The CUDWORTH Family of Scituate and Barnstable in Massaachusetts

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First Generation

REV. RALPH CUDWORTH

Parents:

Rev. Ralph Cudworth married Mary Machell.

Children of Ralph Cudworth and Mary Machell:

1. Gen. James Cudworth died in the autumn of 1682 in London. He married Sarah Unknown.

Second Generation

GEN. JAMES CUDWORTH (d. 1682) of Scituate and Barnstable

Parents: Rev. Ralph Cudworth and Mary Machell

James Cudworth died in the autumn of 1682 in London. He is probably the James Cudworth who married Mary Parker on 1 Feb 1633/4 in Northam, Devonshire, England. Mary died before 15 Sep 1681, when she was not named in her husband's will. [Ref, pp. 254-5]

James was admitted freeman in Jan 1634/5. [Ref] Mr. Cudworth and his wife joined the church at Scituate on 18 Jan 1634. [Ref] He had one of the first houses in Scituate, before Sep 1634; it was small and plain. [Ref] He was later one of the Conihassett Partners of Scituate.

James Cudworth was on a 1640 list of inhabitants of Barnstable. [Ref] He was deputy to the General Court from Barnstable in 1640 and 1642. [Ref]

Thomas Byrd, a servant of James Cudworth of Barnstable, ran away and broke into a house or two in Barnstable, stealing food and clothes. On 2 Jan 1641/2, he was sentenced to be whipped. [Ref]

James is in the Scituate and Barnstable sections of the 1643 list of those between 16 and 60 able to bear arms in Plymouth Colony. [Ref]

He returned to Scituate after a few years in Barnstable. He was deputy to the General Court from Scituate in 1649. [Ref] He was captain of the militia in Scituate in 1652. [Ref] He was an Assistant in 1656 - 8. [Ref] He was a Commissioner of the United Colonies in 1657. [Ref]

James urged tolerance towards the Quakers. In 1658 he was left out of the magistracy and the board of Commissioners; he was deprived of his military command and, in 1660, disfranchised. [Ref] He was restored in Jul 1673 and was an Assistant again in 1674 - 80. [Ref]

During King Philip's War he was chosen "General and Commander in Chief". [Ref] In 1681 he was Deputy Governor and Commissioner. [Ref] In the summer of 1682 he was sent to England as an agent of the colony to obtain a new charter including Narragansett. He caught small pox in London and died there in the autumn of 1682. [Ref]

Children of James Cudworth and Sarah Unknown:

1. James Cudworth was baptised in Scituate on 3 May 1635. [Ref][Ref] He married Mary Howland by 1665. [Ref, p. 1018]
   On 3 Oct 1665 the Court fined James five pounds for fornication with his wife prior to marriage. [Ref] He had two sons and five daughters born in Scituate. [Ref]
2. Mary Cudworth was baptised on 23 Jul 1637 in Scituate. She married Robert Whitcomb.
3. Jonathan Cudworth was baptised on 16 Sep 1638 in Scituate. [Ref][Ref] He was buried there on 24 Sep 1638. [Ref][Ref] It appears that either James had a second son named Jonathan or the burial record is a mistake. On 5 Jul 1670 the Court ordered a Jonathan Cudworth and his wife to appear to answer charges that they had committed fornication with each other prior to marriage. [Ref] This Jonathan married Sarah Jackson on 31 May 1665 in Scituate [Ref says 1667] and had a large family there. [Ref]
4. Israel Cudworth was baptised on 18 Apr 1641 in Scituate. [Ref] He had a daughter born in Scituate. [Ref]
5. Joanna Cudworth was baptised on 25 Mar 1643 in Barnstable. [Ref]
6. An unbaptised son was buried on 24 Jun 1644 in Barnstable. [Ref]

Third Generation

MARY CUDWORTH (bp. 1637)

Parents: James Cudworth and Sarah Unknown

Mary Cudworth was baptised on 23 Jul 1637 in Scituate. [Ref][Ref] She married Robert Whitcomb on 9 Mar 1660/1. [Ref, p. 254] They were fined 10 pounds in Scituate for having a Quaker marriage.

References

Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. Vol. 1-3. Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. Online: New England Historic Genealogical Society website.

Anderson, Robert Charles, George F. Sanborn, Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Vol. 2, Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001.

"Letter of James Cudworth of Scituate, 1634," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 14, 1860, 101-104.

Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850. Online Database: NewEnglandAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2007.

Plymouth Colony Archive Project, http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/users/deetz, Court Records Laws and 17th Century Texts

David Hamblin, trans. "The First Settlers of Barnstable," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 2, 1848, 64-67.

Otis, Amos, trans., "Scituate and Barnstable Church Records," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 9, 1855, 279-287; 10,1856, 37-43, 345-351.

Shurtleff, Nathaniel B., "List of Those Able to Bear Arms in the Colony of New Plymouth 1643," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 4, 1850, 255-259.

W. H. W., "Early Marriages and Births in Scituate, Mass. Prior to 1700," New England Historical and Genealogical Society 18, 1864, 285-287.; 19, 1865, 219-221.

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