Clergyman; born in
Lincolnshire, England, about 1592; was a graduate of Cambridge University,
England, and a classmate of
Cromwell.
Being driven from his church by
Archbishop Laud, in 1636, for Non-conformity, he came to
Boston and was chosen pastor of a church in (present)
Braintree.
Mr. Wheelwright seconded the theological views of
Anne Hutchinson (q. v.), and publicly defended them, for which offence he was banished from the
Massachusetts Bay colony.
He founded
Exeter, on a branch of the
Piscataqua River; and when, five years later, that town was declared to be within the jurisdiction of
Massachusetts, he removed with his family to
Wells, Me. In 1646, he returned to
Massachusetts, a reconciliation having been effected; and in 1657 he went to
England.
He returned in 1660, and in May, 1662, became pastor of a church at
Salisbury, Mass., where he died, Nov. 15, 1679.