Edward Hutchinson (mercer)

Edward Hutchinson was a mercer and a resident of Lincolnshire, England, most noted for the careers of his children in New England. While his father and several of his uncles and brothers became prominent as clergymen, aldermen, sheriffs, and mayors in the city of Lincoln, Edward focused his efforts on his business after moving to the town of Alford. Remarkably, not a single record for him has been found in Alford, other than his burial and the baptisms of hischildren, but he likely gained a considerable estate, and his children married into prominent families. What was most exceptional about Edward Hutchinson occurred following his 1632 death. Beginning in 1634, five of his nine surviving children and his widow immigrated to New England, and all six of them were exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a result of the events of the Antinomian Controversy from 1636 to 1638. From Boston two of his children went south and became founding settlers of the Colony of Rhode Island and

Edward Hutchinson was born about 1564 in the parish of St Mary le Wigford in Lincoln in the county of Lincolnshire, England. While the baptismal records for the parish are now lost for that timeframe, Hutchinsons birth year has been determined with a fair amount of accuracy from his apprenticeship records. He was the youngest son, and only son of the second marriage, of John Hutchinson who had been Sheriff, Alderman, and Mayor of the town of Lincoln, dying in office during his second term as mayor. Edward Hutchinsons mother was Anne, the second wife of his father John, whose maiden name is unknown. Anne had been married earlier, because in her will she mentioned her son William Clinte, her son Edward Kirkebie, and her son Thomas Pinder, though the last two are presumed to be sonsinlaw. Anne bore two Hutchinson children, and both her son Edward and the husband of her daughter Mary Freeston were appointed as executors to her will.

Source: Wikipedia