Margery Boyden, Scudder Association Foundation Historian

John² Scudder (J) was the first of the family to arrive in the western hemisphere. The early life story of John² Scudder (J) of Barnstable would be incomplete without mentioning the extraordinary times in which he lived and his extended family relationships of historical interest.

Many years ago John² Scudder received the designation John (J) by the Scudder Association for being the immigrant ancestor of an extensive line of Scudder descendants in America referred to as the Scudder (J) line. He has a great posterity but until the 1990s his true English origins were obscured.

Stories about faith-filled, courageous ancestors can strengthen us when we too are faced with extraordinary adversities. For generations, Rev. John Scudder, M.D. and his wife Harriet W. Scudder have inspired many for their unflinching service in Sri Lanka and India. Dr. Scudder was a pioneer medical missionary in Ceylon and India.

This issue of the Journal focuses on Notable Ancestors and Descendants of Richard4 “Betts” Scudder that Pertain to All Three American Scudder Lines so there is something here for all Scudder descendants to discover. This issue has Puritan history about Richard4’s ancestors and American Revolutionary War history that features three of Richard “Betts” Scudder’s grandchildren, including his grandson-in-law John4 Hart, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

E. B. Huntington, who gives an insider view of the Lothrop/Lathrop families involved, notes: Samuel2 Lathrop married “Nov. 28, 1644, Elizabeth Scudder, who had been dismissed from the church in Boston Nov. 10, 1644, to remove her church relation to that in Barnstable. She is reported in Savage as a sister to that John Scudder who was in Barnstable in 1640

The Lathrop sisters’ parents’ heritage begins with Rev. John1 Lothrop who fled from England’s persecutors and from his incarceration for his religion, arriving in Massachusetts in 1634. (In order to promote the accurate biographical data for Rev. John Lothrop and his family,

The year 2019 is also the bicentennial year of the first of the four Lathrop/Scudder missionaries to enter service to Ceylon. We honor them and their exceptional family with several articles in this December 2019 issue of the Scudder Family Historical & Biographical Journal.

When someone does something out of the ordinary, especially when they engage in a cause bigger than themselves for which they know they may give up their lives, curiosity begs to explore their motivations and what influences formed their decisions.

This issue of the Journal focuses on Notable Ancestors and Descendants of Richard4 “Betts” Scudder that Pertain to All Three American Scudder Lines so there is something here for all Scudder descendants to discover. This issue has Puritan history about Richard4’s ancestors and American Revolutionary War history that features three of Richard “Betts” Scudder’s grandchildren, including his grandson-in-law John4 Hart, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

In the 15th century, when Thomas of Salem and his brother, the Rev. Henry of Collingbourne Ducis, and their parents were born, the yeoman occupied an important position in the rural middle class. The term “yeoman” first appeared in the 4th century following the Black Death (bubonic plague).