Colonel Francis Wainwright

Colonel Francis Wainwright  Born 1620  Chelmsford, Essex, England   Died 19 May 1692 Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, USA

Reprinted from the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society     HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR. 

The endeavors of private men are ever memorable in these beginnings ; the meanest of the vulgar is not in- capable of virtue, and consequently, neither of honor. Some actions of plebeians have elsewhere been taken for great achievements. A pretty sturdy youth of New Ipswich, going forth somewhat rashly to pursue the savages, shot off his musket after them till all his powder and shot were spent ; which they perceiving, reassaulted him, thinking with their hatchets to have knocked him in the head : but he so bestirred himself with the stock of his piece, and after with the barrel, when that was broken, that he brought two of their heads to the army. His own desert, and the encouragement of others, will not suffer him to be nameless.  He is called Francis Wainwright, and came over servant with one Alexander Knight, that kept an inn in Chelmsford.

 Francis Wainwright arrived in Charleston from Chelmsford, Essex, England in 1630 and moved to Ipswich around 1637. He was among the first to volunteer in the Pequot War against the Indians that same year and distinguished himself for personal bravery.  Over 700 Pequot people were slain or taken prisoner, and only 16 English died.  Wainwright was young and vigorous, firing his musket until his powder and shot were spent, then beating off the enemy with the stock of his gun.  For his services in this war Francis Wainwright received a grant from Ipswich. Francis Wainwright became a prominent merchant, and was the beneficiary of his wife’s inherited estate. He expanded his estate, eventually owning a large area of land on East Street near the town wharf.

 The Treadwell - Wainwright house that sits on that location was built by his son John Wainwright. John Wainwright maintained several trusts, was Representative to the General Court in 1696 and 1698, and Justice of the Sessions Court until the year before his death at age 60 in 1708.

Son of Francis Wainwright Husband of Phillipa Wainwright Father of Sarah Perkins; Mary Shepard; Martha Proctor; Capt. Simon Wainwright; Francis Wainwright and 2 others; Elizabeth Cogswell and John CAPTAIN Wainwright « less