It is strange to imagine that the reason the American Fairchild family has been in this country for almost four centuries has to do with actions taken long ago by kings and queens in England and Scotland, but this is in fact how the Fairchild journey from the old to the new world took place. In order to understand the circumstances that led to Thomas Fairchild emigrating from England to the wilderness that was the American colonies in 1639 it is necessary to understand events that took place in England in the 16th and 17th centuries starting with Martin Luther’s break from the Catholic church in 1517 through Thomas Fairchild’s leaving England only 19 years after the Pilgrims settled Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620, and settling in the American colonies in 1639. Events that occurred over approximately 100 years prior to his journey set the stage for the great Puritan migration to the United States in search of religious freedom.
HISTORY OF THE PURITANS IN ENGLAND
Religious Change in 16th and 17th Century England
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there was considerable political, social and religious upheaval in England but most relevant to our family history are the tumultuous events involving religious matters. These events started with Martin Luther’s break from the Catholic Church in 1517. He was offended that the Pope in Rome ordered priests to sell statues and other artifacts to help fund completion of the Basilica and telling parishioners that they must buy these items in order to get to Heaven. Consequently Martin Luther laid the foundations of the modern Protestant movement that quickly spread throughout Europe.
As the movement gained momentum English monarchs took steps to distance England from Papal influence. Henry VIII in the 1530s and his successors positioned the Church of England as the primary source of religious practice. Doing so gave English monarchs ability to directly control and influence church policy and religious practice in England. Over the ensuing decades the English people tended to align with either Protestant or Church of England congregations, splitting their allegiances evenly between the two faiths. Some, however, remained loyal to the Roman Catholic Church.
During the subsequent reigns of Edward VI, Mary Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth I reforms were introduced in the English church. Parts of the mass shifted from Latin to English and a Book of Common Prayer was introduced to replace aged Latin prayers. Elizabeth I who reigned for 45 years is recognized as one of England’s greatest monarchs, advancing literacy and artistic achievement. She is also credited with moderating the pace of change in the Church of England and brokering peace between Protestants, Church of England parishioners, Church of England reformers (known as Puritans because they wanted to “purify” the Church), and Roman Catholics who remained loyal to the Pope. Elizabeth’s ability to pacify these diverse groups over a long period of time is generally referred to as the Elizabethan settlement.
The Puritans followed the teachings of religious reformers John Wycliffe (c. 1330–1384) and John Calvin (1509–1564). They desired to “purify” the Church of England (also known as the Anglican Church). The Puritans believed too much power rested with priests, bishops, and cardinals who were the highest church officials. Stressing Bible reading and individual prayer, they advocated that congregation members be more directly involved in church affairs and they demanded simplified worship services. Puritans defied the authority of church leaders, contending that each congregation should manage its own affairs under the guidance of a council (called a presbytery) composed of congregation members.
Rise of Religious Persecution in England
Despite the Elizabethan settlement both Protestants and Puritans continued to push their respective views. Elizabeth tired of the bickering and in 1577 issued an edict requiring that everyone belong to the Church of England, effectively ending any pretense of religious freedom in England. By the end of the 16th century Puritanism had been forced underground.
When the Protestant King James of Scotland ascended to the throne in 1603 there was hope among both Puritans and Catholics that there would more religious tolerance. Over time James came to believe that the Puritan desire to eliminate senior church clergy might lead to similar perceptions regarding the monarchy and eventually he declared that he would “harry Puritans out of the land.” It was, in fact, his son Charles I who pressed Puritans so hard that it ignited the Great Migration from England of more than 80,000 English including Thomas Fairchild that took place from 1620 to 1640.
William Laud was a senior official in the Church of England and he demonstrated strong dislike of Puritans over the years. In 1633 Charles I appointed Laud as Archbishop of Canterbury. One of Laud’s priorities was to suppress the Puritans and he sent commissioners into almost every parish to ensure that they were following prescribed practices and that there was no Puritan activities.
From 1629-1640 Charles I dissolved Parliament and ruled England as an autocrat. This period is known as the Eleven Years of Tyranny. When Charles ascended to the throne he faced the challenge of a severe lack of funds. Charles and his advisors developed various schemes to raise funds including the infamous “Ship Money” tax which taxed inland counties to contribute to funding the English Navy. He also fined descendants of property owners claiming that the ancestors were required to serve as knights but did not do so. By 1635 Charles was solvent but the seeds of rebellion had been planted. In 1637 a Buckinghamshire squire refused to pay the Ship money and triggered negative public opinion. At the same time Charles and Laud enraged Scots by proposing religious changes in Scotland leading to riots in Edinburgh. Only a few years later, in 1642, the English Civil War began.
These historical events are recounted because they occurred while Thomas Fairchild was a young man. Born in 1610 the above events occurred when he was in his teens and early twenties. Clearly they were contributing factors in his thinking regarding leaving England and traveling to the “New World.”
Puritan Beliefs and Motives
Understanding the Puritan movement is important in understanding the English settlement of New England in the 17th century. Those who eventually migrated to America did not want to destroy the Anglican Church, but they did seek to reform or purify it. Their beliefs placed emphasis on the autonomy of the individual congregation rather than rule by a clerical hierarchy. Puritans came from the working class – they included farmers, merchants, professional men and scholars. Yet over time they came to be perceived and persecuted as “dismal religious fanatics.”
THE GREAT MIGRATION: PURITAN EMIGRATION TO AMERICA 1620 TO 1650
During the Great Migration to America in the first half of the 17th century 35 Puritan churches were established in New England. The Puritan culture shaped New England and its people. Its followers were serious, religious people who advocated strict religious and moral principles. Hard work was considered a religious duty. The Puritans were averse to traditional forms of entertainment such as theater. They lived a life of hard work and religious practice with little interest in activities not directly related to those two things.
The Puritans brought with them a philosophy of life, which is popularly known as American Puritanism. A dominant factor in American life, Puritanism was one of the most enduring and shaping influences in American thought and American literature. Puritanism emphasized preeminence of the individual, freedom from oppressive governments, and the value of learning and education. It led early Americans to examine their beliefs, their world, and each other and gave ordinary men and women a sense of purpose. It encouraged them to scrutinize issues in religion and in government and to speak out. It helped to create in Americans a sense of duty to their God, nation, and fellow men. It taught men and women to judge others by how they lived, not by their birth.
On the one hand, Puritanism is a highly strict religious doctrine. The Puritans were determined to find a place on the new continent where they could worship God in the way they thought true Christians should. When they arrived on the continent, they saw virgin land, virgin forests, vast expanses of wilderness, and therefore believed that they were sent by God for a definite purpose. Contending that there is only one God who rules everything on the earth, Puritans thought they were “the selected few”, chosen by God to reestablish a Commonwealth based on the teachings of the Bible, restore the lost paradise and turn the wilderness into a new Garden of Eden. “Therefore the journey to the New World was not just a migration. It was a new Exodus, ordained by God and foretold in the Bible, just as the Bible promised the creation of a New Jerusalem, in America.”
On the other hand, Puritanism also has its practical aspect. When the Puritans first landed on the continent, they faced wilderness that offered no shelter, food or clothes. Their struggle for survival and expansion made them more and more preoccupied with business and profits. They worked hard to make a living but were ready for misfortunes and tragic failures.
SETTLEMENT OF PLYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS IN 1620
The Pilgrims arrived at Cape Cod on November 11, 1620. They faced a harsh, cold and unwelcome environment and landed amid various tribes of Indians living in the Northeast at that time. Fortunately for the Pilgrims the Indians had faced a devastating decrease in population along coastal areas caused by disease carried from Europe by the many fishing vessels that traveled to present-day Maine and other locations along the coast. When the Pilgrims shifted from the barrier area on tip of Cape Cod that is now Provincetown across Cape Cod Bay and started their settlement at Plymouth on December 21, 1620 they were setting the stage for thousands of others who would follow in their footsteps.
In March 1621 the Plymouth leaders forged an awkward peace agreement with Massasoit, leader of the Wampanoag Indians. Following the 1621 Peace Treaty an Indian named Squanto who spoke English took up residence near Plymouth and taught the Pilgrims how to plant crops that Indians survived on, fertilize crops with fish, catch eels and follow other Indian survival practices. He accompanied the Pilgrims as guide and interpreter visiting Indian tribes on trading missions. The peace treaty he helped negotiate enabled the Pilgrims to travel about the region without fear from Indian attack.
Over the next 20 years other significant “plantations” were settled in New England. John Winthrop and 900 colonists settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony at Boston in 1630.
MIGRATION FROM MASSACHUSETTS TO CONNECTICUT
The Fairchild family name is of long standing in England, the coat-of-arms indicating that members of it were in the Crusades from (A. D. 1096 to 1400). The name is said to have been Fairbairn in Scotland, whence the family passed into England.
It is not entirely clear when Thomas Fairchild came to America. We know that he was one of the first settlers of Stratford, Connecticut in 1639 but it is not clear if he came directly from England to Stratford via Boston or if he was in the colonies earlier. For that reason it is useful to discuss early Connecticut settlement in case he was part of those events.
Thomas Hooker was born in July 1586 in Leicestershire, England. He attended Queens College, Cambridge, and then Emmanuel College, graduating with a BA in 1608 and an MA in 1611. About 1620 he became rector of St. George’s in Esher, Surrey and moved to St. Mary’s Church in Chelmsford, Essex in 1626. In 1629 Bishop William Laud threatened to arrest him for his Puritanism and he left the ministry and became a school teacher. However he continued to provide consultation and support to other Puritan ministers and in 1630 was summoned to appear before the High Commission Court. Rather than face imprisonment he left England for Holland and in 1633 set sail for New England. He settled in Cambridge near Boston and again became minister to others who settled in Cambridge from the Chelmsford, Essex area.
As the Massachusetts colonial government took shape in the 1620s and 1630s it adopted policies that were very restrictive in terms of voting and other rights. Only members of the Puritan church were accorded full rights and privileges. Despite leaving England to avoid religious persecution Massachusetts leaders in fact implemented its own version of those policies.
Thomas Hooker’s protests over the lack of suffrage and denial of rights to non-Puritans in Massachusetts caused him to be at odds with the influential minister Joseph Cotton. Given the strong disagreements over colony leadership Hooker and his followers elected to leave Cambridge. On May 31, 1636 a majority of the congregation migrated westward across the wilderness to a site along the Connecticut River which they named Hartford, after Hertford, England. There Hooker undertook once again the work of establishing a new community and church. As one of the key leaders of this new colony he helped enact a constitution that provided equal rights to all male citizens regardless of their religion, setting the stage for democratic ideals that were to flourish in the Colonies over the next century. Thomas Hooker remained a leader in both the religious and governmental arenas for the remainder of his life.
It is not clear if Thomas Fairchild was part of Hooker’s migration from the Boston area to the Hartford wilderness. Only three years after Hartford was established Thomas Fairchild became a founding member of the new Stratford, Connecticut plantation located approximately 55 miles downriver. It is entirely possible that he was part of Thomas Hooker’s contingent although we have no proof that he was a member.
FOUNDING OF STRATFORD, CONNECTICUT
Bridgeport, Connecticut is the present day location of Stratford which was founded by Thomas Fairchild and his fellow Puritans in the spring of 1639. Stratford Village was located on the Housatonic River about one and a half miles from the Long Island Sound, fourteen miles from New Haven, 55 miles from Hartford and 58 miles from present-day New York City. Stratford was the seventh “plantation” settled within Connecticut.
Stratford was founded in 1639. There is some tradition that reports that it was actually first settled in 1638 by William Judson and perhaps a few other families. It is not certain if Thomas Fairchild and his family were part of the initial settlers. By 1639 Puritan leader Reverend Adam Blakeman and a small group of followers arrived from Whethersfield.
When the English arrived at the location of Stratford it was occupied by a tribe of Mohawk Indians who used the local name of Cupheag, which meant harbor or place of shelter. The Indians referred to the area as Pequannock, which meant cleared field. The plantation was known as Cupheag in 1639, referred to by Connecticut’s General Court (Assembly) as Pequonnocke in June 1640, and Stratford by 1643.
Approximately 16 families accompanied Rev. Blakeman on this journey, including Thomas Fairchild. Like other Puritan towns founded during this time, both church and town leadership in early Stratford church was provided by the church and its pastor and layman leaders. One source who interviewed living persons from the founding era reported the following:
“Mr. Fairchild, who was a principal planter, and the first gentleman in the town vested with civil authority,” came directly from England. Mr. John and Mr. William Curtiss and Mr. Joseph Hawley were from Roxbury, and Mr. William Judson and Mr. William Willcoxson from Concord in Massachusetts. These were the first principal gentlemen in the town and church of Stratford. A few years after the settlement commenced, Mr. John Birdseye removed from Milford and became a man of eminence both in the town and church. There were also several of the chief planters from Boston, and Mr. Samuel Wells, with his three sons, John, Thomas and Samuel, from Wethersfield, Mr. Adam Blakeman, who had been ordained in England, and a preacher of some note, first at Leicester and after- wards in Derbyshire, was their minister, and one of the first planters. It is said that he was followed by a number of the faithful into this country.”
Blakeman ruled Stratford until his death in 1665. His passing was accompanied by pressures among second generation citizens for change and relief from the exceptional rigid austerity of the town’s founders. Over time Stratford’s culture changed and was gradually replaced with more standard colonial administration. By the late 17th century, the Connecticut government had assumed political control over Stratford.