Francis Small (abt 1625-abt 1713) of Bideford England, Kittery Maine and Truro Massachusetts

 Francis Small (sometimes Smalley or Smale) has been an interesting man to research—as a child he came from England with his father to live in the Maine wilderness. He grew up to be a fisherman, a trader with the Indians, and reportedly the largest private landowner in the history of Maine. He learned to speak the Abenaki language so was hired to communicate between European settlers and Native Americans. He escaped a murder plot by local Native Americans who owed him money. Long court battles by Francis as well as his descendants over his land brings to mind Bleak House by Charles Dickens as they seem to have been never ending. Because of a lack of vital records in the early District of Maine, much of this sketch does not meet the genealogical proof standard. Francis is my 9th great-grandfather on my grandmother Milly (Booth) Rollins’ side of the family.

Francis Small was baptized 6 October 1625 at St. Mary’s, Bideford, Devonshire, the son of Edward Small. [Hoard] His mother’s name was Elizabeth and her maiden name is unknown. 

Baptismal font where Francis was baptized

St. Mary's Bideford; only tower remains of original building

Some time about 1635 Francis migrated to New England with his father, Edward, settling in the District of Maine, then part of Massachusetts. It does not appear his mother ever joined them as she died in Bideford in 1665. It is also not known whether his father Edward died in Maine or returned to England at some point. [Underhill]

In 1647 Edward was among the first settlers of Piscattaqua Plantation which later became the town of Kittery. He became a large landowner and was an important citizen, elected a Magistrate and Counsellor. There is no definitive proof that the Edward and Francis Small in the Bideford baptism record are the ones who were in Maine but it seems very likely and is generally accepted. [Underhill]

The earliest record of Francis Small is on a Dover, New Hampshire 1648 tax list, where he is rated 10 pounds, a considerable amount. [Wentworth]

About 1651 Francis married a woman named Elizabeth whose maiden name is not known. Some people identify her maiden name as Leighton, daughter of Thomas and Joahanna (Silsby) Leighton, but without a source.  

Elizabeth and Francis had at least eight children, birth order uncertain. First three likely born in Falmouth (now Portland) Maine. 

1. Edward born about 1652; married Mary Woodman and had eight daughters; lived at Oyster River (now Durham, New Hampshire) and later was one of the first settlers at Chatham on Cape Cod; was a boatyard carpenter; died April 1702

2. Francis born about 1654; married a woman named Elizabeth and had at least two sons; was a boatyard carpenter; removed to Truro on Cape Cod where he died in the winter of 1709/10

3. Mary born about 1656; married Nicholas Frost and had at least seven children; lived at Kittery

4. Benjamin born about 1660 possibly at Sabascodegan, Maine; removed to Eastham on Cape Cod where he married Rebecca Snow about 1694 and with whom he had 10 children (she was a descendant of Mayflower passengers Constance Hopkins and her father Stephen Hopkins); later moved to nearby Truro and then to Lebanon, Connecticut where he died before 4 June 1721

5. Samuel born about 1666; was a carpenter; stayed on at his father’s homestead in Kittery; did not have children and have not found any indication of a marriage

6. Alice who married a man named Wormwood

7. Elizabeth; married John Pugsley; lived Dover and Kittery and had at least three children

8. Daniel who was a carpenter and later a whaler appears to be the youngest; had at least five children but his wife’s name is not known; removed to Truro where his parents lived with him in their later years; received a good deal of his father’s Maine land

None of their births were recorded but they are shown to be their children in a variety of records. Newspaper notices in 1774 were signed by some of Francis’ descendants including Samuel Small and Benjamin Small. Samuel and Daniel were deeded land by their father. Squire Paine recalled a conversation with Francis where the latter mentioned his sons Edward, Francis, Samuel, Benjamin, and Daniel. Alice was remembered in her brother Francis Small’s 1709 will. In a 1677 deposition Mary Frost identified her father as Francis Small. Daniel deeded to his sister Elizabeth Pugsley 20 acres of the hundred that was granted to his father. I descend from Benjamin whom I wrote about here.

Places in Maine and New Hampshire where Francis lived and/or owned trading camps include: Sturgeon Creek (later North Precinct of Kittery; currently Eliot); Piscattaqua/Pascataway (now Kittery but at the time comprised what is now also Eliot, South Berwick, Berwick); the fishing village of Pemaquid; Casco Bay (encompassed 13 coastal towns including current day Portland); Falmouth and Capisic (in what is now Portland); a fishing place called Ammomingan; Sebascodegan Island (then called Great Island or Small’s Island and now part of the town of Harpswell). Also lived in Oyster River (now Dover New Hampshire) where he was on the 1648 tax list and the Isles of Shoals off the coast of Portsmouth. 

source: wikisource

In a 10 May 1683 deposition, Francis Smale states he was about 56 years old and his wife Eilzabeth Smale was about 49 years old. [Underhill]

In a 8 September 1685 deposition Francis Small states he is age 65, but perhaps he was exaggerating. He stated that he helped drive yellow cattle to Boston about 40 years earlier—probably the first major cattle drive from Maine to Boston. Yelllow cattle came from Denmark and were very large. [Libby, Genealogical Dictionary]

It would seem, like most white men of that time period, that Francis tried to take advantage of Native Americans in his business dealings as he paid seemingly little for vast amounts of land. Francis purchased large parcels of land from Native Americans. In 1657 he purchased from Indian Sagamore Scitterygussett of Casco Bay a tract of land at Capissicke (now Portland) and Ammoningan where he built a house. [Underhill]

In 1663 he purchased a large tract of land comprising the northern and some of the middle part of the present County of York. It contained land 20 miles square lying and being between the rivers of Great Ossipee and Little Ossipee. [Bartlett citing York County Deeds vol 42, folio 239]

Lora Underhill’s book contains her extensive research into Francis’ land transactions and the court battles over his land. She relays an interesting story about one such purchase, from old papers once belonging to Major Nicholas Shapleigh: “In the summer of 1668, Francis Small sold goods to the Newichewannock tribe of Indians on credit, for which they were to pay in furs during the autumn; but, when the time of payment drew near, the red men deemed it easier to kill Small than to pay him, and they decided to fire his house and shoot him when he came out to escape the flames. Captain Sandy, the chief of the tribe, was friendly to Small and told him what the Indians were to do; and, as he could not control them int he matter, he advised Small to flee for his life. Small thought the tale a cunningly devised fable to frighten him away in order to avoid payment; but, when night came on, thinking it wise to be on the side of safety, he secreted himself in some pines on a hill near by and watched through the long November night. With the coming of the dawn, a flame of fire shot up from the burning house, whereupon Small took to his heels with all possible speed, and did not pause until he had reached the settlement.” 

Captain Sandy made good on the loss caused by debt and fire, conveying to Francis Small of Kittery, Indian trader, the entire Ossipee great tract which was twenty miles square (256,00 acres!), between the two rivers of great Ossipee and little Ossipee, the same land where Francis Small’s trading house stands and from the River Nechewanock near Humphrey Chadborn’s logging camp and to extend northerly and easterly to Saco River. The chief signed by his mark (his ancestral totem of a turtle) on 28 November 1668. It was not recorded until 28 August 1773. Probably no deed in the entire current state of Maine has caused so many lawsuits as this conveyance. Francis’ payment for this giant parcel of land was two large Indian blankets, two gallons of rum, two pounds of powder, four pounds of musket balls, 20 strings of Indian beads with several other articles.

In 1671 Francis was granted 100 acres of land in the Parish of Unity (now South Berwick) by the Kittery Selectmen. [Underhill] Presumably Francis would have also received land from his father.

In a meeting at Boston of the proprietors of “The Pejapescot Company” on 24 May 1716, it was “voted that a town be laid out at Small Point.” This place “was on the shore of Small Point Harbor, near where Francis Small had had a trading-house, from which, with John Hanson and probably others, he was driven out by the Indian War, about 1690.” [Trask]

The area of Maine where the Small’s lived was decimated by the Indian Wars, in particular King Philip’s War of 1675-8. Of course the Native Americans had many reasons for reacting with violence toward the European settlers, but that wouldn’t have made it any less terrifying to experience. During the height of that war the Smalls lived with their neighbors at the garrison house of Major Shapleigh. Their daughter Mary Frost and two of her children were captured by Indians in 1693 but apparently escaped. 

Likely weary of the dangerousness of living in Maine and the court cases about land ownership, Francis and Elizabeth removed to Cape Cod in the early 1700s. Francis was at Truro at the time it was incorporated in 1709. Francis and Elizabeth lived with their son Daniel. [Deyo] Francis and Daniel were the first to own cattle in town; perhaps they brought yellow cows from Maine. 

Francis died circa 1713 at Truro at about 88 years of age. Elizabeth’s death date is not known but she was alive about 1711. In a 1781 deposition, Francis’ granddaughter Anna Dyer (daughter of Daniel Small) stated Francis had severe palsy in his lands late in life that he was not able to hold a coal of fire to his pipe for several years before a 1712 deed from Francis to Daniel was executed. She felt sure he wasn’t able to sign his name for near seven years before. When questioned further, she said it was at least two years that he could not sign his name, causing him to sign with his mark. Francis died within two or three years after he deeded the land in question to Daniel. The deposition was concerning the legitimacy of Francis’ mark on the deed, as he was a man who could write. [Libby, The Ossipee Townships]

Squire Paine, a Truro lawyer, recalled Francis telling him about a year before his death that “his Son Edward was dead, and his son Francis was dead, his son Samuel was then Liveing at Piscataqua on his Home Place, and his son Benjamin had moved to Coneticut, & his son Daniel had maintained him and his Wife Six or Seven Years and Must Maintain them as Long as they lived.” 

While learning about Francis, I kept thinking of what a challenging life Elizabeth led. She followed her husband from town to town in the Maine wilderness, creating a life for herself and her children while her husband was away from home for long periods of time. She lived through years of intense danger, sometimes staying in a garrison, crowed in with other families for long periods of time, as protection during the Indian wars. She experienced the fear of her daughter and grandchildren being taken by Native Americans. The Cape has always felt like a calming refuge to me, so I’m glad that it is in that peaceful place Elizabeth lived out her final days. 

Sources:

Simeon L. Deyo, editor, History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1890: 

Charles T. Libby, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, 1928, p 640

Ralph S. Bartlett, NEHGS Register, “Alexander Shapleigh of Kittery Maine and Some of His Descendants,” 95:184 (April 1941)

George T. Wentworth (communicated by), NEHGS Register, “Extracts from the Old Town Records of Dover NH,” 4:31 (1850)

Lyon J. Hoard, The American Genealogist, “The Jackson and Small Families of Canterbury NH,” 53:138 (1977)

Charles T. Libby (communicated by), NEHGS Register, “The Ossipee Townships—Deposition of Anna Dyer,” 35:336-7 (1881)

William Nickerson (1646-1719) and His Wife Mercy Williams of Yarmouth and Chatham, Massachusetts

William Nickerson was baptized 1 June 1646 at Barnstable on Cape Cod. [NFA; I haven’t found the primary document] He was likely born  at Yarmouth, one of the ten children of William and Anne (Busby) Nickerson. His father was the founder of Monomoit (later Chatham) on Cape Cod, first illegally buying 4,000 acres from Native Americans but eventually working things out with the Colony leaders. Sometimes Nickerson is seen as Nicholson in records. I wrote about William and Anne Nickerson here. Because William and Mercy lived in new settlements, there is a lack of vital records pertaining to the family. 

About 1670 William Nickerson married Mercy Williams, whose name is sometimes spelled Marcy. [NFA] Mercy and William are my 10th great-grandparents on my grandmother Milly Booth Rollins’ side of the family. Mercy was born about 1644, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Tart) Williams of Eastham. William Nickerson’s brother John married Mercy’s sister Sarah.

William and Mercy raised their children in Chatham, birth order uncertain [Hawes & NFA]:

1. Thomas married Mary Bangs, the daughter of Jonathan of Harwich; was a Lieutenant in the militia 

2. William married first Deliverance Lumbert/Lombard the daughter of Caleb and second Hannah/Anna Atwood, probably daughter of Eldad of Eastham; was an Ensign in the militia 

3. Nathaniel married Katherine Stuard/Stuart, the daughter of Hugh

4. Robert marred Rebecca Jones, the daughter of Jeremiah of Yarmouth

5. Mercy married first William Mitchell and second James Griffith

6. Elizabeth married William Cahoon of Swansea, son of William and went to Duck Creek

7. Judith married Nathaniel Covell, son of Nathaniel

They may have also had an older daughter Judith who died young. I descend from William and Deliverance; I wrote about them here.

In 1663 William Nickerson signed a letter asking the court to give his father the land at Monomoit that he wanted to give to his children (Plymouth Colony Records, 4:153). 

On 3 June 1668 William Nickerson [Senior] and his sons, presumably including William, were sentenced to time in the stocks for resisting Yarmouth constable Thomas Howes in performing his duty. [PCR, 183-184] 

On 6 July 1686 the Plymouth Court Records show that William was sued by Samuel Hall of Yarmouth.  Samuel's complaint against William Nickerson, late of Yarmouth, was for £12 which he refused or had forgotten to pay for earlier services.  The issue was resolved before the case was heard.  Another suit was brought by Thomas Fallen Jr. of Yarmouth, in the same court, for William's failure to pay him.  This case was also resolved before it reached court.  [Plymouth Colony Records, Judicial Acts, 299]

Mercy is shown to be the daughter of Thomas Williams when she is mentioned in the 10 May 1692 will of Thomas Williams of Eastham. His probate record also proved her marriage to William. Thomas left his homestead to his grandchild John Smith, one shilling “and no more” to his grandchild William Nickerson the son of John,  and the rest of his estate to be divided equally by his four daughters Sarah, Marcy, Elizabeth, Mary and the children of his daughter Sarah Mulford. Thomas Williams’ inventory was taken 12 October 1696 and totaled over £106. On 26 October 1696 the heirs signed a document that they received their just proportion from Jonathan Sparrow and Joshua Bangs executors of  the estate of “our father Tho Williams Deceased,” included Marcy Nickerson (her mark) and witnessed by two men named William Nickerson. [Barnstable County Probate 2:25-28]

Before a Chatham Church was built, William was a member of the Eastham Church. When in 1700 the Chatham citizens voted to construct a meetinghouse, George Godfrey and William Nickerson were selected to oversee the construction. They also agreed to the following; "that every man that had a team should drag one load of the timber.” In 1701 the building had no shingles, clapboards or glass for the windows, rough benches were placed inside for women to sit on one side and men on the other.  On 7 September 1712 Mercy Nickerson was dismissed from the Eastham Church to the Harwich Church. Since a church had been built in town, I’m unsure why Mercy wasn’t attending church in Chatham. Perhaps a suitable minister had not been found. 

William Jr. was a soldier in King Philip's War under Capt. Henry Gold. I also read that William Nickerson was paid 2 pounds, 14 shillings for service on the fourth expedition with Capt. Pierce. I am not sure refer to same William. 

William Nickerson took freeman’s oath on 24 June 1690. [PCR 257]

William served the town of Chatham in a variety of ways, although it is sometimes challenging to differentiate between him and his father William. He was grand juryman in 1681 [PCR 60], appointed constable in 1683 and 1700 [PCR 107], appointed inspector of whales in 1690 [PCR 251], was the first Town Clerk,  a position he held for 15 years, treasurer for six years, Selectman for six years [Chatham Town Records, Deyo’s History of Barnstable Co.], and assessor in 1702. 

In 1712 William Nickerson signed a petition as a Selectman asking the state House of Representatives and Gov. Dudley to exempt townsmen from military service so they could protect the town from the threat from French privateers; petition was denied. 

Ca 1700 Chatham Settlers' Map; William's homestead on top right (source: Nickerson Family Assocation)

William was a large land owner in Chatham, not surprising since his father founded the town. Some of the land transactions he was involved in:

• By a deed of 2 December 1687 he received title from his father and sister Sarah Covell to one-half of all the undivided and unpurchased lands at Monomoit and full title to Monamesset Neck which was between Crow’s Pond and Pleasant Bay. [Hawes]
• On 29 August 1689 he bought from the three grandsons of Mattaquason land at Old Harbor in Chatham where he constructed a home and is known to have resided there for some time. [Smith]
• On 5 December 1692 John Freeman and Jonathan Sparrow of Eastham laid out to him and Sarah Covell the bounds of the un-purchased lands to which they were entitled from their late father William Nickerson. [Plymouth Colony Deeds 109] 
• By deeds dated 6 Oct 1693 and 5 July 1697 he and Mrs. Covel conveyed to Samuel Sprague of Marshfield a part of the land they received in 1692 and an undivided one-third interest in the rest. [Plymouth Colony Deeds, 500-501] On 27 June 1694 he and Samuel Smith bought of John Quason Jr a tract of land at Old Harbor. [Smith] 
• On 13 October 1702 William Nickerson, Nathaniel, William and Ephraim Covel and Samuel Sprague conveyed a portion of land in West Chatham to Michael Stewart. [Hawes citing Thomas Doane Papers]  
• On 13 Oct 1702 William gave land at Monamesset Neck and other property to son William. [Hawes citing Osborn Nickerson Papers] 
• On 11 July 1706 William and Mercy conveyed her land at the Old Harbor to their son Thomas. 
• On 13 October 1707 he conveyed his homestead and other land to his son Robert, reserving a life interest for his wife and himself. 
• On 23 Feb 1709/10, he gave more undivided Chatham land including land north of Muddy Cove to his four sons.  [Smith] 
• In 1713 he was allotted nine shares in the division of Chatham common lands. [Hawes citing Proprietors’ Book]

William died intestate at Chatham probably not long before 7 April 1719 when his widow Mercy Nickerson was appointed Administratrix. [Barnstable County Probate 3:332]

Mercy survived her husband by 20 years but did not remarry, dying 7 April 1739. She was in her 90s, an incredible age for a woman in that time period.

From Diary of Rev. Joseph Lord, printed in the Yarmouth Register 17 Dec 1846: "7 (2) 1739 [second month, old style, is April] died here Mrs. Mercy Nicholson aged ninety years or more (as is judged) and some say ninety-five (for she could not tell her own age). She was born in Eastham and has left a numerous posterity, 146 being now living in this land. Beside which there was a daughter of hers that above twenty years ago went to a place called Duck Creek in Pennsylvania or West Jersey of whose posterity her relations here cannot inform who are living; but she carried seven children with her when she went. I was afterwards informed by her son that he had found 157 of her posterity living here in this county. And Duck Creek I am informed is in Pennsylvania on ye borders of Maryland."

Sources Not Mentioned Above:

The Nickerson Family Association (NFA), The Descendants of William Nickerson 1604-1689 First Settler of Chatham, Massachusetts, 1973

Charles Swift, History of Old Yarmouth, 1884

William Smith, History of Chatham: Formerly the Constablewick or Village of Monomoit, 1909

CCGS Bulletin, Summer 2001, article on Chatham History re-printed from the Yarmouth Register 30 April 1858

Torrey’s New England Marriages

James W. Hawes, Library of Cape Cod History & Genealogy No 91: Children of William (1) Nickerson, 1912

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