1634 When Francis' father died, he was pastor of Old Sodbury, a fewmi les from Oldbury, with wife, Bridgett, and 3 children...Francis,Elias a nd Mary.
1636 Drawn into the fast growing puritan movement, the vicar cameunde r the notice of the Anglican Church authorities and seems to havelost h is pulpit in consequence.
1638 Boston, MA The family arrived in the New World. He went to NewE ngland where Puritanism was the force to be reckoned with.
Dorchester, near Boston, MA was where they settled for a time.
1639-1640 Taunton, MA. The ex-vicar became pastor of the newlysettle d town but his tenure was short. He fell into controversy withthe extr emists of his congregation over the matter of baptism, onwhich subject h e held more liberal views than did the leaders of theNew England brand o f puritan thought.
1641 As a result of his convictions, he was removed from hispastorate .
RI The family moved and there the minister took part in organizing an ew colonizing project, the purpose of which was to establish anEnglish -speaking settlement on western Long Island, in the Dutchcolony of New N etherlands.
Spring, 1642. A land grant was obtained for Mespat in the modernBorou gh of Brooklyn. There a new town was started and Rev. Doughtybecame th e local pastor.
1643 An Indian uprising drove the barely settled settlers away, andth e Doughty family fled to safety.
Manhattan, NY. At the Dutch capital, the minister found new friends,f or there were many English residents among the Dutch.
Abt 1644 With the consent of the Dutch ministers the Englishorganized a s eparate congregation, making Francis their pastor.
New Netherlands. The only church organization recognized in the Dutchc olony was that of the Reformed church of the Netherlands. ThisEnglish c ongregation was a unit of that body, met in the Dutch churchbuilding a nd its pastor drew his support from collections taken inhis own and th e Dutch congregations.
1645 Mespat, NY Rev. Doughty resumed the work of establishing asettl ement.
1647 His settlement efforts were so successful that his formerpartner s sued him in colonial court for a share in the property. Thequestion s eems to have been whether or not the partners' rights hadlapsed by the ir abandonment of the effort in 1643. The court decidedthat their righ ts were still good, and when Doughty threatened toappeal the case to D utch authorities in Europe, the colonial courtfined him and issued a j ail sentence of 24 hours as a warning againstsuch action. Their persua sion seems to have been successful.
Spring 1647 Flushing, NY, a few miles from Mespat. The new Englishsp eaking settlement was organized with Doughty being chosen pastor ofthe n ew town. According to one authority, his pastorate began thissame yea r.
1654 He sued the congregation for his salary in arrears, which hadbe en contracted but unpaid to him.
In connection with his pastorate at Flushing, there has evolved themod ern myth to the effect that Doughty was an early minister of thepresen t-day Presbyterian Church. In England he had been an Anglicanpastor, a nd in New England, he had, of necessity, been aCongregationalist. In N ew Netherlands he was minister of the ReformedChurch of the Netherland s, a Presbyterian form of organization. In1657 an ecclesiastical repor t on the condition of the colonial churchwas sent from Manhattan to Am sterdam, and the writers mentionedDoughty and another minister as havi ng English-speakingcongregations. Seeking words to explain that these m inisters hadaffiliated with the established Reformed church, instead o f clingingto the congregational policy of New England, the authors of t hereport stated that the pastors were Presbyterian. The modern misconception of his statement seems to have started with O'Callaghan, thehis torian of New Netherlands.
Fall 1655 Rev Doughty sailed for Virginia and theory has it thatdaugh ter Mary joined him after losing her property. They may havesailed tog ether but both were out of the Dutch colony by August 1656.Whether or n ot Francis' wife was still alive at this time is notknown. The older b oys, Francis and Elias, were farmers on LongIsland, where they remaine d and became prominent citizens. Son, Enochwent with his father to Vir ginia.
Hungar's Parish, Accomack Co, Va. Francis was next heard of as pastoro f the Parish on the Eastern Shore. The Virginia church had beenstrict ly Anglican up to 1652, when the colony submitted toparlimental author ity. After that date the several parishes were leftto go their own way s without interference by legislative acts ofreform. Doughty went ther e, probably, in modified Anglicanism, havingno surplice or Book of Com mon Prayer, but otherwise very much what ithad been prior to 1652. Of h is pastorate at Hungars, very little isrecorded.
1655 It was said that he instigated a witchcraft prosecution.
1656 A parishioner mentioned him favorably in his will.
1660 Charles County, MD. Francis probably moved north to be nearerth e family of second wife, Ann. The earliest reference to thepresence o f Rev. Doughty there was found in a bill of debt, a paperthat in those d ays performed the function of the modern promissorynote. The bill show s that in June 1660, the minister promised to payGeorge Short a certai n amount of tobacco either at Pickawaxen inCharles County or at Potoma c, on the Virginia side. About January orFebruary of 1661, a Captain W illiam Battin, who kept a store atPickawaxen, summoned Mr. Doughty to c ounty court, but the matter wasadjusted and the case never came to tri al.
Meanwhile, Francis had organized a church and was officiating aspastor . The earliest evidence of this is the suit of Joan Mitchell,filed in t he summer of 1661, which called for trial in the courtsession of Septe mber. Earlier references show that Joan Mitchell hadfor some time been u nder popular suspicion of witchcraft, anallegation she stoutly denied. A t this particular time the imputationhad again been raised and, in sel f-defense, she brought suit againstfour persons, alleging slander. Her p etition in the case shows thatshe felt that Mr. Doughty was shielding h er enemies. "Whereas yourpoor petitioner is most shamfully used and he r good name taken awayfrom her she dowth desire that she may be righte d and that shee maybe searched by able women whether she bee such a pe rson or no whichthose persons say I am and if I bee found to bee such a o ne I may beepunished by law or els to bee cleared by proclimation and t hat theworshipfull bench would take it into ther serious consideration h owthat I am abused and my good name taken from mee withoud disart and Im ost humbly desire your worships that I may have the law against theman d I your poore petitioner shall bee bound to pray for you andyours. I d esire YT Mr. Francis Doughty may bring those persons tolight that have r aised these scandalous reports of mee for hee saysthat I aslluted a wo man at church and her teeth fell acking as ifshee had bin mad and I de sired him to tell mee who had raysed thisreport of mee and hee would n ot and so from one to another my goodname is taken away that I cannot b ee at quiet for them for it isallther delight and table talke how to d oe mee a mischief being apoore distressed widow but my trust is in God t hat he will plead mycase for mee and will never suffer the poor and in nocent to perish bythe hands of ther enemes for of a sunday as I was g oing to churchwith too of Capt. Fendalls folks Mr. Walker hurled stone s at me as Iwas going a long and so hid hemself again which for any th ing that Iknow his master might set him on to mischiefe mee and hee hi mselfwrongs mee by word and I your petioioner shall be ever bound to p rayfor you."
The suit of Joan Mitchell against the minister went no further thanthe c omplaint. The trial was postponed to the November court and atthat ses sion the case was formally dismissed because neither partyappeared.
9/1661 Another case that came before the court had some reference tom inisterial work of Mr. Doughty. Eleanor Empson, widow of WilliamEmpso n, was about to be married to John Morris. The pastor was tohave perfo rmed the marriage ceremony, but he received a noteforbidding the banns . Mrs. Empson brought suit against the supposedauthor of the note, all eging defamation, and called Enoch Doughty asher witness. Says the cou rt record: "Mr. Enoch Doughty aged 22 yearsor thereabouts swore and ex amined in open court sayeth that he saw anote sent by Richard Watson t o his father Mr. Francis Doughty toforbid the banns of matrimonie betw eene Elenor Emmpson and any otherperson for that she was his wife befo re God this to the best of thisdepanants knowledge to bee the substanc e of the noat and furthersayeth not." The supposed author of the note c ame into court andstated that, being a blind man, he had to trust in t he fairness ofothers in the writing of his messages, and that he discl aimed anyinterest in the widow's matrimonial affairs.
There is nothing in the court records to indicate clearly thedenominat ional character of Mr. Doughty's church. When the ministercame from Vi rginia to Maryland, the English republic was still underunder Cromwell ’s rule, and Anglican worship was illegal. On May 5,1660, the republic an period ended with the reinstatement of themonarchy and parliament's o rder that henceforth all writs should beissued in the name of King Cha rles. With that act, the followers ofthe old worship services were fre e to return to some form ofAnglicanism. Such was the situation when th e Charles County churchwas formed, and, in all probability, the church w as modeled after themodified Anglicanism of Virginia. It is at least c ertain that itadopted the vestry form of government so familiar in the A nglicansystem.
By 4/22/1662 Church papers show that Doughty had left the parish.
Spring 1662 Rappahannock Co, Va. Whether he left on his own or wasdi smissed is unknown but he returned to the south.
6/4/1662 The task of guarding his father's interests in MD fell toson E noch. The absent minister sent a letter of attorney, prolixwith legal v erbiage, stating:
"Know all men by thees presant that I Francis Doughtie now minister ofR appahonnock county in Virginia doe authorise immpower and intrust myde arly loving sone Enock Doughtie of Charles countie in the Provinceof M ariland my trew and lawfull atturney....."
It may be noted that one of the 3 subscribing witnesses of thisdocumen t was John Washington, one of the original Washingtonemigrants from En gland, and the ancestor of George Washington.
11/3/1665 The following, recorded in the Old Rappahannock countycourt p apers, show Rev Doughty was Minister of both Sittingbourn andFarnham P arishes that lay on each side of the Rappahannock River atthe lower en d of Old Rappahannock County:
"We whose names are hereunder written being vestrymen for the parishof S ittingbourne and Farnham do here unanimously agree for the futuremaint enance of Mr. Francis Doughty the next two ensuing years and itis agre ed upon as followeth: that Mr. Francis Doughty shall receiveyearly of e ach parish above sd. Sixty pounds sterling to be paid intobacco accord ing to act of Assembly the said tobacco to be paid incaske without sal ery or other charge to the afore said Mr. Doughtyrevoking and disannul lingal former orders bargaines and contractswhatsoever made by and bet ween the said Mr. Francis Doughty and bothor either the respective ves trys of the parishes aforesaid to thetrue performance of which the sai d Mr. Doughty and the vestry of bothparishes have hereunto set their h ands this 3rd day of November,1665."
The Reverend Doughty was popular with a large part of hiscongregation, b ut stirred others to great anger. Regardless, he musthave been a vital p erson, for in the 5 years that he was there, heorganized and revived t he church work. In Sittingbourn Parish, heplanned, bought land for, an d erected churches, one near Cabin Pointand one at the mouth of Occupa cia Creek. He also built a church atPiscataway, and a church on the no rth side. At Farnham Parish, towhich he gave half his time, he organiz ed the vestry. While popularwith the people, Francis was repeatedly un seated, either because ofthe control of the church by the state, or be cause of the vagaries ofhis own personality. He was accused of censur ing his parishionersconduct, and of refusing to administer the sacrame nt of communion onEaster Sunday. For this he was tried, his accusers b eing not onlyvestrymen, but also justices of the court. This charge ma de itimpossible for Francis to not be convicted. The trial aroused muc hinterest, and grew largely out of the quarrel over whether he should be paid in sterling or in tobacco. It preceded by more than a hundredy ears the famous "Parson's case", which has been made famous by thefier y eloquence of Patrick Henry. At the outcome of the trial,Francis was " put out" as minister of the parish.
After that, and coupled with his rising disillusion with Virginia, hew rote a deed of intent, in which he made provisions for the upkeep ofhi s wife, Anne, "in consideration of the good will, affection andlove th at I bear unto" her. He remarked that she did not wish to"bid farewel l to her more dear and beloved children", and so wishedto remain in Va . With this action , The Reverend Francis Doughtydisappeared from the p ages of history, his final destination andplace of death unknown.
The "Glebe" may be the original home that Francis shared with AnneGrav es Cotton Eaton Doughty at Hungar's Parish, in Accomack Co. Thebuildi ng is very old, but it is not known if it is the original ornot.
The original courthouse in Accomack Co, Va, is now used as a countymus eum. Accomack has the oldest courthouse still in existance in theUnit ed States. The museum contains a paper thin linen garment, wornby the " first rectors of Hungar's Parish", but there is no actualdate for the r obe, so it is unknown if Francis wore it or not.
