1588 (or 1589)

Dorchester, England

March 15, 1665

Boston, Massachusetts

Governor and military leader

Portrait: John Endecott. Reproduced by permission of Archive Photos, Inc.

John Endecott "rebuked the inhabitants [of the Massachusetts Bay Colony] for their profaneness, and admonished them to look to it that they walked better."

Puritan leader John Winthrop.

John Endecott was one of the early leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which consisted of several settlements and towns. He came to the New World (the European term for North and South America) in 1628 as a member of a small group that paved the way for the "Great Migration" of Puritans (a religious group who preached strict moral and spiritual codes) two years later. Endecott was a strict Puritan whose actions generally benefitted the colony. Nevertheless, he could also be extremely cruel, and he dealt very harshly with dissenters (those who question authority) and other rebels. He...