Puritan Monument

While walking through Vine Lake Cemetery in Medfield, one monument stands out among the older gravestones. The inscription reads: “To the Memory of Seven Puritans who Emigrated from England to America in 1635-9“.

Beneath these words are the names of several early settlers, including John and Samuel Moses, along with other men whose families helped establish the early community. I was curious to see a monument in Medfield honoring men who arrived in Massachusetts in the 1630s before the town itself was founded.

Curiosity led me to take this photo to find out more. The explanation lies in the early settlement patterns of colonial New England. These men were part of the generation of Puritans who came to New England during what historians call the Great Migration, when thousands of English Puritans crossed the Atlantic between about 1630 and 1640 seeking greater religious freedom in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Many of these settlers initially settlers initially established themselves in older towns such as Dedham

As the population grew, families began moving outward to create new farming communities. In 1651, a group of residents from Dedham, petitioned the colonial government for permission to establish a new inland town. That settlement became Medfield. The men commemorated on the monument were among the early settlers whose families were connected with this expansion and the founding of the town.

The monument was erected in 1909 when members of the Medfield Historical Society sponsored it as part of a broader effort to preserve the town’s colonial heritage. Today the monument stands as a reminder of the generation of Puritan immigrants who crossed the Atlantic tin the 1630s and helped establish the towns of early Massachusetts.