"Mrs." Deliverance Sheffield, wife of Regicide Hugh Peter(s)

[John Brandon]

Gary Boyd Roberts's new 2008 edition of RD600 contains a line for Mrs.
Deliverance Sheffield, second wife of Rev. Hugh Peters. This was a
suggestion I made to him, based on p. 19 of the 1618/19 Rutland
Vistitation, which shows a Deliverance among the children of Sampson
Sheffield of Seaton.

http://books.google.com/books?id=eawKAA ... ampson&lr=

Gary found her 1613 baptism transcribed in _Leicestershire and Rutland
Notes and Queries_ ...

http://books.google.com/books?id=h8kGAA ... eld%22&lr=

This is a believable age for someone who was admitted to the Boston
church in 1639, and dismissed to Salem in 1640 upon her marriage to
the Rev. Peters; the name "Deliverance Sheffield" is quite unusual, as
well. Many sources have called Deliverance a widow, but this seems
merely to be a misinterpretation of her courtesy title "Mrs." given
her. See, for instance, one of the letters of Margaret Winthrop, who
mentions "Mrs. D. Sh."

http://books.google.com/books?id=dcFvkI ... eld%22&lr=

There are certain signs that this particular branch of the Sheffield
family had Puritan leanings. _Lives of the Puritans_ mentions a
Sampson Sheffield who was charged with Puritanism in 1587 (and this
could be Deliverance's father) ...

http://books.google.com/books?id=-ZUrLy ... #PPA511,M1

And her brother, Sampson Jr. was in trouble in 1648 for adhering to
Parliament over the King ...

http://books.google.com/books?id=1KsKAA ... ffield&lr=

See also ...

http://books.google.com/books?id=QisAAA ... ffield&lr=

http://books.google.com/books?id=EIdhxc ... ffield&lr=

[John Brandon]

Or rather it was Hugh Peters himself who mentioned "Mrs. D. Sh." ...

http://books.google.com/books?id=qFYMAA ... +sh%22&lr=

[Nathaniel Taylor]

In article
<[email protected]>,
John Brandon <[email protected]> wrote:

Gary Boyd Roberts's new 2008 edition of RD600 contains a line for Mrs.
Deliverance Sheffield, second wife of Rev. Hugh Peters. This was a
suggestion I made to him, based on p. 19 of the 1618/19 Rutland
Vistitation, which shows a Deliverance among the children of Sampson
Sheffield of Seaton.

http://books.google.com/books?id=eawKAA ... field+samp
son&lr=

Gary found her 1613 baptism transcribed in _Leicestershire and Rutland
Notes and Queries_ ...

http://books.google.com/books?id=h8kGAA ... ance+sheff
ield%22&lr=

This is a believable age for someone who was admitted to the Boston
church in 1639, and dismissed to Salem in 1640 upon her marriage to
the Rev. Peters; the name "Deliverance Sheffield" is quite unusual, as
well. Many sources have called Deliverance a widow, but this seems
merely to be a misinterpretation of her courtesy title "Mrs." given
her. See, for instance, one of the letters of Margaret Winthrop, who
mentions "Mrs. D. Sh."

http://books.google.com/books?id=dcFvkI ... ance+sheff
ield%22&lr=

Good! Another apparent armigerous colonist, for the Roll. When & where
were they married? Is the record extant, and does that record call her
'Mrs.' as the Winthrop letters do? Are any of her apparent Sheffield
kin known or believed to have been in New England?

Nat Taylor
http://www.nltaylor.net

[John Brandon]

What do people think of the suggestion that Deliverance's only
daughter Elizabeth Peters married "Mr. Barker of Newport, Rhode
Island?" I was always under the impression she had married someone in
England.

http://books.google.com/books?id=ScEMAA ... barker&lr=

[John Brandon]

Good! Another apparent armigerous colonist, for the Roll. When & where
were they married? Is the record extant, and does that record call her
'Mrs.' as the Winthrop letters do? Are any of her apparent Sheffield
kin known or believed to have been in New England?

Nat Taylorhttp://www.nltaylor.net

Hmmm, not sure about a surviving marriage record, but here's an
instance of John Endecott calling her "Mrs. Sheffield" ...

http://books.google.com/books?id=-1YMAA ... nthrop&lr=

[John Brandon]

Also, another letter from Hugh Peters which calls her plain "Mrs.
Sh.," rather than "Mrs. D. Sh."

http://books.google.com/books?id=-1YMAA ... erance&lr=


Oddly, it makes me think of "DiSH, TiSH, DiSH, TiSH, DiSH, TiSH" ...

[John Brandon]

http://books.google.com/books?id=XPo7AA ... lr=&pgis=1

[John Brandon]

Here's an earlier transcription of Deliverance's baptismal record
which couldn't quite make out the odd forename ...

http://books.google.com/books?id=TSsEAA ... #PPA172,M1

[John Brandon]

http://books.google.com/books?id=hW_69b ... #PPA277,M1

http://books.google.com/books?id=64wLAA ... ffield&lr=

[John Brandon]

http://books.google.com/books?id=HgcFAA ... n+wall&lr=

[John Brandon]

Rev. Hugh Peters' first wife was the widow Elizabeth (Cooke) Reade of
Wickford, Essex. Notice how close this is to Navestock, Essex, where
Deliverance Sheffield's brother Sampson resided (Navestock is just
beyond Brentwood) ...

http://www.multimap.com/maps/?hloc=GB|w ... 20SS12%209

[John Brandon]

"Sir, there is another trouble which I presume to putt upon you, which
is, to speak to the reverend Mr. Higginson, pastour of Salem, to move
that congregation to doe something for the maintenance of Mrs. Peters,
who, since her husband suffered here, hath depended wholly upon Mr.
Cockquaine and that church whereof he is pastour. I fear she will be
forced to seke her living in the streets, if some course be not taken
for her relief, either by Mr. Higginson or Mr. Oxenbridge, or some
other sympathyzing minister." (_Hutchinson Papers_ (Joel Munsell,
1865; reprint, New York: Burt Franklin, 1967), 2:252.

http://books.google.com/books?id=Q8C_14 ... nowles&lr=

[John Brandon]

Deliverance, who had become "distracted" soon after her marriage, and
was excommunicated by the Salem church, was still living in London as
a widow in July 1677, when Rev. John Knowles, formerly of New England,
wrote the following to Governor Leverett of Massachusetts:

"Sir, there is another trouble which I presume to putt upon you, which
is, to speak to the reverend Mr. Higginson, pastour of Salem, to move
that congregation to doe something for the maintenance of Mrs. Peters,
who, since her husband suffered here, hath depended wholly upon Mr.
Cockquaine and that church whereof he is pastour. I fear she will be
forced to seke her living in the streets, if some course be not taken
for her relief, either by Mr. Higginson or Mr. Oxenbridge, or some
other sympathyzing minister." (_Hutchinson Papers_ (Joel Munsell,
1865; reprint, New York: Burt Franklin, 1967), 2:252.