Blog 2

    

Church of St. Augustine the Less in Bristol, England (where Daniel Gookin was christened)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St_Augustine_the_Less_Church,_Bristol,_BRO_Picbox-4-BCh-17,_1250x1250.jpg

Daniel Gookin was born in 1612 either in County Cork, Ireland or in Kent, England. His father was living in Ireland, but Gookin Jr. was christened at the church of St. Augustine the Less in Bristol, England. Gookin attended school in England and spent time in his later childhood at his father’s plantation in Virginia. In 1641, he returned on his second voyage to Virginia with his wife Mary and infant son Samuel before removing to Cambridge in 1648. Upon arriving in Cambridge, Gookin served as Captain of the Trained Band for the next 40 years. In 1952, he was elected as one of the eighteen magistrates who made up the council of Assistants. As an Assistant, Gookin, along with the Governor and Deputy Governor, decided on judicial cases and contributed to the lawmaking of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Daniel Gookin remained on the council continuously for a period of over 30 years with the exception of a defeat in 1676 due to his compassionate treatment of the indigenous people during an armed conflict with the natives known as King Philip’s War. Gookin was very engaged with the indigenous population, working to protect them from persecution, and was appointed the first superintendent of the “praying Indians,” writing two books on the indigenous people of New England. Daniel Gookin married three times and had all nine children with his second wife Mary Gookin before dying in 1686. The couple sent at least several of their children to Harvard College with Gookin’s namesake son Daniel Gookin Jr. even serving as Harvard librarian.

Grave of Daniel Gookin (1612-1686) at the Old Burying Ground opposite the gate of Harvard

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grave_of_Daniel_Gookin_1612_to_1687_Old_Cambridge_Burying_Ground_Cambridge_MA_near_Harvard_Square_He_was_an_early_settler_and_worked_with_Native_American_Indians_His_table_tomb_is_topped_with_a_heart-shaped_inset_likely_by_Thomas_Savage.jpg

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Gookin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Gookin_(pastor)

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/43209244/daniel-gookin

http://www.robertsewell.ca/dangookin.html