John White (pastor)

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John White (baptized January 6, 1575 - July 21, 1648 ) was an Anglican clergyman. Although he withheld himself openly criticizing the official Church, he supported the Puritans ' non-conformism by advocating their emigration to New England . Through his endeavors, he made a significant contribution to the settlement and colonization of New England.

social commitment

White was Rector of Holy Trinity College and Pastor of the Churches of St. Peter in Dorchester, Dorset , England from 1606 to 1648 . After the great fire of 1613, he made an exemplary contribution to the education and support of the poor and needy. He founded a preliminary form of the later poor houses, for the maintenance of which he built his own brewery.

Dorchester Company

Already in 1620 was white with the Pilgrims of the Mayflower in connection with the Plymouth , the first permanent settlement in New England built.

He supported people who wanted to emigrate, whom he brought together with interested merchants and financiers. For this purpose he founded the Dorchester Company , which tried at his instigation in 1623 to establish a branch on Cape Ann , near the present-day city of Gloucester . In the autumn of 1625 he tried to win the support of Roger Conant from the new colony in Plymouth by offering him the post of governor of the new settlement. But his plan to establish a permanent settlement on Cape Ann failed and most of the settlers returned to England in 1626 . Only a small group of settlers stayed in New England and founded what would later become Salem under Roger Conant .

After this defeat, he supported the newly founded Massachusetts Bay Company , of which he was a co-founder. One of their first ships, the Mary and John , carried White self-selected emigrants from Dorset, Somerset and Devon to New England . They landed in June 1630 and based on the local model, Dorchester , now a district of Boston . Despite his intensive efforts, he never set foot on American soil himself.

English Civil War

Through his reform efforts and his sympathy for the Puritans, White came increasingly into conflict with the policies of Archbishop William Laud . Dorchester sided with Parliament during the English Civil War , but surrendered without a fight to the royalists when they advanced in 1643. White had to flee to London . After Cromwell's victory and the temporary abolition of the monarchy in 1646, he returned to Dorchester. Without regaining his former influence, he died in 1648.

credentials

  1. ↑ More about his data under: Dorchester Company - The "Adventurers" of Rev. John White of Dorchester. Dorset. In: www.geocities.com. Archived from the original on November 19, 2001 ; accessed on January 11, 2015 .
  2. ↑ For the adventurers of the Dorchester Company see: Dorchester Company - The "Adventurers" of Rev. John White of Dorchester. Dorset ( Memento of November 19, 2001 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ For the offer to Roger Conant see also: http://www.salemweb.com/guide/roger.shtml
  4. ↑ For a short biography of White see: http://www.dorchesteranglican.info/stpeters/johnwhite/john_white.htm

Web links

personal data
SURNAME White, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English pastor
DATE OF BIRTH baptized January 6, 1575
DATE OF DEATH July 21, 1648