In his painting entitled ‘The Petition, 1673’, British artist John Washington, a resident of Budleigh Salterton, has imagined the scene where Roger Conant in old age is surrounded by his family in Beverly, the Massachusetts community in which he settled and where he would die in 1679 at the great age of 87.
Roger Conant is composing a petition to change the name of the town of Beverly
to Budleigh, a request which was rejected by the magistrates of Salem despite
the fact that he was one of the city’s founding fathers. Being of a peaceable
nature, and respectful of the wishes of the majority, he accepted their
decision.
Roger Conant's petition is mentioned on the blue plaque erected in 2023 on the
Church Hall in East Budleigh. In his request to the magistrates of Salem he
wrote of his neighbours in the town of Beverly who disliked the name because
'it hath caused on us a constant nickname of “beggarly”'. Along with his
neighbours, he, 'being all from the western part of England, desire this
western name of Budleigh, a market town of Devonshire and near unto the sea as
we are here, in this place and where myself was born'.
Perhaps his request was turned down because of religious prejudice against
these settlers from the West of England; strict 'separatist' Puritans of the
time tended to come from Eastern England. Conant himself is said to have found
the 1620 Mayflower Puritans too intolerant for his liking.
Painting ©John Washington. Photo by Peter Bowler.
For more about John Washington's work, click on his website
at https://www.johnwashingtonartist.com/
If you are interested in the history of early America,
and Roger Conant as a peacemaker in troubled times you can join the Devon
Peacemaker Festival Facebook group at
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