Who Does That Dudley Girl Think She Is?

In my last post I wrote about the episode of Who Do You Think You Are? where Sarah Jessica Parker learns, to her surprise, that she has Puritan roots. She says something to the effect of how strange it is to be connected to early American history.

I played the wanton seductress Abigail in a high school production of The Crucible, but until recently never gave much thought to the fact that I was descended from some of the real women who called each other "Goody" (instead of "Mrs.") and got into a tizzy about witchcraft. 

I've mentioned that my family tree includes hapless pilgrims who boarded the Speedwell, the Mayflower companion ship that didn't make it to Plymouth Rock.  Another Puritan ancestor, Thomas Dudley, came over later as part of the Winthrop Fleet.  Dudley was colonial governor of Massachusetts after his rival John Winthrop, and signed the charter founding a little college called Harvard.  

Dropping Dudley's name has elicited interesting responses over the years.  Once I was out to dinner with a number of colleagues, including an eminent statistician and his brilliant wife, who had just completed her dissertation on the Puritans. I trotted out Dudley and she said, “Oh, his granddaughter is in my research!” I asked the subject of her thesis. “Fornication in 17th Century Massachusetts,” she replied matter-of-factly, causing me nearly to choke on my filet mignon. (Turns out Marguerite Dudley escaped prosecution and in fact sued her married seducer for paternity.)

Perhaps the thought of their daughters riding around in fast carts with boys is what has the church elders looking so concerned in this painting?  (Image courtesy of Wikipedia)