 After the Massachusetts General Court's displeasure with William Pynchon's heresy, Pynchon had to resign as the magistrate of Springfield in 1651.The office was taken up by his son-in-law, Henry Smith but in the summer of 1652 Pynchon and Smith left for England.In October 1652, Chapin, Pynchon's son John and another Pynchon son-in-law, Elizur Holyoke, were appointed town Commissioners (essentially a board of magistrates).