Thomas Williams was born about 1613 in England [based on estimated age at marriage]. His origins are unknown. Thomas is my 11th great-grandfather on my grandmother Milly (Booth) Rollins’ side of the family.
He is not the Thomas Williams who came to Plymouth on the Mayflower in 1620, but he was at Plymouth by the 1630s1. He appeared at the Plymouth Court on 5 July 1635 as a servant to widow Elizabeth Warren, whose husband Richard was a Mayflower passenger. “Thomas Williams, the servant of widow Warren, was accused for speaking prophane & blasphemous speeches against the majesty of God, which were these: there being some dissension between him & his dame, she, after other things, exhorted him to fear God & do his duty: he answered, he neither feared God, nor the devil: this was proved by witnesses, and confessed by himself. This, because the court judged it to be spoken in passion & distemper, with reprove did let him pass, upon humble acknowledgment of his offense; though the governor would have had him punished with bodily punishment, as the case seemed to require.” [PCR 1:35] Elizabeth Warren is also one of my direct ancestors.
Thomas married Elizabeth Tarte/Tart on 30 November 1638 at either Plymouth or Scituate, Massachusetts. [Plymouth Colony Records 1:103] She was born about 1618 at Tenterden, Kent, to Thomas and Elizabeth Tarte who were early settlers of Scituate, Massachusetts, part of Plymouth Colony.
On 24 June 1644 the town of Plymouth ordered that “in case of alarm in time of war or danger these divisions of the township are to be observed and these companies to repair together.” “Thom Williams” was listed in the company “at the Ele River.” [PTR 1:18]. Eel River is near where the vast expanse of Warren land was located.
Elizabeth and Thomas removed to Eastham on Cape Cod by 6 June 1649, when Thomas is named surveyor of highways there. He is listed as a townsman there in 1655 and about 1670 and is on the 1683/4 list of Eastham freemen. However no record is found for him actually being admitted to freemanship.
Thomas and Elizabeth’s children, order and birth dates uncertain (first five mentioned in Thomas’ 1692 will):
1. Sarah born about 1645; married John Nickerson
2. Hannah born about 1647; married first John Smith, second Thomas Mulford
3. Mercy/Marcy born about 1649; married William Nickerson (brother of John who married Sarah)
4. Elizabeth born about 1651; unmarried in 1696
5. Mary born about 1653; married Caleb Hopkins grandson of Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower
6. Nathaniel born 24 April 1655 at Eastham [PCR 8:15]; no further record so likely died youn
I descend from Mercy whom I wrote about here.It would seem there would be earlier children who did not survive to adulthood given the gap of seven years between Thomas and Elizabeth’s marriage and approximate birth of Sarah. The estimated birth years of the children are according to the work of Robert Charles Anderson.
Thomas volunteered for service in the Pequot War on 7 June 1637. [PCR 1:61] Thomas is in the Plymouth section of the 1643 Plymouth Colony list of Men Able to Bear Arms. [PCR 8:189) He served on a Plymouth coroner’s jury on 20 Sept 1667. [PCR 4:169]
On 3 June 1662, Plymouth Colony leaders authorized the “purchase of lands of the Indians which is granted unto such as were servants and others that were ancient freemen.” Twenty-four men, including Thomas Williams, benefitted from the grant which was to be at Saconnet Neck. [PCR 4:18) Sakonnet was the original name for the beautiful coastal town of Little Compton, now in Rhode Island, but then part of Plymouth Colony. On 9 Nov 1683 “Thomas Williams of the town of Eastham…husbandman,” sold to “Joseph Howland of the town of Duxburrow…my whole right or rights to land both of upland and of meadow land which is at a place commonly called Saconett & in particular that land there which is called by the name of my great lot which is reputed to contain one hundred acres…and also my fifty acre lot…which was laid out to or for me or my use at the said place of land called Saconnet, and all other lots of ground there, which doth of right belong or appertain to me…and hereby is more fully declared that the said Joseph Howland mentioned in the premises is the son of Henery Howland that was of Duxburrow now deceased.” [PCLR 5:242-4]
It seems to be generally accepted that Elizabeth Willams, wife of Thomas, died in Boston 30 Apr 1658. [Boston Deaths Prior to 1700 p 415] I’m unclear what proof exists of this being the correct Elizabeth; if it is her then she was about age 40. I’m skeptical because I have not seen any other mention of them living in Boston and Williams is such a common name. Thomas mentions no wife in his will or additional children with a second wife and it seems unlikely he would have remained a widower for 38 years especially when he had young children to raise.
“Having lived to old age,” Thomas Williams made his will 10 May 1692; it was proved 22 October 1696. Bequests to grand child John Smith (his now dwelling house, adjoining land and a parcel of meadow) and William son of John Nickerson (“one shilling in money and no more”); rest of estate to be equally divided among four daughters Sarah, Marcy, Elizabeth, and Mary, and the children of daughter Hannah Mulford. Loving friends Joshua Bangs and Jonathan Sparrow named executors. He signed with his mark. [Barnstable County Probate 2:26-27] Daughter Hannah was still living when Thomas wrote his will but apparently he was ensuring his estate would go to his grandchildren, whom she had by her first husband.
Thomas lived for four more years, dying at Eastham on 13 September 1696. [BPR 2:28]
He was about 83 years old.
The inventory of Thomas Williams of Eastham “who deceased the 13 day of September 1696” was taken 12 October 1696. It totaled over £106 and included oxen, sheep, cows, steers, farm equipment, a grind stone, a considerable amount of clothing, powder & bullets & flints, powder horns & shell, pewter and iron items, two spinning wheels, furniture, a parcel of marsh valued at £30, £9 and change in cash, and luxury items including cloth napkins and a looking glass. Debts due from the estate included his daughters Elizabeth Williams and Sarah Nickerson, his son-in-law Thomas Mulford, and his grandsons Thomas and John Smith. [BPR 2:28-9]
The daughters mentioned in his will, except Hannah as it was her children who inherited, and several others acknowledged on 26 October 1696 receipt of their shares of the estate. Sarah Nickerson by mark, Marcy Nickerson by mark, Elisabeth Williams by mark, Mary Hopkins by mark, Joshua Higgins, Joseph Snow, Rich Col, and John Smith. Two witnesses are both named William Nickerson. [BPR 2:29] Barclay shows that the other three men are Hannah (Williams) (Smith) Mulford’s sons-in-law: Joshua Higgins is likely husband of Elizabeth Smith; Joseph Snow husband of Sarah Smith; “Rich Col” is actually Richard Cooke husband of Hannah Smith (he was executor of Hannah (Williams) (Smith) Mulford’s estate).
For a man who started life in the new world as a servant, apparently did not write, and was presented at court for blasphemy, Thomas left a considerable estate. He was the beneficiary of large land grants at Sakonnet, owned his own house and land at Eastham where he was an early settler, and lived to old age. He was affiliated with influential families via friendship and his children’s marriages including Hopkins, Cooke, Nickerson, Sparrow, Snow, Smith, and Bangs. Coming to New England was fraught with danger, but early immigrants were able to become self-made men who owned land and held positions of importance, something that would not have been possible in England.
Sources:
Charles Henry Pope, The Pioneers of Massachusetts, 1965
James W. Hawes, Library of Cape Cod History & Genealogy No 91, Children of William (1) Nickerson, 1912
Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 3:435-9, 2011
Rachel E. Barclay, The American Genealogist, “The Two Wives of Thomas Mulford of Eastham, Mass.” 40:4 (October 1964)
