Samuel Newman

Who was Samuel Newman?

Samuel Newman was a clergyman in colonial Massachusetts whose concordance of the Bible, published first in London in 1643, far surpassed any previous work of its kind.

Newman was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, in 1602, son of Richard Newman. He graduated from Trinity College, Oxford in 1620, took orders in the Church of England. He was prosecuted for nonconformity and emigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony, probably in 1636.

After preaching nearly two years at Dorchester, he became pastor of the church at Weymouth, where he remained until 1643. The following year he removed with part of his church to Seconet, in Plymouth Colony. There they founded the town of Rehoboth, which then embraced what is now Seekonk, Massachusetts and Rumford, Rhode Island. He died in Rehoboth on July 5, 1663.

Newman's famous Concordance was the third in English ever published and greatly superior to its two predecessors. The first edition was published in London in 1643, just before Newman's removal from Weymouth to Rehoboth. At Rehoboth, he revised and greatly improved it, using in the evening pine knots instead of candles.