{{short description|Early English settler in Massachusetts}} {{Infobox person | name = Nathaniel Colburn | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth year|1611}} | birth_place = Suffolk, England, UK | death_date = 14 May {{death date and age|1691|1611}} | death_place = | spouse = {{marriage|Priscilla Clarke|1639}} | children = 11 | relatives = Waldo Colburn (descendent) }} '''Nathaniel Colburn''' (1611–1691) was an early settler and selectman in Dedham, Massachusetts.{{sfn|Worthington|1827|p=79-81}}
==Early life== He was baptized in 1611 in Woolverstone, Suffolk, England.<ref name=clark/> His parents were Leonard Colborne and Sara (née Lewes) and he had a sister named Sarah.<ref name=clark/> In 1630, Governor John Winthrop organized a group of men to move to New England and Colburn joined the group.{{sfn|Todd|1939|p=171}}
==Dedham==
Colburn arrived in Dedham shortly after it was incorporated in 1636.<ref name=family/> Colburn married Priscilla Clarke on July 25, 1639, and together they had 11 children.<ref name=family/> He signed the Dedham Covenant<ref name=family/> and was an original proprietor.{{sfn|Mann|1847|p=84}} In addition to being selectman for five years,{{sfn|Worthington|1827|p=79-81}} he held a number of roles and positions of responsibility within the new town including tithingman.<ref name=family/>{{sfn|Todd|1939|p=171}} He had 11 children, the youngest of whom was Joseph.<ref name=trivia1112/>
Colburn was admitted to the First Church and Parish in Dedham on January 29, 1641, "after long and much inquisition into his case,"{{sfn|Todd|1939|p=171}} nearly a year after his wife was.<ref name=family/> They lived nearby,<ref name=family/> on the west side of what is today Wigwam Creek.{{sfn|Mann|1847|p=129}} Part of Mother Brook ran through his land.{{sfn|Mann|1847|p=16}} He owned considerable property.{{sfn|Todd|1939|p=171}}
Ten years after King Phillip's War, question arose as to whether or not the town of Wrentham, Massachusetts was on land legally purchased from the Wampanoag people.<ref name=warner/> In March 1667, Colburn testified that he personally witnessed Metacomet sign the deed to the lands.<ref name=warner/>
==Death and legacy==
Colburn died May 14, 1691.<ref name=family/> He was an ancestor of Waldo Colburn.<ref name="Rand1890"/>
==References== <references>
<ref name=trivia1112>{{cite news | title = Dedham Historical Society & Museum trivia answer | page = 8 | newspaper = The Dedham Times | date = November 12, 2021 | volume = 29 | issue = 45 }}</ref>
<ref name=clark>{{cite journal | last = Clark | first = Christopher Gleason | title = Colborn Origins and Clark Revelations | journal = The New England Historical and Genealogical Register | volume= 153 | year = 1999| pages =180–182}}</ref>
<ref name=family>{{cite journal|title = The Colburn Family of West Dedham | journal=Dedham Historical Register|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4slAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA108|year=1891| publisher=Dedham Historical Society| page=108| access-date = November 29, 2019}}</ref>
<ref name="Rand1890">{{cite book|last=Rand|first=John Clark |title=One of a Thousand: A Series of Biographical Sketches of One Thousand Representative Men Resident in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, A.D. 1888-'89|url=https://archive.org/details/oneathousandase00randgoog|access-date=29 November 2019|year=1890|publisher=First national publishing Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/oneathousandase00randgoog/page/n152 135]}}</ref>
<ref name=warner>{{cite book | url = https://archive.org/details/historydirectory00warn/page/34 | title = History and directory of Wrentham and Norfolk, Mass. for 1890. Containing a complete resident, street and business directory, town officers, schools, societies, churches, post offices, etc., etc. History of the towns, from the first settlement to the present time | last =Warner | first = Samuel | publisher = A.E. Foss & Co. | year = 1890 }}</ref>
</references>
==Works cited== *{{cite book|last=Worthington|first=Erastus |title=The history of Dedham: from the beginning of its settlement, in September 1635, to May 1827|url=https://archive.org/details/historydedhamfr00wortgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/historydedhamfr00wortgoog/page/n37 29]|access-date=November 8, 2019|year=1827|publisher=Dutton and Wentworth}} *{{cite book|last=Mann|first=Herman |title=Historical Annals of Dedham: From Its Settlement in 1635 to 1847|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yWsWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA80|access-date=29 November 2019|year=1847|publisher=Herman Mann}} *{{cite book|last=Todd|first=Georgia Brake |title=God's Infinite Variety, an American|url=https://archive.org/details/godsinfinitevari00todd|access-date=29 November 2019|year=1939|publisher=National Americana Publications, Incorporated}}
==External links== *{{cite web | title = Generation V: Nathaniel Joins the Great Migration | work = The Colburn Chronicles | publisher = Clubmobile.org | first = Jim | last = Gasperini | url = http://www.clubmobile.org/Colburns/Nathaniel.html | access-date = November 29, 2019 }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colburn, Nathaniel}} Category:People from colonial Dedham, Massachusetts Category:Dedham, Massachusetts select board members Category:People from Woolverstone Category:1611 births Category:1691 deaths Category:English emigrants to Massachusetts Bay Colony Category:Signatories of the Dedham Covenant