THOMAS DUDLEY

'Thomas Dudley' (October 12, 1576–July 31, 1653) was a colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
He was born in Northampton, England, the son of Capt. Roger Dudley and Susanna Thorne.^[1] It is postulated that his family was a scion of the noble Dudley family, originally of Sutton, but the exact connection is still a subject of some contention. His mother, however, was descended from Henry II of England. He was orphaned at the age of fourteen after his only living parent, his father, was killed at the Battle of Ivry. Thomas entered the service of several wealthy patrons, and was introduced to Puritanism in the late 1590s.
In the 30 years between his conversion and his eventual immigration with the Winthrop Fleet, Dudley served as steward to Theophilus, Earl of Lincoln, and apparently performed an exemplary job in solving the Earl's financial difficulties.
In 1629, with tension between the Puritans and the English government high, Dudley was chosen as one of the five officers to travel to the Americas under the Royal Charter. He was elected deputy governor; John Winthrop was elected governor. Travelling on the Arbella, the flagship of the Winthrop Fleet, Dudley arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. Perhaps due to his touchy nature, he clashed almost immediately with John Winthrop over the location of the seat of government of the new colony.
Dudley served as governor in 1634, 1640, 1645, and 1650. Throughout most of the other years of his time in Massachusetts, he served as deputy governor.
It was Dudley who signed the charter of Harvard College when he was Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Thomas Dudley married Dorothy Yorke in 1603, who died in 1643. He was remarried to Katherine Deighton the following year. His children include Rev. Samuel Dudley, Gov. Joseph Dudley and the poet Anne Bradstreet.
The ancestral Dudley castle is located at 52°30'50.89"N and 2° 4'47.62"W.

Contents

See also

Descendants of Thomas Dudley

Notes

External links

See also

★ Dudley-Winthrop Family

★ Billerica, Massachusetts

Descendants of Thomas Dudley

Thomas Dudley was a descendant of the Sutton Dudley clan of England, descended from Joan of Acre daughter of King Edward I of England and his wife Eleanor of Castile.
Descendants of his son Joseph Dudley married to Rebecca Tyng

★ John Kerry

★ Louis Auchincloss

★ Charles Eliot Norton

★ Charles William Eliot

★ Samuel Eliot Morison

★ John P. Marquand
Descendants of his daughter Anne Dudley married to Simon Bradstreet

★ Elliot Richardson

★ Jane Pierce

★ Herbert Hoover

★ David Souter

★ Robert Edwin Seamount

★ Benjamin Wade

★ William Putnam Bundy

★ McGeorge Bundy

★ Wendell Phillips

★ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

★ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

★ William Ellery Channing

★ William Ellery Channing (1818–1901)

★ William Henry Channing

★ Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

★ Edie Sedgwick

★ Kyra Sedgwick

★ Elisha Williams

★ Juliet Winters Carpenter

★ Steve Young

★ John Lithgow
Descendants of his daughter Mercy Dudley married to John Woodbridge

★ Daniel Coit Gilman

★ Sarah Orne Jewett

★ Humphrey Bogart

★ Robert E. Sherwood

★ Tasker H. Bliss

★ John Brown

★ Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.

★ Irene Castle

★ Elsie de Wolfe

★ Tennessee Williams

★ Edwin Arlington Robinson

★ Frank Nelson Doubleday

★ William Marsh Rice

★ Bob Boone

★ Aaron Boone

★ Bret Boone

★ Scott Carpenter

★ Arthur Vining Davis
Descendants of his daughter Patience Dudley married to Daniel Denison

★ Nicholas Gilman

★ John Taylor Gilman

★ Robert Gould Shaw

★ Francis Parkman

★ Robert Lowell

★ Harry Crosby
Descendants of his son Rev. Samuel Dudley married first to Mary Winthrop (son of John Winthrop), second to Mary Byley, and third to Elizabeth Smith

★ Kelsey Grammer

★ Christopher Reeve

★ Alan Shepard

★ A. Bartlett Giamatti

★ Paul Giamatti

★ John Langdon

★ Cyrus West Field

★ Source: New England Ancestors

★ Source: Ancestry of Sen. John Kerry

★ Source: New England Historic Genealogical Society

Notes

1. Dudley01

External links

★ Official Massachusetts Governors biography