Hutchinson, Anne

Hutchinson, Anne (b. Marbury)

(1591–1643) religious liberal; born in Alford, England. After emigrating to Boston in 1634, she began to hold discussions of sermons in her home. Eventually, she preached about a "convenant of grace" rather than the more traditional "covenant of works." She originally received support from Governor Sir Henry Vane, John Cotton, and others, but after John Winthrop became governor (1637) she was banished from Massachusetts and formally excommunicated. She and her family moved to present-day Rhode Island and then to New York, where she and most of her family were killed in an Indian raid.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.