Nicholas Upsall
| Nicholas Upsall | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1596 England |
| Died | August 20, 1666, age 70 Dorchester, Massachusetts, United States |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | innkeeper, landowner |
| Known for |
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| Spouse(s) | Dorothy Capen |
| Children | Amasa, Elizabeth, Susannah, and Experience |
Nicholas Upsall (c.1596 — 20 August 1666) was an early Puritan immigrant to the American Colonies, among the first 108 Freemen in colonial America. He was a trusted public servant who after 26 years as a Puritan, befriended persecuted Quakers and shortly afterwards joined the movement. He was banished from Massachusetts at 60 years of age and helped to found the first Monthly meeting of Friends in the United States at Sandwich, Massachusetts.
From their first arrival aboard the Mayflower in 1620, until 1629, only about 300 Puritans had survived in New England, scattered in small and isolated settlements. In 1630, their population was increased when the ship Mary and John arrived in New England carrying 140 passengers from the English West Country counties of Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. These included Nicholas Upsall, Roger Ludlowe, John Mason, Samuel Maverick, William Phelps, Henry Wolcott and other men who would become prominent in the founding of a new nation.
It was the first of the ships later called the Winthrop Fleet to land in Massachusetts. Nicholas married Dorothy Capen (1611–1675). They had fours daughters: Amasa, born December 1635; a daughter Elizabeth born December 1637 who married William Greenough on July 4, 1651; a daughter Susannah born July 12, 1639 who married Joseph Cooke on November 10, 1659; and Experience born January 19, 1640 who died August 2, 1659.
The earliest record of Nicholas Upsall was on September 28, 1630, when he was impanelled on a jury by the Court of Assistants to look into the death of Austen Bratcher. He applied for Freeman at the first General Court held in the Colonies on October 19, 1630 and took the Oath of Freemen among 108 others on May 18, 1631. Upsall was an upstanding Puritan and citizen for more than a quarter of a century. He was among the first to become a Freemen, possessing full citizenship as a result, and gained public trust, respect and esteem. He later found that his prior role in the community did not protect him against religious persecution.
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