John Thomas (ca 1621 to 1692) and His Wife Sarah Pitney of Marshfield, Plymouth County, Massachusetts

John Thomas was born about 1621 in England. His parentage has not been determined. I believe it was this John Thomas who was a child of 14, unaccompanied by parents, when he came to New England in the fall of 1635 on the Hopewell’s second trip of the year. Robert Charles Anderson believes more proof is need to identify John Thomas of Marshfield as the young man on the Hopewell, primarily because there is an eight-year gap between the ship’s arrival and his appearance in Marshfield records.

I personally believe it is quite likely the John Thomas of Marshfield and the young man on on the Hopewell are one and the same. Perhaps there was a lack of records because he was an indentured servant and a minor for a portion of that time. Governor Edward Winslow did have an indentured servant named John Thomas. Another passenger on the same voyage, Robert Chambers, was known to be a servant of Winslow. The names of John Thomas and Robert Chambers appear adjacent to one another, immediately after that of Edward Winslow, in the Marshfield section of the 1643 Plymouth Colony list of men able to bear arms. John of the Hopewell is the right age to be John of Marshfield. There is no record found of his parents in New England, again supporting that he came here unaccompanied. 

On 27 February 1643-4 Gov. Winslow petitioned the town of Marshfield to grant land to John Thomas and Robert Chambers, effective upon the end of their servitude in November 1645. The land was next to Luke Lilly’s and it was too small for two men, so Winslow advised that the town grant them an enlargement in any convenient place. Winslow guaranteed the taxes until the end of their servitude. [Marshfield Town Records I:10] A grant of 30 acres to each of the men was made on 8 April 1644, so it appears John’s servitude ended by this date as there is no stipulation. The land was on the north side of the South River near the land of Capt. Miles Standish and Mr. John Alden. [Marshfield Town Records I:11]

I have read that after his indenture John was a lifelong overseer of Gov. Winslow’s Green Harbor estate, Careswell, but with no source given. I have not found any mention of this in Marshfield Town Records although my research is not all-encompassing.

Twenty years later, on 24 Oct 1664, the town made a further grant of 30 acres to John Thomas. [Marshfield Town Records, I-93]

John Thomas married Sarah Pitney on 21 December 1648 at Marshfield. [Marshfield Vital Records, p 5] Sarah was baptized 11 February 1627 at St. Olave, Southwark, Surrey, England, the daughter of James Pitney, felt maker. [St. Olave Parish Register 1583-1627, p 291] Her mother was Sarah Smith.  Sarah was age 7 on  the 11 April 1635  embarkation certificate for the ship Planter. [Hotten 56]  She migrated from England with her mother and brother to join her father James Pitney at Ipswich, Massachusetts. I wrote about James Pitney here.

John and Sarah had eight children born Marshfield [births of 1 through 7 recorded Marshfield Vital Records p 18]:

1. John born 16 Nov 1649; m Sarah —-; d 24 May 1699 (drowned) [History of Marshfield]

2. Elizabeth born 12 Sept 1652; some say she married a West and others that she died unmarried; Lysander Richards wrote she attended Gov. Winslow’s wife

3. Samuel 6 Nov 1655; m 27 May 1680 Mercy Ford in Marshfield [MVR p 16]; died 1720 [History of Marshfield]

4. Daniel born 20 Nov 1659; m 26 April 1698 Experience Tilden in Marshfield [MVR p 23]

5. Sarah born September 1662; m 12 Jan 1681/2 Benjamin Phillips of Marshfield [MVR p 16]

6. James born 30 Nov 1663; m 3 Jan 1692/3 Mary Tilden [Duxbury VR p 319]

7.  Ephraim born October 1667, removed to Little Compton RI [History of Marshfield]

8. Israel born about 1671; m 23 Feb 1698/9 Bethia Sherman in Marshfield [MVR p 23]; d 29 Jan 1755 in Marshfield in his 85th year [Descendants in the State of RI Providence Plantations p 108]

I descend from their daughter Sarah.I wrote about Sarah and her husband Benjamin here.

John Thomas took the oath of fidelity in 1657. [Nathaniel Shurtleff editor, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, p 178] He served on a jury of inquest into the deaths of two men in Marshfield in 1655. [General Court of Plymouth Colony 31 January 1654/5 and 14 Feb 1654/5] He was surveyor at Marshfield in 1656 and 1679 [Marshfield Town Records I:56, 113] and constable there in 1664. [Marshfield Town Records I:92]

The town of Marshfield owned cattle, called the poor stock, that was loaned to the poor in town, often for a four-year period. On 24 May 1652 poor stock was given to Goodman Bump, Goodman Perry and John Thomas. [Marshfield Town Records, transcription of I:36, 1643-1878]

On 21 October 1679 Anthony Snow and John Bourne divided the poor stock to benefit the poor of the town. They found that John Thomas had a five increase of one cow valued at 6/9/0 and there was 4/6/0 due to John Thomas. Two of John Thomas’ cows were of the poor stock. [Marshfield Town Records, transcription of I:170, 1643-1878]

It is puzzling to me that John would have been considered a poor man. At times he served as a surveyor and constable, was literate as his inventory lists books which were expensive to buy in colonial America, he was a land-owner, and his inventory contained a considerable number of livestock. 

On the 16th of August 1683, John Thomas Senior delivered unto John Reed a cow of the Poor’s Stock by order from the overseers of the said Poor Stock for the said Reed to keep at the rate of the letting out the said stock for four years. [Marshfield Town Records, transcription, I:170, 1643-1878]

John Thomas was listed with other inhabitants as not attending town meeting, something that was subject to a fine, in August 1652, November 1652, July 1653, and August 1657. 

Lysander Richards wrote that the site of John and Sarah’s homestead is marked by a statue presented to Adelaide Phillips, the famous opera singer who lived on the land they once owned. Something I need to investigate further. 

In his 14 March 1663 will, James Pitney made a bequest to “my son John Thomas Sr” and appointed “my loved daughter Sarah Thomas” executrix. 

Sarah (Pitney) Thomas was buried 2 January 1682/83 at Marshfield. She was about 55 years old. 

John Sr.’s died at Marshfield, likely not many days before his inventory was taken on 12 January 1691/2. [Plymouth Probate Records, 1:116] The value of the estate, which did not include real estate, was not totaled but it was over 63 pounds. It included household items, books, corn, woolen cloth, a portion of a canoe, horse goods, tobacco, cider, two oxen, fifteen cows, six sheep, nine pigs, and farming tools, John Thomas of Duxborough, eldest son, made oath to this inventory on 16 March 1691/2; he gave bond on 26 March. [Plymouth file 20367]

There is conflicting information among historians and genealogists about when John died although his inventory convinces me of an approximate death of February or March 1691/2. Marcia Thomas wrote that John Thomas was buried 26 June 1673, but I cannot find this in Marshfield records. Lysander Richards gives John a 1676 death year. 

I believe both those dates are incorrect for various reasons with the main one being that when Sarah (Pitney) Thomas was buried in 1682, she was recorded as “wife of John Thomas sen.,” not as his widow or relict, indicating John was still living.

Another reason is that John Thomas and his son John appear in a 1684 list of Marshfield townsmen. [Digital image, ancestry.com “Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988”] One is written as John Thomas and the other John Thomas has a notation next to his name which I decipher as “ye second.”

There is also conflating of the deaths of John and his son John Jr, who also married a woman named Sarah. The latter was drowned “going out of Greens harbour in a Cunnoe” on 20 May 1699 and administration on his estate was granted to his wife Sarah on 7 August 1699 (Plym I:307). This administration is incorrectly stated as that of John 1 Thomas in Pope’s Pioneers of Massachusetts.

There is a memorial monument to early settlers of Marshfield at the Old Winslow Burying Ground with these names inscribed:

Edward Winslow and wife Susanna

Kenelm Winslow and wife Ellen

Josiah Winslow and wife Margaret

Josiah Winslow and wife Penelope

William Thomas

Nathaniel Thomas and wife Mary

John Thomas and wife Sarah

Marshfield Monument to First Settlers [source: findagrave.com]

Sources Not Mentioned Above:

Milton Halsey Thomas, NEHGS Register, “Notes Historical Intelligence: The Death of John 1 Thomas of Marshfield,” 101:72

Marcia Thomas, Memorials of Marshfield, 1854

Lysander Richards, History of Marshfield, vol II, 1905

Barbara Lambert Merrick, The Mayflower Descendant, “Plymouth County Probate Records and Files,” 42:137 (July 1992)

Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, VII:22 (John Thomas) and II:37 (Robert Chambers), 1995 

John Marchant born ca 1625, was of Yarmouth and died before 1693 at Edgartown, Mass.

I know maddeningly little about John Marchant. He lived in Yarmouth where the town books were destroyed by fire in 1674 and in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard where there was a lack of records from the early days. To make matters worse, some early Barnstable County land and probate records were destroyed by fire. The lack of solid information has lead to many theories about this family, so most of what is written here does not meet the genealogical proof standard but represents my best-guess research to date. 

John was likely born in England about 1625, possibly to John and Sarah  (——) Marchant, although the surname does sound French. He likely migrated as a child with his parents to New England, living at Newport (1638), Braintree (1638), Watertown, (1642), and Yarmouth (1648). Their last name is sometimes seen as Merchant. 

The two John Marchants are sometimes conflated. Some researchers have just one John who married twice, to Sarah and to another unknown woman. I believe there are two Johns—father and son. The older John would have been old enough to have been married with children when his wife Sarah died in December 1638. The older John would have been too old in 1664 to be starting a military career 26 years later when named an Ensign in the militia. It makes sense that John, son of John, would be the one with a military career at that time. The elder John who was admitted a freeman in Newport, Rhode Island in June 1638 and was at Braintree that same year where his wife Sarah died. 

John the younger is my 10th great-grandfather on my grandmother Milly (Booth) Rollins’ side of the family.

Before 1648 John married a woman whose name is not known and they had seven children [only births of first two recorded Yarmouth but historian Charles Banks wrote they were all  “undoubtedly” his children, likely because there wasn’t another Marchant candidate in Yarmouth and Edgartown to be their father]:

1. Mary born 20 May 1648 (Yarmouth VR to 1850 p 841]
2. Abishai born Yarmouth 10 Jan 1650/51 [Yarmouth VR p 842]; m. Mary Taylor 
3. John born about 1653; buried 19 June 1672 as “John, Junior”
4. Charles born about 1655; of Nantucket in 1679
5. Christopher born about 1658; living at Edgartown in 1685 when he witnessed a deed
6. Sarah born about 1661; married 1st Richard Arey of Edgartown; 2nd Thomas Harlock
7. Joseph born about 1666; living in Edgartown in 1711; m. Ann ——

I descend from John’s son Abishai. I wrote about him here.

John Marchant was made a freeman at Yarmouth on 3 June 1652.

I would imagine it was the younger John Marchant was in court in 1653, accused of trying to seduce another man’s wife: “Wheras wee haue enformacion of John Marchant, of Yarmouth, his attempting the chastety of Annis,  the wife of Thomas Phillips, of the said towne, but haue not as yett oath of it, wee leaue it to the next jury to enquire after.”[Plymouth Colony Records, June 9, 1653, PCR 3:36] 

There seems to be a pattern in my Marchant family of not adhering to social mores! John’s son Abishai was brought to court for fornication and adultery. John’s granddaughter Hannah Marchant (daughter of Abishai) had two children out of wedlock by two different men, not marrying either man.

John Marchant was appointed in 1664 by the court to be Ensign of the Yarmouth Military Company. In 1670 John Marchant Senior was promoted to rank of Lieutenant, so it would seem likely his father has died before this time for him to be referred to as senior. 

In 1676 John Marchant of Yarmouth was taxed 2 pounds 11 shillings towards expenses from King Philip’s War. 

Despite having such a strong, long-term connection to the town of Yarmouth, John removed to Edgartown on the island of Martha’s Vineyard where he was granted 10 acres of land in 1682. The land was “on the right hand of Sanchacantucket cart path, near the cart path that goes to Mortall’s Neck.” [Edgartown Records I:31] Sometimes colonists were granted land but never settled on them, but Banks believes John did remove to Edgartown or he would have forfeited the land for non-residence. There were later Marchant descendants on the island and some of John’s children lived there.

Banks wrote John died before 1693 at Edgartown, but here is no solid reason given for this date. 

Sources Not Mentioned Above:

Charles Swift, History of Old Yarmouth Comprising the Present Towns of Yarmouth and Dennis, 1884

Torrey’s New England Marriages to 1700

Charles Edward Banks, History of Martha's Vineyard, Vol II and  Vol III, 1966

Jonathan Nye (born 1649) and Patience Burgess (born about 1662) of Sandwich, Massachusetts

Jonathan Nye was born 20 November 1649 at Sandwich on Cape Cod, the son of Benjamin and Katherine (Tupper) Nye. [Sandwich Vital Records, p 4] I wrote about Benjamin and Katherine here.

Jonathan married, first, say 1680, Hannah (——). They had four, or perhaps five, children [two youngest recorded Sandwich Vital Records, p. 67 and first two mentioned in father’s will): 

1. Jabez born say 1682; married Ruth Bonum 31 May 1711; resided in Plymouth where he died in 1745

2. Sarah born say 1684; married John Bodfish 24 May 1704 

3. Joanna born 16 Jan 1686/87; was living in 1744 when she is called “Jonah” in father’s will

4. Ichabod born May 1689; married Elizabeth Bonum 16 Feb 1709/10; lived at Middleborough and then Rochester, Massachusetts; died 28 July 1735

Hannah died probably not long after Ichabod’s birth. 

Jonathan married, second, Patience Burgess, about 1690 at Sandwich. Patience was born Yarmouth about 1662, the daughter of John and Mary (Worden) Burgess. I wrote about John and Mary here. Patience and Jonathan had nine children recorded Sandwich with perhaps a tenth, Mary [Sandwich Vital Records, p. 67]:

5. Jonathan born Nov 1691, married Deborah Blackwell and Remember (Crocker?); moved to Hardwick in Worcester County where he died about 1770

6. Patience born November 1693; married Lt. Benjamin Freeman; died 8 Aug 1767 at Sandwich 

7. Joseph born 16 Nov 1695; married Mary Bodfish; died 21 March 1749/50 at Sandwich

8. Benjamin born 16 Oct 1697; married Lydia Freeman and Rachel (Foster?); died 13 June 1790 at Sandwich 

9. Thomas born August 1699; married Deborah Peckham

10. Abigail, twin born 2 Sept 1702; married Jonathan Hathaway 15 June 1721; died 30 Dec 1776 at Dartmouth

11. Isaac, twin born 2 Sept 1702; married Sarah Freeman; lived in Plympton

12. David, twin born 1 July 1706; married Elizabeth Briggs; lived in Rochester and Douglas Mass.; died 17 April 1796 at Douglas [haven’t found primary source for his death date/location]

13. Zerviah, twin born 1 July 1706; married Ebenezer Burgess; died 13 Nov 1787 at Wareham 

14. Mary who married John Fuller; not sure if her mother is Patience or Hannah or where she falls in the birth order; her birth is not recorded but she is mentioned in her father’s will

The appropriately named Patience certainly would have been a busy woman raising as many as 14 children, including two successive sets of twins!

Patience and Jonathan are my 8th great-grandparents. I descend from their son David who became a tavern keeper in Douglas, Worcester County, Massachusetts. 

Jonathan received the Old County Road house, grist mill and fulling mill from his father Benjamin Nye who was an early Sandwich settler. The property operates as a museum and is owned by the Nye Family Association of America. I visited in the summer of 2024 and the house has been beautifully restored. 

Nye family homestead

A later mill that was moved to the Nye property

Jonathan and his brothers Caleb and Benjamin all lived near one another on Old County Road. 

Jonathan Nye took the oath of fidelity on 4 July 1678. Perhaps his work kept him too busy to be officially involved in town affairs, but millers typically knew everyone’s business! He served on a grand jury in 1681 and as Selectman in 1698. 

Patience’s father John “Burg” wrote his will on 14 August 1700 with a codicil dated 19 Feb 1700/01. He mentions that his five daughters would receive his moveable estate after the decease of their mother, but the only daughter mentioned by name is Martha as she is unmarried and he wants her to be able to continue to live at home until she is married. The codicil orders that anything that is left of his estate after his wife’s decease or remarriage would be split evenly amongst his five daughters. 

Patience’s mother, the widow Mary Burgess, died intestate and administration of her estate was granted to her son Jacob on 11 May 1724. In the 10 July 1727 final disposition, Jacob noted that all legacies had been distributed except to his sisters Patience Nye and her heirs and Mary Ellis. [MD 53:2, Summer 2005] I wonder why Jacob was unable to reach Patience—she was living and it seems unlikely she was living out of the area unless temporarily staying with one of her sons in Worcester County.

On 7 August 1724 Jonathan deeded property to his son Joseph which consisted of the house, corn mill, fulling mill, pond and stream, six acres of upland and swampy ground, and half his lot of 10 acres of marsh in Barnstable, half upland lying southerly from the mill pond,  two small lots from the last division in Sandwich, and other land at Sandwich. It mentions land he already gave to son Benjamin Nye and land he bought from his son Jonathan. In return for the gift, Joseph was to take care of Jonathan and Patience. 

The deed for land he gave to son Jonathan dated last day of February 1717/18, requires that in return for the gift of land that the younger Jonathan was to "provide & allow unto Mercy Nye my sister (who is a p(er)son infirm both in Body & Mind) a Competant & Comfortable maintenance both in sickness & health.” 

Jonathan Nye of Sandwich wrote his will on 7 July 1744. As a businessman it is not surprising he had some education—he signed deeds and his will.  

Family mentioned in his will are beloved wife Patience, three daughters Patience, Abigail and Zerviah; rest of children Mary, Sarah, Jabez, Jonah, Ichabod, Jonathan, Joseph, Benjamin, Thomas, and David. Patience and son Joseph named executors. Only child not mentioned is Isaac.

Jonathan’s will:  In the name of God, Amen, I Jonathan Nye of the Town of Sandwich in the County of Barnstable in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England being grown into years & knowing it is appointed for all men once to die and being now of perfect mind and memory blessed be God do make and Ordain this my Last Will and Testament principally and first of all I give my Soul to God that gave it and touching my worldly Estate having heretofore disposed of my Real Estate there Remains only the Personal Estate to be Disposed of.

Imprimis. I will that all my Just Debts due to any person in might of Conscience be first paid.

Item. I give and bequeath unto my well Beloved wife Patience Nye the use and improvement of all my Personal Estate of what kind nature of quality whatsoever, both within doors and without for her comfort support and maintenance during the term of her natural life and what and so much of said Estate as shall be and Remain upon Expiration of her Term of Life, my will is that it be equally divided between my three daughters viz Patience Abigail and Zerviah The rest of my children viz Mary Sarah Jabez Jonah Ichabod Jonathan Joseph Benjamin Thomas and David I have already given such portions unto as I judge sufficient for them.

And lastly, I do constitute and appoint my well beloved wife Patience and my son Joseph Nye to be Executors to the my last Will and Testament. Hereby revoking and disannulling all other and former wills by me made and do ratify allow this and no other to be my last will in witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the seventh day of July Anno Domino 1744

Jonathan Nye [seal]

Signed sealed pronounced and declared to be his last will and testament in presence of us

John Otis

Silvanus Bourn

Nathaniel Otis

The will of Jonathan Nye "of the Town of Sandwich' was proved 13 May 1747. The inventory taken 29 June 1750 amounted to just over 6 pounds. 

As his son Joseph and presumably his wife Patience had died, Mary Nye was executrix of Jonathan's estate. She was likely his daughter-in-law, Joseph’s widow. Inventory included bed and bolster, a rug (heavy blanket) with a coverlet, a coat and jacket, a chest, a chamber pot -- all appropriate for a man of about 97 years of age. [Barnstable County Probate, 8:206-08 and 8:371]

Jonathan died between 7 July 1744 when he wrote his will and 13 May 1747 when it was proved. 

Patience Nye died between 7 Jul 1744 when she is mentioned in her husband’s will and 29 Jun 1750 when she did not swear to her late husband’s inventory or perhaps before 13 May 1747 when she did not act as executrix of his estate. 

The Nye homestead bed chamber

Sources Not Mentioned Above:

RA Lovell, Jr., Sandwich, A Cape Cod Town, third edition published by the Sandwich Archives and Historical Center, 1996

George Hyatt and Frank Best, Benjamin Nye of Sandwich, His Ancestors and Descendants, A Genealogy of the Nye Family,, Nye Family Association of America, 1907

Tupper Family Association, communicated by, NEHGS Register, “Thomas Tupper and His Descendants,” vol 99, January 1945

Bernard Peterson, “The Nye House at Sandwich,” Cape Cod Library of Local History and Genealogy Pamphlet Series, No. 12, 1925

Ian Hilder, George R. Nye, Jonathan A. Shaw, NEGHS Register, “The Origins of Benjamin Nye: Examining the Sources,” 159:77 (January 2005)

Lucius R. Paige, History of Hardwick, Massachusetts with a Genealogical Register,1883

Torrey’s New England Marriages to 1700, Volume 2, pg 1107

Edna Anne Hannibal, John Briggs of Sandwich, Massachusetts and His Descendants, 1962