Peter Bulkley
| Peter Bulkeley | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
31 January 1583 Odell, Bedfordshire, England |
| Died | 9 March 1659 (aged 76) Concord, Massachusetts Bay Colony |
| Nationality | British |
| Other names | Bulkeley |
| Occupation | Puritan |
| Known for | Founder of Concord, Massachusetts |
Peter Bulkley or Bulkeley (January 31, 1583 – March 9, 1659) was an influential early Puritan minister who left England for greater religious freedom in the American colony of Massachusetts. He was a founder of Concord, and was named by descendant Ralph Waldo Emerson in his poem about Concord, Hamatreya.
According to the 8th edition of Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, Bulkley is a descendant of the Plantagenets, and was born in Odell, Bedfordshire, England. He was admitted to St. John's College at Cambridge University at the age of sixteen, where he received several degrees. At one point he was even a Fellow of St. John's. After finishing his education, Bulkley succeeded his father as rector of Odell, 1610-1635. During this time Bulkley followed in his father's footsteps as a non-conformist. Finally in the 1630s there were increasing complaints about his preaching, and he was silenced by Archbishop Laud for his unwillingness to conform with the requirements of the Anglican Church.
In 1633, Charles I reissued the Declaration of Sports, an ecclesiastical limitation on allowed recreational activities, with the stipulation that any minister unwilling to read from the pulpit should be removed, and Bulkley's sentiments, along with others in the Puritan movement, were against it. In 1634, Bulkley refused to wear a surplice or use the Sign of the Cross at a visitation for Archbishop William Laud. For this infraction he was ejected from the parish, at least temporarily.
Within the year he emigrated to New England, coming aboard the Susan and Ellen in 1635. He was ordained at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in April 1637, and "having carried a good number of planters with him into the woods", became the first minister in Musketaquid, later named Concord. He was "noted even among Puritans for the superlative stiffness of his Puritanism". In March 1638 during the Antinomian Controversy, he was one of the ministers who sat during the church trial of Anne Hutchinson, which resulted in her excommunication from the Boston church. In 1635, a group of settlers from Britain led by Rev. Peter Bulkley and Major Simon Willard negotiated a land purchase with the remnants of the local tribe. Bulkley was an influential religious leader who "carried a good number of planters with him into the woods";[6] Willard was a canny trader who spoke the Algonquian language and had gained the trust of Native Americans.[7] Their six-square-mile purchase formed the basis of the new town, which was called "Concord" in appreciation of the peaceful acquisition.
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