[Jrroller.FTW]

Rev. John Lyford was a graduate of Magdalen College (A.B. 1597,
A.M. 1602) and was first a minister at Leverlegkish, near
Laughgaid, Armagh, Ireland. He later preached at Plymouth,
Massachusetts and even later at Hull, Cape Ann and Salem,
Massachusetts and finally in Virginia. (Funk & Wagnalls)

Bradford described at length the 1624 confrontation of the
Governor's Council with John Oldham and the minister, John
Lyford. The two culprits had listed "120" highly critical
accounts of affairs at Plymouth in letters to English movers
and shakers. These were intercepted by Governor Bradford and
his associates from the ship Charity before it sailed for
England. "After the reading of (Lyford's) letters before the
whole company, he was demanded what he could say to these
things. But all the answer he made was, that Billington and
some others had informed him of many things and had made sundry
complaints, which they now denied. And this was all the answer
they could have, for none would take (Lyford's) part in
anything but Billington and any whom he named denied the things
and protested he wronged them and they would have drawn them to
such and such things which they could not consent to, though
they were sometimes drawn to his meetings. [Bradford's History
(1952) (75, 87-8,156-7,234,442]."

So we know that Billington was willing to publicly acknowledge
his dissident role while no others would and that he attempted
to actually organize a sort of opposition party by conducting
meetings at his home. After this 'trial,' Oldham and Lyford
were banished from Plymouth Colony, but nothing is said of
punishment for Billington. Perhaps his signing of the Compact
insolated him in some way, as his signing made him thereafter,
a member of the group, whether Bradford liked it or not.

Date: Fri, 31 Oct 97 17:30:35 EDT
From: Stu_Hotchkiss@mlsonline.com (Stu Hotchkiss)
To: ESSEX-ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com
Subject: History: Naumkeag ->Salem
A bit more history, and how Naumkeag became Salem.
From: "Old Naumkeag: An Historical Sketch of The City of Salem
and the Towns of Marblehead, Peabody, Beverly, Danvers,
Wenham, Manchester, Topsfield, and Middleton" by C. H. Webber
and W. S. Nevins. Salem, Mass: A. A. Smith & Co., Publishers.
Boston: Lee & Shepard. (1877)
"In religious matters those who came to Salem differed somewhat
from those who established themselves at Plymouth. The former
were
not true separatists from the Church of England; they were
dissenters from its corruptions, its intolerance, and its
formula only. ...On the
other hand, the people who settled at Plymouth were
separatists.
A few years after the settlement at Plymouth a number of
persons led by Rev.John Lyford, dissatisfied with the extreme
separation of the
Colony and Church from the English Church, removed to
Nantasket, near the entrance to Boston harbor, where they made
a temporary
settlement, and the next year (1625) removed again, this time
to Cape Ann. Here they attempted to plant a farming, fishing
and trading
colony, and being joined by Mr. Lyford, and Roger Conant, the
former was made preacher and the latter 'governor.' When Conant
arrived at Cape Ann, which must have been some time in the fall
of 1625, he found the affairs in an unsatisfactory state. The
fishing had
turned out unprofitable and there was much insubordination. He
was unable to revive the interest, and in the fall of 1626 the
settlement
broke up, a portion of the people returning to England. Conant,
it appears, had sailed up along the shores of the Cape as far
as the
mouth of the Naumkeag river during the summer of that year, and
marked it as one evidently suitable as a 'receptacle for such
as upon
the account of religion would be willing to begin a foreign
plantation in this part of the world.'
Conant...(induced the settlers) to follow him to Naumkeag;
there to lay the foundation of a colony destined to plant the
spirit of
Puritanism so deeply and so firmly that amid the changes of two
hundred and fifty years it still bears its impress.
...The number who came hence (to Naumkeag) from Cape Ann was
about twenty-five, or one-half of the settlement there. Aside
from
the women and children there were Roger Conant, Humphrey
Woodbury, John Lyford, John Woodbury, John Balch, Peter Palfry,
Walter Knight, William Allen, Thomas Gray, John Tylly, Thomas
Gardner, Richard Norman and Son, William Trask, and William
Jeffry.
They left Cape Ann in September or October, 1626... Conant and
his followers are thought to have landed from the South River,
not far
from the foot of Elm or Central streets as now (1877) laid out.
Hardly had the first settlement been effected at Naumkeag, and
preparations made for permanently abiding there, when
dissatisfaction
was manifested by some of the settlers. They were dissatisfied
with the location, and with the prospects for the future, and
they also
professed a dread of interference from the Indians.
The desire to remove was heightened by the proposal of Mr.
Lyford that they follow him to Virginia, whither he was to go
at once.
Several announced a determination to accept the offer. Had
Conant consented to go with them, every member of the
...settlement would
have readily departed. But he would not go himself, and
strongly urged the others to remain, declaring, that 'they
might go if they wished,
and though all of them should forsake him, he should wait the
providence of God in that place, not doubting that if they
departed he
should
have more company.' Again the reasoning of Conant prevailed and
Lyford was obliged to depart unaccompanied. He died shortly
after
arriving at the Virginia settlement."
(In March, 1628, the council of Plymouth for New England
thought it best to select one of their own number to be the
actual governor of
the colony, and John Endicott was chosen. Endicott arrived in
Salem harbor on September 6, 1628).
"...At a General Court, convened by Endicott in the following
June (1629), all 'united in an effort to promote the common
good.' It was
at this meeting that the name Salem (meaning peace) was
substituted for that of Naumkeag."

Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 07:19:05 -0800
From: Barbara Petty <bpetty@erols.com>
To: ESSEX-ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com
Subject: Cape Ann - Dorchester Group
According to the book THE MASSACHUSETS BAY COMPANY AND ITS
PREDECESSORS by Frances Rose-Troup, F.R. Hist.
Soc., The Grafton Press, NY, 1930:
Cape Ann was begun by the Dorchester Company.
Rev. John White of Dorchester, England, was the promoter of the
Dorchester Company. He didn't come over to America. His English
church did not contemplate separation (like that of the
Pilgrims' of Leyden) and the wave of religious fervor in the
west of England was
entirely different from that which was in the east of England
(like the Puritans'). White's desire was to
provide religious instruction for the fishermen and others of
our nation upon the New England coast, and to provide a refuge
to which
churchmen could flee when no longer able to comply with
(Archbishop) Laud's demands. White invited the assistance of
certain
"religious and well-affected persons" who had, they heard, left
Plymouth "out of dislike of the principles of rigid separation"
held there.
Rev. LYFORD went to Cape Ann at that time (after CONANT). The
opinions held by the Dorchester men, it turns out, were
diametrically opposed to those entertained at New Plymouth, and
instead of being made under the auspices of the Pilgrim
Fathers, were
established in direct opposition to those colonists and
incurred their undying hatred.
When the association of Adventurers of the Dorchester Company,
established a plantation at Cape Ann, a few men were there by
1623,
and it was to be a business venture (fishing and farming). In
1623 14 men had "inhabited" at Cape Ann, and 32 more came the
following
Spring. John TILLY and Thomas GARDNER were in charge of the
plantation the first year which was failing, when Roger CONANT
was sent to take over. The plantation did not much better under
CONANT's leadership and it was doomed to failure as a business
venture.
The Dorchester Company, having failed to accomplish its object
(of a fishing/farming trade) by 1626, ceased to exist and the
plantations,
servants and supplies were taken over by a few members of the
Company who had not lost faith in the ultimate success of their
purpose.
The settlement at this time was transferred to "Nahum Keike (or
Naumkeag)" and the name changed later to Salem.
The remnants of those once associated with the Dorchester
Company were later absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Company
(about
1629 upon the arrival of ENDICOTT who came in readiness for the
1630 arrival of the WINTHROP FLEET).
Fourteen or so men who were probably involved with the original
Cape Ann
were the following:
From Banks PLANTERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH:
John TILLY, Thomas GARDNER, Roger CONANT, John WOODBURY, John
BALCH, Peter PALFREY, Walter KNIGHT (came
from Nantasket), William ALLEN, Richard NORMAN and his son John
NORMAN, Thomas GRAY, William TRASK.
From Savage's GENEALOGICAL DICTIONARY OF THE FIRST SETTLERS OF
NEW ENGLAND:
(probably) William JEFFREY/JEFFRIES/JEFFERY (later of
Weymouth), and John OLDHAM (came with CONANT).

Rev. John Lyford(7203) died before 19 May 1632.(7204)

Immigration Library
Appendixes of The Real Founders of New England
Appendix A
page 156
LYFORD, Rev. John, B.A., Magdalen College, Oxford, 1597;
Prebendary of Loughall, Ireland,
1613; Coventry (?), Warwick, 1615; came with wife Sarah and
several children, March, 1623-4, in Charity, perhaps with E.
Winslow;
New Plymouth, 1624, where he preached; Natascot, 1624; Cape
Ann, 1625; Naumkeag, 1626-27; Minister of Martin's Hundred,
Virginia, 1629; his will, dated 9 February, 1629/30, was proved
19 May, 1632; in Va. 1631 when son Obadiah matriculated; he had
held lease of lands at Levalaglesh, Manor of Dromully, Co.
Armagh, Ireland, and free lands [p.156] in Ocorigan, County
Tyrone. His
children were Mordecai, Rev. Obadiah, Ruth, Anne, and perhaps
Martha, wife of Samuel Lincoln, and ancestress of Abraham
Lincoln
(N.Y.G. and B. Record, April, 1929). His widow Sarah married
Edmund Hobart of Hingham 10 October, 1634, and died in 1639,
aged 53. (See Lechford, page 93.)

He was married to Sarah Oakley Mrs. Lyford Hobart before
1623.(7205)

7202. Ibid. 1-5G, 19 Nov 1997, citing abstract of the will of
Mrs. Sarah Stone that appeared in NEHGR 8:71-72 (January 1854).
7203. Charles Knowles Bolton. Real Founders of New England;
Stories of their Life along the Coast, 1602-1628 [Appendixes
Only].
Boston, MA: F. W. Faxon Co., 1929. p 156.
7204. Ibid. p 156.
7205. Ibid. p 156.

LYFORD, JOHN, came to N. E. in 1624, preached at Plymouth, from
whence he went to Nantasket, [Hull] and from thence to Cape Ann
in 1625. For mutinous conduct he was banished from Plymouth
colony. He sailed in 1627, with some of his people to Virginia,
and d. soon after his arrival there. Prince, i. Annals, 148,
152, 154, 169. The name of Lyford exists in New-Hampshire,
where are two magistrates bearing it. MORDICAI, was of Hingham
in 1642.

Farmer, John. Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of
New England. No publication information.