| Notes |
- Rev. William Worcester came from England and was settled pastor
of the church first gathered in Salisbury, Mass., sometime
between the years 1638 and 1640. Although not conclusive, good
and persuasive evidence exists to strongly suggest that he was
the son of William Worcester, the vicar of Watford,
Buckinghamshire, England, and was born October 5, 1595. (See
Introduction) He matriculated at St. John's College (Cambridge
University) in 1620. He was ordained deacon at Peterborough
Cathedral on Dec. 21, 1622. He was made Vicar of Olney July 26,
1624 - which office he retained till 1636, when on account of
refusing to comply with the command of his superiors to read to
his congregation from the King's book those portions which
allowed sports and recreations after service on the Lord's day,
he was suspended from his office of Vicar. He came to America a
year or two later. He and others petitioned the General Court
of MA to establish a new settlement. The settlement
was called Colchester and later renamed Salisbury. Here he
continued in the ministry till his decease, Oct. 28, 1662. His
grave in the old cemetery in Salisbury, is covered by a flat
stone upon which a bronze tablet was placed June 21st, 1913,
with the following inscription, -
Here lies buried the body of Rev. William Worcester, the
first minister of Salisbury, who came from England about 1639
and died 1662. This stone was laid on his grave to prevent
disinterment by wolves. This tablet is affixed by his
descendants, 1913.
No production of his pen has been transmitted to posterity to
indicate his intellectual character or attainments. Cotton
Mather, in the Magnalia, enrolls his name in the list of the
"reverend, learned and holy divines, arriving such from Europe
to America, by whose evangelical ministry the churches in
America have been illuminated." Johnson, in his "Wonder Working
Providence," mistaking the name, speaks of the first minister
of Salisbury, as, the "reverend and graciously godly M. Thomas
Woster." And the General Court says in an Order in reference to
the payment of his support, that "they of New Town (now
Amesbury) should
forebear to content themselves with private help, whilst the
Lord pleases to continue so bright a star in their
candlestick."
We may easily believe him to have been a man of exalted piety,
of strong intellectual fibre, of staunch devotion to the
dictates of conscience, of loyalty to his friends, and
interested in the affairs of state as well as of the church.
These traits are not lacking in his descendants. It is worthy
of note that as the generations of the family succeed each
other, the clerical mantle of their worthy progenitor seems to
descend as a direct heritage.
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Puffer Genealogy
1595 - 1662 (67 years)