Person:Thomas Brown (5)

Thomas Browne
  • HThomas BrowneBet 1625 & 1628 - 1693
  • WMary Newhall1637 - 1654
m. 1652/53
  1. Eleazer Brown1670 - 1734
Facts and Events
Name Thomas Browne
Alt Name Thomas Brown
Gender Male
Birth? Bet 1625 and 1628 Inkberrow, Worcestershire, England
Alt Birth[1] 1628
Marriage 1652/53 Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, USAto Mary Newhall
Death? 28 Aug 1693 Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States(possibly that part of Lynn that became Reading)
Ancestral File Number 2JZK-Q9

(Continued from Edward Brown's note page) The following is his will which he dictated in July, 1693, but did not sign, dying six weeks later. It says: "Thomas Brown of Lynn, Sen., being of proper memory, etc., declared what his last will and testament should be. "My will is that after my honest debts and funeral charges are paid, my home and homestead, with all my land in Lynn, as also my cattle and moveables, without doors, I give and bequeath to my son Ebenezer (the oldest son at home), who hath been very careful of me and my family and whom I have betrusted with the management of my outward affairs, only my will is that my son, Ebenezer, provide for my wife, that she be comfortably maintained out of my estate. I give and bequeath to my wife all my moveables within doors, pewter, brass, bedding, etc., to be at her absolute disposal. I give to my eldest son, Thomas, my long gun, which I value at forty shillings. I give to my son, Joseph, twenty shillings, having already bestowed some lands upon him. I give to my son, John, twenty shillings. I give to my son, Daniel, five pounds. I give to my daughter (Mary) Norwood, twenty shillings. My will is that my loving wife should be executrix, and my son, Ebenezer, executor. To this my last will and testament, I constitute my brother, John Newhall and Robert Potter, Sr., to be my overseers." His children numbered sixteen, the eldest, Thomas, with whom we are most concerned, being born in 1653. In Feb., 1677, Thomas, Jr., married Hannah Collins, and in 1706 he and his brothers, John and Eleazer, selling all their possessions in Lynn to their brother, Daniel, they moved to Stonington, Conn., where they built many houses, Thomas being a joiner and John a carpenter. Thomas built his own home on the Anguila Road, on a hill at the foot of which is a fine spring. Here his ten children were born and here he died on Dec. 27, 1723, being buried at the Cedar Swamp cemetery, on land first purchased by the three brothers and given for use as a burying ground. (Continued on grandson Thomas III's note page)

THE BROWN GENEALOGY, by Cyrus Henry Brown, page 9, 10.In Vol. 1, page 9, states he was the son of Nicholas Brown. This is not correct as he states in his Vol. 2.Mary Newhall, b. about 1637, m. Thomas Browne, of Lynn, who was b. about 1628, according to his deposition taken July 11, 1666.(Essex Co. Court Papers, B. XIII, L. 62.)He d. Aug. 28, 1693. His widow, Mary, was appointed administratrix, Oct. 9, 1683, on the same day the nuncupative will of Thomas Browne was taken down (on file in the office of the Register of Probate in Salem).He names his eldest son, Thomas, and his sons Joseph, John, Daniel, and Ebenezer, and dau. Norwood.Two depositions cited by Waters, pp. 15 and 16, show her age. Her name first appears in records as wife of Thomas Browne in 1658. "Her husband was a dish-turner and was said to be of Grawton, Middlesex, in June 1663 when he bought of William Longley his house lot (6 acres), bounded E. with lands of Richard Haven, W. with land of John Newhall, S. by Mill Street, and N. by the common." - Waters, page 16.The Norwood referred to in the will of Thomas Brown was his dau. Mary (9), who m. Thomas Norwood, Aug. 24, 1685, and had six children: Francis, Ebenezer, Mary, Thomas, Mary, and Jonathan.Their children, b. Lynn, Mass.Eight of this family of children died young and unmarried. Seven of them reached maturity. Four of them remained in MA, while three of them came to Stonington, CT, before 1688.They purchased and received large tracts of land, most of which was located in the present town of North Stonington, bounded as follows: the western boundary was nearly all on Ossekonk Swamp, the northern bounds of which extended from the Ossekonk brook on the west of Shunnock River on the east, joining on the north the lands of the late Stephen Avery and lands of the Main family, to lands of the Randall family; easterly on the Randall land to the Richardson's possessions; on the south by the Palmer family land and Miner territory; and on the west by the Wheeler family land up to the said Ossekonk Swamp. Subsequent sales and purchases made by the Brown brothers and the distribution of these lands as they and their successors have departed this life, have greatly changed their original possessions, and other families now dwell upon the same.John Brown (8) located his residence west of the site of the old Roswell Brown tavern years before the New London and Providence turnpike was built.On the above tract of land described is one of the oldest burying grounds in the town, on the south of the cedar swamp from which this burying ground takes its name. Before the New London and Providence turnpike was built a road passed by this ancient burying ground, but after the building of the "pike" it was discontinued, making it one of the most secluded places that can be found to bury the dead.No interments have been made there for many years. Here are interred many of the early settlers, without headstones, and without any doubt two of the pioneers, Thomas (2) and John (8), though it is to be regretted no headstones mark their last resting-place. This burying place is on lands they originally purchased. Here are interred Ichabod Brown (309) and his wife Lucy (Palmer) Brown and many of their children, and all marked with marble headstones; also Roswell Brown (171), who married Esther Williams (31); Thatcher Brown (175), who married after the death of his brother Roswell, his widow Esther Brown, nee Williams; Jedediah Brown (238) and his three wives. The name Williams, that of the great-grandmother of the compiler, is perpetuated by her descendants through many families down to Number 697.The remains of many have been removed to the Union Cemetery, and to Elm Grove Cemetery, Mystic, Conn.; and it is hoped that all others that are marked with headstones will be removed at no distant day to the Union Cemetery.Researching this line is Nancyann Norman at nancn@@exis.netResearching this line is Laurie Barrett lbarrett@@gwu.eduResearching this line is Margie Strang at mstrang@@penn.comResearching this line is Leo Brown at lfbnjb@@sprynet.comSources: Brown Genealogy by C.H. Brown; Genealogical and Biographical Record of New Lond County, Conn.; Bible Records (film 862,766, Vol.10, page 9; Founders of Early American Families; NEHGR, v78, p85; A Witter Family History by Edwin D. Witter Jr. (1988); History of the Town of Stonington; AF.Brown Genealogy and Wheeler's History of the Town of Stonington, County ofNew London, Connecticut, erroneously say Thomas Browne was born in Lynn, Mass. Film 862,766, Vol. 10, P. 9 (Bible records copied from older record), says he and Mary Newhall were married in 1652.Birth in England comes from an LDS archives record. Will in a Brown, Vol. I, appendix indicates the 1693 death date.Genealogical and Biographical Record of New London County, Connecticut,says Thomas Browne accompanied his father, Nicholas, to America from England.He should not be confused with the Thomas Browne from Malford, weaver, who came over about 1635 and is listed in Genealogy of the Puritans. Our Thomas would have only been 7 years old then, and no father is mentioned in theThomas the weaver reference.Brown Genealogy says Thomas Browne was a dish-turner. Home Life in Colonial Days says, "The dish-turner and cooper were artisans of importance in those days; piggins, noggins, runlets, keelers, firkins, buckets, churns, dye-tubs, cowles, powdering-tubs, were made with chary or no use of metal." Unknow what most of those items were or which pertained to a dish-turner.Founders of Early American Families: Thomas Browne. Lynn, MA, 1653. Groton, MA, 1663. Died Lynn [had become Reading by then] 28 Aug. 1693. Turner. Constable. An AF record puts death as Aug. 28, 1686, in Lynn, but by then Lynn had become Reading (1644).All of Thomas Browne's children were born in Reading, Mass., which until1644 had been Lynn or Lynn Village. Most sources say they were born in Lynn.NEHGR, v78, p85: Thomas Brown of Lynn, born about 1628, married MaryNewhall, born about 1637 and died 28 Aug. 1693.A Witter Family History: Thomas Brown, born about 1628 in Lynn, Mass., orEngland. Died 28 Aug. 1693 in Lynn, Mass. Married Mary Newhall in 1653 in Lynn.

References
  1. United Genealogists.
  2.   Boyer, Carl. New England colonial families. (Newhall, California: Carl Boyer, 1981-)
    85.

    Text: Thomas2 Brown b 1628; d Lynn 1693; m Mary2 Newhall - This Thomas Brown has been confused with Thomas of Newbury who had descendants in Stonington, CT. Note there is absolutely not evidence at all that Nicholas Brown of Reading has a son Thomas Brown. He is not named in his will and there is no birth record for him.

  3.   The text quoted here clearly states that he was not the son of Nicholas.