Person:Thomas Fanning (8)

General Notes:Captain Thomas Fanning was born in Groton, Conn., in 1719. The same year his father, John Fanning, Junior, prematurely died from the severing of an artery in his leg, leaving Thomas and an elder brother, John, both mere infants. Thomas was placed under the guardianship of his grandfather, William Park, of Preston, by the Probate Court at New London, 25 July, 1722, and John under that of his grandfather, Lieut. John Fanning, of Groton.When of a suitable age, Thomas was apprenticed to the carpentry trade, which he successfully followed for several years. On the death of his grandfather Fanning in 1739, he received a legacy of five pounds sterling; the homestead property on Fort Hill and all its appurtenances being left to his elder brother John. Thomas inherited, however, from his grandfather, William Park, half of his farm of 190 acres, that lay partly in Preston, partly in Groton, and partly in Stonington, and which now forms part of the Appleton Main farm.After marrying Elizabeth, daughter of Walter and Hope (Whipple) Capron, in 1744, Thomas purchased of Deacon Jonathan Brewster of Preston 24 January, 1746-7, for £1600 a farm of one hundred acres "with a new barn thereon," situated in the northern part of Groton (now Ledyard) near the Preston line, at a place now called Shewville. Thomas married Elizabeth Capron, daughter of Walter Capron and Hope Whipple.

1.   Mentioned in will of grandfather John Fanning.