Individual Details

Education

He was raised in Oxford and educated at Queen's College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1601. He received his B.A. in 1605, and M.A. in 1609.

Occupation

He was ordained in the Church of England and appointed curate of a local parish inEgerton, Kent. In 1623 he renounced his orders and joined the cause of the Independants. Lothropp gained prominence in 1624, when he was called to replace Reverend Henry Jacob as the pastor of the First Independent Church in London, a congregation of sixty members which met at Southwark. Church historians sometimes call this church the Jacob-Lathrop-Jessey (JLJ) Church, named for its first three pastors, Henry Jacob, John Lothropp and Henry Jessey.
They were forced to meet in private to avoid the scrutiny of Bishop of London, William Laud . Following the group's discovery on April 22, 1632 by officers of the king, forty-two of Lothropp's Independents were arrested. Only eighteen escaped capture. The arrested were prosecuted for failure to take theOathof Loyalty to the established church. Evidence gleaned by the historians Burrage and Kiffin and from the Jesse records indicate many were jailed in The Clink prison. As for Reverend John Lothropp, the question is still unresolved. English historian Samuel Raswon Gardiner whose book, Reports of Cases in the Courts of Star Chamber and High Commission, gives an account of the courtroom trial and cites information from the trial record that the convicted dissenters were to be divided up and sent to various prisons. Historian E. B. Huntington suggests Lothropp was incarcerated in either the Clink or Newgate.
A plaque in the Lothrop Hill Cemetery in Barnstable, Massachusetts, the town which John Lothropp settled and where he died, states he was incarcerated in Newgate Prison durng the years 1632-1634. The National Archives at London which would hold the records for Newgate Prison indicate they have nothing earlier than 1770. The lack of documentation is attributable to the Great London Fire (1666), the Gordon Riots (1780), and the fact that upon the abolition of the Star Chamber in 1641, the court proceedings of the reign of Charles I of England deteriorated and failed to survive. A report to the Lords in 1719 noted that those documents were "in a very great heap, undigested, and without any covering from dust or security from rats and mice. "As for records of the Clink, the National Archives indicates they would be held at the London Metropolitan Archives, but those records start from 1690. The National Archives states that records from these earlier times are also not complete due to the fact that they were not created or kept for research purposes, but for use by the government or law courts of the day. Further, it may be that Lothropp actually served time in both prisons since it was customary to move prisoners from one prison to another due to space availability. In the end, the precise location of Lothropp's imprisonment is not confirmable from primary documentation.
While Lothropp was in prison, his wife Hannah House became ill and died. His six surviving children were according to tradition left to fend for themselves begging on the streets of London. Friends being unable to care for his children brought them to the Bishop who had charge of Lothropp. After about a year, all were released on bail except Lothropp, who was deemed too dangerous to be set at liberty. The Bishop ultimately released him on bond in May 1634 with the understanding that he would immediately remove to the New World. Since he did not immediately leave for the New World, a court order was subsequently put out for him. Family tradition and other historical reflections indicate he then "escaped."

Immigration

Lothropp was told that he would be pardoned upon acceptance of terms to leave England permanently with his family along with as many of his congregation members as he could take who would not accept the authority of the Church of England. Lathrop accepted the terms of the offer and left for Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts. With his group, he sailed on the Griffin and arrived in Boston on September 18, 1634. The record found on page 71 of Governor Winthrop's Journal, quotes John Lothropp, a freeman, rejoicing in finding a "church without a bishop," . . . "and a state without a king." John Lothropp married Anna Hammond (?) (1616–1687) shortly after his arrival.
The State Papers in the new Record Office, Fetter Lane, London, preserved some of the Star Chamber records of John Lothropp's imprisoned days. The last record probably was the order of the court which opened the way for his escape to America. However, according to the National Archives, this office has not been in use since the 1860s and State Papers are now held at the National Archives.
Lothropp did not stay in Boston long. Within days, he and his group relocated to Scituate where they "joined in covenaunt together" along with nine others who preceded them to form the "church of Christ collected att Scituate."Huntington, 1884 p27 The Congregation at Scituate was not a success. Dissent on the issue of baptismas well as other unspecified grievances and the lack of good grazing land and fodder for their cattle caused the church in Scituate to split in 1638.
Lothropp petitioned Governor Thomas Prence in Plymouth for a "place for the transplanting of us, to the end that God might have more glory and wee more comfort."Otis, 1888 p198 Thus as Otis says "Mr. Lothropp and a large company arrived in Barnstable, October 11, 1639 O.S., bringing with them the crops which they had raised in Scituate."Otis, 1888 p198 There, within three years they had built homes for all the families and then Lothropp began construction on a larger sturdier meeting houseby Coggin's (or Cooper's) Pond, which was completed in 1644. This building, now part of the Sturgis Library in Barnstable, Massachusetts is one of John Lothrop's original homes and meeting houses, and is now also the oldest building housing a public library in the USA.
"He was a man of humble and broken heart spirit, lively in dispensation of the Word of God, studious of peace, furnished with godly contentment, willing to spend and be spent for the cause of the church of Christ."Huntington, 1884 p33

Miscellaneous

Descendents
While Lathrop's fame may not have lasted much beyond his life, famous descendants continue to influence the world through this day. His direct descendants in America and elsewhere number more than 80,000, including:(Price, 1984, p38-39)
US PRESIDENTS
George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Millard Fillmore, James A. Garfield,
Ulysses S. Grant, Franklin D. Roosevelt
FAMOUS AND INFAMOUS
Benedict Arnold and Joseph Smith, Jr.
STATE GOVERNORS
George W. Bush, Jeb Bush, Thomas E. Dewey, Jon Huntsman, Jr., William W. Kitchin, Sarah Palin, George W. Romney and Mitt Romney
OTHERS
Senator Adlai Steveson III, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, CIA Director Allen Welsh Dulles, Wild Bill Hickok, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Lewis Comfort Tiffany, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Hon. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Charles William Post (CW Post), Marjorie Merriweather Post, Alfred Carl Fuller (Fuller Brush), Financier John Pierpoint Morgan, Actresses Dina Merrill, Shirley Temple, Brooke Shields and Actors Jake Gyllenhaal, Clint Eastwood.