Person:Thomas Brigham (6)

Origins

Born England about 1603.

Listed on the "Suzan and Ellin" departing about viii April 1635, age 32 [NEHGS Register, volume 14, p. 310: "Tho: Briggham, 32"] Aboard the same ship were Symon Crosby and his wife and infant, future neighbors in Cambridge; Ralph Hudson and Percival Green, who were to be fellow-townsmen there, and also two boys, Benjamin and Daniel, with the father, the learned and reverend Peter Bulkley, who the same year was to found the town of Concord and long was its pastor and benefactor.

Life in New England

Made freeman of MBC on April 18, 1637.

Married abt 1637 (no record found) Mercy Hurd who died 23 Dec 1693 in Marlborough, MA.

Thomas Brigham's property [in Cambridge] is described as follows: "In the West end one house with three acres of Land ana halfe the highway to watertowne North Joseph Isack Southeast Symon Crosb(y) Southwest, the high waye to the Windeill Hill West."...

The Brighams were not among the very first settlers of Marl., though they came to the place quite early, and became a numerous family, extending over almost the whole of the original township.

Legacy

I, Thomas Brigham, of Cambridge, being at this prnt writeing weake in body, make this my last Will. My just debts being first Sattisfyed, my will is, that my wife shall have to her owne Use one third part of my estate according to the Law of the Country, & to my Eldest sonne, Tho: I give one third prt of the remainder of my estate & the rest of my estate to be equally between my other 4 Children, Jno, Mary, Hannah & Samuel. My will is, that my wife shall have the useof my whole estate dureing her widow hood, for the Educacon adn bringing up of my Children and in case the Lord shall prvide for my wife my mariage it shall then be at the Will & discrecon of the overseers of this my alst Will & testament, whether my children with their portions shall continue with her or not, and as they see meet to dispose of them and their portions for their Educacon & bringing up. I Appoynt my wife executrix, and desire my Loveing Brethren, Tho: Danforth, Jno Cooper, Tho: Fox, Jno Hastings & William TOwne to be Overseers of this my last will & testament 7th 10th mo. 1654. 1653. Read & signed in the prsence of Jno. Cooper, Jno Hastings, Tho: Danforth.

At a County Court held at Cambridge the 3 (8)mo 1654. Tho: Danforth, Jno Cooper, Tho: Fox & Jno Hastings deposed.

The 10th of the 12th mo. 1653. An Inventory of the goodes & Chattels of Thomas Brigham, lately deceased, taken by Edw. Goffe, Jno Bridge, Edw: Michelson. Mentions land in Watertowne, a small farme at Charlestowne line, &c. “Daniell Mikenna, a scotchman, L15,” “Anne Ketch 6 yeares to serve, L8.”

At a County Court held at Cambridge, 3: 8: 1654, Mercy Brigham, Executrix of the within named Thomas Brigham, deceased, deposed. [See Genealogy of Brigham Family, by Rev. Abner Morse, 8vo., Boston, 1859.]

In March, 1654, "whereas the Lord hath in his wise providence so disposed that the sd Mercy Brigham the relict widdow of the sd Thomas Brigham is now married to Edmund Rice of Sudbury," etc.^[5]

Additional Sources

(Incorporate into Sources)

1. History of the Town of Marlborough, p. 332-333:

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Thomas Brigham, in Anderson, Robert Charles; George F. Sanborn; and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635. (Boston, Massachusetts: NEHGS, 1999-2011)
   1:401-04.

   Migration:1635 on the Susan and Ellen
   Birth: About 1603 (aged 32 in 1635 [Hotten 62]), son of John and Constance (Watson) Brigham of Holme-on-Spalding-Moor, Lancashire [Brigham Gen 2:23-24]
   Death: Cambridge 8 Dec 1653
   Marraige: By about 1641 Mercy ___

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 5. John Brigham, in Brigham, Emma Elisabeth; William E. Brigham; Herbert O. Brigham; and J. Gardner Bartlett. The History of the Brigham Family: Second Volume. (Rutland, Vt.: The Tuttle Co., 1927)
   24.

   "Thomas (Brigham), b. about 1603; named for his grandfather; is not named in the will of his uncle Robert Brigham in 1640, but evidently referred to; emigrated to New England in 1635."

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Brigham, Willard Irving Tyler; Emma Elisabeth Brigham; and William E. Brigham. The History of the Brigham Family: A Record of Several Thousand Descendants of Thomas Brigham, the Emigrant, 1603-1653. (New York: Grafton Press, 1907)
   33-59.
4. ↑ Baldwin, Thomas W. Vital Records of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to the Year of 1850. (Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Co., 1914-15)
   2:485.

   "Brigham, … Thomas, [died] Dec. 8, 1653."

5. ↑ Trask, William B. Abstracts from the Earliest Wills on Record in the County of Suffolk, Mass. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (1848-1866, 1876-1878)
   17:157-158.