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Ward (NATHANIEL an English- American)

NATHANIEL, an English- American lawyer, clergyman, and author; born in Haverhill, England, about 1578. He emigrated to Massachusetts in 1634; lived in Ipswich (Agawam); returned to England in 1647. While a pastor in Massachusetts he wrote the "Body of Liberties," adopted December, 1641, the first code of laws established in New England. His other writings are: "The Simple Cobler of Agawam" (1647); "A Religious Retreat Sounded to a Religious Army" (1647); "A Sermon Before Parliament" (1647); and "Mecurius Anti- Mechanicus; or, The Simple Cobler's Boy, with his Lap-full of Caveats" (1648). He died in Shenfield, Essex, about October, 1653.