Isaac Addington (January 22, 1645 – March 19, 1719) was a longtime functionary of various colonial governments of Massachusetts, including a brief period as the Chief Justice of the

Superior Court of Judicature The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously funct ...

, the highest court in the

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in British America which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of ...

Biography

Addington was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

, the capital of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...

, to Isaac and Anne Addington. He attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

for two years (1658–59), but did not graduate. He was apparently trained further in

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, and Health promotion ...

, for he styled himself for many years as a

chirurgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training ...

, even while occupying public offices.

Career

In 1672 he was given a temporary appointment as the Suffolk County

register of deeds Recorder of deeds or deeds registry is a government office tasked with maintaining public records and documents, especially records relating to real property, real estate ownership that provide persons other than the owner of a property with re ...

, which was made permanent the following year. He would fill this role until 1690, except during the period of the

Dominion of New England The Dominion of New England in America (1686–1689) was an administrative union of English colonies covering New England and the Mid-Atlantic Colonies (except for Delaware Colony and the Province of Pennsylvania). Its political structure repres ...

, 1686-89. In 1685 he was elected to the colonial assembly, and the following year he was chosen to sit on the court of assistants (a body that served as the assembly's upper house and as the colonial high court). Upon the arrival of Sir

Edmund Andros Sir Edmund Andros (6 December 1637 – 24 February 1714) was an English colonial administrator in British America. He was the governor of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. At other times, Andros served ...

to head the Dominion of New England in December 1686, Addington was on a committee charged with managing the dominion records. The dominion was highly unpopular, and in 1689 Andros was arrested in a popular uprising. In its aftermath Addington was appointed secretary of the committee that provisionally governed the colony until 1692. In May 1692 Sir

William Phips Sir William Phips (or Phipps; February 2, 1651 – February 18, 1695) was born in Maine in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was of humble origin, uneducated, and fatherless from a young age but rapidly advanced from shepherd boy, to shipwright, s ...

arrived with the colonial charter for the

, which included the territory of the old Massachusetts colony and that of

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 ...

. Addington was appointed Secretary of the province by Phips, who had been appointed its first governor; Addington held this office until his death. He was appointed the record keeper of a number of the province's courts, and also served for several years on the bench of the Suffolk County Court of Common Pleas. On June 30, 1702 Governor

Joseph Dudley Joseph Dudley (September 23, 1647 – April 2, 1720) was a colonial administrator, a native of Roxbury in Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the son of one of its founders. He had a leading role in the administration of the Dominion of New England ...

appointed him to be Chief Justice of the

, the province's high court. He only held this office for a year, at which time he resigned, citing poor health and the workload of his other positions.

Family

Addington was twice married; his only child apparently died young. Addington died in Boston on March 19, 1714/5, and was buried in the tomb of Governor

John Leverett John Leverett (baptized 7 July 1616 – 16 March 1678/79In the Julian calendar, then in use in England, the year began on 25 March. To avoid confusion with dates in the Gregorian calendar, then in use in other parts of Europe, dates between ...

in Boston's King's Chapel Burying Ground. He bequeathed his estate to a nephew, Addington Davenport, who later followed his uncle onto the superior court bench.

References

External links

''Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society'', Volume 32
{{DEFAULTSORT:Addington, Isaac 1645 births 1715 deaths Justices of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature People from colonial Boston Harvard College alumni