Hicks, Saretta G.

Born circa 1583 in Avebury, England, Deborah Dunch "…was the daughter of a barrister, granddaughter of a Bishop, wife of a member of Parliament," and a distant relative to Oliver Cromwell by marriage. Her husband, Sir Henry Moody, was made a baronet by King James I in 1622. After her husband passed away in 1629, Lady Moody was beset with financial difficulties and, finding the political atmosphere in England increasingly insupportable, immigrated to Lynn, MA in 1639.

At first welcomed in Lynn, Lady Moody's sympathies for the Anabaptist movement soon created increasing difficulties for her. Writer Saretta G. Hicks's research points especially to Lady Moody's support of the Anabaptist practice of limiting baptism to adults as a major point of contention with members of the community. The Anabaptists, a minority in Massachusetts, also advocated a separation of church and state. Lady Moody left Massachusetts in 1643 in search of a more tolerant, or less controlling, atmosphere.

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