Samuel Danforth
Encyclopedia
Samuel Danforth was a Puritan
minister, preacher, poet, and astronomer, and an associate of the Rev. John Eliot
of Roxbury, Massachusetts
, known as the “Apostle to the Indians.”
He was born October 17, 1626, in Framlingham
, Suffolk
, England
, the sixth of seven children of Nicholas Danforth (1589–1639) and Elizabeth Symmes Danforth (c.1596–1629). Six surviving children— Elizabeth (1619–1673), Anna (1622–1704), Thomas (1623–1699), Lydia (1625–1686), Samuel, and Jonathan (1628–1712)—emigrated with their father to Massachusetts
in 1634. After their father died in 1639, Samuel lived with Thomas Shepard, pastor of the church in Cambridge
, and later attended Harvard College
, where he graduated in 1643 and remained as a tutor until 1650. His studies included astronomy, and during this time he published three almanacs (for 1647, 1648, and 1649), which are the earliest surviving American examples of the form. A fourth (for the year 1646) is also attributed to him, although the single surviving copy is missing the first several pages and any attribution. These almanacs included his own original poetry (some in the form of enigmas or word puzzles), and are among the earliest examples of secular verse published in New England. They also contained—in addition to celestial tables, tide tables, calendars, and dates of court sessions—brief chronologies of significant events in New England's history. In 1650 he became pastor at Roxbury, where Rev. John Eliot was Teaching Elder, and was ordained on September 24, 1650. In 1651, he married Mary Wilson (1633–1713), daughter of the Rev. John Wilson of Boston, with whom he had twelve children in 24 years. He died November 19, 1674.
No copies of his "Catechism" (published in 1650 or 1651) are known to have survived (see Roden, The Cambridge Press 1638-1692). He published An Astronomical Description of the Late Comet in 1665 (reprinted in London the following year). In 1670, he was invited to give the annual election sermon to the General Assembly, which was afterwards printed as A Brief Recognition Recognition of New-Englands Errand into the Wilderness and is regarded as one of the finest examples of the “jeremiad
” form. In April 1674, he delivered what is regarded as the first published “execution sermon”:The Cry of Sodom Enquired Into, on the occasion of the sentencing to death by hanging of Benjamin Goad, a young man from his congregation convicted of bestiality upon being discovered in a compromised position with a lady-horse. This work was published shortly after his death.
William Sprague, in his Annals of the American Pulpit (I, 139), describes him as follows: “As a preacher, he was remarkable for sustaining all his positions by arguments from Scripture; for adhering closely to the main object before him; for a free, clear and rapid utterance; and for a depth and power of feeling which in almost every sermon manifested itself in tears. ... He was particularly watchful against the inroads of immorality among the young. He used his influence to prevent any, except persons of correct moral habits, from keeping houses of public entertainment; and when he saw from his study window any of the people of the town tippling at the tavern, he made conscience to go directly to them and administer a pointed rebuke.”
in his Magnalia. Two more children—Elizabeth (aged 7) and Sarah (aged 2)—died in October 1672. His son John (1660–1730) graduated from Harvard College in 1677 and was minister at Dorchester
from 1682 until his death. The other surviving son, Samuel (1666–1727), graduated from Harvard College in 1683, and served as the minister at Taunton
from 1687 until his death. Daughter Mary (1663–1734) married Edward Bromfield (1649–1734) in 1683. Daughter Abiel, born two months after her father’s death, married Thomas Fitch in 1694, and, after his death, John Osborn in 1741; she died in or before 1745.
His widow Mary was married in 1682 to Joseph Rock of Boston, who died the next year.
His older brother Thomas Danforth
(1623–1699) was treasurer of Harvard College, deputy governor, and justice of the colony’s superior court. His younger brother Jonathan was a resident and founder of Billerica, Massachusetts
. Sister Elizabeth married Andrew Belcher (1639–1673) of Cambridge; sister Anna married Matthew Bridge (1615–1700) of Lexington
; sister Lydia married William Beamont (1608–1698) of Saybrook, Connecticut; and sister Mary Danforth, who also came over to the Americas with Samuel, married John Parish. (More complete genealogical information is online at http://members.aol.com/BBova2332/danforth.html )
For further biographical information, see Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana, v.2; Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, v. 1; Dictionary of Literary Biography, v.24, pp. 83–85; and C. K. Dillaway, History of the Grammar School (Roxbury, 1860), pp. 127–130.
[Roxbury Catechism]. Cambridge, MA, 1650/51(?).
’s Errand into the Wilderness (Cambridge, 1956) takes its title from Danforth’s election sermon (although Miller himself maintained otherwise). Sacvan Bercovitch’s The American Jeremiad offers a significant reinterpretation of the tradition.
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
minister, preacher, poet, and astronomer, and an associate of the Rev. John Eliot
John Eliot
John Eliot may refer to:*Sir John Eliot , English politician*John Eliot , English Puritan minister and missionary*John Eliot, 1st Earl of St Germans , British politician...
of Roxbury, Massachusetts
Roxbury, Massachusetts
Roxbury is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was one of the first towns founded in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, and became a city in 1846 until annexed to Boston on January 5, 1868...
, known as the “Apostle to the Indians.”
He was born October 17, 1626, in Framlingham
Framlingham
Framlingham is a market town and civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal District of Suffolk, England. Commonly referred to as "Fram" by the locals, it is of Anglo-Saxon origin and is mentioned in the Domesday Book. It has a population of 3,114 at the 2001 census...
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the sixth of seven children of Nicholas Danforth (1589–1639) and Elizabeth Symmes Danforth (c.1596–1629). Six surviving children— Elizabeth (1619–1673), Anna (1622–1704), Thomas (1623–1699), Lydia (1625–1686), Samuel, and Jonathan (1628–1712)—emigrated with their father to Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
in 1634. After their father died in 1639, Samuel lived with Thomas Shepard, pastor of the church in Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, and later attended Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
, where he graduated in 1643 and remained as a tutor until 1650. His studies included astronomy, and during this time he published three almanacs (for 1647, 1648, and 1649), which are the earliest surviving American examples of the form. A fourth (for the year 1646) is also attributed to him, although the single surviving copy is missing the first several pages and any attribution. These almanacs included his own original poetry (some in the form of enigmas or word puzzles), and are among the earliest examples of secular verse published in New England. They also contained—in addition to celestial tables, tide tables, calendars, and dates of court sessions—brief chronologies of significant events in New England's history. In 1650 he became pastor at Roxbury, where Rev. John Eliot was Teaching Elder, and was ordained on September 24, 1650. In 1651, he married Mary Wilson (1633–1713), daughter of the Rev. John Wilson of Boston, with whom he had twelve children in 24 years. He died November 19, 1674.
No copies of his "Catechism" (published in 1650 or 1651) are known to have survived (see Roden, The Cambridge Press 1638-1692). He published An Astronomical Description of the Late Comet in 1665 (reprinted in London the following year). In 1670, he was invited to give the annual election sermon to the General Assembly, which was afterwards printed as A Brief Recognition Recognition of New-Englands Errand into the Wilderness and is regarded as one of the finest examples of the “jeremiad
Jeremiad
A jeremiad is a long literary work, usually in prose, but sometimes in poetry, in which the author bitterly laments the state of society and its morals in a serious tone of sustained invective, and always contains a prophecy of society's imminent downfall....
” form. In April 1674, he delivered what is regarded as the first published “execution sermon”:The Cry of Sodom Enquired Into, on the occasion of the sentencing to death by hanging of Benjamin Goad, a young man from his congregation convicted of bestiality upon being discovered in a compromised position with a lady-horse. This work was published shortly after his death.
William Sprague, in his Annals of the American Pulpit (I, 139), describes him as follows: “As a preacher, he was remarkable for sustaining all his positions by arguments from Scripture; for adhering closely to the main object before him; for a free, clear and rapid utterance; and for a depth and power of feeling which in almost every sermon manifested itself in tears. ... He was particularly watchful against the inroads of immorality among the young. He used his influence to prevent any, except persons of correct moral habits, from keeping houses of public entertainment; and when he saw from his study window any of the people of the town tippling at the tavern, he made conscience to go directly to them and administer a pointed rebuke.”
Family
Three of Danforth’s children died in infancy—Samuel (aged 7 months) in 1653, Thomas (aged 10 days) in 1672, and Elizabeth (aged 2 weeks) in 1673). Three others—Mary (aged 5 years), Elizabeth (aged 3), and Sarah (aged 1)—died in December 1659. His funeral remarks on this occasion were reprinted by Cotton MatherCotton Mather
Cotton Mather, FRS was a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author and pamphleteer; he is often remembered for his role in the Salem witch trials...
in his Magnalia. Two more children—Elizabeth (aged 7) and Sarah (aged 2)—died in October 1672. His son John (1660–1730) graduated from Harvard College in 1677 and was minister at Dorchester
Dorchester, Massachusetts
Dorchester is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is named after the town of Dorchester in the English county of Dorset, from which Puritans emigrated and is today endearingly nicknamed "Dot" by its residents. Dorchester, including a large...
from 1682 until his death. The other surviving son, Samuel (1666–1727), graduated from Harvard College in 1683, and served as the minister at Taunton
Taunton, Massachusetts
Taunton is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the seat of Bristol County and the hub of the Greater Taunton Area. The city is located south of Boston, east of Providence, north of Fall River and west of Plymouth. The City of Taunton is situated on the Taunton River...
from 1687 until his death. Daughter Mary (1663–1734) married Edward Bromfield (1649–1734) in 1683. Daughter Abiel, born two months after her father’s death, married Thomas Fitch in 1694, and, after his death, John Osborn in 1741; she died in or before 1745.
His widow Mary was married in 1682 to Joseph Rock of Boston, who died the next year.
His older brother Thomas Danforth
Thomas Danforth
Thomas Danforth was a judge for the 1692 Salem witch trials in early colonial America.-Early life:He was born in Framlingham, Suffolk, England as the eldest son of Nicholas Danforth and Elizabeth Symmes...
(1623–1699) was treasurer of Harvard College, deputy governor, and justice of the colony’s superior court. His younger brother Jonathan was a resident and founder of Billerica, Massachusetts
Billerica, Massachusetts
Billerica is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,243 at the 2010 census. It is the only town named Billerica in the United States and borrows its name from the town of Billericay in Essex, England.- History :...
. Sister Elizabeth married Andrew Belcher (1639–1673) of Cambridge; sister Anna married Matthew Bridge (1615–1700) of Lexington
Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,399 at the 2010 census. This town is famous for being the site of the first shot of the American Revolution, in the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775.- History :...
; sister Lydia married William Beamont (1608–1698) of Saybrook, Connecticut; and sister Mary Danforth, who also came over to the Americas with Samuel, married John Parish. (More complete genealogical information is online at http://members.aol.com/BBova2332/danforth.html )
For further biographical information, see Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana, v.2; Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, v. 1; Dictionary of Literary Biography, v.24, pp. 83–85; and C. K. Dillaway, History of the Grammar School (Roxbury, 1860), pp. 127–130.
Works
- MDCXLVII. An Almanack for the Year of Our Lord 1647. Cambridge, Mass., 1647.
- MDCXLVIII. An Almanack for the Year of Our Lord 1648. Cambridge, MA, 1648.
- MDCXLIX. An Almanack for the Year of Our Lord 1649. Cambridge, MA, 1649.
[Roxbury Catechism]. Cambridge, MA, 1650/51(?).
- An Astronomical Description of the Late Comet, or Blazing Star, as it appeared in New-England in the 9th, 10th, 11th, and in the Beginning of the 12th Moneth, 1664. Together with a Brief Theological Explanation Thereof. Cambridge, MA, 1665; London, 1666. Online at http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/37/
- A Brief Recognition of New-Englands Errand into the Wilderness; Made in the Audience of the General Assembly of the Massachusetts Colony, at Boston in N.E. on the 11th of the third Moneth, 1670, being the day of Election there. Cambridge, Mass., 1671. —Reprinted in A. W. Plumstead, The Wall and the Garden: Selected Massachusetts Election Sermons 1670–1775 (Minneapolis, 1968) and Michael Warner, American Sermons (New York, 1999) Online at http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/35/
- The Cry of Sodom Enquired Into; Upon Occasion of the Arraignment and Condemnation of BENJAMIN GOAD,for his Prodigious Villany. Cambridge, MA, 1674. Online at http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/34
- “A Letter out of Grief,” in Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana. London, 1702. Online at http://www.puritansermons.com/reformed/mather2.htm
- Samuel Danforth's Almanack Poems and Chronological Tables 1647-1649 (online edition)
Works about
Perry MillerPerry Miller
Perry G. Miller was an American intellectual historian and Harvard University professor. He was an authority on American Puritanism, and a founder of the field of American Studies. Alfred Kazin referred to him as "the master of American intellectual history"...
’s Errand into the Wilderness (Cambridge, 1956) takes its title from Danforth’s election sermon (although Miller himself maintained otherwise). Sacvan Bercovitch’s The American Jeremiad offers a significant reinterpretation of the tradition.