49 Facts About John Wheelwright

John Wheelwright's stay in Exeter lasted only a few years, because Massachusetts activated an earlier claim on the lands there, forcing the banished John Wheelwright to leave.

John Wheelwright went further east, to Wells, Maine, where he was living when his order of banishment was retracted.

John Wheelwright returned to Massachusetts to preach at Hampton, where in 1654 his parishioners helped him get the complete vindication that he sought from the Massachusetts Court for the events of 17 years earlier.

In 1655 John Wheelwright moved back to England with his family, and preached near his home in Lincolnshire.

John Wheelwright was characterized as being contentious and unbending, but forgiving, energetic and courageous.

John Wheelwright, born about 1592, was the son of Robert Wheelwright of Cumberworth and Saleby in Lincolnshire, England.

When his father died in 1612, John Wheelwright administered the estate, and was the heir to some property in Lincolnshire.

John Wheelwright's grandfather, named John Wheelwright, died in 1611 at Mumby.

John Wheelwright then preached at Belleau, Lincolnshire, but was silenced by the Church authorities for his Puritan opinions.

John Wheelwright left England in 1636 with his second wife, her mother Susanna Hutchinson, and his five living children.

John Wheelwright was a strong advocate of Cotton's theology, as was Hutchinson, but their views differed from those of the majority of the colony's ministers, and they soon became embroiled in a major clash over this issue.

When confronted with accusations of familism, John Wheelwright denied preaching such a doctrine.

When John Wheelwright arrived in the colony, he became a firm ally of Cotton in these theological differences.

Cotton, whose theology rested on a covenant of grace, gave satisfaction to the other ministers that sanctification did help in finding grace in the eyes of God, and John Wheelwright agreed as well.

However, the effects of the conference were short-lived, because a majority of the members of the Boston church, Cotton's parishioners, held the free grace ideas strongly, and they wanted John Wheelwright to become the church's second pastor behind Cotton.

John Wheelwright noted that Cotton alone was of one party against the other ministers, not even thinking of Wheelwright as being a player in the developing controversy.

The next morning John Wheelwright was given a private session with the court at which time he asked who his accusers were.

One of the lines of attack used against John Wheelwright was identifying his doctrine, and that of Cotton, as being "False Doctrine" because of its difference from that of all of the other New England ministers.

Cotton's angry response to this was, "Brother John Wheelwright's Doctrine was according to God," letting the court know that by going after John Wheelwright they were going after him as well, and this essentially ended that line of attack.

John Wheelwright was intransigent and not interested in any reconciliation, so the court continued with its course.

John Wheelwright's conviction did not pass without a fight, and his friends protested formally.

However, the resentment over John Wheelwright's conviction was so high that over 60 men signed the document.

John Wheelwright was steadfast in his demeanor, but was not sentenced as the court adjourned for the evening.

Mr John Wheelwright being formerly convicted of contempt and sedition, and now justifying himselfe and his former practise, being to the disturbance of the civill peace, hee is by the Court disfranchized and banished.

The need of a government soon became apparent, and in 1640 a combination was drawn up by John Wheelwright and signed by himself, the members of the church, and other area inhabitants.

John Wheelwright then began looking for a new place to settle, and two of his partners from the 1638 purchase, Samuel Hutchinson and Nicholas Needham, began prospecting the region to the northeast.

John Wheelwright purchased 400 acres of land on the Ogunquit River and almost immediately built a sawmill and a house for his large family.

John Wheelwright Winthrop had even sent a personal letter to him, to which he responded.

John Wheelwright was not willing to desert his principles, though he "made a manly concession of his error, to bring about reconciliation and peace, as was eminently becoming his sacred calling".

John Wheelwright received intelligence concerning this publication at about the time he received the letter lifting his banishment with its unwarranted assumptions.

John Wheelwright was deeply stung by the tenor of this work, coming at a time when he was making serious inroads into putting the events of the controversy behind him with the help and encouragement of some influential magistrates and ministers in the Bay Colony.

John Wheelwright did not want his friends and relatives in England to get their impressions of his time in New England from this unfair account of those who had opposed him.

John Wheelwright had probably long felt that some reparation was due for the attitudes conveyed in both the Short Story and in his release from banishment, and his Hampton townsmen were likely well aware of this.

John Wheelwright chose to emphasize seven theological issues which he divided into three "propositions," and four "theses".

John Wheelwright goes on to accuse his prosecutors of engaging in "underhanded dealings," and working in secret.

John Wheelwright had learned of these dealings through a magistrate friend who secretly transcribed some of these proceedings and gave them to him.

The four theses stem from the synod of 1637, and herein John Wheelwright portrays himself as an orthodox minister following the lead of such early reformers as Calvin, Zanchi, the Synod of Dort, Beza, Perkins and others.

John Wheelwright ends his work claiming that he was right all along, and that he was not an Antinomian.

Later in his Apology John Wheelwright refers to the authors of Short Story, realizing that Weld was not alone in writing the material.

In late 1655, John Wheelwright moved back to England with his family, to Alford, the home town of his wife, Mary.

John Wheelwright probably spent most of his time in England in Lincolnshire, and besides preaching in Alford he likely preached at Belleau, the estate of Sir Henry Vane "who had greatly noticed him since his arrival in the kingdom".

John Wheelwright returned to New England in the summer of 1662 with several other ministers who had been visiting the kingdom.

Not easily rebuked, Pike enlisted support from other members of the church and town, following which John Wheelwright called for intervention by civil authorities.

In 1707, a deed was found among the ancient files of York County, Maine, near where John Wheelwright had brought his flock to settle in Wells.

The deed thus implied that John Wheelwright was present in New England in 1629, even though he was known to be the vicar of Bilsby in Lincolnshire at the time.

Sometime after Bell published his book on John Wheelwright, the missing transcript was found, proving almost conclusively that John Wheelwright had never left England during his ministry at Bilsby, and demonstrating with certainty that the deed of 1629 was a forgery.

Charles Bell, in his biography of John Wheelwright, provided a mixed assessment of the character of John Wheelwright, calling him contentious, lacking a conciliatory spirit, and never one to shrink from controversy.

Governor Winthrop, although he favored the proceedings against John Wheelwright, said publicly that "he did love that brother's person, and did honor the gifts and graces of God in him".

John Wheelwright had 12 children, 10 of whom survived to adulthood.