GEMMS IDGEMMS-PERSON-003563
NameDeodat Lawson
Title
Gendermale
Denomination
Livedb. - d. (old)
Linked Manuscripts
Linked SermonsSermon on Deuteronomy 4:12 -- preacher (autograph: no)
Linked Reports
Source of DataCatherine Evans
Biographical Sources ConsultedCW Upham Salem Witchcraft Volumes I and II. Thomas Lawson, CCEd (Person ID: 126076).
Other NoteDeodat Lawson was born in Norfolk, England but there is no record of him attending a university. In Calamy's 1727 "Account of Ejected Ministers" he has note of Thomas Lawson, minister of Denton in Norfolk who "was the father of the unhappy Mr. Deodat Lawson, who came hither from New England". Calamy states that Thomas attended Katherine Hall Cambridge, but there is no note of this in Venn. However, there is a CCEd entry for Thomas Lawson, rector at Roydon and Castle Rising, Norfolk 1665-1676 (d. 1676).
Deodat Lawson travelled to New England by 1671 and is recorded coming to Boston in 1681 by Samuel Sewall. Lawson served as minster in Salem village from 1684 to 1688, although he seems to have never had a covenant with the church. While he lived there his wife and daughter died. From 1688 he seems to have been an iterant preacher in Boston, marrying his second wife Deborah Allen in 1690 and settling in Second Society in Scituate. He would revisit the village during the witchcraft outbreak to observe his former parish. He published a ten page pamphlet, "A Brief Narrative of Some Remarkable Passages at Salem Village" (1692) giving descriptions of the accusers and accused people. In 1696 Lawson returned to England, supposedly for a short visit, but did not return. Aside from Calamy's description of him as "unhappy Mr Deodat Lawson" his whereabouts and circumstances in England after his return are unknown.
GEMMS record createdAugust 16, 2021
GEMMS record last editedAugust 16, 2021