Hutchinson, Anne Marbury (1591-1643), was the head of a group of Puritans whose religious beliefs were unacceptable to Puritan leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her teachings caused deep divisions in the colony from 1636 to 1638.
Anne Marbury was born in Alford, Lincolnshire, England. She married William Hutchinson in 1612. In 1634, the Hutchinson family moved to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. There, Anne joined the congregation in Boston. She began holding religious meetings in her home, where she interpreted church teachings in ways that Puritan leaders considered dangerous. For example, Hutchinson preached that nothing people could do by choice, including obeying church and state law, could win God’s love and favor. She also said that God communicated to people directly instead of through public and church officials. She and her followers were called Antinomians, meaning people who are against law.
Massachusetts officials ordered Hutchinson to leave the colony in 1637, and the church expelled her in 1638. She moved with her family to Rhode Island, and then to New York after her husband died in 1642. She was murdered there by Indians in August or September 1643.
