William Stoughton (Massachusetts) - Family and Legacy

Family and Legacy

He died at home in Dorchester in 1701, while serving as acting governor, and was buried in the cemetery now know as the Dorchester North Burying Ground. He was a bachelor, and willed a portion of his estate and his mansion to William Tailer, the son of his sister Rebeccah. Tailer, who was twice lieutenant governor and briefly served as acting governor, was buried alongside Stoughton.

The only sermon of Stoughton's to be published was entitled New-Englands True Interest. The sermon was originally delivered at the election of 1668, and was published in 1670. In it he harkened back to the founding of the colony, saying "God sifted a whole Nation that he might send choice Grain over into this Wilderness", but also lamented what he saw as a decline in Massachusetts society, and urged the lay members of society to defer judgment to their clerical elders.

The town of Stoughton, Massachusetts is named in his honor, as is one of the Harvard College dormitories in Harvard Yard. Construction of the first Stoughton Hall, in 1698, was made possible by his £1,000 gift.