Kent England, southeast of London, was the location of the Atwater family that had several manors in the area west of Canterbury. During the 16th century, the vassal had become a farmer and in some instances a freeholder. The growth of towns increased with manufactures and commerce. Intellectual activity was awakened by the revival of learning and the new art of printing. Reform in theology and the revolutionary transfer of the supremacy of the Church in England had conspired to lift the common people into a higher position and to weaken the power of the King. Queen Elizabeth died in 1603 and was succeeded by King James. The golden cultural age of Elizabeth continued with writers such as William Shakespeare, Ben Johnson and Sir Francis Bacon and the introduction of the King James Version of the Bible. Charles I became King in 1625 and engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England. He was an advocate of the divine right of kings, which was the belief that kings received their power from God and thus could not be deposed. He further allied himself with controversial religious figures, including William Laud, who gained unlimited sway over the mind of Charles I and convinced him that the Puritans should no longer be afforded asylum in England.
When George Abbott was the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Puritans in his own Diocese of Canterbury were largely protected from the persecutions of Charles I by his personal authority. Archbishop Abbott permitted the French and Dutch churches to continue to worship according to their Presbyterian form . One of these congregations worshiped according to that form in his own Cathedral Church of Canterbury as had been done from the time of Queen Elizabeth. However, Archbishop Abbott died in 1633 and Archbishop Laud replaced him.
The Atwater children had buried their father in November 1636 and their mother died in January. They were to inherit the manors. The persecution of the separatists became much more active in the area surrounding Canterbury. On Christmas Day, 1636, Laud wrote to the king that even though the ringleaders of the Brownists and other separatists from the Church of England had been imprisoned, the movements continued. Thus, it appears it was becoming more difficult to be a puritan in Kent at about the time that both their parents died. At the same time, Rev. John Davenport, who had become a leading Puritan in London, was planning to form a colony in North America with Theophilus Eaton. Rev. Davenport arranged for the ship Hector to sail over the Atlantic. However, the officials were unaware how strongly this emigration was leavened with Puritanism.
The children, David and Joshua, brothers, and their sister Ann., being liberated from filial duty, joined the expedition of Kentish men who had become “infected with distemper for the authorized church.” Therefore, to leave for America on short notice likely meant selling all of their lands and possessions at a considerable disadvantage. By the end of April, the Atwaters and several others from Kent and about 150 Puritans from other parts of England joined with Rev Davenport on the Hector and sailed for Boston. The group under Rev. Davenport was not to scatter themselves when they disembarked, among the different settlements already established in New England, but to remain together and lay the foundation for a new and isolated community.
It was on June 26, 1637 that the Atwaters landed on the coast near Boston aboard the Hector. The passengers on board were “gentlemen of wealth and character, with their servants and household effects.” Most were from London and engaged as merchants and commercial businesses. Their arrival was joyously hailed at Boston for they were the wealthiest of immigrants to New England at that time.
With others, Joshua and David had heard about the tribe of Indians from the Pequot Indians west of the Connecticut River, known as Quinnipiac. They joined in an exploring party to look this area over. It was too late in the year to send a report back to Boston and build houses in sufficient numbers to shelter women and children, so the party remained through the winter, being sheltered by a hut situated near a creek. It was on Friday in 1638 when they left Boston, and as they are said to have spent a fortnight on the voyage by the Hector to New Haven. It was the latter part of the week when they arrived and on the Sabbath they worshiped under an oak tree near the landing place. The purchase of the land had probably been perfected in April though no written deed was signed until the following November. This was the beginning of what was termed for many years the colony of New Haven and is now the City of New Haven. The three children settled in New Haven.
