Oldham, John, colonist in New England

Oldham, John ōlˈdəm [key], c.1600–1636, colonist in New England, b. England. A trader, he emigrated to Plymouth in 1623 but was banished (1624) because of his opposition to the strict government. Later he was involved in establishing the unsuccessful settlement on Cape Ann (1626), several of the settlements in the Massachusetts Bay colony, and Wethersfield, Conn. His murder by the Pequot on Block Island was one of the events leading to the Pequot War (1637).

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