Thomas Landers ca 1613-1675 and His Wife Jane Kirby of Sandwich, Massachusetts

Thomas Landers was born about 1613 in England, based on his age at emigration. [Hotten] I have not discovered his origins but he was likely from Sussex where most of the men he had a connection with were from, some being people of high distinction. He was first at Saugus (later Lynn), Massachusetts, and was among the first settlers of Sandwich on Cape Cod. His last name is also seen as Lander, Launder and Launders. He is my 9th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Ellis Davis’ side of the family.

On 29 June 1635 Thomas Launder, husbandman, age 22, was listed as a passenger on the Abigail of London, bound for New England. [Hotten] Another passenger Dennis Geere of Ovingdean, Sussex, contracted smallpox on board and wrote his will 10 December 1635, clearly a man of means based on the number of large bequests. He wrote of “the estate in New England, to Thomas Tupper five pounds, Thomas Braines three pounds, Thomas Launder three pounds, Benjamin Nye thirty shillings, Thomas Grenuill ten shillings, all which deducted and paid together with the sending my two servants with my child into England…” Edmund Freeman was a witness. Tupper, Nye, and Freeman, also my ancestors, were early Sandwich settlers. Some of the passengers, including Freeman, were first at Saugus before settling Sandwich. [Brownson & McLean] Whether Thomas was a servant or related to a passenger on the voyage, perhaps Geere, I have yet to discover. Some passengers are identified as servants but Thomas is not. 

He was not on the list of “the ten men of Saugus” who arranged a 1637 grant from Plymouth Colony to create the first English settlement on the Cape but he was among the first settlers. On 16 April 1640 Thomas Launder was granted one acre of meadow land there as a dividend. [Records of Colony of New Plymouth 1:150, hereafter PCR] Some of the other early settlers received larger grants, as much as 42 acres (Edmund Freeman).

He was on the list of men able to bear arms at Sandwich 1643 [NEHGR 4:257] and there he took the oath of fidelity in 1639. [PCR 8:184] 

On 2 July 1651 Thomas Lander married Jane Kerbie at Sandwich on Cape Cod. [Sandwich VR in MD 14:170] Jane was born about 1630, the daughter of Richard and Jane Kirby who removed to Dartmouth about 1660. There is quite a gap between Jane and Thomas’ ages, but I haven’t found evidence he had been married previously. Jane’s maiden name is also seen as Kerby in records. 

Thomas Launder was summoned to the Plymouth Colony Court 2 March 1651/2: “Wee further psent Thomas Launder of the towne of Sandwidge for haveing a child born within thirty weeks after marriage.” [PCR 3:6] Thomas didn’t appear and was fined £2. At court 4 Oct 1653 the record shows that “for special considerations” he was cleared and the fine withdrawn. [PCR 3:42] Perhaps it was found the baby may have been premature. 

Jane and Thomas had eight children born Sandwich [only 1, 2, 8 recorded Sandwich Vital Records 1:18, 26; MD 14:168, 174]:

1. Mercy born 23 Jan 1651/2; died Sandwich 7 March 1654/5
2. John born 2 Jan 1653[/4]; married about 1686 Rachel Freeman; died Sandwich 15 April 1737
3. Sarah born about 1658; died unmarried; on 3 March 1732/3 administration on the estate of “Sarah Landers late of Sandwich” was granted to “Joseph Landers of Sandwich…yeoman.” [Barn PR 5:55] On 1 August 1733 John Landers stated that he had “received of my brother Joseph Landers five pounds as he is administrator of the estate of my sister Sarah Landers. [Barnstable County Probate Records 5:173]
4. Thomas born about 1661; married Deborah Freeman by 1687; died Rochester, Massachusetts, February 1730/31
5. Tabitha born about 1663; married by 1683 Reuben Wait; died after 11 Oct 1707
6. Richard born about 1670; married Sandwich 6 Jan 1695/6 Sarah Freeman [Sandwich VR 1:40], daughter of Edmond Freeman [TAG 40:110]
7. Joseph born about 1672; married by 1711 Rebecca, widow of John Allen, on 26 February 1711/12, “Rebecca Landers late widow of said deceased” was included in the distribution of the estate of John Allen [Barnstable Probate Records 3:110]; died between 27 July 1749 and 4 May 1750
8. Hasadiah born 31 Jan 1674[/5] [MD 14:166]; married 28 May 1719 Benoni Ewen of Rochester; died after 27 July 1749

I descend from John. I wrote about him here.

Transcription/interpretation errors of the Sandwich records by some genealogists resulted in two additional daughters for Jane and Thomas: Merty/Martha and Mary. Both reference daughter Mercy who died in childhood. 

Thomas Landers lived in East Sandwich on what is now Ploughed Neck Road, off Old County Road. He lived next to Edmund Freeman Jr., near Major John Freeman (who lived in Eastham but kept title to house in Sandwich), and Jedediah Allen. Thomas’ house was near where the present (in 1984) Atwood house stands. [Lovell] I don’t find a current reference to an Atwood house, but the Sandwich Historical Commission online list of historic homes but includes three historic houses on Ploughed Neck Road and No. 27 and 33 seem good candidates to be the land owned by the Landers:

No. 11 Freeman House built 1705 (should be 11 Ploughed Neck Extension)

No. 27 No name 1863

No. 33 No name 1814

Map depicting 1667 East Sandwich Source: RA Lovell

The Freeman and Landers families were not just close geographically, there was a strong kinship—three of Thomas and Jane’s sons married daughters of Edmund Freeman Jr. [Lovell]

At court on 3 February 1656/7 a “complaint was made against Jane the wife of William Launder of Sandwidge [recording error—should be Thomas] and Sarah the wife of Richard Kerby” for disturbing public worship and abusing the speaker. They were Quakers or Friends so likely had strong disagreements with the established church. This is one of the earliest instances that George Fox’s followers were making converts in the area. Both women were sentenced to be publicly whipped but it was carried out only against Sarah as it was her second offense. [PCR 3:111, 112] 

Lovell refers to Jane Kirby Landers as “energetic and sharp-tongued.” At a time when women were often invisible in records and raised to be subservient to men, I’m proud my 9th great-grandmother was courageous! She believed so strongly in her religious convictions, she was willing to risk being whipped. 

Jane’s father Richard Kerby was also a Quaker, as was her brother Richard Jr. and several of her children. Thomas Landers and Ralph Allen posted bond of £10 each for the good behavior of Richard Kerbey at Plymouth Court on 7 October 1651. Thomas’ father-in-law was summoned to court with Ralph Allin Sr for deriding, vile speeches of and concerning God’s word and ordinances; bound unto the next general court to make their appearance, expecting to be of good behavior towards all manner of persons. In addition to Thomas and Ralph’s sureties, Richard Kerbey acknowledgeth to owe the Court £20. [PCR 2:173] The total of £40 was quite a large sum in those days. This was a time when many Sandwich residents of the Quaker faith, or those that sympathized with them, were being summoned to court. Thomas Landers was not among those called but it appears to me he was a Quaker as many of the key people in his life were Quakers, including his wife.

“Thomas Landers died ye 11 of November anno domini 1675” at Sandwich at about age 62. [SVR in MD 14:111] 

Thomas died intestate. The inventory of Thomas Landers was taken 15 November 1675 by Edmond Freeman, George Allen, and John Newland, all recognized Quakers. It was exhibited on 7 July 1675 and sworn to by John Launders. It included a musket sword and belt valued at £1, a small amount of household items that would be used in one bed chamber and a kitchen, and farm animals. The entire estate was valued at £51 5 shillings with no real estate included. [Plymouth County Probate Records 3:1:176] 

Jane Kirby Landers’ death is not recorded but it was before 9 October 1707 when the surviving children of Jane Landers, late of Sandwich, signed a court document that they were fully satisfied as heirs of their grandfather Richard Kirby of Dartmouth concerning his undisposed estate. She was young enough to have remarried but  a different surname does not appear in the court record.

Sources:

Lydia (Phinney) Brownson & Maclean McLean, NEHGS Register, “Thomas 1 Landers of Sandwich,” Vol. 124 p 42 (January 1970)

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

Frederick Freeman, Freeman Genealogy, 1875

Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 1995

Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff and David Pulsifer, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, 12 volumes, 1855-57

John Camden Hotten, The Original Lists of Persons and Quality 1600-1700, 1874