John Leverett
| John Leverett | |
|---|---|
Engraved portrait of Leverett in his military uniform (artist unknown)
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| Governor of Acadia (military) | |
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In office 1654–1657 |
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| Preceded by | Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour |
| Succeeded by | Sir Thomas Temple (as proprietor of Nova Scotia) |
| 19th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony | |
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In office 1673–1679 |
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| Preceded by | Richard Bellingham |
| Succeeded by | Simon Bradstreet |
| Personal details | |
| Born | baptized 7 July 1616 Boston, Lincolnshire, England |
| Died | 16 March 1679 (aged 62–63) Massachusetts Bay Colony |
| Religion | Puritanism |
| Signature | _(signature).png) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
Parliament army Massachusetts Bay Colony militia |
| Years of service | 1644–1648 (Parliament army) 1649–1673 (Massachusetts militia) |
| Rank | Captain (Parliament army) Major-general (Massachusetts militia) |
| Commands | Massachusetts militia |
| Battles/wars | English Civil War |
John Leverett (baptized 7 July 1616 – 16 March 1678/9) was an English colonial magistrate, merchant, soldier and governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Born in England, he came to Massachusetts as a teenager. He was a leading merchant in the colony, and served in its military. In the 1640s he went back to England to fight in the English Civil War.
He was opposed to the strict Puritan religious orthodoxy in the colony. He also believed the colonial government was not within the power of the English crown and government, a politically hardline position that contributed to the eventual revocation of the colonial charter in 1684. His business and military activities were sometimes intermingled, leading some in the colony to view him unfavorably. However, he was popular with his troops, and was repeatedly elected governor of the colony from 1673 until his death in 1679. He oversaw the colonial actions in King Philip's War, and expanded the colony's territories by purchasing land claims in present-day Maine.
John Leverett was baptized 7 July 1616 at St Botolph's Church in Boston, Lincolnshire. His father, Thomas Leverett, was a close associate of John Cotton, the church's Puritan pastor, and served as one of the church's elders. Nothing is known of his mother, Anne Fisher, beyond that she bore her husband 16 children. Of John Leverett's youth nothing is known prior to the family's departure for the New World in 1633. By the early 1630s Leverett's father was an alderman in Boston, and had acquired, in partnership with John Beauchamp of the Plymouth Council for New England, a grant now known as the Waldo Patent for land in what is now the state of Maine. When the family arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony it settled in the capital, also called Boston. Leverett married Hannah Hudson in 1639. She bore him a son, Hudson, in 1640, and died in 1643. In 1640 Leverett was made a freeman.
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