Thomas Dexter (ca 1594-1677) of Leicestershire, England, Saugus/Lynn, Sandwich, Barnstable and Boston, Mass.

Thomas Dexter was born about 1594 in England, possibly at Great Bowden Leicestershire but there is no baptism found there so his parents are not yet known. He was in New England by 1630 where he was an entrepreneur with a keen head for business and the ability to design and build useful things. But he also comes across as a bit of a jerk! He was intensely litigious, physically attacked someone during an argument, and was accused of mistreating a young indentured servant in his care. The records indicate he was contemptuous of government figures, was fined for sleeping at church, yet was frequently used by the government to get things done. [Lovell]

Being an arrogant, distrustful hot-head who could get things done means Thomas frequently appears in the records of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies, a gift for researchers. Thomas is my 10th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur “Art” Washburn Ellis Davis’ side of the family.

I adore Sandwich, a Massachusetts town on Cape Cod. I have many early Sandwich ancestors and have long known of the name Thomas Dexter. I have visited Dexter Mill in Sandwich as my other ancestor, Seth Pope, purchased the mill in 1699 from the Dexters for his son John to run. So I was tickled when I recently discovered that I descend from Thomas as well. A later mill was moved to the original site and is a tourist attraction that actively mills corn. 

Thomas migrated with either Mr. Endicott in 1629 or in the Winthrop fleet of 1630. He bought with him at least three of his children and several servants. [Warden]

On 30 January 1613[/14] Thomas married Mary Harper at Great Bowden. Mary was baptized 25 Dec 1590, daughter of Richard Harp[er]. Mary and Thomas five children baptized Great Bowden [Mahler]:

1. Thomas born baptized 6 November 1614; m. by 1648 Elizabeth —?—; a marriage entry of Elizabeth Vincent to an unnamed groom is thought by some to be Thomas but proof is lacking
2. Mary baptized 16 Oct 1616; m. 1) in October 1639 John Friend; m. 2) Capt. James Oliver
3. William baptized 21 Feb 1618[/19]; m. Barnstable in July 1653 Sarah Vincent. [Mayflower Descendant 4:223]
4. Frances baptized 5 August 1621; m. Roxbury 29 Dec 1646 Richard Woody
5. Elizabeth baptized 31 August 1623; possibly married Richard Carr who was called brother-in-law to Thomas Oliver but Oliver already had a married daugther named Elizabeth and there are no Carrs mentioned in his will. 

No mention is found in New England of his wife Mary, so it is presumed she died in England. [Warden] I would not think Thomas would come to New England alone with five children, so perhaps Mary died early in New England. I have not found anything supporting a second marriage. I descend from William.

In 1630 Thomas settled on a whopping 800 acres in Saugus (later Lynn), on the west side of Saugus River, where he had many servants. He became a freeman in 1631. On 4 March 1632/3, the court ordered Mr. Dexter to be set in the bilboes [iron shackles around ankles], disenfranchised, and fined £40 (later reduced to £10) for speaking reproachful and seditious words against the government. [Massachusetts Bay Colony Records 1:103, 243 hereafter MBCR] This meant he was deprived of the right to vote or participate in government.

Many people write, including Warden, that Dexter was one of the founders of the Saugus Iron Works, then called Hammersmith, which abutted his homestead. A reproduction of the Saugus Iron Works operates as a National Park Historic Site. A paper from the National Park Service states Thomas owned some 1,300 acres of land, lived nearby where he ran a grist mill, and sold some acreage for the works, including a farmhouse and barn, but found nothing indicating he was one of the founders of the works. [Carlson]

Saugus Iron Works source: npplan.com

He is called farmer in records, and he had many servants and workers to run his farm and other business enterprises. In 1633 he built a bridge across the Saugus River, stretched a fishing weir across it, and later built a mill nearby. [Warden] 

Thomas was a man of substantial means and clearly was well educated. He is often referred to with the honorific “Mr” in records. On 3 April 1637 he and nine others, referred to as “The Ten Men of Saugus,” obtained a grant from Plymouth court to establish a settlement that became known as Sandwich on Cape Cod. [Lovell] In 1640 he was given six acres on which to build the first gristmill in Sandwich. [Plymouth Colony Records 1:149-50 hereafter PCR] Up to this point townspeople had to travel to the mill at Plymouth. [Sheedy & Coogan] 

Sign at Old Town Hall, Sandwich

He probably lived in Sandwich a short time as a 1640 land grant of 26 acres was dependent on "if he comes to live here.” [PCR 1:149-50] His son Thomas Dexter Jr. served as the miller and the elder Thomas returned to Saugus, forfeiting the 26-acre grant. [Gill]

About 1646 Thomas purchased two farms in Barnstable on Cape Cod, one near what is now Willow Street, adjoining the mill stream and afterwards occupied by his son William, and the other on the northeastern slope of Scorton Hill. His dwelling was situated on the north side of the old county road which had a commanding view of the countryside. His serene surroundings did not at first keep him conflict-free. In 1648 alone he had no less than six lawsuits in court, but all were decided in his favor. [Warden] At Scorton Marsh he built a causeway connecting Scorton Hill and Scorton Neck at the border between Barnstable and Sandwich. He sought to collect tolls from eight Barnstable families who used the causeway. When they did not pay, he sued to collect. He won his case but was granted only a one-time award from those whose lands were affected. [Lovell]

Thomas’ disenfranchisement eventually came to an end as in 1657 he took the oath of fidelity at Barnstable. [PCR 8:179] He was admitted freeman of Plymouth Colony on 1 June 1658. [PCR 5:277] He finally settled into a quieter life on his farm. 

In the 1650s through mid 1670s Thomas served his community in a variety of ways: as highway surveyor, on many juries, committee to lay out a highway, committee to set bounds between Sandwich and Plymouth, and committee to gather the minister’s maintenance. [Anderson] He must have been a man of great energy as aging didn’t noticeably slow him down.

There are far too many legal battles involving Thomas Dexter list separately, but a few of interest:

• Thomas Dexter accused John Endicott (later to be Governor) of battery and on 3 May 1631 the case was tried before a jury, which decided in favor of Dexter who was awarded £10. Endicott said ”I hear I am much complained of by goodman Dexter for striking him. Understand since it is not lawful for a justice of the peace to strike, but if you had seen the manner of his carriage with such daring of me, with arms akimbo, it would have provoked a very patient man. He has given out that if I had a purse he would make me empty it, and if he cannot have justice here, he will do wonders in England, and if he cannot prevail there, he will try it out at with me here at blows. If it were lawful for me to try it out at blows and he a fit man for me to deal with, you would not hear me complain.” [MBCR 1:86]
• On 3 Sept 1633 the differences between John Dillingham, Richard Wright and Thomas Dexter were referred to John Endicott and Increase Nowell for arbitration. [MBCR 1:108]  This caught my eye because John Dillingham and Richard Wright are also my direct ancestors.
• On 1 October 1633 Thomas Dexter was fined 20s for drunkenness. [MBCR 1:108] 
• At court 31 March 1645 Samuel Hutchinson of Lynn sued Thomas Dexter Sr. of Lynn for assault and battery and was awarded a 40s judgment. Dexter felt he had been insulted by Samuel Hutchinson, met him one day on the road, and “jumping from his horse bestowed about twenty blows on the head and shoulders of Hutchinson, to the no small danger or deray of his senses as well as sensibilities.” [Essex Quarterly Court Records 1:95 hereafter EQC] The depositions of several neighbors who were going to work and passed “Goodman Dexters” said that Dexter struck Hutchinson “with the great end of his stick about twenty blows, that the man was a quiet man and that Goodman Dexter had no cause to complain.” [EQC 1:100]
• “Mr. Thomas Dexter, Senior” brought eight debt suits to court 6 March 1648/9 with mixed results. [PCR 7:43-4]
• Thomas’ greatest lawsuit was in 1657 against some inhabitants of Lynn over the ownership of what is now the entire waterfront town of Nahant. Thomas purchased this from Indian Chief Pognanum, called  “Black Will,” for a suit of clothes. He was defeated but he and his heirs kept the case active in court for over 38 years. [EQC 2:43] One of the issues was that Black Will seems to have sold Nahant to more than one buyer.  Capt. James Oliver and Thomas Dexter Jr, administrators of the estate of selectman Thomas Dexter Sr. sued the town of Lynn and Thomas Laiton regarding the ownership of Nahant, appealing the Court of Assistants’ ruling of 1 Sept 1657. [EQC 6:325] The judgment was in favor of Lynn 26 Nov 1678. [EQC 7:124-5] The most telling evidence against Dexter was probably the deposition of about 1677 made by “Clement Couldam aged about fifty-five years” who said that “about thirty-four years since he lived with old Thomas Dexter and the latter coming from the town meeting told Mr. Sharp of Salem, in his hearing, that he had given up his right in Nahant to Line and the town had given him a considerable tract of land on the back side of his farm which would be of more advantage to him.” [EQC 7:127]

Thomas Jr. seems to have inherited is father’s litigious streak and forceful personality, but William appears to be the more mild-mannered member of the family as I don’t see him in court records. 

It seems Thomas Dexter was also a hard master. On 6 October 1646, Thomas Jenner wrote to John Winthrop asking him to see to the matter of a child of Mrs. Allin whose only son had been placed with “one Goodman Dexter of Lyn.” “The truth is, the boy is used very hardly: I saw the youth at Dexter’s own house most miserable in clothing, never did I see any worse in New England…” [Winthrop Papers 5:77]

It seems Thomas was always wheeling and dealing and that his family was not immune from his tactics.  “John Frend” had lawyer Thomas Lechford record a list of “money due to me from my father-in-law Thomas Dexter” about the spring 1641. It included over £100 borrowed from Friend prior to the marriage and “My wife’s portion was to be 100 to be paid at the day of marriage w[hi]ch was in October 1639…” Evidently not being able to pay the various sums, Thomas Dexter bound the Saugus(?) mill to Friend on 26 June 1640. [Hale]

On 20 August 1640, Thomas Dexter of Lynn, yeoman, mortgaged the 800-acre farm in Lynn and 20 head of cattle to Humphrey Hooke for payment of a £500 judgment against Dexter. [Hale] 

On 25 Jan 1646[/7] Thomas Dexter of Lynn, yeoman, sold to “Richard Ledder” “for the use of the ironworks, all that land which by reason of a dam now agreed to be made shall overflow and all sufficient ground for a watercourse from the dam to the works to be erected, and also all the land between the ancient watercourse and the next extended flume or watercourse together with five acres and an half of land lying in the cornfield most convenient for the ironworks and also two convenient cartways that is to say one on each side of the premises as by a deed indented bearing date the twenty-seventh of January 1645 more at large appeareth.” [Essex County Land Deeds 1:2]

On 30 June 1648, Thomas Dexter was described as “late of Lin & now of Sandwich” when he confirmed that he had assigned one hundred acres of plowland and five hundred thirty acres of pasture near Charlestown line to Samuel Bennet as ordered by Mr. William Hooke. [Boston Record Commissioners, 32:135-7]

He conveyed his mill and large real estate holdings in Sandwich to his son Thomas and his West Barnstable farm to his son William. He sold his Scorton Hill farm to William Throope in 1673. [Warden]

On 24 October 1638, “Thomas Dexter of Lynne…Yeoman…for my natural love and good affection that I bear unto my son & heir apparent Thomas Dexter” granted him one mansion house and appurtenances, and one water mill, and six hundred acres of land, meadow and pasture to the said mansion house belonging “lying and being in Sandwich by the Indians heretofore called Shawme” in Plymouth Colony, and if “my said sone…shall not think good to accept of the premises hereby granted, that I will pay him the sum of five hundred pounds upon reasonable demands.” [Hale] On 30 October 1638, the previous deed was amended to include Thomas Dexter’s gift of oxen, plough and a horse and to commit to writing the agreement that young Thomas would “pay or case to be paid unto Mary Dexter & Frances Dexter his [Thomas the elder’s] daughters, for and towards their portions the sum of one hundred pounds” each when the younger Thomas “shall enter into & upon the said land…after his marriage, or at such time as he or his executors….shall demand & receive the said five hundred pounds, in case the said Thomas Dexter above bounden should marry a wife and die at sea before his return into these parts of New England, or not be well advanced in marriage according to the good liking of the said Thomas Dexter the father.” [Hale]

After Thomas sold his Barnstable farm, he moved to Boston to live with his daughter Mary Oliver. Thomas Dexter died in Boston in 1677 and was buried in the Oliver family tomb at King’s Chapel Burying Ground. [Warden] I have not found an original source about Thomas’ burial.

Administration was taken on the estate of “Thomas Dexter Senior” 9 Feb 1676[/7] by “Capt. James Oliver his son-in-law and Thomas Dexter Jr., his grandson.” [Suffolk County Probate Records 12:16 hereafter SPR] The grandson soon died and at November 1679 court “Ensign Ri[chard] Woodde” was named in his place. [SPR 12:16]

An inventory was sworn 25 April 1677 on the estate of “Thomas Dexter Senior late deceased in Boston and as far as is known” totaling £70 with no land, except “a claim of some lands” at Lynn, which were unvalued. [SPR 12:138]

Sources:

William A. Warden, Genealogy of the Dexter Family in America: Descendants of Thomas Dexter Together with the Record of Other Allied Families, 1905

Jack Sheedy and Jim Coogan, Cape Cod Companion,1999

Barbara Gill, CCGS Bulletin, "The Ten Men From Saugus,” Spring 2005

R.A. Lovell, Jr., Sandwich A Cape Cod Town, 1984

Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 1995

Edward Everett Hale, editor, Note-book Kept by Thomas Lechford, Esq., Lawyer, in Boston, Massachusetts Bay, from June 27, 1638 to July 29, 1641, 1885

Boston Record Commissioners, A Volume Relating to the Early History of Boston Containing the Aspinwall Notarial Records from 1644 to 1651, 1903

Stephen P. Carlson, Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site: Historical Sketch, 1973

Leslie Mahler, The American Genealogist, “Colonists from Great Bowden, Leicestershire: Dexter, Cole, Blakeman,” 78:181 (2003)

Nathaniel Shurtleff, editor, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth of New England, 12 volumes, 1855