John Maverick ★

1570s–1620s

Born in December 1578 in Awliscombe, Devon, and baptized there on 28 December. Ordained in 1597 and earned his MA at Exeter College, Oxford, in 1603. Married at Ilsington, Devon, on 28 October 1600. Curate at South Huish, then from 1615 rector of Beaworthy, Devon.

1630s

Sailed aboard the Mary and John with the Winthrop Fleet and became the first minister of Dorchester, Massachusetts, made a freeman in 1631. Died at Dorchester on 3 February 1635.

Dorchester's Founding Minister

John Maverick was born in December 1578 in Awliscombe, Devon, England, and educated at Exeter College, Oxford, earning his Master of Arts in 1603 after ordination as a deacon and priest in 1597. He served as curate at South Huish and, from 1615, as rector of Beaworthy, Devon, before resigning around 1629 to join the Puritan emigration to New England, sailing from Plymouth in March aboard the Mary and John as part of the Winthrop Fleet and arriving in Massachusetts that May. John became one of the founding colonists and the first minister of Dorchester, Massachusetts, sworn a freeman in 1631. He died in Dorchester on February 3, 1635.