Person:Susannah Booth (5)

Facts about this person:

Immigration 1629 Landed in Boston

Susannah Booth was born before 1617 in England. She died in 1675 in Flushing, Long Island, NY. She was buried in 1675 in Quaker Cemetery, Flushing, NY. Philip V. Thorne Notes:

Susannah Booth Thorne's exact parentage is unknown. There was an Ensign John Booth who came with Reverend John Youngs to New Southold on Long Island. He resided on Shelter Island. Youngs was a militant puritan with strong anti Quaker feelings. In more than one instance Booth sided with the Quakers against Youngs. Given this bent towards religious tolerance and given the fact the Reverend Youngs group was from Southold in Suffolk County, England (next to Lincolnshire) we have some circumstantial evidence tying the Booths and Thornes to the same general area. There was a very large and very ancient Booth family in Great Grimsby an old seaport and military site at the mouth of the river Humber, Lincolnshire. Travelling inland from Grimsby, not far from the Humber River lies the City of THORNE. Thorne is located in South Yorkshire and is less than 35 miles from Grimsby and is less than 60 miles from where Gunby was formerly situated. Further it's only about 80 miles south towards London to Southold (John Youngs and John Booth)

In the City of Thorne there are numerous Thorne place names but MORE interesting is the widespread occurrence of the names PURDY and BIRDSALL.. These were all families that early on under Charles 1 had strong Anabaptist leanings. The Thorne, Birdsalls and Purdys were largely Quaker families in the New York Colony. These 3 families had numerous inter marriages.

1.   Edmund West, comp. Family Data Collection - Marriages. (Name: Provo, UT, USA: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2001;).

   Online publication - Edmund West, comp.. Family Data Collection - Marriages [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2001.

2. ↑ Source:NYGBR, p. 53:16, "William Thorne of Flushing, Long Island, and his Wife Susannah", by Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton (also the author of a large article on the Thorne family printed in Vol. 19, 20, 22), says "I suggested, in absence of any direct evidence in the matter, that the name of William Thorne's wife may have been Sarah. We have now clear proof that her name was Susannah." The original article "William Thorne and Some of His Descendants", p. 19:154, does suggest Sarah as his wife based on grandchildren named Sarah, and "more importantly", that his son Joseph was part owner, with two others, of a sloop called the The William and Sarah, i.e., purely conjecture. The "clear" proof that his wife's name was Susannah is given by court records published in the State Historian's third report (view here), in which William Hallett apparently sued Joseph Thorne, and minutes from the case say "Joseph Thorne ... saith that the Pl'ts wife is his Mother". Page 323 names her as Susanna Hallet. Page 403, from the session dated 8 Oct 1675 mentions an agreement between man and wife dated 9 Jun 1669. (Not much detail is given but it sounds like 1669 might be the date of a pre-nuptial agreement. Then, on on p. 210 is the petition: "William Hallet, praying that his wife may be obliged to live with him agreeable to the decision of the referees, or in Case of her refusal to Comply, that he may be granted a divorce" (listed under 1674, but exact date not specified). This apparently prompted the reply, on p. 255, that on 11 Dec 1674, "Mrs Hallet Complaynes ag'st her husband for not paying her according to contract", presumably this same 1669 agreement that has been mentioned.) These documents give her name, shows she had a previous marriage to Mr. Thorne, names her as Joseph's mother, and gives approximate dates for the start and end of her marriage to William Hallett. As William Thorne had children William 1632, John, 1643, Joseph 1647, Samuel 1650, and Susanna, it is conceivable that William was born to a different wife. It is remotely conceivable, though not likely, that "Mother" was sloppily used for Mother-in-law [i.e., Step-mother]. So the evidence is not as "clear" as it could be, only really "proving" who William Thorne's widow was. But since there is no real evidence, or even suggestion, that there were two wives, until something new is found, it must be presumed that William Thorne had one wife and her name was Susannah.