Nathaniel Colborn (also Colborne, Coalborne, later Colburn) was born in Woolverstone, Suffolk, sometime within the year preceding 12 September 1611. The priest who baptized him, with whom he eventually emigrated to America, was a Cambridge-educated Puritan “nonconformist” named Timothy Dalton.

About 80,000 Puritans left England during the “eleven years tyranny.” In roughly equal numbers they went to Ireland, the Netherlands, the English colonies in the West Indies, and New England. A large majority (60%) left from the six counties in the east of England, including Suffolk, that had once been colonized by Scandinavians under the Danelaw. Ref

Puritans tended to be better educated and more prosperous than emigrants to other colonies. The disappearence of men key to the local social structure alarmed the authorities. A Suffolk official wrote in 1633 to Archbishop Laud, asking that several ships about to leave Ipswich with 600 emigrants be “stayed.” Alarmed at “the overthrow of trade” and “increase of the adversaries to the episcopal state” likely if these people were “suffered to go in such swarms,” he suggested that an order be sent:

...for Mr. Dalton, parson of Woolverstone by Ipswich, who is a great stickler for transporting these people, that he may be inhibited further meddling in the business... Ref

As a young parishioner, Nathaniel heard many sermons by Mr. Dalton. Dalton likely recommended that he could better serve God in another place. As the youngest of four sons, Nathaniel may also have concluded that his prospects looked better somewhere beyond Woolverstone. The pattern of older sons remaining near home, while younger sons seek their fortunes on whatever happens to be the frontier at the time, reoccurs several times in the history of this family.

Though Nathaniel's name does not appear on any of the transcribed passenger lists of ships that crossed the Atlantic during the Great Migration, this is not unusual. The names of many people who were undoubtedly present in early Massachusetts do not appear on any surviving passenger list, including Timothy Dalton and the woman Nathaniel later married (Priscilla Clarke.)

Church authorities suspended Timothy Dalton from his clerical duties in Woolverstone in April, 1636. He fled England, with his family, either late that year or early 1637, before he could be tried by the High Commission Court. His biographer suspects that, like many other Puritan ministers, he travelled in disguise. Ministers were forbidden to emigrate without the permission of church authorities.

If the histories that say that Nathaniel emigrated in 1630 are correct, he came by himself at age 19, spent several years in Boston, and later caught up with his former minister in Watertown.

More likely he came over with Dalton, in 1636 or 1637, perhaps in Dalton’s employ. Since Dalton likely travelled under an assumed name, perhaps Colburn, who would have been 25 or 26, did so as well.

By 1635, Boston, Watertown and other early villages were already beginning to seem overcrowded to land-hungry farmers from East Anglia. The Massachusetts General Court called for the establishment of new towns further inland, both to relieve population pressure and to create a buffer between the coastal towns and potentially hostile Native-American tribes living to the west. Meeting in September in Newe Towne (later Cambridge,) the Court ordered “that there shalbe a plantation settled about two myles above the falls of Charles River” (referring to falls in present-day Newton.) Ref

Meanwhile a group living in Watertown heard the Court’s call for a new settlement, understood the opportunity, and began making their own “improvements” in an area above the falls. They chose a place the Algonquian natives called Tiot, “land surrounded by water.” Ref The place offered a ready supply of firewood on its “uplands,” abundant fish in its streams and “swampes,” and remarkably broad stretches of meadow perfect for raising crops or cattle. It was such a perfectly inviting spot for the farmers of East Anglia that they named it “Contentment.”

In September, nineteen men signed a “peticion” to the colony General Court. They asked the court to

“Ratifie vnto your humble petitioners your grante formerly made of a Plantacion aboue the Falls.”

Their petition boldly ignored the limited recommendations of the official surveyors, requesting instead

...that we may posesse all that Land which is left out of all former grants vpon that side of Charles Riuer. And vpon the other side five miles square.

Of the original nineteen Proprietors, more than half never settled in Dedham. Two that did make the move promptly died. After a few years, several more chose to pursue other opportunities not quite so far out in the wilderness.

Dedham needed settlers. To induce families to move to this frontier outpost, the Proprietors offered free land - twelve acres to married men and eight to bachelors - and membership in the town. Those willing to share the hardships of the frontier became Proprietors themselves, and shared in both the rewards and responsibilities joint ownership entailed.

Not just anyone could join, however. Candidates had to be both capable of taming the wilderness and of high moral character, by Puritan lights:

We shall by all means labor to keep off from us all such as are contrary minded, and receive only such unto us as may be probably of one heart with us...

There was also a time restriction: those granted land had to actually make Dedham their principal residence within a year, or the land would be given to someone else. From the minutes of the November 1636 town meeting (still held in Watertown:)

Wheras our Towne of Dedham being far Remote from other Townes... we shold enioye what number of people we may for our better saffety from danger... Wherfore we doe nowe by a generall consent order that all those wch haue or shall heerafter Receive Lott in our sayd towne: shall before the First daye of November next become Inhabitant within our sayd Towne to imryve their sayd Lotts & soe shall ther constantly Remayne dwelling... And yf any pson or psons haveing Lott shall not pforme heerin according to the true meaneing hereof: That all such graunte or graunts made... shall become voyde as yf the same had never ben.

In July 1637, after “some agitacion concerning Mr. Daltons Joyneing with us,” Philemon's brother Timothy was admitted as Proprietor. To his likely disappointment, he was admitted not as a minister but in a “Civill condicion” only. Choosing a minister was a very serious matter for Puritans (among other considerations, it usually meant lifetime employment.) Dedham did not call a minister until November of the following year.

Philemon Dalton’s homestead property was near the center of High Street, one of the principal streets in Dedham then and now. He had also been given a second, “gratification lott” in compensation for land he had previous purchased, annexed by the town. He could hold this lot until turning it over to a friend or relative.

According to the minutes of the next town meeting, August 11 1637:

It is consented that Nathaniell Colborne may haue Philemon Daltons grateficacon Lott, brenging crtifficate & subscribeing accordingly.

Plan Showing Approximately the Location of Lots of Land in Dedham Village and Vicinity as First Granted by the Proprietors to Individuals (Dedham Historical Society, 1883)

At age 26, Nathaniel was younger than almost all the other attendees at his first meeting. Most of the others were between 37 and 61. Of the few in their 20’s, most had arrived with their fathers or older brothers. Whether he had come as Timothy's servant or as his most devout congregant, the Dalton brothers seem to have taken the young man under their protection, and Dedham needed settlers. For a youngest son of a Suffolk farmer venturing out into the world, this was a stroke of good luck.

Almost immediately, his luck got even better. Philemon Dalton's “gratification lot” was small, and on the edge of town. By the time Nathaniel signed the Covenant, another plot had opened, in the very center of the new town. This plot had been granted to John Coolidge, one of the nineteen original Proprietors. Coolidge attended all the 1636 meetings held in Watertown, but in 1637, when the monthly meetings started being held in Dedham itself, he failed to show up. The first order of business at the August 1637 meeting gave him a warning:

The lot was described as follows:

Twelue acres more or lesse as it lyeth betweene Joseph Shawe towards the North & Philemon Dalton for the most part on the high Streete towards the South : And abutts vpon the litle Medowes towards ye East : & vpon the waye leading from the Keye [the bridge over the Charles] to the Pond towards the West with: the high Streete leading from the Litle Bridge Runing through the same corner wise.

The timing of his arrival was fortunate. At the August 1637 meeting it was also decided to roll up the welcome mat “for the mean tyme:”

For as much as our portion of allottment that we haue formerly Resolved vpon are nowe fully compleate according to our Intendements We doe nowe therfore fully agree by a generall consent that noe more Lotts shalbe graunted out vntill a further viewe be made what accomodacon may be fownd, for compfortable enterteynem of others. In the meane tyme those whoe haue given their names desiering to haue Lotts wth vs shall haue a negatiue Answer.

Now that Nathaniel had a farm, and a house, it was time to get married (according to the Covenant, he could only keep his full twelve acres if he was married.) He promptly did so 25 June 1639, marrying Priscilla Clarke.

Priscilla was born in 1613 in Banham, Norfolk, England, the 8th of 11 children of Thomas and Mary Clarke. She came to Dedham from Watertown with four siblings. Exactly when they emigrated is unclear, although the passenger list of the ship Abraham in 1635 includes a “Clark Jo” aged 20, the age of her brother John at the time. Her brother Rowland owned land in Dedham by 1637 but died the following year (some genealogies confuse their grandfather, also Rowland, with this brother; others confuse this Rowland Clark with another Rowland from Bedfordshire and say that he was her father.)

In emigrating together, the Clarke siblings were more typical Puritans than Nathaniel, who came without other family members. According to David Hackett Fischer, “By comparison with other colonies, households throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut included large number of children, small numbers of servants and high proportions of intact marital unions.” Ref  Marital bliss was enforced by law: Puritans thought life in a “covenanted family” was the only proper way, and made it illegal to live alone. Officials would force a stubborn bachelor to either “settle himself with a family” or “settle himself” in the House of Correction. Ref

Up to this point the online genealogies seem trustworthy. Some however take the lineage back to a Norman knight who accompanied William the Conqueror and fathered many generations of aristocrats.

Joining a Puritan church was not an easy matter. Neither was creating a church in the first place. From the Wikipedia history of Dedham:

While it was of the utmost importance, “founding a church was more difficult than founding a town...” Only ‘visible saints’ were pure enough to become members. A public confession of faith was required, as was a life of holiness. All others would be required to attend the sermons at the meeting house, but could not join the church, nor receive communion, be baptized or become an officer of the church.

What it was about his “case” that required “much inquisition” is lost to history. The entry for most accepted members reported no such inquisition.

The policy written into the town covenant to “receive only such unto us as may be probably of one heart with us” seems to have worked. Despite the tough rules, by 1648 70% of the men and most of the wives (in some cases the wives only) had become members of the Church. Dedham escaped the religious battles that roiled other New England towns. According to the Dedham Historical Society’s Capsule History of Dedham, “church records show no instances of dissension, Quaker or Baptist expulsions, or witchcraft persecutions.”

From 1642-1647 he served as Fence Viewer (in charge of inspecting fences) and Woodreeve. A reeve is an overseer; a woodreeve is someone who oversees the forests and/or the wood supply. In the spring a woodreeve would oversee the burning of ploughed fields and clearing of land to be used for grazing. Once all the wood was exhausted from their twelve-acre homestead lots, settlers needed to apply to the woodreeves for permission to “cut wood and timber, to cut hoop poles, and peal bark on the common lands. "The frequent practice of cutting without leave caused much difficulty.” Ref

Dedham originated the Selectmen system in 1639, when the number of Proprietors at the monthly meetings became too numerous for direct democracy to function smoothly. The system soon spread to most towns in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. New England towns are still governed by Boards of Selectmen today.

Becoming covenant-signer #45 of Dedham in the seventeenth century could be compared to becoming employee #45 at a very successful start-up company in the twenty-first. It took a lot longer then for the payoff than it does for the early employees of the Facebooks and Twitters of today, but when Nathaniel died he was able to bequeath farms to each of five sons and two daughters - quite an accomplishment for a young man who arrived in Massachusetts with no family connections, little education and few resources besides his own energy.

In the early years, most Dedham land was held and used communally. Each family had its 12-acre farm, clustered together for protection. These were carefully plotted so that each included a strip of meadow that could be planted right away before cutting into the forest. Cattle were raised in a communal 532-acre tract called the “herd walk” west of town. So that everyone had access to fishing, land bordering bodies of water was also owned in common.

As consolation, the Dedham Proprietors gained the right to choose a tract four times the size given to the Indians in Natick, anywhere to the west that had not yet been claimed. Theoretically, they could have chosen any tract between Dedham and Lake Ontario, since Massachussetts supposedly owned everything between two lines of latitude, extending through what is now northern New York State and beyond.

In 1656 came major decisions: the communal fields near town were divided up, and there would be no more free grants of land to strangers. The rules for dividing up land were revised. “No one pretended that all should have an equal share.” A complicated formula was devised that included the valuations of each Proprietor’s current estate, the rights they held in the herd walks (the “cow commons,”) and in other commons that had been created for other animals. “Five goat commons or five sheep commons were computed equal to one cow common, and were used as fractions of a whole right.” Some adjustments were made when the formula “bore heavily on several poor persons.” After a tussle about whether certain Proprietors who had moved to Boston should have cow-commons rights despite having no actual cows on the commons, the 80 proprietors agreed on the division of 522 shares.

Thus after this decision, there were two distinct bodies. The proprietors and inhabitants, including non-proprietors. But for many years this distinction existed only in theory, for there were not any persons for many years in the town, who were inhabitants and at the same time non-proprietors. Ref

Colburn had become wealthy by this point. His share of both the “rates” (taxes) and land dividends was one of the highest of the Proprietors.

King Philip's War

A small settlement finally began in 1669. The same year, King Philip sent a letter offering to sell the land at Wollomonuppoag. Though the Proprietors thought they had already purchased it, the Colony had a longstanding policy to agree to whatever requests the Indians made regarding title to land. Nathaniel was part of a small group sent to negotiate on Dedham’s behalf. Another deed was drawn up, and Philip was paid “a Holland shirt” and £17.0s. 8d. Once it looked like the new plantation would actually begin, “some of the Proprietors sold their interests in the lands to such persons as wished to go there and remain as inhabitants.” Colburn was likely one of the sellers, since none of his children are recorded as moving to the town, renamed Wrentham.

Puritans had a strong family ethic (and, despite their later reputation, an earthy, sensual attitude toward sex.) They tended to have many children, and the New England climate proved exceptionally conducive to their survival. The Puritans arrived in New England during the “little ice age,” when temperatures were much colder than they are today. According to David Hackett Fischer, this created “an exceptionally healthy environment for settlers from northern Europe.... Summer diseases such as enteritis, which were the great killers of children in the seventeenth century, tended to be comparatively mild in the Puritan colonies.“ The cold climate minimized the effect of insect-borne and water-borne diseases as well. On the other hand, Africans brought to New England tended to die of pulmonary disease. One of many reasons slavery never took hold in New England was that the purchase of such expensive assets, very likely to die of pneumonia, was too much of a risk. In Virginia, by contrast, Africans lived longer than Europeans since they were better adapted to tropical diseases. Ref

Priscilla and Nathaniel had 11 children, all of whom survived to adulthood, had children of their own, and lived out their lives in Dedham or daughter towns Medfield and West Dedham:

Illustration of the first Dedham school, based on details from early town records. From a 19th-century postcard.

The Colburn children attended the first free, tax-supported public school in America, established in Dedham in 1640. Puritans valued schooling, and tended to be more highly educated than other colonists.

To Benjamin, his fourth of five sons, Nathaniel gave “my owne present dwelling house & other buildings thereto... with all my homestead.” Why this particular son inherited the original farm while the others worked later acquisitions is unknown. Perhaps all the other sons chose to build their own farms on land that would become theirs on Nathaniel's death, and one son was needed to help the aging father. Perhaps Benjamin was his mother’s favorite. For a year, until she died on 12 Aug 1692, Benjamin shared the family homestead with Priscilla.

Benjamin became a leading citizen of Dedham, serving as Selectman several times. He and his heirs accumulated additional Dedham land. Though he had ten children, many died young. Two generations later, 24-year old Samuel Colburn became the sole heir to all the land accumulated by this branch of the Colburns.