Birth

Around 1626in England

Marriage

John was married twice: first to Ann Brown and second to Catharine Chatham.

First Marriage to Ann Brown

Married to Ann Brown on 19 May 1653.

Second Marriage to Catharine Chatham

In 1662, John married Catharine Chatham, a Quaker from England.

Children

With Ann Brown, John had the following children:

• Ann, born February 6, 1654
• Elizabeth, born October 25, 1656
• Henry, born February 3, 1659
• John, born in 1660

With his second wife Catharine Chatham, John had three more children:

• Susanna, born August 1664
• Peleg, born August 1666
• Jane, born in 1667

Biography

John Chamberlain, son of Henry and Jane Chamberlain, was born in England and baptized in the St. Andrews parish Church on November 15, 1663. He came to New England with his parents in 1638 and was admitted an inhabitant of Boston, Massachusetts July 18, 1651. He later removed to Rhode Island and died in Newport, April 1667. John Chamberlain married first May 19, 1653, Ann Brown, daughter of William Brown of Boston, and second in 1662, Catharine Chatham, a young Quakeress who came from England.

On June 1, 1660, John was present at the execution of Mary Dyer of Boston and being drawn by sympathy to visit those still held in prison, soon felt the cruelty of the Boston Magistrates and was thrown in prison, himself, where he was confined for nearly a year and suffered repeated punishment because he refused to retract his beliefs.

At the time of the witchcraft delusion in Salem and Boston, John Chamberlain, son of Henry, was imprisoned as a Quaker sympathizer and the following petition from his father and brother Henry, resulted in the remittance of some of his punishment (Mass. Archives Vol. 10, p. 272). “To the Honorable General Court now assembled at Boston, the humble petition of Henry Chamberlain Senior and Henry Chamberlain Jr., humbly showeth–That forasmuch one John Chamberlayne a very near and dear Natural relation of ours, a child, a brother, doth now lie shut up unto death in Prison, etc. We though his condition somewhat more capable of mercy than the condition of other Quakers he being an inhabitant, a child to a father, a father to children, etc. So bound by many obligations of natural relation unto this place. [Dated Hull, August 4, 1661.]

His wife Ann Brown died while he was still in Boston prison and at about this time there came from London to New England a brave young Quakeress, Catharine Chatham, who appeared on the streets of Boston clothed in sackcloth, as a sign of the indignation of the Lord upon the magistrates. She was imprisoned there at once and held for a long term, in payment of fines and was repeatedly made to suffer the lash for her loyalty to the Quaker faith. “But the Lord had provided for her and she was taken to wife by John Chamberlain, and so became an inhabitant of Boston.” When the colony of Friends established a settlement in Newport, Rhode Island, John and Catharine Chamberlain went with them in 1663, and his death is recorded on the Friends Records at Newport April 1667. His widow Catharine, married second Valantine Huddleston.

Death

1667