Browne Rev. Edmund

Notes:

Rev. Edmund Browne,entered college on Easter, 1624 and graduated from Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, was the first minister of Sudbury, MA who came over on the "Confidence" with his brothers, Thomas and William. He was a freeman in 1640 and ordained August, 1640. The Register by Farmer says he came over in 1637.

He and his brothers petitioned the General Court to settle the plantation of Sudbury and was granted the authority on September 6, 1638. He married the Anne Whiting, widow of John Lovering but died childless in 1678. He was a well-respected member of the community even though his religious views did not always agree with the church members.


Transcribed From: "The History Of Sudbury" 1638 - 1889By: Alfred Serno Hudson, published: 1889 and republished: 1968The Death Of Reverend Edmund BrowneSudbury had not moved far on the road to renewed prosperity ( after The Phillips War) before another calamity came. This was the death of its pastor, Rev. Edmund Browne, who died June 22, 1678. The first intimation we have on the town records of Mr. Browne's sickness is the following: "Ordered, that next Lord's day there be a free contribution [asked] and collected by Deacon Haines for and towards carrying and charge of Preacher ( upon the sickness of Mr. Edmund Browne, Pastor ) that the pulpit might be supplied notwithstanding, after the best manner that may be obtained". Captain Goodenow, powered to be a standing committee during the pastor's sickness, and ordered "to take care that this town be supplied with able Preachers whilst the Pastor is not able to officiate." The following named persons offered themselves to fetch and return Preachers for the supply of the town, at least every Lord's day. 1st Peter Noyes, Joseph Parmenter, 2d Thol Brown, Joseph Moore, 3d Jn Goodenow, Joseph Graves, 4th Samuel How, Thomas Read, Jr.
We have discovered no record and are aware of no tradition, relating to Mr. Brown's burial or place of interment. He may have been buried in the old yard in Wayland, and the grave may have been left unmarked, or the stone may have been broken or fallen and removed. It has been conjectured that his remains were placed in some tomb in or about the city of Boston. The writer has examined copied inscriptions on the stones of some of the older graveyards of Boston but has discovered there no name which could be that of the first pastor of Sudbury.

In Sewall's Diary is the following entry: Monday, May 9th 1709. Major Thomas Brown Esq. of Sudbury was buried in the old Burying place. Bearers, Cook, Sewall, Hutchingson, Townsend, Jas Dummer, Dudley, Scarves, and Gloves." "The Old Burying place" was that of King's Chapel, Boston. The wife of Major Thomas Brown was buried in the East Side Burying ground, Sudbury. If Major Brown was not buried with his wife, but it was considered important that his remains should be taken to Boston for interment, the same may have been the case with Edmund Browne.
In the death of its first pastor the town met with a great loss. It is true he was nearly or quite fourscore years old, but judging from his activity in the Indian war, in fortifying his house, and sending messages to the Colonial Court, he was still energetic and robust. Moreover, he had been with the people from the beginning of the settlement; he had passed with them through the desolation's of a terrible war, and had been a sharer of their joys and sorrows for manyyears. From what we know of him, we judge him to have been a warm friend of the truth and an ardent defender of the Christian faith,. It is certainly creditable to him that after such a long pastorate, his people were of a character to empower their committee to provide "anable Orthodox Preacher" after he was taken ill.
Mr. Browne came from England in 1637, and according to Mather, was ordained and in actual service in the country before he came to America. He was a freeman of Massachusetts Bay Colony, May 13, 1640. He married, about 1645, Anne, widow of John Loveren of Watertown, but left no children. He was a member of the synod that established "The Cambridge Platform", 1646-48; was on the council that met in 1657 to settle the difficulties in Rev. Mr. Stone's church, Hartford; preached the artillery election sermon in 1666; and his name is attached to the testimony of the seventeen ministers against the proceedings of three elders of the First Church, Boston, about 1669.
Mr. Browne was quite a land owner, his real estate, as it is supposed, amounting to three hundred acres. His early homestead at Timber Neck had originally belonging to it seventy acres. He received from the General Court a grant of meadow land situated in the present territory of Framingham, and from time to time became possessed of various lands both within and without the town. Mr. Browne hunted and fished and it is said a good angler. He played several musical instruments and was a noted musician.

In his will he speaks of his "Base Voyal" and musical books and instruments. He was much interested in the educating and Christianizing the Indians and at one time had some of them under his special care. His library was for those timed valuable, containing about one hundred and eighty volumes. He left fifty pounds to establish a grammar school in Sudbury; but by vote the town in 1724, it was diverted to another purpose. He also left one hundred pounds to Harvard College.(pages 260,261, & 262)

Rev. married Whiting Anne on 29 Jun 1639 in Sudbury, Middlesex Co., MA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]