Bio on The Reverend Francis Doughty and family
Accomack, Rappahannock and Richmond

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This is a bio on The Reverend Francis Doughty and family.  He lived in
several counties in VA...Accomack, Rappahannock and Richmond
	Francis Doughty was the son of an elder Francis Doughtie, merchant
of Bristol, who retired from business and lived as a country gentleman at
Oldbury, some 15 miles from Bristol.   When the father died in 1634, the
younger Francis was pastor of Old Sodbury, a few miles from Oldbury, and
had a wife, Bridgett, and 3 children...Francis, Elias and Mary.  Drawn
into the fast growing puritan movement the vicar, in 1636, came under the
notice of the Anglican Church authorities and seems to have lost his
pulpit in consequence.  Soon afterward, in 1638, he went to New England
where Puritanism was the force to be reckoned with.  For a time he lived
at Dorchester, near Boston, where the boat from England had disembarked.
In 1639 another child, Enoch, was added to the family.
	In 1639 or 1640 the ex-vicar became pastor of the newly settled town
of Taunton, but his tenure was short.  He fell into controversy with the
extremists of his congregation over the matter of baptism, on which
subject he held more liberal views than did the leaders of the New England
brand of puritan thought.   As a result, he was deposed from his pastorate
in 1641.
From Taunton, the Doughty family went to Rhode Island for a time and here
the minister took part in organizing a new colonizing project, the purpose
of which was to establish an English-speaking settlement on western Long
Island, in the Dutch colony of New Netherlands.  In the spring of 1642,
the group obtained a land grant for Mespat in the modern Borough of
Brooklyn.  Here a new town was started and Rev. Doughty became the local
pastor.  Hardly was the settlement well under way when, in 1643, an Indian
uprising drove the settlers away, and the Doughty family fled to Manhattan
for safety.  At the Dutch capital, the minister found new friends, for
there were many English residents among the Dutch.  With the consent of
the Dutch ministers these English organized a separate congregation,
making Francis their pastor.  In the Dutch colony of New Netherlands, the
only church organization recognized was that of the Reformed church of the
Netherlands.  This English congregation was a unit of that body, met in
the Dutch church building and its pastor drew his support from collections
taken in his own and in the Dutch congregations.
	The stay of the Doughty household in Manhattan lasted from 1643 to
1646, with the English church being organized around 1644.  In October
1645, Mary Doughty was married to Adrian Vanderdonck, a rising lawyer and
politician of the colonial city.  Vanderdonck was interested in
colonization, and in the spring of 1646, started a new settlement at what
is now Yonkers, taking his bride into the wilderness.  In the same year,
the Rev. Doughty went back to Mespat and took up again the work of
establishing a settlement.  He was so successful in this that his former
partners, in 1647, sued him in the colonial court for a share in the
property.  The question seems to have been as to whether or not the
partners' rights had lapsed by their abandonment of the effort in 1643.
The court decided that their rights were still good, and when Doughty
threatened to appeal his case to the Dutch authorities in Europe, the
colonial court fined him and issued a jail sentence of 24 hours as a
warning against such action. Their persuasion seems to have been
successful.
	A few miles from Mespat, the new English speaking settlement of
Flushing was organized in the spring of 1647, with Doughty being chosen
pastor of the new town.  According to one authority, his pastorate began
this same year.  It lasted until 1654, when he sued his congregation for
arrears of salary, which had been provided for by contract and not been
paid to him.
	In connection with his pastorate at Flushing, there has evolved the
modern myth to the effect that Doughty was an early minister of the
present-day Presbyterian Church.  In England he had been an Anglican
pastor, and in New England, he had, of necessity, been a
Congregationalist.  In New Netherlands he was minister of the Reformed
Church of the Netherlands, a Presbyterian form of organization.  In 1657
an ecclesiastical report on the condition of the colonial church was sent
from Manhattan to Amsterdam, and the writers mentioned Doughty and another
minister as having English-speaking congregations.  Seeking words to
explain that these ministers had affiliated with the established Reformed
church, instead of clinging to the congregational policy of New England,
the authors of the report stated that the pastors were Presbyterian.  The
modern misconception of his statement seems to have started with
O'Callaghan, the historian of New Netherlands.
	The year of 1655 brought great change to the lives of the Doughtys.
Mary Doughty, now Vanderdonck, became a widow in about June of this year,
and in September, the Indians drove the settlers off the Vanderdonck
plantation at Yonkers.  About this time, Reverend Doughty sailed for
Virginia, and theory has it that daughter Mary joined him after losing her
property.  They may have sailed together, but were both out of the Dutch
colony by August 1656.  Whether or not the wife of Rev. Doughty was still
alive at this time is not known.  The older boys, Francis and Elias, were
now farmers on Long Island, where they remained and became prominent
citizens in after years.  Enoch, the youngest child, went with his father
to Virginia.
	Francis is next heard of as pastor of Hungars parish on the Eastern
Shore of Accomack County, Virginia.  The Virginian church had been
strictly Anglican up to 1652, when the colony submitted to parlimental
authority.  After that date the several parishes were left to go their own
ways without interference by legislative acts of reform.  Doughty came
here, probably, in a modified Anglicanism, having no surplice or Book of
Common Prayer, but otherwise very much what it had been prior to 1652.  Of
his pastorate at Hungars, very little is recorded.  It is mentioned that
in 1655, he instigated a witchcraft prosecution, and in 1656 was favorably
mentioned in the will of a parishioner.  In June of 1657, he was married
again, to Ann Graves, who had the distinction of marrying 3 successive
rectors of Hungars parish.  Ann and her sister, Verlinda, were the
daughters of Capt. Thomas Graves, one of the original adventurers of the
Jamestown Colony, and had both been born in Accomack county, Va.  Verlinda
was married to the Governor of Maryland, and this fact gives rise to the
misconception that the maiden name of Bridgett Doughty, the 1st wife of
Frances, was Stone.  Gov. Stone was known to refer to Frances as his
brother-in-law, and someone seeing this thought it must mean that Bridgett
and the Governor were brother and sister, making her Bridgett Stone. In
reality, the wives of Francis and the Governor were the sisters, Ann and
Verlinda.
	Ann Graves married, before July 10, 1637, the Rev. William Cotton,
who, on that date patented land in right of his wife Ann Graves.   Rev.
Cotton, whose mother resided at Bunbury, Cheshire, England was the first
minister of Hungars parish, the first formally organized church on the
Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay.   He left a will of August 1640,
naming "Brethrin-n law Capt. William Stone" and another as overseers of
his estate.   Ann then married, by 1642, the Rev. Nathaniel Eaton, who
came to Virginia from Massachusetts, where, in 1638, he had become the
first master of the school that later became Harvard University. He had
been born England in 1609, and came to Massachusetts in 1638.  His father
had been a clergyman in England, and his brother was the respected first
Governor of the New Haven Colony.  Governor Winthrop of New York mentions
in his journal that Eaton, after he went to Virginia, was a "drunken
preacher".  In 1642, he assigned land at Hungars Creek due him by right of
intermarriage with the ""widdowe and relict of William Cotton, Clerke",
(often a misspelling for the word cleric).  By 1646 Eaton had left the
colony, deserting his wife, and returned to England, where he lived
privately until the restoration of King Charles II.  Conforming to the
ceremonies of the Church of England, he was fixed at Biddlefield, where he
became a bitter persecutor of the Dissenters, and died in prison for debt.
In June of 1657 Ann married the Reverend Doughty, rector of Hungars, but
moved with him to Charles County, Maryland by 1660.  The earliest
reference to the presence of Rev. Doughty in Charles County is found in a
bill of debt, a paper that in those days performed the function of the
modern promissory note.  The bill shows that in June 1660, the minister
promised to pay George Short a certain amount of tobacco either at
Pickawaxen in Charles County or at Potomac, on the Virginia side.  About
January or February of 1661, a Captain William Battin, who kept a store at
Pickawaxen, summoned Mr. Doughty to county court, but the matter was
adjusted and the case never came to trial.
	Meanwhile, Francis had organized a church and was officiating as
pastor.  The earliest evidence of this is the suit of Joan Mitchell, filed
in the summer of 1661, which called for trial in the court session of
September.  Earlier references show that Joan Mitchell had for some time
been under popular suspicion of witchcraft, an allegation she stoutly
denied.  At this particular time the imputation had again been raised and,
in self-defense, she brought suit against four persons, alleging slander.
Her petition in the case shows that she felt that Mr. doughty was
shielding her enemies.  "Whereas your poor petitioner is most shamfully
used and her good name taken away from her she dowth desire that she may
be righted and that shee may be searched by able women whether she bee
such a person or no which those persons say I am and if I bee found to bee
such a one I may bee punished by law or els to bee cleared by proclimation
and that the worshipfull bench would take it into ther serious
consideration how that I am abused and my good name taken from mee withoud
disart and I most humbly desire your worships that I may have the law
against them and I your poore petitioner shall bee bound to pray for you
and yours.  I desire YT Mr. Francis Doughty may bring those persons to
light that have raised these scandalous reports of mee for hee says  that
I aslluted a woman at church and her teeth fell acking as if shee had bin
mad and I desired him to tell mee who had raysed this report of mee and
hee would not and so from one to another my good name is taken away that I
cannot bee at quiet for them for it is allther delight and table talke how
to doe mee a mischief being a poore distressed widow but my trust is in
God that he will plead my case for mee and will never suffer the poor and
innocent to perish by the hands of ther enemes for of a sunday as I was
going to church with too of Capt. Fendalls folks Mr. Walker hurled stones
at me as I was going a long and so hid hemself again which for any thing
that I know his master might set him on to mischiefe mee and hee himself
wrongs mee by word and I your petioioner shall be ever bound to pray for
you."
	The suit of Joan Mitchell against the minister went no further than
the complaint.  The trial was postponed to the November court and at that
session the case was formally dismissed because neither party appeared.
	Another case that came before the September, 1661 court had some
reference to ministerial work of Mr. Doughty.  Eleanor Empson, widow of
William Empson, was about to be married to John Morris.  The pastor was to
have performed the marriage ceremony, but he received a note forbidding
the banns.  Mrs. Empson brought suit against the supposed author of the
note, alleging defamation, and called Enoch Doughty as her witness. Says
the court record: "Mr. Enoch Doughty aged 22 years or thereabouts swore
and examined in open court sayeth that he saw a note sent by Richard
Watson to his father Mr. Francis Doughty to forbid the banns of matrimonie
betweene Elenor Emmpson and any other person for that she was his wife
before God this to the best of this depanants knowledge to bee the
substance of the noat and further sayeth not."	The supposed author of the
note came into court and stated that, being a blind man, he had to trust
in the fairness of others in the writing of his messages, and that he
disclaimed any interest in the widow's matrimonial affairs.
	There is nothing in the court records to indicate clearly the
denominational character of Mr. Doughty's church.  When the minister came
from Virginia to Maryland, the English republic was still under under
Cromwell’s rule, and Anglican worship was illegal.  On May 5, 1660, the
republican period ended with the reinstatment of the monarchy and
parliament's order that henceforth all writs should be issued in the name
of King Charles.  With that act, the followers of the old worship services
were free to return to some form of Anglicanism.  Such was the situation
when the Charles County church was formed, and, in all probability, the
church was modeled after the modified Anglicanism of Virginia.  It is at
least certain that it adopted the vestry form of government so familiar in
the Anglican system. But, by April 22nd, church papers show that Doughty
had left the parish.
	Mary Doughty Vanderonck remained in Maryland, after the departure of
her father.  She apparently had come to Virginia  either with or soon
after her father, and found a home in Charles County.  Here, she acquired
repute as a healer of the sick, for which service she demanded good fees,
and sometimes, when her patients were reluctant to pay their bill, she
took  them to county court for due settlement of her claims.  Beginning on
April 22, 1662, the court records accord her the new name of Mrs. O'Neal
after her recent marriage to Hugh O'Neal, planter and active man of the
county.
	To Enoch Doughty now fell the task of guarding his fathers interests
in Maryland, and from the absent minister came a letter of attorney,
prolix with legal verbiage, bearing the date of June 4, 1662, and
beginning thus:  "Know all men by thees presant that I Francis Doughtie
now minister of Rappahonnock county in Virginia doe authorise immpower and
intrust my dearly loving sone Enock Doughtie of Charles countie in the
Province of Mariland my trew and lawfull atturney....."	It may be
noted that one of the 3 subscribing witnesses of this document was John
Washington, one of the original Washington emigrants from England, and the
ancestor of George Washington.
	Francis then removed himself to the parishes of Sittingbourn and
Farnham that lay on each side of the Rappahannock River at the lower end
of Old Rappahannock County.  1665 listed The Reverend Doughty listed in
church papers as the Minister of both parishes.  The following item is
found recorded in the Old Rappahannock county court papers:  "We whose
names are hereunder written being vestrymen for the parish of
Sittingbourne and Farnham do here unanimously agree for the future
maintenance of Mr. Francis Doughty the next two ensuing years and it is
agreed upon as followeth: that Mr. Francis Doughty shall receive yearly of
each parish above sd.  Sixty pounds sterling to be paid in tobacco
according to act of Assembly the said  tobacco to be paid in caske without
salery or other charge to the afore said Mr. Doughty revoking and
disannullingal former orders bargaines and contracts whatsoever made by
and between the said Mr. Francis Doughty and both or either the respective
vestrys of the parishes aforesaid to the true performance of which the
said Mr. Doughty and the vestry of both parishes have hereunto set their
hands this 3rd day of November, 1665."
	The Reverend Doughty was popular with a large part of his
congregation, but stirred others to high indignation.  He must have been a
vital person, for in the 5 years that he was there, he organized and
revived the church work.  In Sittingbourn Parish, he planned, bought land
for, and erected churches, one near Cabin Point and one at the mouth of
Occupacia Creek.  He also built a church at Piscataway, and a church on
the north side.  At Farnham Parish, to which he gave half his time, he
organized the vestry. While popular with the people, Francis was
repeatedly unseated, either because of the control of the church by the
state, or because of the vagaries of his own personality.  He was accused
of implacably censuring his parishioners conduct, and of refusing to
administer the sacrament of communion on Easter Sunday.  For this he was
tried, his accusers being not only vestrymen, but also justices of the
court.  This charge made it very difficult for things to happen other than
for Francis to be convicted.  This trial aroused much interest, and grew
largely out of the quarrel over whether he should be paid in sterling or
in tobacco.  It preceded by more than a hundred years the famous "Parson's
case", which has been immortalized by the fiery eloquence of Patrick
Henry.  At the outcome of the trial, Francis was "put out" as minister of
the parish, and after making provision for his wife and son Enoch to
continue their residence in Virginia, he departed.  His destination, as
indeed, any further knowledge of his life, is unknown.