Hutchinson, Anne

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

Anne (1590-1643), a colonial religious reformer. She was a native of Lincolnshire, England. With her husband, she followed Rev. John Cotton to New England , arriving in Boston in 1634. At first a valued member of the church, she organized women's meetings, but was soon accused of teaching heretical doctrines, such as the right of individuals to decide questions of belief by virtue of individual light granted by the Holy Spirit. The Boston church was torn into factions. Bancroft, writing of the period, states: "The dispute infused its spirit into everything. It interfered with the levy of troops for the Pequot War; it influenced the respect shown to the magistrates, the distribution of town lots, the assessment of rates, and, at last, the continued existence of the two opposing parties was considered inconsistent with the public peace." Mrs. Hutchinson was brought before an ecclesiastical synod. Eighty-two opinions were condemned as erroneous. In November she was brought before the general court and sentenced to banishment, being allowed, however, to wait until spring before setting forth. She then went to the chief of the Narragansetts and, with the aid of Roger Williams, obtained from him an island subsequently known as Rhode Island . Here she formed a colony in which no one was to be harassed because "a delinquent for doctrine." Feeling later that Rhode Island was too near Massachusetts for entire safety, she migrated with her family to the territory of the Dutch, near New York City. Here Mrs. Hutchinson and her entire family, with the exception of a single child which was taken into captivity, perished in an Indian outbreak.