Thomas Hooker

Timeline

1. 1608–1633Chelmsford · EssexAfter completing his studies at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Hooker became lecturer at St Mary's, Chelmsford around 1626, renowned for market-day sermons of moral fervor. After Laud's crackdown on the lecturers' system he was required to find sureties, and in 1630 he refused to appear before the Court of High Commission and fled to the Netherlands. In 1633 he traveled from the Netherlands to New England.
2. 1633–1636Newtown · MassachusettsArriving on the same ship as Cotton and others, Hooker became minister of the Newtown church, known as "Mr. Hooker's congregation," of those who had come earlier. He openly criticized granting freeman voting rights only to church members; William Hubbard recorded that after his arrival "many freemen prized their liberties the more." His constitutional disagreements with Boston's leadership became an important motive for the move south.
3. 1636–1639Hartford · ConnecticutIn 1636 Hooker and Stone led about a hundred people on foot south to the Connecticut River, establishing Hartford, named after Stone's hometown, which together with Windsor and Wethersfield formed the three river towns. In his sermon opening the General Court on May 31, 1638, he declared that "the foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people," notes by Henry Wolcott surviving. In January 1639 the three towns adopted the Fundamental Orders, drafted chiefly by Ludlow, providing for an elected governor and general court without recourse to an English royal charter.
4. 1639–1647Hartford · ConnecticutAfter the Fundamental Orders passed, Hooker continued shaping church discipline in the river towns through sermons and pastoral letters, and took part in restoring order after the Pequot War. In soteriology he emphasized preparation and moral practice, differing from John Cotton's "free grace" approach in Boston. He died in Hartford on July 7, 1647, and later generations called him the "Father of Connecticut."