1595-1665

BIRTH: MARRIAGE: DEATH: New England Marriages Prior to 1700: Joseph Hull

(1595-1665) & 1/wf Joanne (-1632+) in Eng. b. 1620; Weymouth/Hingham/etc.

BIRTH (bapt. 25 Apr 1596 Crewkerne, Somerset, England): MARRIAGE (abt 1618

1) Joanna, according to the Hull genealogy, but no marriage of record for Joanna has been found. 2) bef 1635 Agnes): DEATH (19 Nov 1665): NOTE - He married first, according to the 1913 Hull genealogy, about 1618, Joanna, but according to an article by Mrs. Robert D. Hughes, the name is incorrect; the name does not appear in the Narragansett Historical Register, vol. 1 page 145. While it is common to name a first child for her mother, the first child of Rev. Joseph Hull might have been named for Joseph's mother. No evidence has been found for the unsubstantiated allegation that Joseph's wife may have been a Coffin who died in 1632, probably in childbirth with Dorothy. However, if his first wife was indeed Joanna Coffin, it is interesting to note that their third child was named Tristram, and that Joanna Coffins of the Coffins of Brixton, Devonshire, had a brother named Tristram. The Hulls did live near the Cofins in Dover, Stafford Co., New Hampshire. Nonetheless,, the will of Peter Coffin, written in 1627, showed that his daughter Johan/Joanna was under twenty years of age at that time, so she was born in 1607 or later (she was indeed baptized in Brixton, Devon, 29 Dec 1616), and the daughter Joanna of this Joseph, was listed as age 15 on the 1635 shipping list. No record of marriage for Joseph Hull has been found in England, nor any original record of a wife named Joanna.

He married secondly, before 1635, Agnes, who was born in 1610. Her name is

known from the shipping list, from a York, ME deed of 1645, and from the papers concerning the administration of his estate. He matriculated at St. Mary's Hall, Oxford, 12 May 1612, at age 17, and completed his B.A. on 14 Nov 1614. He studied theology under his brother William for five years. He served as teacher and curate at Colyton, having been ordained a deacon at Exeter 23 May 1619, and became rector of Northleigh, a village six kilometers northwest of Colyton, in the Exeter diocese, 14 Apr 1621. He resigned his post in 1622/3, going to serve as curate at Broadway, near Batcombe, Somerset, where the rector was the Rev. Richard Bernard, father-in-law of Roger Williams. In 1635 he led his congregation, a company of 105 people in twentyone families from Broadway and Batcombe, to Mass. Bay, leaving England from Weymouth, Dorset, 20 Mar 1634/5. The ship arrived at the village of Boston, Mass. Bay, 6 May 1635, and remained there until 2 Jul, when the company received permission to relocate in Wessafuscus, the name of which was changed to Weymouth on 2 Sep 1635. Joseph Hull had beeninstalled as that town's first minister on 8 Jul 1635. On board the same ship, and also settling in Weymouth, was Thomas Holbrook, of Broadway, Somerse.

Joseph served as Deputy from Hingham in 1638 and 1639. An Episcopalian with moderate Puritan views, he had left Weymouth when his moderation became unpopular. He moved to Barksdale, Plymouth Colony in 1639 and was the minister to Yarmouth from 1640 to 1646. In 1643 he was in York ME, which had developed as non-Puritan under Sir Ferdinando Gorges. By 23 Jan 1649/[50?], he was minister to Launceston,, Cornwall, where his son Reuben was baptized that day. He was still there 30 Oct 1655, when he was granted L50 by Cromwell's council, and on 20 Dec 1655, when he performed a marriage. In 1656 he went to St. Buryan, Cornwall.