FAMILY OF EDWARD BELCHER The Belcher genealogy in the United States colonies started around 1630 in Mass. John Winthrop’s fleet of ships brought over the first of our Belcher lines. A HISTORY OF EARLY SETTLERS IN MASS: In 1620, a group of Puritans secured land from the Virginia Company. A group of 101 men, women, and children set out for Virginia on board the “Mayflower”. A storm sent them far northn and they landed in New England on Cape Cod. In Dec., the Mayflower reached Plymouth. Many starved during the winter. The Indians shared their maize(corn) and food with them, enabling them to survive the winter. A new wave of immigrants arrived on the shores of Mass. in 1620-1640, bringing with them a grant from King Charles I, to establish a colony. Their leader was John Winthrop. He openly set out to create a place where they could live in strict accordance with their religious beliefs, the protestant faith, away from the catholic rule and influence. The second group came in ships called the “Winthrop Fleet” , several ships were included in this group: 1630, THE WINTHROP FLEET: Eleven vessels brought the Great Emigration of this year, viz: ARBELLA, the Flagship AMBROSE TALBOT JEWEL CHARLES MAYFLOWER WILLIAM and FRANCIS HOPEWELL WHALE SUCCESS TRIAL Among the immigrants on the Winthrop Fleet were the first Belchers in our line in America, starting with Henry Thomas Belcher. . The Mass. Bay Colony was to play a significant role in the development of the entire New England region, in part because Winthrop and his Puritan colleagues were able to bring their charter with them. Thus the authority for the colony’s government resided in Mass., and not in England. Our heritage in this country was based on the belief in God, Country, and the Freedom of Worship(God being first). Many of the new colonists became a freeman; different from free man.. A free man is listed as a man that was an indentured slave, or a bought slave, who has obtained his freedom........the freeman was entirely different. Freemen.....those who applied for that estate in Boston in October, 1630, and those so sworn thereafter. The Freemen were the only colonists who were franchised to vote, and the franchise was not offered to all. One generally had to be a mature male church-member, and must have experienced a transforming spiritual experience by God’s grace, as attested by himself and confirmed by church leaders. Therefore, a small percentage of the population......and apparently, a number of qualifying church members would not take the oaf because they had problems with the wording. An oath in those times was taken very seriously, as though it was a promise made directly to God with one’s soul lost if the oath is broken. Numerous persons who are on church and court records of 1630-1632 did not take the oath until 1634 when the oath was shortened and modified to replace the persons of the governor, etc., to whom obedience was due with the impersonal “common weale.” Others, such as those who later became Quakers, objected strongly to any kind of oaths. One can understand all their reservations when one reads the “first of all American loyalty oaths.” The Oath of a Freeman, or of a Man to be made free.. I, ................................etc., being , by the Almighty’s most wise disposition, become a member of this body, consisting of the Governor, Deputy Governor, Assistants and a commonality of the Massachusets in New England, do freely and sincerely acknowledge thatI am justly and lawfully subject to the governor of the same, and do accordingly submit my person and estate to be protected, ordered, and governed by the laws and constitutions thereof, and do faithfully promise to be from time to time obedient and conformable thereunto, and to the authority of the said Governor and Assistants and their seccessors, and to all such laws, orders, sentences, and decrees as shall be lawfully made and published by them or their successors; and I will always endeavor(as in duty I am bound) to advance the peace and welfare of this body or commonwealth to my utmost skill and ability; and I will, to my best power and means, seek to divert and prevent whatsoever may tend to the ruin or damage thereof, or of any the said Governor, Deputy Governor, or Assistants, or any of them or their successors, and will give speedy notice to them, or some of them, of any sedition, violence, treachery, or other hurt or evil which I shall know, hear, or vehemently suspect to be plotted or intended against the said commonwealth, or the said government established; and I will not at any time suffer or give consent to any counsel or attempt that shall be done, given, or attempted for the impeachment of the said government, or making any change alteration of the same, contrary to the laws and ordinances thereof, but shall do my utmost endeavor to discover, oppose, and hinder all and every such counsel and attempt. So help me God. No wonder few people took the oath. In a time when a man’s word was his bond, it would have taken a brave man to take that oath. Edward Belcher was the son of Henry Thomas Belcher, b. 1565, listed in both Northamptonshire and Warwickshire, England. Married (1) Deborah ? in Warwickshire, England. Married (2) Mary Mitchell. EDWARD BELCHER, SR. (Church record says Edmund Belcher), b. 1600 Guilsborough Northamptonshire, England; d. 17 March 1672 in Boston, Mass. Ship’s record on the “Little James” states Edward and Mrs Belcher 10 July 1623; Edward Jr. Came to America on the Winthrop Fleet listed as Church Member 1630. Took oath as Freeman 18 May 1631. A pipestove curler and soap boiler. Married: Christian Barker, daughter of James and Christian Barker. Children of Edward Belcher Sr. and Christian Barker are: 1 Edward Belcher, Jr traveled to America with his father and mother, so was born before 1623 in England. EDWARD BELCHER, JR., b. bef. 1628; m. Mary Wormwood, daughter-in-law of Edward Belcher, Sr., Married by Major Humphrey Atharton in Boston, Mass. Mary died March 21, 1693. Children of Edward Belcher, Jr. and Mary Wormwood are: 1 Satisfaction Belcher, b. February 23, 1656, Boston, Mass. 2 Mary Belcher, b. April 4, 1659, Boston, Mass. 3 Faith Belcher, b. May 15, 1663, Boston, Mass. 4 Mary(?)Belcher, b. February 7, 1665, Boston, Mass. 5 Martha Belcher, b. September 15, 1671 Notes for Mary Belcher: George Vaughn of Portsmouth & Mary Belcher of Boston were married by Mr. Willard December 8, 1697. I don’t know if it is the Mary born in 1659 or the Mary born in 1665. I also don’t understand two children with the same name in the same family..