John Lothropp

English Anglican clergyman
his great great grandson

Rev. John Lothropp (1584–1653) – sometimes spelled Lothrop or Lathrop – was an English Anglican clergyman, who became a Congregationalist minister and emigrant to New England. He was among the first settlers of Barnstable, Massachusetts. Lothropp was a strong proponent of the separation of church and state. This idea eventually became the mainstream view of people in the United States of America, because of the efforts of Lothropp and others. Lothropp influenced the culture of New England, and through that, upon the rest of the country. He has had many notable descendants, including at least six US presidents, as well as many other prominent governors, government leaders, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, and businesspeople.

Lothropp was born in Etton, East Riding of Yorkshire. He was baptised on 20 December 1584. He attended Queens' College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1601, graduated with a BA in 1605, and with an MA in 1609.

He was ordained in the Church of England and appointed curate of Egerton, Kent. In 1623 he renounced his orders and joined the Independents. Lothropp gained prominence in 1624, when he was called to replace Reverend Henry Jacob as the pastor of the 'First Independent Church' in London, a congregation of sixty members which met at Southwark. Church historians sometimes call this church the Jacob Lathrop Jessey (JLJ) Church, named for its first three pastors, Henry Jacob, John Lothropp and Henry Jessey. They met in private to avoid the scrutiny of the Bishop of London, William Laud. Following the group's discovery on 22 April 1632 by officers of the king, forty two of Lothropp's Independents were arrested; only eighteen escaped capture. The arrested were prosecuted for failure to take the Oath of Supremacy. Evidence gleaned by the historians Burrage and Kiffin and from the Jessey records indicate many were jailed in the Clink prison. As for Lothropp, the question is unresolved. English historian Samuel Rawson Gardiner, whose book Reports of Cases in the Courts of Star Chamber and High Commission, gives an account of the courtroom trial and cites information from the trial record that the convicted dissenters were to be divided up and sent to various prisons. Historian E. B. Huntington suggests Lothropp was incarcerated in either the Clink or Newgate Prison. Further, it may be that Lothropp actually served time in both prisons since it was customary to move prisoners from one prison to another due to space availability. The end, the precise location of Lothropp's imprisonment is not confirmable from primary documentation. While Lothropp was in prison, his wife Hannah House became ill and died. His six surviving children were, according to tradition, left to fend for themselves begging for bread on the streets of London. Friends, being unable to care for his children, brought them to the Bishop who had charge of Lothropp. After about a year, all were released on bail except Lothropp, who was deemed too dangerous to be set at liberty. The Bishop ultimately released him on bond in May 1634 with the understanding that he would immediately remove to the New World. Since he did not immediately leave for the New World, a court order was subsequently put out for him. Family tradition and other historical reflections indicate he then "escaped."