Person:Thomas Bingham (6)

By 1652, Thomas's father, sisters and brother Edward were dead. His brothers Abel and Robert moved to Birmingham. Before 1659, Thomas came with his mother Ann to Connecticut and settled in Norwich, where Thomas was an original proprietor in 1660 at the age of about 18. He married and had his 11 children in Norwich before moving to Windham in 1693. In 1718, he deeded all his land to his son Joseph for a £400 bond guaranteeing that he would care for his parents throughout their lives. He was still alive when his grandson Gideon was growing up.^[4]

Bingham family tradition has it that "two brothers came from England and took up their residence in New London, but soon one of them died and his family returned to England. The other brother, whose name was Thomas, soon removed to Windham, where he lived and died, leaving seven sons. All were over six feet in in height and all lived to great age and died in succession as born. They were all religious men, puritanical in their principles, and much renowned as musicians and singers."^[6] This is true insofar as Thomas the immigrant lived in New London County (Norwich), and later Windham (though he moved there some 30 years later) and had seven sons who died in the order of their birth. There appears to be no record that he came with another brother, who would have had to be Steven, as Edward was dead and his brothers Abel and Robert had moved to Birmingham.

Tombstone: Here lies ye Body of that Holy Man of God Deacon Thomas Bingham ... He was ye son of Mr. Thomas & Mrs. Mary Bingham living in Sheffield in York Shier in England: he Dyed Janr ye 16, 1729/30 in ye 88 year of his Age.^[7]

1. ↑ Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Parish Register of Sheffield in the county of York (1560-1754). (Yorkshire: Yorkshire Parish Register Society, 1917-2000).

   Cited by Bingham Family in the United States

2. ↑ Windham Vital Records, in Connecticut, United States. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records.
3. ↑ Munger, Donna Bingham. The Bingham family in the United States: The Descendants of Thomas Bingham of Connecticut.
4. ↑ Cutter, William Richard. Genealogical and family history of the State of Connecticut: a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation. (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1911).
5. ↑ Bingham, Everett F. William Backus of Sheffield, Yorkshire, and Norwich, Connecticut. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Jul 1988)
   page 253.
6. ↑ Quoted in 1863 by William L. Weaver, an early compiler of Bingham genealogical material.
7. ↑ Windham Centre Cemetary Inscriptions, “Connecticut Cemetery Inscriptions,” Copied by Joel N. Enos, NEHGR, Vol 71 (1917).