Feminist of the Day Info: Anne Marbury Hutchinson

Early advocate for religious freedom in America, supposed co-founder of Rhode Island

It could be said that Anne Marbury Hutchinson took after her father, Francis Marbury, a deacon at Christ Church, Cambridge. Marbury was a radical. He believed that the ministers of the Church of England were chosen in an inadequate manner, and not suited to lead people in their religion. Even after spending a year in jail, he remained strong in his opinions. Marbury recognized that his daughter was a very intelligent young woman, and gave Anne a much more thorough education than what was taught to most girls at the time. Anne Marbury was fascinated by theology, even at an early age. She was inspired by her father, and read many of his books on religion. Anne married Will Hutchinson at the age of twenty-one. Their family lived in Alford, England for twenty years. Every Sunday, the Hutchinson family travelled from Alford to Boston, England to hear the ministries of John Cotton. Cotton believed that Catholicism was destructive and wrong. He also believed that the New World held many oppurtunities. When Cotton moved to New England, Anne Hutchinson and her family followed him. Hutchinson was hoping that she would have more freedom to express her views in Massachusetts. At the time of their trip, the Hutchinson family consisted of eleven children: Edward, Richard (both nearly adults), Faith, Bridget, Francis, Samuel, Anne, Mary, Katherine, William, and Susanna, who was only an infant when they boarded the ship to New England. The family would eventually grow to fifteen children. Anne Hutchinson's views were initially Puritan. Her more unorthodox religious convictions did not begin to surface until she and her family left England on a ship where a minister named Zachariah Symmes was preaching. Symmes believed that whether one is going to Heaven or Hell is determined by Earthly proofs such as success, church membership, and a good reputation. Anne listened to his sermons, all the time growing more and more skeptical about the amount of real truth in his preaching. Finally, during one sermon, she rose suddenly from her seat and stormed out, her children following close behind. Aside from her overt disagreement with Symmes, the other passengers had another reason to think of Hutchinson as an eccentric radical: her predictions. Anne Hutchinson predicted many things, saying that God had revealed them to her. Hutchinson believed that "Every person has the ear of God if only he or she would ask for it, and listen to the answer." One of the things that Anne predicted that their ship would arrive in Massachusetts on September eighteenth, which was the exact date of the ship's arrival. Because of Anne's correct predictions, to become a member of the Puritan church in Boston, Massachusetts Hutchinson was forced to say, "I have been guilty of wrong thinking." Anne said it obediantly, justifying this in her mind by privately referring to errors in trivial domestic decisions rather than her religious beliefs. In Massachusetts, Anne Hutchinson led a submissive life as a housewife and mother. She was known around Boston as a freindly neighbor. Anne had privately studied medicine as well as theology, and often took care of the sick. Hutchinson never gave her opinions in public. Instead, she and a group of other women from around the colony met in Anne's home once a week to discuss the Sunday sermons and the Bible. Hutchinson expressed her views in the privacy of these meetings. Many of Anne Hutchinson's beliefs contradicted the Puritan doctrine. She believed that predestination was wrong, and that being educated in Scripture or Puritan writings was not neccesary to be saved. Anne believed that Sunday should not have been considered the Lord's Day, because every day belonged to the Lord, and the prayers should have been inspired out of faith and love of God, not memorized. Hutchinson believed that baptizing children was wrong, because the child was unaware of what was happening to him or her. She also believed that salvation could be felt, that a newfound Christian was filled with the spirit of God, and that Inner Light was the only real guarentee of salvation, not Earthly proofs. Anne Hutchinson also believed in just treatment of Native Americans: "Indian slavery is wrong - people of all skin colors are of one blood." Several of Anne's followers, called Antinomians, refused to defend Massachusetts when the colony was threatened by the Pequots. This was seen as a threat to authority, and Hutchinson was brought into court. Anne Hutchinson defended herself admirably in her trial, using her knowledge of the Bible to support her beliefs. Everything seemed to go very smoothly for Anne until the very end of the trial, when she absentmindedly declared that God had said he would save her from the Puritan leaders. Because the Puritans believed that divine revelation was impossible, Hutchinson was found guilty of being "a woman not fit for our society". The verdict was delayed for four months, because winter was approaching New England. During those four months, Anne was forced to live with a friend of John Winthrop, who was the deputy governer at the time and hated Anne Hutchinson with a passion. She was regularly interrogated by the Puritan reverends, who tried hard to make her admit to her so-called wrongdoings. Eventually she admitted only to taking too much on herself. This they interpreted as admitting to the sin of pride, and proceeded to torment her further. Anne Hutchinson had been pregnant at he time of her trial. When her sentence was finally given, she was nearing delivery. Hutchinson was banished from the Massachusetts colony. The Hutchinson family, along with a small group of people who supported Anne, went to Aquidneck. There, Hutchinson gave birth to a stillborn baby. Will Hutchinson, Anne's husband, died in Aquidneck at the age of fifty-six years old. The year was 1642. Soon afterwards, the Massachusetts colony claimed that Aquidneck was rightfully theirs, and forced the group to move to New Netherland. The settlement was renamed Westchester County, and the stream near Westchester was named Hutchinson river, in Anne's honor. Anne Hutchinson had befriended the Native Americans who lived near Aquidneck and Boston, but the tribe that neighbored Westchester was far less friendly. The tribe destroyed the entire settlement of Westchester, killing everyone there except for eight-year-old Susanna Hutchinson, who one of natives took pity on and adopted.

"I feel that nothing important ever happens that is not revealed to me beforehand."

Born: 1591

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Anne Marbury HutchinsonEarly advocate for religious freedom in America, supposed co-founder of Rhode Island
"I feel that nothing important ever happens that is not revealed to me beforehand."

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