Ancestry
Thomas Danforth, 1622-1699:
A Brief History of a
Remarkable Man in an uncertain time
Danforth Gallery marks its tenth anniversary in 1999 with The Spirit of Danforth 300th , a summer-long celebration of the life and times of Thomas Danforth, a significant yet often overlooked figure in seventeenth century Maine who died three hundred years ago in 1699.
Thomas Danforth was born in Framlingham, England in 1622 in a house that stands to this day. He was the oldest son of Nicholas Danforth, a widower with six children, who set sail for the colonies in 1634 to escape religious persecution for his Puritan beliefs. In 1638, Nicholas died and Thomas inherited his father’s property and became head of the family at the age of fifteen.
Danforth married Mary Withington in 1644, and they had twelve children. Of the twelve only two daughters survived him. As an indication of the hardship of life in seventeenth century New England, six of their children died before the age of two. During his life, Danforth accumulated a large land holding along the Sudbury River in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Danforth named his land holdings Framingham after his birthplace in England.
Thomas Danforth’s public career, a career that spanned fifty-five of his seventy-seven years, began in 1645 with his appointment as Selectman and Town Clerk of Cambridge in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Although he was not college educated, Danforth established himself in many positions of power and influence. He was well regarded by many of his peers. One of his contemporaries stated: "Mr. Danforth, through a long life, was one of the most energetic and useful citizens in the town [Cambridge] and the Colony."
Danforth served in other positions of leadership including thirty-eight years as Treasurer and Recorder of Middlesex County and as the first Treasurer of Harvard College and later as a Steward. Josiah Quincy, an early President of Harvard College, stated that Danforth was "the earliest, most steadfast and faithful of its friends."
Danforth also assumed senior political positions in the Massachusetts Bay Colony as Judge of the Superior Court, Member of the Council, and Deputy Governor under Governor Simon Bradstreet. According to the History of Cambridge, "probably nothing but the prolonged life of the venerable Bradstreet prevented his election as governor." He served as President of the Commissioners of the United Colonies. This organization was an important early model for the United States of America.
Thomas Danforth’s official association with Maine began with a controversial purchase of disputed land claims by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. According to John M. Merriam, a past President of the Framingham Historical Society, "the Colony outwitted the home government …by purchasing these claims to the territory known as Maine, and thereby without royal approval assumed and exercised the authority over this Province."
In 1680, Thomas Danforth sailed for Casco Bay attended by a party of sixty armed men. He came to Maine to establish a governing council and preside as the first President of the newly formed District of Mayne [Maine]. The Maine he encountered was a sparsely populated wilderness fraught with challenges and hardships for the pioneer settlers who lived there. During Danforth’s nine year term as President, he settled land claims; laid out well known streets in Falmouth, now Portland, including Fore Street, Middle Street, and Congress Street; lengthened truces with Native American tribes and negotiated release of captive settlers. He also defended the rights of the settlers against what he viewed as the unwarranted impositions of the English monarchy.
Perhaps the most intriguing characteristic of Thomas Danforth was his willingness to stand up for his convictions despite opposition. As a colonist, he risked being charged with high misdemeanors by the English monarchy for his acts on behalf of the rights of the colonists to choose their own leaders and to manage more freely their own affairs. One written passage from 1683, attributed to Danforth’s hand, states that if the original charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was "dissolved by his Majesty [King Charles II], against this people’s will and without their fault, what other bond remain to oblige them to him as subjects?" Such a statement is surprisingly inflammatory considering that it was written nearly one hundred years prior to the Declaration of Independence. One of Danforth’s contemporaries wrote: "he was confessedly the leader of the party in opposition to the arbitrary proceedings of the King and his counsellors."
During King Philip’s War, a Native American revolt in 1676, Danforth took the unpopular stand of defending the innocence of those Native Americans, called "praying Indians," who adopted Christianity and maintained an allegiance with the English. His convictions in this matter were so profound that he remained steadfast despite losing a son in a battle against the Native Americans at Narragansett and receiving threats of bodily harm from those who disagreed with him.
Although he was a participant in the initial council that investigated accusations of witchcraft in Salem in 1692, Danforth was not a judge during the trials and worked behind the scenes to end the process. According to his friend, the seventeenth century diarist Samuel Sewall, Danforth "did much to end the troubles under which the country groaned in 1692."
Thomas Danforth died on November 5, 1699 at the age of seventy-seven. Although Samuel Sewall described Danforth’s funeral in some detail in his diary, there is no record of Danforth’s gravesite. Danforth was a modest man who decided against recording his actions and observations in a diary, refrained from commissioning his portrait, and chose to name the settlement that he established along the Sudbury River, Framingham rather than Danforth.
While we can read his signature, official papers and a few personal letters, we must look to the themes of his era to better understand who he was and the challenges he faced. Thomas Danforth’s life is a portal to the past, one that lends itself to creative exploration. Danforth Gallery invites you to experience his world interpreted through the work of contemporary artists and historians.
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