Person:Katherine Greene (1)

“Thomas Makins, my sister’s son, in New England” is mentioned in the will of Thomas Bell (who returned to England from Roxbury in 1648), made 29 Jan 1671 in London (NEHGR 38:63), leading to the frequent citation of Katherine’s last name as Bell. However, Thomas Bell was a wealthy merchant from Suffolk (Great Migration 1634-5, p. 1:237), while Katherine and Thomas first appear as servants of Edmund Quincy, from Northampton. Also, Thomas Bell was much younger than Katherine, more the age of her son Thomas.^[2] So possibly this reference is to Sarah, the wife of Katherine's son Thomas, and their son Thomas. However, the will also refers to "the other child of my said sister, whose name I remember not". However, Sarah had more than two children born before Thomas Bell left Roxbury, unless this ignores the daughters, and refers to Sarah's other son Joseph. Possibly, it refers to a completely unrelated "Thomas Makins"?

The Great Migration rejects the idea that the marriage at Thorpe-Achurch is this couple because it appears to be too early. ^[3] But the marriage date is not inconsistent with Great Migration's own speculation that Thomas was born around 1589, and is further consistent with the characterization of Katherine in 1650 as an "aged woman." The baptism records of their other children, not published until 2003 (after this Great Migration profile was published) show 7 children, including Ellen baptized in 1618. Helen Meekins drowned at Braintree in 1638. Thorpe-Achurch was the family home of Edmund Quincy, in whose service Thomas and Katherine came to Massachusetts.

Text References

1. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995).

   citing Roxbury Land and Church Records, Sixth Report of the Boston Record Commissioners (Boston 1884): "Sister Meakings the aged woman, mother to brother Meakings"

2. ↑ See NEHGR 157:31-33.
3. ↑ Great Migration entry on Thomas Meakins