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• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 35436815

Notes:

From FindaGrave:

Note: the birth year is a rough approximation based on his first marriage to a widow in 1600, and being called aged "near ninety" when he died. No burial record or gravestone has been found for Thomas, but he may be buried in the Granary Burial Ground in Boston where his son Peter is known to be buried.

The primary sources for this memorial are (1) Leslie Mahler, "The English Origins of Thomas1 Oliver of Boston" in NEHGR 157:34-36 (2001); and (2) Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, pp 1354-1357 (1995).

Thomas Oliver was married four times: (1) at Lilford, Northamptonshire, England 27 Oct 1600 to Agnes (_____) Henson, probably the widow of Thomas Henson who was buried at Lilford 24 Jan 1599/1600. He m. (2) by Dec 1617 Elizabeth _______, buried at Thorpe Achurch, Northamptonshire 8 May 1624. He m. (3) by 1632 (before sailing to New England) Anne _______, who died in Boston May 1635, and he m.(4) by 1642 Anne (SQUIRE) Purchase, who was baptized at Charlton Mackrell, Somersethire on 30 Nov 1591, and died at Boston 20 Dec 1662, the daughter of Henry Squire and widow of Aquila Purchase.

Thomas was a chirurgeon (surgeon) and a prominent man in England and in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. While in England, he married and lived in the parish of Lilford in Northamptonshire, where the baptisms of four of his children are recorded. After that he must have moved to a parish whose records haven't survived, and that is where his first wife died and he married his second wife. For this reason, the three children born at this unknown place can not be assigned to one wife or the other.

In about 1616 Thomas moved with his family to another parish near Lilford called Thorpe Achurch, where the baptisms of his five youngest children are recorded. At some point after the 1624 death of his second wife, he married a third wife, and she is the one who accompanied him on the voyage to New England. Thomas arrived with his family in Boston in 1632 aboard the ship William and Francis, and soon thereafter he and wife Anne became members #132 and #133 in the Boston church. On 22 Nov 1632 Thomas was elected a ruling elder of the church.

As with most members of the early Boston church, Thomas became involved in the events of the Antinomian Controversy from 1636 to 1638, and he signed a petition supporting Rev. John Wheelwright. As a result, he was on a list of those to be disarmed, dated 20 Nov 1637. While many on this list left the Massachusetts Bay Colony to settle in Exeter (NH) or Portsmouth (RI), Thomas must have recanted [on his support for Wheelwright], because he never left Boston, and in fact continued to hold offices, such as selectman, both during and after the controversy. Thomas's will, dated 13 March 1652 with codicil 2 May 1656, was proved 27 Jan 1657/8.

All of Thomas's children were with his first and second wives. Due to the lack of records, three of the children cannot be assigned to either wife. Children with first wife Agnes, baptized at Lilford:

* Elizabeth, bapt. 9 Aug 1601, m. Thorpe Achurch 15 Nov 1625 Thomas WOOLFULL, cler. Thomas was admitted a sizar at Jesus College 8 Sep 1619, matriculated the same year, and ordained deacon at Peterborough (Northamptonshire) 22 Feb 1623/4 and ordained as a priest the following day. He received a B.A. in 1623/4 and an M.A. in 1627

* Thomas, bapt. 10 Sep 1603, bur. Lilford 21 Oct 1604

* Jonathan, bapt. 2 Feb 1605/6, probably d. young

* Anne, bapt. 19 June 1608

Children with unknown wife:

* Mary, b. c. 1610, m. Lilford 6 April 1630 John ROBBINS of Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire

* John, b. c. 1613, d. 1646 "not full thirty years of age [sic]", m. by Nov 1638 Elizabeth NEWGATE, daughter of John and Lydia Newgate.

* Peter, b. c. 1615, m. by 1643 Sarah NEWGATE, daughter of John Newgate and Thomasine Hayes.

Children with second wife, Elizabeth, baptized at Thorpe Achurch:

* James, bapt. 26 Dec 1617, m. Mary (DEXTER) Friend, daughter of Thomas Dexter and widow of John Friend

* Nathaniel, bapt. 2 May 1619, d. Boston, Mass. Nov 1633

* Abigail, bapt. 10 Dec 1620, m. by 1644 James JOHNSON

* Samuel, bapt. 16 Dec 1621, drowned 27 March 1652, m. by 1647 Lydia _______

* Daniel, bapt. 25 Dec 1623, d. Boston June 1637.

FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35436815

Thomas married Anne Squire in 1636. Anne (daughter of Henry Squire and Miss [--?--]) was born before 30 Nov 1591 in Somersetshire, England; was christened on 30 Nov 1591 in Charlton Mackrell, Somersetshire, England; died on 20 Dec 1662 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; was buried after 20 Dec 1662 in Dorchester North Burying Ground, Dorchester, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]