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m. Abt 1638 Windsor, Connecticut, United States
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Thomas was one of the early settlers of Dorchester, MA, probably arriving in May 1630. He received land there sometime before December 1634. On that December day another man's land grant was made "next unto Thomas Gunn in the late burial place," that is, at the site of the original burying ground near the first meeting house in Dorchester. [History of the Town of Dorchester, p. 66] He joined the Congregational Church of Dorchester in spring 1635 and became a "freeman" on 06 May 1635 (giving him a formal say in both church and state), but by 1640 Thomas had moved on to Windsor, CT. There he was granted a lot 12 rods wide (16.5 feet). He also received a grant on the east side of the Connecticut River having 15 rods (20.6 feet) of frontage, extending 3 miles eastward. In 1678, Thomas moved to Westfield, MA. giving his homestead at Windsor to his daughter, Deborah, and son-in-law, Timothy Thrall. --Gunnj 05:57, 7 July 2007 (MDT) Westfield: Chronology of settlement: http://www.rootsweb.com/~mahampde 1667-68: Thomas Gunn, John Williams, Ambrose Fowler, Jonathan Alford, bought in the Cooper tract. John Ponder, Thomas Gunn, John Root, Thomas Root, George Typer, Joseph Whiting, had homelots on the south side of Main street, west of Dudley's lot. 1668-69: The first meeting of the proprietors of land on the Fort side to lay out their allotments was held March 18. Land south of Silver street was divided into first and second divisions of plowland and of meadow. Thomas Gunn had the first lot west of Little River.
Thomas is on the "C" list of the Mary and John Clearinghouse of possible passengers on the ship Mary and John, which departed from Plymouth bound for New England in 1630. There is circumstantial evidence that he was, indeed, one of the passengers. We know that Thomas held land in Dorchester in 1634 and that he migrated to Windsor as one of the “founders” of that town, which included twenty-five men who are listed as passengers aboard the Mary & John. In fact, between the years 1640-54 thirty seven men who were passengers on that ship are listed as heads of households in Windsor. Moreover, listed passengers who were made freemen at General Court on May 6, 1635, along with Thomas, were Aaron Cook, George Phelps, Samuel Allen, and Thomas Hoskins. Two of these, Aaron Cook (b. 1613) and George Phelps (b. 1605), had spent their entire adult lives as neighbors with Thomas, and the three were probably very close friends. They all migrated on to Westfield at the same time and were also founders of that town. From a young age, then, Thomas moved with this group of former passengers of the Mary and John. Of course he might have been an outsider, but it’s more logical to think he was one of them--one who had shared the dangerous crossing of the ocean, the first harrowing winter and the settlement of Dorchester. And because they were ‘bonded’ by experience, way of thinking, and friendship, they stayed together, and Thomas moved on with them to Windsor and later to Westfield. References
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