OLDHAM: John Oldham was a controversial character in Plymouth Colonial history - in life and in death. He arrived in Plymouth in 1623 aboard the Anne with his sister Lucretia, his wife, step-son William Bridges, and six others. [Two other kinsmen, John and Thomas Oldham - possibly nephews - arrived on the Elizabeth and Ann in 1635.] He and his party, which probably included servants, were granted ten acres. On 1 April 1624, he was granted five hundred acres near Mount Frakes on the northwest of the Charles River.
Shortly after his arrival, Oldham involved himself with the Reverend John Lyford. Rev. Lyford had been sent by the "Adventurers"* as a possible pastor for the settlement. He had lived in Ireland before making the trip to Plymouth. Lyford almost immediately drew the ire of the Pilgrim Fathers. He wanted to practice Anglican rites, which the Separatist Pilgrims strongly opposed, and baptized a child whose parents were not members of the Plymouth Church. Rev. Lyford and his associates, including Oldham, were banished from Plymouth in mid-1624.
John Oldham's movements for the next several years were somewhat shadowy. He supposedly made an unsuccessful trading venture to Virginia. He also spent time at Nantasket [Hull], before returning to Plymouth in 1625. Bradford wrote that a guard of musketeers was appointed with each order to give Oldham a "thump on the birch with the butt end of his musket." Essentially, Oldham was forced to "run the gauntlet." Oldham convinced the leaders he was repentant and accepted back into the community.
Oldham was given the task of escorting Thomas Morton back to England in 1628. Morton had been involved in a servant revolt, in selling guns and ammunition to local Indians, and "cavorting" with the Indians. Morton had been warned to curtail his activities and eventually banished to England in June of 1628.
The Plymouth leaders orderd Oldham to turn Morton over to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, one of the men who controlled the Council of New England. John was able to secure from Gorges a grant of sizable proportions at the bottom of Massachusetts Bay. He was apparently trying to gain a position of influence in the colony. Charlestown was settled in 1629, possibly to prevent Oldham from gaining too much influence. He obtained a 500 acre grant in Watertown and became a leading citizen of that community.
He became active in coastal trading. One of his ventures, in July of 1636, took him near Block Island and Fisher's Island off the coast of present-day Rhode Island. John Oldham's fate was reported by John Gallup. In passing by water from Connecticut to Boston, he came upon Oldham's shallop. Indians were unloading goods from the vessel into a canoe. Gallup fired duck shot and the Indians, many of whom then abandoned the vessel. Others tried to hide on board, but Gallup rammed the shallop several times and several Indians jumped into the water and drowned. Gallup boarded Oldham's vessel and killed or took prisoner the remaining natives. He found Oldham's corpse on board. The trader's head had been split and his body badly bruised and mangled. Gallup cast the body overboard and tried to tow the vessel back to port. A high wind forced Gallup to set the shallop adrift. It soon broke apart with the Indian prisoners still on board. Two young boys [10 and 12] who were reportedly kinsmen of Oldham were rescued. [They were probably nephews of John Oldham.] Plymouth and Massachusetts colonists retaliated against the Indians. Oldham's death was one of the events that ignited the Pequot War in 1637.
*The Adventurers were those businessmen who had financed the Plymouth settlement in hopes of making great profit from the venture.
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