DUDLEY, Joseph [1647-1720] -- English colonial administrator, Governor of MBC

Dudley, Joseph, governor of Massachusetts, was born at Roxbury, Mass., Sept. 23, 1647; son of Governor Thomas Dudley. He was graduated from Harvard in 1665, taking his second degree in 1668. He was made freeman in 1672; was deputy, 1673-75; was engaged in the battle with the Narragansetts in 1675, and was a commissioner with Edward Hutchinson and others who made the treaty with the Indians, July 15, 1675. He was an assistant, 1676-85, and in 1682 was sent as an agent to England to obtain a renewal of the old charter, but was unsuccessful in his quest. In 1685 he was commissioned president of the part of New England included in Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Maine and King's Province. In December, 1686, he was placed at the head of the council of Sir Edmund Andros, the newly appointed governor of New England. When the superior court was established in March, 1687, he was made chief justice and held the office for a year, when he was superseded by John Palmer and forced to accept a subordinate place on the bench. In 1689 he went a second time to England, having been arrested with Andros and sent thither with him. In 1690 he returned, having been appointed chief justice of New York. In 1693 he went a third time to England and received a commission from King William as lieutenant-governor of the Isle of Wight, where he continued eight years. He was a member of the House of commons for the borough of Newton up to the time of the death of King William. He received from King William his commission as governor of the province of Massachusetts which was renewed by Queen Anne, and he arrived in Boston, June 11, 1702, and continued in the government till November, 1715. He was married in 1669 to Rebecca, daughter of Edward Tyng, Esq., an early magistrate of Massachusetts, and of their thirteen children, seven lived to maturity. He died in Roxbury, Mass., April 2, 1720. BDNA

Detested by the colonials for his association with the Andros administrations.