Joshua Fisher

Joshua Fisher (died 1672) was a politician from Dedham, Massachusetts and a member of the Massachusetts House of Deputies.

Fisher served in the Great and General Court of Massachusetts as a representative from Dedham. Being elected to the post showed the great esteem in which the people of Dedham held Fisher as it was the one body the townsmen recognized as superior to their own Town Meeting.

In colonial Massachusetts, each town sent two deputies to the General Court each year. Fisher was one of ten men who served in the role from the time of the Town's founding in 1636 to 1686 and, after 1650 was one of three, including Eleazer Lusher and Daniel Fisher, who "virtually monopolized the post." In 1671, he and Daniel were among a small minority of the General Court who voted against giving doctrinal authority to clergy.

In Dedham, he once disagreed with a decision of the Town of Dedham to build a road over his land and, in accordance with the practice of the town, sent the issue to mediation. He was also town clerk for a total of four years, having first been elected in 1657. He was the brother of Anthony Fisher and had a son, Joshua Jr.

Works cited

• Lockridge, Kenneth (1985). A New England Town. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-95459-3.

• Worthington, Erastus (1827). The history of Dedham: from the beginning of its settlement, in September 1635, to May 1827. Dutton and Wentworth. p. 29. Retrieved November 8, 2019.