Reverend Joshua HOBART

Notes:

The Rev. Joshua Hobart was the second pastor of the Puritan church in Southold, Long Island, serving the congregation from 1674 until his death in 1716. Born in Hingham, a town in southern Norfolk, England, he was the son of the Rev. Peter Hobart, and had emigrated to colonial Massachusetts with his parents in 1635, while still a young child. He graduated from Harvard University in 1650, and according to the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Volume 50, in 1656 married Margaret Vassal (b. 1633) of Barbadoes Island, the daughter of William and Ann Vassal, formerly of Scituate, Massachusetts. Widowed by July 1657, it is believed that his first marriage was childless. He subsequently went to England, where he remained for about two years. He returned to Massachusetts in 1669, and in the early 1670's married Mrs. Mary Rainford (nee Sunderland), the widow of Jonathan Rainford. Six children were born to the couple during the decade spanning 1672-1682. Surviving his second wife, who died in 1698, by some 31 years, the Rev. Hobart was 87 years old at the time of his death in February 1716-17. His grave is marked by a slate ledger stone which was probably carved and imported from England.

Graduated from Harvard College in 1650