THOMAS, Hartford, an orig. propr. as also at Wethersfield, appears first in the Rec. of that Col. Trumbull I. 9, as the sec. magistr. at the Gen. Ct. 1 May 1637, when war was denounc. against the Pequots, they hav. long been hostile, and the proportion of 90 men fixed for the sev. plana. viz. Hartford, 42, Windsor, 30, and Wethersfield, 18. Yet it is quite uncert. when he came from Eng. tho. satisfactor. kn. that he brot. three s. John, Thomas, and Samuel, and three ds. Mary, wh. d. bef. her f. prob. unm. Ann, and Sarah; equal. uncert. is the name of his w. though we can hardly doubt whether he brot. one; and stranger still is the uncertainty of his prior resid. in Mass. He had good proportion of the patents for Swampscot and Dover, wh. he sold Aug. 1648, to Christopher Lawson. We may then safely conclude, that a person of his educ. and good est. had not come over the water bef. 1636, and that he staid so short a time at Boston or Cambridge as to leave no trace of hims. at either, and he was estab. at Hartford bef. Gov. Haynes left Cambridge. There is, indeed, a very precise tradit. of his coming, with f. Nathaniel, in the fleet with Higginson, 1629, to Salem; but that is merely ridiculous. He took, for sec. w. a. 1645, Elizabeth wid. of Nathaniel Foote of Wethersfield; on the d. of Gov. Haynes, 1 Mar. 1654, the Dept. Edward Hopkins being in Eng. on pub. business, he was made head of the Col. with title of Moderator, but on the day of elect, in May, Hopkins was chos. Gov. and Welles Dept. tho. H. never came back to conn. being tak. by the great Protector into his Parliam. so that in 1655, hav. had the duty to fulfil in the vaction of the chair, he was chos. Gov. and Webster, Dept. and in 1656, accord. to the constitut. of the Col. "that no person be chos. Gov. above once in two yrs." Webster was made Gov. and in 1657, Winthrop Gov. while Welles was Dept. both yrs. and in 1658 made Gov. again with Winthrop for Dept. Both chang. places in May 1659, and Welles d. 14 Jan. foll. at Wethersfield. His wid. d. 28 July 1683; d. Ann m. 14 Apr. 1646, Thomas Thompson of Farmington, and next, Anthony Hawkins; and Sarah m. Feb. 1654, capt. John Chester, outliv. him less than ten yrs. and d. 16 Dec. 1698.
