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John Mason (c. 1600–1672) was an English Army Major who migrated to New England in 1632. Within five years he had moved west from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to settlements along the Connecticut River that would become the Connecticut Colony. Tensions there arose between the settlers and the Pequots, leading to bloodshed after the Manissean Indians on Block Island killed John Oldham in 1636. Because the Manisseans were tributaries of the Pequot Nation, Massachusetts Bay sent an expedition, which included John Mason, to Block Island to kill the Manisseans. They were then to proceed to the Connecticut River to demand that the Pequot turn over Oldham's murderers. When the Pequot refused, the English expedition burnt wigwams and corn, initiating the Pequot War, which ended in the Mystic Massacre, which virtually destroyed the Pequot tribe. Mason recounted his experiences in the Pequot War in his narrative ''Major Mason's Brief History of the Pequot War'', which wasn't published until 1736.〔John, Mason. ''A Brief History of the Pequot War: especially of the memorable taking of their fort at Mistick in Connecticut in 1637'' (Boston: S. Kneeland and T. Green 1736).〕 After the war, Mason became Deputy Governor of Connecticut. He and a number of others were instrumental in the founding of Norwich, Connecticut, where he died in 1672. ==Early life== Mason was born in England about 1602. He became an officer in the English army and served as a lieutenant under Sir Thomas Fairfax. In 1632 Mason immigrated to America and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, where he represented that village in the General Court. He was elected freeman March 4, 1634/5 (as "Captain John Mason") and is shown in the October 9, 1681 list of Connecticut freemen in Norwich. In his few years in Massachusetts John Mason was found very useful by town and colony. On July 2, 1633, an order is "given to the Treasurer to deliver to Lieutenant Mason £10 for his voyage to the eastward, when he went about the taking of Bull". On November 5, 1633, "Sergeant Stoughton is chosen ensign to Captain Mason". On September 3, 1634, "Captain Mason" was appointed to a committee to "find out the convenient places for situation, as also to lay out the several works for fortification at Castle Island, Charelton, and Dorchester". A rate was gathered for the support of Captain Mason on December 29, 1634. In 1635 he moved to what would become Windsor, Connecticut, in company with the Reverend John Warham, (Henry Wolcott ), and others, prominent settlers of the town. He was elected an assistant or magistrate of the Connecticut Colony from Windsor in 1642. On September 3, 1635, "Captain Mason is authorized by the Court to press men and carts to help towards the finishing of the fort at Castle Island, and to return the same into the Court". He married Anne Peck in July 1640, in Hingham, Massachusetts. Anne Peck was born on November 16, 1619 in Hingham, England and died on January 30, 1671/72 in Norwich, New London County, Connecticut. She was the daughter of Rev. Robert Peck, who was born at Beccles, Suffolk, England, in 1580. He was graduated at Magdalene College, Cambridge; the degree of A. B. was conferred upon him in 1599, and that of A. M., in 1603. He was a talented and influential clergyman and Puritan who had fled his Hingham, Norfolk, England, church after the crackdown by Archbishop Laud.〔Rev. Peck was eventually forced to flee and emigrated to the then colony of Massachusetts, where he founded the town of Hingham, Massachusetts. He was joined in settling the town with other members of his parish from Hingham, England. He resided in Hingham, Massachusetts for several years, until King Charles I had been executed and Oliver Cromwell had taken the reins of government. Robert Peck then elected to return to Hingham, Norfolk, and resumed as rector of St Andrews Church. He died in Hingham but left descendants in America, including his brother Joseph Peck, who settled in Rehoboth, Massachusetts and whose descendants continued to live in the area through the twentieth century. Today's Pecks Corner in Rehoboth is named for this early family.〕〔(The Will of Rev. Robert Peck, father of Ann Peck, Hingham, Norfolk, England, A Genealogical History of the Descendants of Joseph Peck Who Emigrated with His Family to This Country in 1638, Ira Ballou Peck, 1868 )〕 She died shortly before her husband. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「John Mason (c. 1600–1672)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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