her children arrived at Boston then settled at Salem. ^[12]. Other sources say they also sailed with Winthrop's Fleet in 1630.^[13][14] 1639 -- Israel's sister Judith died at Salem. ^[15]

Israel opposed John Winthrop's rule of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Colony's General Court disenfranchised Israel for writing a "heretical book." ^[16]

Israel, presumably with his wife Elizabeth, returned to England. ^[17]

Israel "fought under Cromwell in the [English] Civil War, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in Rainsborough's regiment (Savage)." ^[18]

1644 -- Israel moved back to England. ^[19]

1644 -- Israel died at Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. ^[20][21]

1652 - Per NEHGR 7:333: Inventory includes a very large set of land holdings. This included 5,636 acres in Dorchester and many other parcels all over Massachusetts. Debt due to his estate includes one from William Knight. He had a diverse portfolio including 26 shares in the ship America, half of the Boston Tide Mills. Israel leaves a sealed box to Francis Willoughby to be opened until he returned or died. In it contained his will.... The footnote shows in 1633 he was granted him the right to build the tide mill on the Neponsit River. Said to be the first even built in the colony! Cites NEHGR 5:378 and Stephen Deane's "Water Worke to Beste Corne" in Plymouth 1632.^[22]

Sources

1. ↑ Essex : Coggeshall : St Peter Ad Vincula : Parish Register : "Parish Register" database, FreeREG (https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/63e3941df493fd4683521f4c : viewed 5 Jan 2024) baptism Izrael Stoughton 18 Feb 1602/3
2. ↑ Stoughton, Ralph M. The Stoughton Families of Dorchester, Mass. and Windsor, Conn. The American Genealogist, vol. 29, No. 4, October 1953. Page 94.
3. ↑ John Winthrop, page 244
4. ↑ https://radcliffe-harvard-edu-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/3d37f30c-a266-4be8-bd4b-234dca08497f/AppendixI-ListofHumanBeingsEnslavedbyProminentHarvardAffiliates.pdf
5. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. Volumes I-III, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995.)[pp 1773-1777] Great Migration Begins, Vol 1, A-F -- Vol 2, G-O -- Vol 3, P-W Link at AmericanAncestors ($)
6. ↑ Winthrop Fleet of 1630, p. 92 93
7. ↑ The Winthrop Fleet of 1630, page 52
8. ↑ John Winthrop, page 245
9. ↑ Oath of Freemen, November 5, 1633.
10. ↑ John Winthrop, page 244
11. ↑ Puritans in the New World, page 251
12. ↑ The Denman Family History
13. ↑ Winthrop Fleet of 1630, p. 92
14. ↑ Winthrop Society (Link via Wayback Machine, capture date 24 Apr 2015.)
15. ↑ The Denman Family History
16. ↑ The Winthrop Fleet of 1630, pages 92 - 93
17. ↑ The Winthrop Fleet of 1630, page 93
18. ↑ The Winthrop Fleet of 1630, page 93
19. ↑ Israel Stoughton in Wikipedia
20. ↑ The Winthrop Fleet of 1630, page 93
21. ↑ Will, p. 51.
22. ↑ The American Genealogist. (Demorest, Habersham, Georgia, United States: D.L. Jacobus), 7:334

• Names of such as took the Oath of Freemen -- 18 May 1631. (Link via Wayback Machine, capture date : 22 Mar 2022.)

• Puritans in the New World: A Critical Anthology. David D. Hall, Editor. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 2004. Pages 245 & 251.

• John Winthrop: America's Forgotten Founding Father. Francis J. Bremer. Oxford University Press: New York. 2003. Pages 239, 244 - 245, 271, 273, 277, 292, and 351.

• Winthrop Fleet of 1630, The: an Account of the Vessels, the Voyage, the Passengers and Their English Homes, from Original Authorities, by Charles Edward Banks; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1930. 119p. Reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1961. Repr. 1983. Reprinted 2003. Pages 92 - 93. http://files.usgwarchives.net/ma/mastate/winthropfleet.txt

• WeRelate profile for Israel Stoughton and Elizabeth Knight [1]

• Israel Stoughton, in Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 1773, [2] - Origin: Rotherhithe, Surrey. ; Migration: 1632. ; First Residence: Dorchester. ; Birth: Baptized Great Coggeshall, Essex, England, 18 Feb 1602/3, son of Rev. Thomas and Katherine (___) Stoughton. ; Death: Lincoln, England, 1644.

• Israel Stoughton, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. [3]

• Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862), 4:213. [4]

• Winthrop Society; list of pre1634 Planters. https://web.archive.org/web/20161030175653/http://winthropsociety.com/settlers/s-data.htm (Link via Wayback Machine, capture date 30 October 2016.)

• William Stoughton, Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass., 1896) Vol. 50, Page 9

• Will, part of "Earliest Suffolk Wills", in N.E.H.G.R, Vol. 4 (1850), pp. 51-54. Inventory follows in Vol. 7 (1853), p. 333.
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35343198/israel-stoughton: accessed 08 March 2023), memorial page for LTC Israel Stoughton (Feb 1602–1644), Find a Grave Memorial ID 35343198; Burial Details Unknown; Maintained by Linda Mac (contributor 47062703).