Ava Shumaker
There was a sea of people, crowding shoulder to shoulder with each other, the house was practically about to burst! Anne paused. She talked very much about how John Cottons sermons were wonderful and that whoever doesn’t listen to them is missing out. She loved preaching, especially about John Cottons sermons, but some just didn’t agree with her preaching.
Anne Hutchinson lived in the early 1600s. She felt like God was calling to her and that the bible guided her. She preached to both men and women, but some disagreed with her preaching. She is now considered one of the first American feminists. First, Anne Hutchinson had an odd childhood. Anne Hutchinson's father was sentenced to jail for two years in 1578 for critical comments to the bible. Then three years later he was prosecuted for criticizing the church, he then was sentenced to house arrest for three years the year Anne was born. Anne Hutchinson was born in 1591 in Lincolnshire England to her mother Bridget (Dryden) Newman and her father Francis Marbury. Her father was a religious man and was a priest in the Church of England, so on July 20th, 1591, she was baptized. She had 15 siblings, that she loved very much. Anne Hutchinson grew up learning and being taught by her father. Her father taught her to always question authority. Her father provided her with independent thinking and her mother taught her about herbal medicines. Her father and her thought alike because many years later she started criticizing the Bible and preaching to men and women.
Meanwhile, Anne Hutchinson was inspired by Reverend John Cotton. Like many women of her county, Anne was a good thinker and learner, and Reverend John Cotton inspired her. She began preaching what John Cotton had been talking about, and the more Anne preached, the more women would join his ministry. In 1612, Anne married a childhood friend, a cloth merchant, William Hutchinson. In 1633 John Cotton moved to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and a year later, so did Anne, her husband, and her children. She then started working as a midwife and herbalist and around that same time she started hosting bible sessions in her own home. Soon her teachings became popular, but her popularity disturbed other religious leaders. Reverend John Cotton turned on her calling her meetings, “Promiscuous and filthy, coming together of men and women...”
Next, Anne Hutchinson went through many tough obstacles such as, King Charles I wanted to persecute the Puritans of the Church of England. So, at the age of 43, Anne, her husband, and her 10 children fled to Boston. Anne started preaching in her home about John Cottons sermons. Soon her meeting got a lot of attention from both men and women. But after a year of preaching, her meetings started getting negative attention. Religious leaders would tell Anne that preaching is only for men and that her ideas were unsafe. In June, Anne's pregnancy had ended, and she had given birth to a stillborn child, rumors had spread that she had given birth to a demon spurred off by John Winthrop. John Cotton preached about it saying that the stillbirth was a punishment from God. More people spread rumors saying that while she was a midwife, she never gave birth to any normal babies and that they were all monsters. Governor Winthrop described most of the babies born to Anne's followers as devil-like clawed creatures. In 1637, Anne and her family were banished from Boston, and she was held under house arrest until the winter ended.
Anne Hutchinson was a Puritan woman that preached in her own home. After being banished from Massachusetts, Anne and her family moved to Rhode Island and she became one of the founders of Rhode Island. She is a Puritan woman that defied the male-influenced Massachusetts Bay Colony and after being banished helped settle Rhode Island and New York. She was a spiritual leader that was challenged by male authority and indirectly, acceptable gender roles preaching to both males and females and questioning Puritan teachings. She was put on trial in 1637 for teaching false ideas, but she still didn’t give up on her teachings. She was brave and stood up for herself, and what she believed. And sadly, by doing so she lost her home, her church and her life.
Anne Hutchinson’s legacy continues to show that we must keep the religious diversity of our nation safe no matter what. Lastly, Anne Hutchinson was 52 years old when her, and her children were killed by local tribespeople. She died in 1643, in Long Island Sound near Pelham Bay New York. In 1642, Anne and her children settled on Long Island Sound near Pelham Bay New York. Then sadly a year later, Anne and her kids were killed by local Native American Tribespeople. She is now buried in Pelham Bay Park in Bronx Country New York.
In Conclusion, Ambitious, resourceful, and witty are three words I would use to describe Anne Hutchinson. She defied the odds by being the first female preacher, and the first woman to preach to both men and women. Anne helped other women to preach to both genders and just preach in general. All though, women still cannot become priests, they can still preach. In remembrance of Anne, there is a bronze statue located in front of the Massachusetts State House in Boston Massachusetts, USA, there is also a plaque in the Anne M Hutchinson memorial park, and lastly in New York her name is tribute in the Anne Hutchinson River, The Anne Hutchinson Parkway, and many schools in New York and other states dedicated to her.