Thomas Little (ca 1608-1672) and his wife Anna Warren of Plymouth and Marshfield, Massachusetts

Thomas Little was born about 1608 in England (estimated from his marriage date), but his origins are unknown. He was at Plymouth before 25 March 1633 when he was taxed 18 shillings in Plymouth. [Records of New Plymouth Colony 1:11 (hereafter PCR)] He was taxed the same amount the following year. [PCR 1:28] His estate inventory indicates he was a farmer and a joiner, which was a skilled woodworker. Some descendants state he was a lawyer from Devon, but I have not seen a citation for this. 

Thomas Little married Anna (called Ann in marriage record) Warren on 19 April 1633 at Plymouth. [PCR 1:13; Mayflower Descendant 13:83 (hereafter MD)] 

Anna was born, possibly at Great Amwell, Hertfordshire, about 1612 in England, based on being “aged sixty yeares or thereabouts” in a 6 June 1672 deposition concerning the will of Ralph Chapman. [Wakefield] She was the daughter of Mayflower passenger Richard Warren and his wife Elizabeth Walker. She arrived Plymouth on the ship Anne in August 1623 with her mother and four sisters. 

Thomas and Anna are my 10th great-grandparents on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Ellis Davis’ side of the family. 

Anna and Thomas had nine children, likely born Plymouth, but only Ephraim’s birth was recorded. Boys are in order given in father’s will; girls are in order named in brother Thomas’ will. 

1. Abigail born say 1634; married by about 1656 Josiah Keane [Wakefield]; “my grandfather Josiah Keen married with Abigil Lettle.” [MD 28:5 citing Hezekiah Keen’s account book]
2. Ruth born say 1636; died apparently unmarried after 19 February 1675/6 when named in brother Thomas’ will [MD 4:164 citing Plymouth Colony Probate Records 3:1:165)
3. Hannah born say 1637; married Scituate, Massachusetts, 25 January 1661[/2] Stephen Tilden [PCR 8:29]; she died 13 May 1710 [Scituate VR 2:451]
4. Patience born about 1639 (based on age of 84 at death) [Lincoln]; married Weymouth, Massachusetts, 11 November 1657 Joseph Jones (Thomas Little bequeathed land to “grandson John Jones”) [NEHGR 12:350]; died Hingham, Massachusetts, 25 October 1723 [Hingham VR 1:73]
5. Mercy born say 1645; married Marshfield last of November 1666 John Sawyer [Marshfield VR p. 5 (hereafter MVR)]; she died before John married, second, on 23 [month blank] 1694 Rebecca (Barker) Snow, daughter of Robert Barker and widow of Josiah Snow [MVR p. 19]
6. Isaac born about 1646; died Marshfield 24 Nov 1699 aged about 53 years [MVR p. 388]; married by 1674 Bethia Thomas; died Marshfield 24 Nov 1699 [FindaGrave Memorial ID 25079058]
7. Ephraim born Plymouth 17 May 1650 [PCR 8:10]; married Scituate 22 November 1672 Mary Sturtevant, daughter of Samuel Sturtevant; died Scituate 24 November1717 [Wakefield]
8. Thomas born say 1654; died on 26 March 1676 [The American Genealogist 60:240]
9. Samuel born about 1656 (deposed 18 March 1689/90 aged “thirty three years or thereabouts;” [MD 2:248]; married Marshfield 18 May 1682 Sarah Gray daughter of Edward Gray [MVR 19]; died as Lieut. Samuel Little 16 January 1707 [Vital Records of RI, Bristol County, 6:1-145]

I descend from Patience. 

Thomas and Anna’s son Thomas died fighting in the Battle of Rehoboth during King Philip's War.  He wrote his will in February 1675 and mentions his brothers Isaac, Ephraim and Samuel (Samuel received most of the estate); sisters Ruth, Hannah, Patience, and Mercy; and his mother. [Plymouth Colony Wills 3:165] His sister Abigail had died by this time. 

Thomas purchased a shallop from John Barnes on 9 April 1633 in exchange for one pound of beaver [pelts?] and three ewe goats. [PCR 1:13]

Thomas was in the Plymouth section of the 1643 Plymouth Colony list of men able to bear arms. [Plymouth Colony Records 8:189] He was included in a list of those attending town meeting in Plymouth about 1646. [Plymouth Town Records 1:22 (hereafter PTR) On 26 October 1647 Thomas Little of “the Yele [Eel] River” acknowledged a £20 debt to the court and king. [PCR 2:120] He served on committees to set boundaries and measure allotments. [PCR 1:153 is one example] Thomas served on Plymouth grand jury beginning 8 June 1664. [PCR 4:61]

The family moved to Marshfield in Plymouth Colony before 3 June 1662 when Thomas was appointed constable there. [PCR 4:16]

Thomas was involved in multiple land transactions. 

• Sold his dwelling house and “misted” to Richard Higgins for 21 bushels of corn on 7 October 1633. [PCR 1:16] 
• He made a gift of land from the end of his lot beyond Eel River to his brother-in-law Robert Bartlett to build a house on 28 May 1635. [PCR 1:34] 
• At 7 March 1636/7 court established the land Elizabeth Warren had previously given her sons-in-laws Richard Church, Robert Bartlett and Thomas Little at their marriages to her daughters. [PCR 1:54]
• On 20 March 1636/7 Richard Church, Robert Bartlett and Thomas Little were granted the hay ground they had last year and to take “further supply where they can fynd yt, in place not graunted to others.” [PCR 1:56]
• He was granted 40 acres of land nearer to the end of Mannamett Pond where “he mowed grasse this yeare,” on 7 August 1638. [PCR 1:93]
• On 6 January 1639/40 Thomas Clark was to relinquish his grant of land at Whoop Place, Eel River, excepting eight acres reserved to Thomas Little. Forty acres formerly granted to Thomas Little were to be laid forth to Mr. Thomas Prence, Mr. John Jenney and Josuah Pratt. [PCR 1:138]
• On 6 May 1640 Richard Church, Robert Bartlett, Thomas Little and Mrs. Elizabeth Warren were granted enlargement at the head of their lots to the foot of the Pine Hills. Also Thomas was granted liberty to mow the grass growing about the ponds upon the highway to Sandwich. [PCR 1:152]
• On 4 March 1647 five acres of upland meadow in Plymouth “at a brook commonly called the Indian Brook” were granted to Thomas Little “so long as…himself or any of his posterity shall remain within the limits of the township of Plymouth.” [PTR 1:23-24, 38] On 25 December 1655 the town granted to Thomas Clark “five acres of meadow lying in the same meadow with Thomas Little. Tho[mas] Little’s being first laid out according to his grant in the town book.” [PTR 1:207] In 1664 Jonathan Morey expressed a desire “to have the meadow land granted to him that was sometimes Thomas Little’s being upon the Indian Brook beyond Monnomett Ponds.” [PTR 1:76]
• On 2 August 1652 “Thomas Little sometimes inhabitant of the town of Plymouth,” with the consent of his wife Ann, sold to Richard Foster of Plymouth, planter, “all that his house and land lying and being at the Eelriver in the township of Plymouth aforesaid whereon the said Thomas Little formerly lived.” [MD 1:98-9, citing Plymouth Colony Land Records 2:1:11] Thomas’ mother-in-law Elizabeth (Walker) Warren had deeded him land at Eel River in 1633.
• On 3 June 1662 Thomas Little’s rights to a farm he purchased in Marshfield, formerly belonging to Major William Holmes, were spelled out, noting improvements such as fencing. [PCR 4:16]
• On 3 October 1665 Thomas Little, by virtue of land “he surrendered at Manomett Ponds” and Josias Keane, by virtue of “his great necessity,” were allowed to look for land, and if they found it, the court would grant them one hundred acres each. [PCR 4:110] Perhaps they failed to find unclaimed land, for on 3 October 1665 Mrs. Rachel Davenport, as attorney to her husband Mr. Humphrey Davenport and in her own right as heir of Major William Holmes, sued Little and Keane for £600 for “detaining estate of lands and building on them.” ]PCR 7:126-7] On 6 February 1665/6 Mrs. Rachel Davenport and her arbitrator referred the case against Thomas Little to the determination of the court. [PCR 4:113] and the court replied 1 May 1666 that Little should pay Davenport £14. [PCR 4:119-20] 
• On 29 October 1668 the court registered the claim of “Experience Michell, Henery Sampson, Richard Church and Thomas Little” to a parcel of land at Namassakett Pond and declared that “none shall interpose or deprive them of it until the court purchases it and settles it on them.” [PCR 5:5]

A 7 July 1637 description of land boundaries mentions Mr. Hopkins house down to the fishing point, to Robert Bartlett’s house, east to to Thomas Little’s, east to Mrs. Warren’s, west to Richard Church’s house, west to the common ground. [PCR 1:60] This shows that the lots of land Elizabeth Warren gave to her daughters/sons-in-law were adjoining. I really admire how close-knit these early families were. 

He received the transfer of the indenture of William Taylor, son of carpenter William Taylor of County Cornwall, from Mr. John Atwood on 12 March 1638/9. [Stratton]

Thomas had some education as he served in the office of “Keeper of the Colony of New Plymouth books.” [Anderson, citing Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts No. 1960]

Thomas Little is not found in Plymouth Colony records from about 1652 to 1662. In his deed of 2 August 1652 he is no longer living in Plymouth but where he is living is not divulged. The Weymouth record of Patience Little’s 1657 marriage to Joseph Jones states she is the daughter of Thomas Little of Cambridge, but Thomas isn’t found in published Cambridge records. [Anderson]

Thomas had the ability to annoy neighbors to the point of being brought to court. On 7 February 1664/5 William Shurtliff sued Thomas Little for carrying off trees Shurtliff had cut down. Major Alden and Joseph Beddle were to settle the bounds and Little to return the trees, but final judgment to await the return of the bounds. [PCR 4:79] On 7 March 1664/5 sometime constable William Holmes successfully sued Thomas Little for £5 in damages for misleading Holmes into unjustly attaching the belongings of Nathaniel Winslow. [PCR 7:122-23]

On 9 June 1665 Thomas Little was fined £1 10s “for disclosing grand jury proceedings.” [PCR 4:101, 8:114, 116]

Thomas Little died at Marshfield in March 1671/72; he was buried there 12 March 1671/72. [MVR 1:427 appendix citing NEHGR 8:192] He was in his early- to mid-60s. Some of the original records transcribed in this NEHGR issue have since gone missing. It is believed Thomas was buried at Old Winslow Burying Ground where a cenotaph honors the town’s early settlers including “Thomas Little and his wife Ann.”.

Cenotaph Old Winslow Burying Ground/Thomas and Ann Little source:Findagrave.com

Thomas Little’s will is dated 12 May 1671. [Plymouth County Probate Records 3:1:46; transcribed in MD 4:161-164] He mentions his loving wife but not by name; two eldest sons Isaac and Ephraim, two younger sons Thomas and Samuel; his grandson John Jones; and his servant Sarah Bonney. [MD 4:161] He does not mention his daughters but does bequeath all his cattle to be divided equally among all his children after his wife’s death—presumably the daughters were included in that division. 

Thomas bequeathed housing, land both upland and meadow on both sides of the brook in Marshfield that includes an orchard; another parcel of Marshfield meadow purchased from Thomas Tilden and Morris Trewant; land purchased of John Waterman; land at Nemasket [Middleborough]; Nemasket land purchased from Jacob Mitchell. His grandson John Jones was to have 40 acres out of the land bequeathed to Thomas and Samuel, so Thomas must have owned  considerable acreage. Ephraim was to have the homestead after his mother’s death. He left the dispersal of household moveables to the discretion of his wife. Sarah Bonney [a servant] was to have convenient apparel and a cow at the time of her departure out of service. He signed his will which was witnessed by Anthony Snow and John Carver. 

The will was exhibited at Plymouth Court on 1 July 1672 upon the oaths of Anthony Snow and John Carver.

Inventory of Thomas Little’s estate was taken at Marshfield 4 April 1672 by Anthony Snow, Mark Eames, and Francis Crooker. It was untotaled and did not include real estate. It includes household items such as three featherbeds, table linen, brass, iron, pewter, earthenware, and a churn. There is cattle worth more than £28, a mare, sheep, swine, 30 bushels of corn, spinning wheels, and wool. An indication of his occupation is shown by “new joyners worke unfinnished” valued at £10 3s,  “tools in the shopp,”  and lumber.

Anna Little, widow of Thomas Little of Marshfield, was appointed administrator of his estate on 14 August 1672. [PCR 5:101]

Anna died after 19 February 1676 at Marshfield when she is mentioned in her son Thomas’ will. She is likely buried with her husband.

Sources:

Robert S. Wakefield, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Vol. 18, Richard Warren, 1999

Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 1995

Susan Roser, Mayflower Increasings for Three Generations, 1989

Eugene Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691, 1986

George Ernest Bowman, The Mayflower Descendant, “Thomas Little’s Will and Inventory, and the Will of His Son Thomas,” 4:161

Torrey’s New England Marriages to 1700 

Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff & David Pulsifer, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, 1865-1861 (referred to in text as PCR with volume and page number)

George Lincoln et al, History of the Town of Hingham, Massachusetts, 2:387–8 (1893)