Person:Thomas Bass (5)

Per Ethel Baker, born in 1631

Thomas was made freeman 14 May 1656. In 1657 he removed to Medfield, which was later called Sherborn. On 7 May 1662 Deacon Samuel Bass and son Thomas Bass both signed the petition of the inhabitants of Bogastow or Niatick (now Sherborn) to be set up as a separate town. They apparently both lived there for some time in the 1660's. Thomas Bass probably lived in Sherborn on the 40 acres granted to his father by the General Court 26 April 1668 "in the right of Richard Stacy" lying north of Charles River, "near Nicholas Wood farm & Mr. Hull's". A 1674 deed shows Thomas living in "Bogestown near the town of Medfield" on land given him by his father Samuel.

Sprague says the first two children of Thomas and Sarah were probably born at Sherborn (now Natick) where the Nicholas Wood estate was located, but recorded at Medfield, the nearest town. The Bass genealogy says three children were born here, "a daughter, Sarah, and Abigail, dates of the first two not given." Sprague says the rest of the children were born at Braintree.

The Bass genealogy says Thomas returned to Braintree about 1670. Sprague says that Thomas Bass and wife Sarah were admitted to the church at Braintree from the church in Medfield 10 September 1676. His land near the meeting house is mentioned in 1679, and in 1694 he was paid for ringing the bell at the meeting house. He was elected surveyor of highways "for the town" 1694 and in 1697 on a committee to seat or place persons at the meeting house. He was elected Deacon some time after 1679, date not known.

Susanna wife of Thomas Bass admitted to the Braintree church from the Weymouth church 30 May 1686.

On 18 July 1700 Thomas Bass, weaver, sold to Benjamin Tompson 1 1/2 a. N. on town brook, E. on James Brackett, S. on town land adjoining the old school house, W. on the road. On 14 November 1700 Tompson reconveyed the property to Benjamin Webb.

On 22 February 1711/1712, John Bass & wife Elizabeth of Windham, Conn. sold to John Beale 1 acre, dwelling & barn, now in the occupation of Dea. Thomas Bass, father of said John Bass, with orchard & garden, N. & E. on the country road, W. on the "town buring place" , S. on land of Benjamin Savil & 2 acres etc. Deacon Thomas Bass had occupied this land after his son removed to Connecticut. The property was at the present corner of Hancock and Granite Streets in Quincy. After John sold the property, Thomas and Susanna evidently went to Weymouth where she had lived earlier and they died there. There was no settlement of his estate, as only one son survived him.

Sprague notes that the Thayer Genealogy (1874) lists a Sarah Bass who married Josiah Thayer of Mendon. The Haviland Mss. call Sarah the daughter of Thomas Bass, and the 1940 Bass Genealogy follows this. Sprague says "This is unproven and very doubtful.... There is no evidence for it." The Bass genealogy says Sarah, daughter of Thomas, married Josiah Thayer on 7 February 1690, and gives detailed information on them as Family 17.

1. ↑ Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
   1:135.
2. ↑ Waldo Chamberlain Sprague. Notes on the English Origin of Dea. Samuel Bass and William Savil of Braintree, Mass. (Boston: The New England Historic Genealogical Register, July 1953, Vol. 107)
   pp. 218-220.
3. ↑ Waldo Chamberlain Sprague. Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, MA 1640-1850. (Frank E. Dyer)
   pp. 344, 349, 5743.
4. ↑ Charisse Taylor Bass & Emma Lee Walton. Descendants of Deacon Samuel and Ann Bass. (privately printed, Freeport, IL, 1940)
   pp. 11-12.
5. ↑ "Samuel Bass", in Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995)
   I:125-126.