Genealogy Story – First Church of Roxbury, MA

This morning I was watching an episode of “Finding Your Roots,” a PBS show which is available on YouTube. One of the individuals being featured was Rick Warren, pastor of a mega-church and author of many books, including “Purpose Driven Life”. As they were exploring how deep his pastoral roots go, they showed a page listing his great*9 grandfather, William Parke, who was one of the founding deacons of the First Church of Roxbury in 1632. But listed right next to that name was one that I recognized, that of George Alcock. Knowing that my Pierpont ancestors lived in Roxbury about that time, I decided to do some further investigation.

The book “History of the First Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts” is available for online reading (https://archive.org/stream/historyoffirstch01thwi). Page 42 is the one that they showed on the above episode. But as I searched through this book, in combination with reviewing my family tree in ancestry.com, I learned much more.

Alcock Family

George Alcock (1600-1640) was one of the founding deacons of this church. His bio is found on page 42. He had been born in England and came to this country in 1630. He was also the older brother of Thomas Alcock (1609-1657). But Thomas is the great-grandfather of John Alcox (1705-1777) who was one of the earliest settlers of my hometown of Farmingbury/Wolcott in 1731. John is then the grandfather of Mary Blakeslee who married Ezra Pierpont (1757-1842). Thus, George Alcock is my great*10 uncle.

Hooker Family

George Alcock’s wife was Elizabeth Hooker and this same page 42 it mentions that she was the sister of the Rev. Thomas Hooker. Thomas Hooker (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hooker) was at the time the pastor of the church in Cambridge, MA. However, he had some views that were at odds with other Puritan pastors and only a few years later in 1636, he and about 100 others left the Massachusetts Bay Colony and moved west where they founded what is now Hartford, CT, and the Colony of Connecticut. But my Pierpont readers will remember that the granddaughter of Thomas, Mary Hooker, was the wife of James Pierpont, who was the pastor of the church in New Haven and the ancestor of most of the New England Pierponts. Thus, George (my great*10 uncle) was married to Elizabeth (my great*10 aunt)!

Eliot Family

But the connections do not stop there. The first pastor of the Roxbury church was a man by the name of John Eliot (1604-1690). As noted in his bio on page 17, John received his education in Cambridge, England and was shortly afterward a minister of youth and an assistant teacher of a school which had been founded by Thomas Hooker in Essex, England. The book then states, “This connection with Mr. Hooker proved a great blessing to young Eliot. His example and instruction confirmed Eliot in the belief and practice of Christianity. ‘When I came to this blessed family,’ said he, ‘I then saw as never before, the power of godliness in its lively vigor and efficacy.’ He here resolved to devoted himself to the work of the Christian ministry. This he did when there was nothing in prospect for a Puritan minister but fines and imprisonments.”

Thus it was the influence of my great*10 grandfather that was the catalyst for the first minister of the Roxbury church to become what he did. But the connection doesn’t stop there, for John Eliot is also the great*12 uncle of my wife!

Pierpont Family

The Pierpont family were not part of the charter membership in this church in 1632. John Pierpont (1617-1682) (spelled in the book as Peirpoynt) did not move to Roxbury until 1648. But in 1674 when the church built its second meeting house he is noted on page 67 as being one of the Ruling Elders. George Alcock has passed on by this point, but William Parke is still one of the Deacons. It is also notable that serving as a ruling elder along side of John Peirpoynt is Samuel Williams, the son-in-law of William Parke and thus the great*8 grandfather of Rick Warren.

Also noted on this same page is Ebenezer Pierpont (1694-1755), a grandson of John’s. Ebenezer had joined the church in 1717 and was elected to the position of precinct clerk in 1733. There are Pierpont names (in various spellings such as Pierpoynt, Pairpoynt, Pierrepoint, Peirpont, Peirepont, and Peirpoynt in addition to Pierpont) scattered throughout this book.

Others

There are a few others of note among the pages of this book. They include:

Ralph Hemingway – great-grandfather of Lydia Hemingway who later married Hezekiah Pierpont, one of the children of James Pierpont in New Haven.

Thomas Ruggles – original member with many of his children/grandchildren also having positions of prominence in the church, he was my great*10 grandfather.

The church in Roxbury features prominently in my family history – both through my mothers-side Pierpont ancestors, and through my wife’s ancestry. And now we can both claim a connection to our relatives working along side of Rick Warren’s religious ancestors.