William Coddington - England and Massachusetts

England and Massachusetts

Born in Lincolnshire, England, Coddington was likely the son of Robert and Margaret Coddington of Marston. His presumed father was a prosperous yeoman, and when in Rhode Island the younger Coddington possessed a seal with the initials "R.C.," likely that of his father. The source of his education is not known, but that he was well educated is apparent from his correspondence, and from his considerable command of English law. As a young man he married by about 1626, and had two sons baptized at St. Botolph's Church in Boston, Lincolnshire, but both died in infancy and were buried at the same church. His first wife was Mary, and speculation exists that she was Mary Burt, because Coddngton once mentioned his "cousin Burt" in a letter. Also in 1626 he was one who resisted the royal loan, called the Forced Loan, and his name was recorded on a list for doing so the following winter.

Coddington was elected as a Massachusetts Bay Assistant on 18 March 1629/30, while still in England, and sailed to New England the following month with the Winthrop Fleet. His first wife died during their first winter in Massachusetts, and he returned to England aboard the Lion in 1631, remaining there for two years. During this visit to England he married in Terling, Essex, Mary Moseley who came back to New England with him in 1633, and who was admitted to the Boston church that summer.

Coddington was a leading merchant in Boston, and built the first brick house there. He was elected a Boston Assistant on multiple occasions from 1632 to 1636, was the colony's treasurer from 1634 to 1636, and a Deputy for Boston in 1637. He was also a Boston selectman in 1634, and was on several committees overseeing land transactions in 1636 and 1637.