Peter Bulkeley migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Great Migration (Series 2), by R. C. Anderson, vol. 1, p. 459) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm
Peter received his B.A. in 1604/5 from St. John's College, Cambridge,[1][2] and became a fellow.[3] He went on to earn his M.A. in 1608.[1][2][3][5] He became a minister,[1] being ordained at Ely as deacon and priest in June 1608, prebendary/canon of Lichfield Cathedral in 1609 and was named University preacher in 1610[2][5] at Cambridge.[3] He succeeded his father, the Reverend Edward Bulkley, as rector of Odell, Bedfordshire, on 12 January 1609/10[2] and was incorporated at Oxford later that year.[1][3]
According to Magnalia Christi AmericanaPeter received from his father a substantial inheritance, i.e. "the Estate of a Gentleman."[4][3]
Peter's religious views became increasingly non-conformist and Puritan and, in 1634, he was suspended for not attending the visitation of the Vicar General.[2] He had previously been protected by the Bishop of Lincoln until 1635, when he was silenced by Archbishop William Laud.[3] Later that year, he sold his property and emigrated to New England with his servants and family.[3]
Emigration to Massachusetts
Peter arrived in Massachusetts on the ship Susan & Ellen in 1635, first settling in Newtown (later Cambridge), Massachusetts[2] and later removing to Concord, Massachusetts.[1][3]
On 13 April 1635 "Grace Bewlie", age 30 and "Jo[hn] Backley", age 15, were in London and listed as passengers on the Susan & Ellen; on 18 April 1635, "Ben[jamin] Buckley", age 11, and "Daniel Buckley", age 9, were enrolled on the same ship. On 8 May 1635, "Grace Bulkley," age 33 was listed in London as a passenger on the Elizabeth & Ann and, the next day, "Peter Bulkley", age 50, was enrolled on the same ship. Anderson posits that "the long drawn out enrollments and lack of effort to standardize spelling of the names were reflections of the family's attempt to board the ship without being apprehended."[1]
A list of "houses" in Cambridge, dated 8 February 1635/6, reported that "Mr. Peter Buckly" owned five of them and, by 1 February 1644/5, he is was selling property as Peter Bulkeley, minister of Concord.[1]
In 1636, along with other proprietors, Peter was a co-founder of the town of Concord at Musketaquid, about 20 miles inland from Boston, on lands they had purchased from the Native Americans. Peter had large holdings of land in Concord, along with ownership interests in a gristmill and an ironworks.[3]
He was co-organizer with John Jones of the first church in Concord, Massachusetts in 1636 and, in 1637, he was selected teacher at the church[2] and John Jones was installed as the pastor.[3] When Jones and a number of parishoners removed to Connecticut in 1644, Peter took charge of both roles in the church.[3]
From Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:
"Bulkeley appears in Mather's pages as a learned, diligent preacher, an earnest catechizer, a strict sabbath keeper, and a stickler for plain garb and short hair—the image of a puritan's puritan. His relations with his flock were marked by tensions arising from the 'great exactness of his piety' (Mather, 1.402). But although he took a relatively high view of clerical prerogatives, and his congregation sometimes chafed against his autocratic temper, Mather says he held their affection by 'a sort of winning and yet prudent familiarity' and commanded their respect by force of moral character (ibid., 1.401–2)."[3]
He published [a revised version of] The Gospel Covenant Opened in 1651,[2] the book (aka The Gospel-Covenant or The Covenant of Grace Opened) having been previously published in quarto in London in 1646. In his book, he called New England a "Citie upon an hill … a Beacon on the top of a mountaine" (Bulkeley, Gospel-Covenant, 1646, 15).[3]
Marriages and Children
Peter married first on 12 April 1613, in Goldington, Bedfordshire, to Jane Allen, daughter of Thomas Allen, Gent., and Mary Fairclough.[2] They had seven sons and two daughters together.
[Rev.] Edward,[2] baptized at Odell 12 June 1614; attended St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, 1629; married Lucian ____.[1] Edward preceded the rest of the family to New England by one year, becoming a member of the Boston church on 22 March 1634/5.[1] Edward followed his father into the ministry.[3]
Mary,[2] baptized at Odell 24 August 1615 and was buried there 13 January 1615/6.[1]
Thomas,[2] baptized at Odell 13 April 1617; married by 1640 (first child born 12 August 1640) to Sarah Jones, daughter of Rev. John Jones.[1]
Nathaniel,[2] baptized at Odell 29 November 1618 and buried there 11 February 1628/9.[1]
[Rev.] John,[2] baptized at Odell 6 February 1619/20; married first in Odell in 1650[/1?] to Anne Try; married second in 1667 (license) at Harrow-on-the-Hill, Middlesex, to Elizabeth (____) Okes of East Smithfield; married third to Avis _____.[1] John later became a minister.[3]
Mary, again[2] baptized at Odell 1 November 1621; no further record.[1]
Joseph,[2] baptized at Odell 4 May 1623, called "Benjamin" in passenger list in 1635 and was living in 1658 and died without issue.[1]
Daniel,[2] baptized at Odell 28 August 1625 and predeceased his father.[1]
Jabez,[2] baptized at Odell 24 December 1626 (after his mother's death) and was buried there 2 December 1629.[1]
"Despite the fact that Mather indicates Peter had nine sons and two daughters with his first wife, Jacobus found no record of the ninth son [Magnalia 1:403]. Others have added children George, Richard and William to his progeny with his first wife, but offered no evidence [Wethersfield Hist 2:147-151]."[1]
Jane Allen Bulkeley died in England and was buried at Odell, Bedfordshire, on 8 December 1626.[2]
Peter married second about April 1635 to Grace Chetwood, "a virtuous daughter of Sir Richard [Chetwode]/Chetwood)", by Dorothy Needham,[2] his second wife.[6][7] They had three sons and one daughter:
[Rev.] Gershom,[2] born about 1636; Harvard College 1655; married 1659 to Sarah Chauncy.[1] Gershom became a minister.[3]
Eleazer,[2] born about 1638; Harvard class of 1658 but did not graduate; named in 1663 division of father's land; no further record.[1]
Dorothy,[2] born in Concord 2 August 1640; living, unmarried, at time of father's 1658 will.[1]
[Dr.] Peter,[2] born in Concord 12 August 1643; attended college, but did not graduate; married by 1670 to Margaret ____.[1]
Death and Estate
Rev. Peter Bulkeley died on 9 March 1658/9 in Concord, Massachusetts,[1][2] aged 76 years.[3] His widow, Grace, died 21 April 1669 at New London, Connecticut.[1][2]
Peter's will, dated 14 April 1658, was proved 20 June 1659,[2] and named his wife as sole executrix and "my loving brethren," Deacons Robert Merriam and Luke Potter, along with William Hunt and Timothy Wheeler as overseers.[1] His estate included a house with outbuildings, about 1600 acres of land, a mill, cash and books. Before making his will, he had previously given a part of his library to Harvard College.[3][8]
His will specifically named the following:
his sons Edward, John, Eleazer, Peter, Joseph and daughter, Dorothy[1]
his daughter-in-law, widow of his son, Thomas, deceased[1]
"my Lord Oliver St. John Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas" (nephew of Peter)[1]
his "dear wife & her heirs by me begotten" and "should any of the children be disobedient, she to have power to alter their legacies"[1][3]
In a codicil dated 13 January 1658/9, he gave a part of the mill and iron works to his wife.[1]
In a second codicil dated 26 February 1658/9 he asked that his overseers see that his will was not altered and also appended a list of books to his will, directing that a portion of them be given to his son, Edward and the other part "to my son Gershom".[1]
"On 30 September 1663, Grace Bulkeley, relict of Mr. Peter Bulkeley of Concord, sold three quarters to Timothy Wheeler and one quarter to George Wheeler of all her property in Concord, excepting ten acres intended for Mr. Edward Bulkeley." The property Grace sold included a dwelling house, other outbuildings, and a total of 725 acres of land. In October 1663, the lands bequeathed to Peter's sons Eleazer and Peter were divided, 750 acres to Eleazer and the rest to Peter.[1]
Research Notes
He was christened 30 June 1583 at Odell, Bedfordshire, England.[citation needed] - event/date not found. "31 January 1582" is given as a date of birth in Magnalia Christi Americana.[4]
↑ 5.05.1 Venn, J. A., comp., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Vol I (Abbas-Cutts), Part I. (London, England: Cambridge University Press, 1922). Online at Archive.org, page 250.
Anderson, Robert Charles, George F. Sanborn, Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Vol. 1, A-B, (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1999). Online at AmericanAncestors.org (online database extracted from print volume at NEHGS), pages 459-465.
Richardson, Douglas. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham. 2nd edition. (Salt Lake City, UT: the author, 2011). See also WikiTree's source page for Magna Carta Ancestry.
Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham. (Salt Lake City, UT: the author, 2013). See also WikiTree's source page for Royal Ancestry.
See also:
Jacobus, Donald Lines. The Bulkeley Genealogy (New Haven, CT: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Co., 1933). Online at HathiTrust, pages 92 -111, citing Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana. NOTE: In 1933 he corrected some errors regarding this immigrant and his family as published in "Records of Littleton" [TAG 9:227], and in 1944 he wrote at length on the connections of Grace Chetwood [TAG 21:69-83] (Anderson, p 465).
Tomlinson, Richard G. The Reverend Dr. Gershom Bulkeley, Connecticut’s Exasperating Genius, Connecticut Nutmegger (Glastonbury, CT: Connecticut Society of Genealogists, June 2009). Online at AmericanAncestors.org, Vol. 42, No. 1, Page 32 (with subscription).
This profile was re-reviewed and approved by Traci Thiessen 5 February 2020.
Peter Bulkeley is listed in Magna Carta Ancestry as a Gateway Ancestor (vol. I, pages xxiii-xxix) and is in a Richardson-documented trail to Magna Carta surety baronSaher de Quincy (MCA I:346-348 BULKELEY). This trail was project-approved/badged in Feb 2015 by a Magna Carta project member and was re-reviewed in Feb 2020. See the Magna Carta Trails section in the profile of his father, Edward Bulkeley, to see the profiles in this trail.
See Base Camp for more information about identified Magna Carta trails and their status. See the project's glossary for project-specific terms, such as a "badged trail".
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I added links to the sources for the Parish Records. There may be more from these records that should be added to this profile, or to other family members.
In using results from FTDNA'S Family Finder/autosomal DNA, I've traced my Maryland Emersons to have a connection with Massachusetts Emersons. As such, I've also found matches to folks descended from the Bulkeley family, and I think I'm seeing Bulkeley DNA on Chromosome 1. Anyone else establish their Bulkeley DNA on a specific chromosome?
The following appears in the Accounts Book of Isaac Tryon (1742 - 1823) written by his granddaughter, Maroa Chapman Tennant on unused pages at the end of the book (probably about 1858): "our great grandmother was a Treat and her mother was a Bulkley daughter of Gershom Bulkley and he was son of Rev Peter Bulkley who came over from England and the wife of Peter (Gershom Mother) was the woman that lay in a trance several days while on the water coming over to this country and was supposed to be dead but by the urgent request of her husband the body was kept three days beyond the time appointed for committing it to the deep, then signs of life appeared and Gershom was born after they arrived to this Country". Photographic scans of the original material can be found online at http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/medren/pageturn.html?id=MEDREN_4919578&doubleside=0&rotation=0&size=1¤tpage=1
Bulkeley-4 and Bulkeley-534 appear to represent the same person because: Date and place of birth very similar, both ministers, date and place of death the same
Douglas Richardson, in Magna Carta Ancestry, A Study in Colonial & Medieval Families, Vol I, page 348, lists seven sons by Peter's first wife Jane Allen: Edward, Thomas, Nathaniel, John, Joseph, Daniel, Jabez, and three sons by his second wife Grace Chetwode: Gershom, Eleazar and Dr. Peter.
No William or David with either wife. Possibly they were his nephews, not sons?
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Child of Richard Chetwode, Knt., by Dorothy Needham:
i. Grace Chetwode, married [Rev.] Peter Bulkeley, of Concord, Massachusetts and Odell, Bedfordshire.
Thank you!
Hi! Please replace the coding for the Gateway template with the actual project box (see this page).
Thanks!
No William or David with either wife. Possibly they were his nephews, not sons?
How about David?