Rev. John Lothropp

Originally ordained in the Church of England, Rev. John Lothropp eventually renounced his orders and joined the "Independents" who practiced in secret. He was imprisoned after being discovered by officers of the king. Lothropp was pardoned under the condition he leave England with as many congregation members as he could take.

Excerpt from Genealogical Notes of Barnstable Families: Volume 2, Amos Otis - January 1, 1890, F. B. & F. P. Goss - Publisher:

Originally the family and followers settled in Scituate, Massachusetts. Eventually, due to religious differences with the inhabitants, John and his followers moved to Barnstable. This move is generally considered the founding of this town, one of the oldest in Plymouth Colony. He was a major proponent of the "separation of church and state", which was considered heretical in England at the time, but which became mainstream in the United States, largely due to Lothropp's efforts.

John Lothropp had 13 children, 8 with his first wife Hannah House (who died while he was incarcerated in England before coming to America), including his 6th child Samuel Lothrop, from whom we are descended, and 5 children with his second wife Ann Hammond. In all, he has over 80,000 descendants, including U.S. presidents and several notable persons. Here are a few:

Here is our lineage from John Lothropp to Russell Lathrop, Carl's G2-grandfather:

NOTE: I have chosen to record his name as "Lothropp" based on a line in the book A Genealogical Memoir of the Lo-Lathrop Family in This Country, Embracing the Descendants, as Far as Known, of the Rev. John Lothropp, of Scituate and Barnstable, Mass., and Mark Lothrop, of Salem and Bridgewater, Mass. and the First Generation of Descendants of Other Names by Rev. E. B. Huntington: