William Coddington was only eighteen when his father died. He was to inherit his father’s wealth and his mother’s land in Marston, but Coddington’s separatist leanings led him to Boston, Lincolnshire, where he joined the House of Burgesses. Coddington soon found himself in league with other men of import from Lincolnshire who made a stand against King Charles’ forced loan of 1626, but unlike John Whiting, the Mayor of Boston, he managed to not be thrown into prison.
Coddington became very close with the local vicar John Cotton, a brilliant man who shared his thoughts on church reform. The two were also friends with Isaac Johnson, who was married to Arbella Clinton, the sister of the Earl of Lincolnshire. The three men were considering the idea of joining the newly formed Massachusetts Bay Company, when the man who had recently been appointed to govern the colony came to stay with Isaac and Lady Arabella. This man was an attorney named John Winthrop.
BTW, Lady Arbella Clinton was named for Arbella Stuart, first cousin of King James. Both Arbella Stuart and famed explorer Sir Walter Raleigh were executed over accusations that they sought to overthrow her cousin. See my previous blog “Roger Williams, Banned In Boston Part 1” for more on this, and watch the 2007 movie Elizabeth: The Golden Age for more on Raleigh. Extended UK movie trailer available on my Roger Williams, Banned In Boston Part 1 post.
Back to Coddington…
Both of Coddington’s young sons had recently died, and it seems he decided to start again in New England. When he was alerted another party had backed out, William and his wife Mary boarded the aptly named Arbella and they sailed for Boston.
They were in quite the heady company on the Arbella. Some of their fellow passengers were of course Isaac and Lady Arbella Clinton Johnson, as well as the organizer of the fleet John Winthrop and family. Thomas Dudley, the former steward of Arbella’s father and future governor of Boston, and his family, and also, Sir Richard Saltonstall, nephew of the late Mayor of London, with his daughters. Plenty of important names accompanied the flotilla in other ships, but we’ll need at least an entire separate blog post to address them.
The tale of the Winthrop Fleet is a long one, but suffice to say the Arbella was not ravaged with smallpox as were some of the others. William Coddington and Mary made it safely to Salem, Massachusetts, but it seems Mary was not hearty enough for New England as she did not survive their first winter. Lady Arbella Clinton, her husband Isaac Johnson, and the physician they brought with them all died as well.
Having lost his children and now their mother and several of his friends, Coddington boarded the recently arrived ship Lyon. A mere nine months after his setting foot in the New World, he returned to England. The Lyon, which had just delivered Rev. Roger Williams to Boston, would also carry Rev. John Wilson (home to fetch his wife, as we said in the Roger Williams blog post) and Sir Richard Saltonstall, who had seen enough of New England and would never return.
Included in posts headed for England with Coddington and the Lyon were letters from Governor Winthrop and wife. Their son Henry had drowned, and they instructed their son John Jr., now head of Groton house, to be sure his widow was well taken care of financially, and also they encouraged him to put her directly in the way of William Coddington, who was someone they found a very suitable match for their widowed daughter-in-law.
I would really love to know more on that story, but what I do know is that even though William was impressed by the Widow Winthrop, he was more impressed by the very wealthy Mary Mosely whose late father was an acquaintance of Rev. Wilson. Her nephew and heir to the Mosely fortune would eventually be the publisher of the works of poet John Milton.
Following his marriage to Mary Mosely, Coddington did not immediately return to Boston though he longed for it. Perhaps it was difficult to get her to leave her giant manorhouse to sail across the sea, but eventually he convinced her, though he did have to bring enough bricks from England to build her another giant house when they reached Boston, true story.
He was quickly made a magistrate of Boston, and later Treasurer of the Colony, but Coddington soon butted heads with John Winthrop who may have still been sore that William had chosen a different bride. And besides, who didn’t butt heads with Winthrop?
Deciding New England was now his home, Coddington sailed to England to liquidate his holdings there and returned to Boston flush with cash. Winthrop and he made peace (briefly), and Winthrop helped him win a position on the board of land division, which Coddington was to use to great advantage. He began to buy up great swaths of land, and with his friends Rev. Wilson and Edmund Quincy, an acquaintance from Boston, Lincolnshire, established the town of Braintree (birthplace of John Hancock, John Adams, and John Quincy Adams), or at least they built the early settlement up into a respectable town.
Anyway, by now you should have the gist. Coddington was a power player in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. And on the 1635 arrival of Lord Henry Vane the Younger, the two became fast friends. Upon the advice of Henry Vane, Coddington brought John Wheelwright from England to pastor the Mount Wollaston Church at Braintree.
Of course someone else may have had a heavy influence. Coddington and Vane were quite enamored with the sister-in-law of John Wheelwright, Mrs. Anne Marbury Hutchinson. As Anne was wont to do, her acquaintance would have a profound impact on the lives of both men.