Israel Stoughton (c. 1603 – 1644) was an early English colonist in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

and a colonial commander in the Pequot War. Returning to England, he served as Parliamentarian officer in the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Anglo ...

Life

Born in England, a younger brother of John Stoughton, Stoughton emigrated to the Massachusetts Colony in 1630. He settled at Dorchester near Richard Callicot's trading post. Stoughton was admitted as a freeman at Dorchester on 5 November 1633. In 1634 Stoughton was allowed to build the first mill on the

Neponset River The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium. From there, the Neponset meanders generally northeast for about to its mouth at ...

in what is now the

Dorchester-Milton Lower Mills Industrial District The Dorchester-Milton Lower Mills Industrial District is a historic district on both sides of the Neponset River in the Dorchester area of Boston and in the town of Milton, Massachusetts. It encompasses an industrial factory complex, most of w ...

. Stoughton was chosen as a representative for Dorchester in the

Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from th ...

in 1634 and 1635. Stoughton had several apprentices and servants, including John Whipple. During the height of the

Antinomian Controversy The Antinomian Controversy, also known as the Free Grace Controversy, was a religious and political conflict in the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. It pitted most of the colony's ministers and magistrates against some adherents of ...

in the colony, Stoughton wrote a book that attacked the colony's constitution. The book offended some members of the General Court, which barred Stoughton from holding any colony offices for three years. Stoughton later petitioned that the book be ‘forthwith burnt, as being weak and offensive.’ Despite this reversal, the General Court maintained their ban until 1636. In 1637, the General Court allowed Stoughton to become an assistant. Lower_Mills_MA

In 1636,

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

broke out between the

Pequot The Pequot () are a Native American people of Connecticut. The modern Pequot are members of the federally recognized Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, four other state-recognized groups in Connecticut including the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, or t ...

tribe and the three New England colonies and their Native American allies. Appointed commander of the Massachusetts Colony militia, Stoughton reportedly employed brutal tactics against the Pequots. In 1637 Stoughton transported Pequot prisoners to Massachusetts to serve as servants, and Stoughton requested "the fairest and largest" of the Pequot female prisoners to be his servant. He also had African American slaves or servants, including the well-known,

Dorcas ye blackmore Dorcas ye blackmore (c. 1620 – after 1677) was one of the first named African Americans to settle in New England. In 1641, she became the first known African American admitted to the local Puritan congregation. Born in Africa c. 1620, Dorcas is ...

, who joined the First Parish Church of Dorchester in 1641, and evangelized Native American servants and eventually attempted to gained her freedom with the help of the local church congregation. In 1639 Stoughton and

John Endecott John Endecott (also spelled Endicott; before 1600 – 15 March 1664/1665), regarded as one of the Fathers of New England, was the longest-serving governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He serv ...

acted as commissioners on behalf of Massachusetts Colony to settle a boundary dispute with

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the passengers on the ...

. He gave a lease for a pasture to the residents of Dedham, Massachusetts for their cattle to graze. Toward the end of 1643, Stoughton made a brief trip to England, returning home by the beginning of 1644. In late 1644 he went to England again, never to return to Massachusetts. With the advent of the

, the

English Parliament The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised t ...

appointed Stoughton as a lieutenant colonel in their army. Stoughton died very soon afterwards in

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

. Stoughton's children included William Stoughton, best known as the chief magistrate of the

Salem witch trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...

in Massachusetts.

References

*. *References to Israel Stoughton in th
Papers of the Winthrop Family Online
(Massachusetts Historical Society) ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Stoughton, Israel 1603 births 1644 deaths 17th-century English people American industrialists American slave owners Colonial American merchants Kingdom of England emigrants to Massachusetts Bay Colony People of colonial Massachusetts Pequot War