Person:Daniel Southwick (1)

Legal Troubles

The record of Daniel's early manhood is principally a legal one. He, like his parents and siblings, was a Quaker and New England towns (with few exception) were unkind to the followers of this new religion. 29 Jun 1658, Daniel was punished for attending a Quaker meeting in Nicholas Phelps' house; 30 Nov 1658, fined for absence from town church meeting; 11 May 1659, Daniel and his sister Provided ordered by the Massachusetts Bay Colony be sold into slavery in Virginia or Barbadoes for failing to pay the fines assessed against them (Whittier would later memorialize this ignoble incident in his poem "Cassandra Southwick." Whittier takes the liberty of using their mother's name and omits Daniel).

"Whereas Daniel and Provided Southwick, son and daughter to Lawrence Southwick, have been fined by the County Courts of Salem and Ipswich, pretending they have no estates, resolving not to work, and others likewise have been fined for siding with the Quakers and absenting themselves from the public ordinances; and in answer to a question what course shall be taken for the satisfaction of the fines, the Court, on perusal of the law title arrests, Resolve that the treasurers of the several counties are, and shall hereby be impowered to sell the said person to any of the English nation at Virginia or Barbadoes. "

Nov 1659, presented and fined for absence from meeting, the fine was "respited." 26 Jun 1660 presented for absence of meeting for 40 days. The intensity of the New England towns persecution of Quakers and other religious "dissenter" would ebb and flow. It would not officially end in England and its colonies, until the "Toleration Act of 1689." However, general acceptance of religious minorities and an end to unofficial persecution would not come about until the ascension (1714) of King George I, who would provide stability to England and its colonies in both religious and governmental matters that had been lacking since the death of Elizabeth I (1533-1603)

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Caller, James M. (James Moore), and Maria A. Southwick Ober. Genealogy of the Descendants of Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick of Salem, Mass: the original emigrants, and the ancestors of the families who have since borne his name. (Salem, Mass.: J.H. Choate & Co., Printers, 1881)
   p 76, 77.

   Daniel Southwick², (Lawrence¹),son of Lawrence and Cassandra, born 1637; baptized in the First Church Salem, Mass., Feb 21, 1640-41; married, Feb 23, 1663, Esther Boyce, daughter of Joseph, Sr., and Eleanor Boyce.
   Will proved Feb 10, 1718-19. Bequeathed to his wife Esther and gives to son Lawrence and his son Daniel and to his daughters Ether Buxton, Eleanor Osborn, and Mercy Osborn.

2. ↑ Birth Record: Son, Daniell Sothwick, in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records to the End of the year 1849. (Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, 1916-1925)
   Vol 2, pg 309.

   "Sothwick, Daniell, s. Daniell and Hester (Boyes), Mar 25, 1671. CT. R."