Person:Thomas Blossom (1)

Thomas Blossom arrived in Leiden before October 27, 1609, but his occupation is not recorded. He was aboard the Speedwell which turned back. Deacon of the Pilgrim church at Leyden and correspondent with Governor Bradford. Came to Plymouth in August 1629 aboard another Mayflower and made Deacon of the church. Died in Summer of 1633 in an epidemic of infectious fever.

His widow married Henry Rowley and moved to Barnstable with sons Peter and Thomas, and daughter ELIZABETH.

Origins

Thomas Blossom was probably one of at least seven children born to Peter Blossom and his second wife, Annabel _____. The Blossoms lived first at Great Shelford, then possibly Little Shelford, and moved to Stapleford, probably about 1582. He described himself as a”husbandman” [small farmer] in a 1585 deposition, but as a “labourer” in his 1597 will, indicating a lower economic status. After his death, his wife married (2) Richard Bracher at Stapleford on February 6, 1597/8, and moved with him to Cambridge. The educated language of Thomas Blossom’s letters to William Bradford have led some to speculate that Blossom attended Cambridge University, but there is no mention of his name in university records.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Thomas Blossom [1], in Anderson, Robert Charles. Pilgrim Village Families Sketch.
2. ↑ Thomas Blossom, in Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995).

   BIRTH: By about 1580 based on date of marriage; he was probably son of Peter and Annabel (_____) Blossom of Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire [ TAG 63:73]. (See MD 39:181-82 for another, less likely proposed parentage for the immigrant.)
   DEATH: Plymouth before 25 March 1633 [ PCR 1:11].
   MARRIAGE: St. Clement's, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, 10 November 1605 Anne Elsdon [ TAG 63:70]; she married (2) Plymouth 17 October 1633 HENRY ROWLEY (as his second wife) [ PCR 1:16].

3.   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)
   1:205.

   [Blossom] "THOMAS, one of the Pilgrims, wh. came from Leyden to Plymouth, but being on board the Speedwell, was disappoint. of passage in the Mayflower from Eng. and soon went back to encourage emigra. of the residue. A s. wh. came and return. with him, d. bef. Dec. 1625, and two other ch. had been b. in the interval. See a good let. from him to Gov. Bradford in Young's Chron. of the Pilgr. 480. He came again, 1629, prob. in the Mayflower, if the below. name would attract the few for Plymouth, when the larger part of the fellow-voyagers with Higginson were bound for Salem; was deac. and d. after short possessn. of the land of promise, in the summer of 1633. Prince, Annals, 437, of Ed. 1826. His wid. Ann m. 17 Oct. of that yr. Henry Rowley; and d. Elizabeth m. 10 May 1637, Edward Fitzrandle."