Person:Thomas Hinckley (1)

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Thomas Hinckley (bapt. March 19, 1618 – April 25, 1706) was the last governor of the Plymouth Colony. Born in England, he came to North America as a teenager, and was a leading settler of what is now Barnstable, Massachusetts. He served in a variety of political and military offices before becoming governor of the colony in 1680, a post he held (excluding the interregnum of the Dominion of New England 1686-1689) until the colony was folded into the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1692. A monument, created in 1829 at the Lothrop Hill cemetery in Barnstable, attests to his "piety, usefulness and agency in the public transactions of his time." He was the oldest son of Samuel Hinckley and was born in Tenderden, Kent, England. He came to America with his father and three sisters on the ship Hercules in March 1636.

He was governor of Plymouth Colony 1681 to 1688. He was nominated governor by King James II.

He is said to have three sons who carried down the name, Samuel, John and Ebenezer.

1.   Hinckley, E. Charles (Emmett Charles). Hinckley heritage and history (1960). (Fort Worth, Tarrant, Texas, United States: Hinckley, 1960)
   p 16, 1928.

   shows 8 children with dates for Thomas and Mary Richards and 9 children for Thomas and Mary Smith Glover.

2.   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)
   2:425.

   THOMAS, Barnstable, s. of the first Samuel, b. in Eng. a. 1618, came, prob. with his f. 1633, was rep. 1647, m. 4 Dec. 1641, Mary Richards, had Mary, b. 3, bapt. 4 Aug. 1644; Sarah, 4 Nov. bapt. 6 Dec. 1646; Meletiah, 25, bapt. 26 Nov. 1648; Hannah, 15, bapt. 27 Apr. 1631; Samuel, 14, bapt. 20 Feb. 1653; Thomas, b. 5 Dec. 1654; Bathshua, 15 May 1657; and Mehitable, 24 Mar. 1659. His w. d. three mos. after, and he m. 15 Mar. 1660, Mary, wid. of Nathaniel Glover of Dorchester (d. of John Smith, b. in Lancashire 1630), had Admire, b. 28 Jan. 1661, d. in two wks.; Ebenezer, 22 Feb. 1662, d. in 2 wks.; Mercy, Jan. 1663; Experience, Feb. 1665; John, 9 June 1667; Abigail, 8 Apr. 1669; Thankful, 20 Aug. 1671; Ebenezer, again, 23 Sept. 1673; and Reliance, 15, bapt. 19 Dec. 1675, being that Sunday of the great Narraganset fight, the hardest battle bef. that of Bunker Hill that ever occur. in N. E. Her f. was then with the army, and Rev. Mr. Russell, the min. of the town, gave the name. He was rep. 1645, and in 1658 chos. an Assist. of the Col. the first dep.-gov. 1680, and Gov. from 1681 to 1692, when the Mass. Chart. absorbed the old Col. exc. during the time of Andros's power, to wh. he was a counsel. nam. by the King, and d. 1706, in 88th yr. His w. had d. 29 July 1703, in 73d yr.
   
   Of the ds. of the Gov. we kn. the m. of most; Sarah m. 27 Mar. 1673, Nathaniel Bacon; Meletiah m. 22 Oct. 1668, Josiah Crocker; Hannah m. Nathaniel Glover, the sec. of Dorchester, s. of her f.'s w. by former h.; Mehitable m. Samuel Warden of Boston, and next, on 25 Aug. 1698, William Avery of Dedham; Mercy m. Samuel Prince of Sandwich or Middleborough, as his sec. w.; Experience m. James Whipple; Abigail m. 2 Jan. 1698, Rev. Joseph Lord of Dorchester in S. C. after of Chatham, Mass.; Thankful m. 19 Nov. 1695, Rev. Experience Mayhew of the Vineyard; and Reliance m. 15 Dec. 1698, [vol. 2, p. 426] Rev. Nathaniel Stone of Harwich. It will be perceiv. that this; acco. differs in a slight degree from that in Geneal. Reg. X. 229, furnish. by the dilig. antiquary, W. F. Stone, Esq. from an old almanac of his gr.f. Rev. Nathan, wh. was gr.s. of Gov. H. Of the error, that consists in mak. seven ds. of the first w. and four of the sec. m. when we kn. there were five of the sec. and six of the first, all (exc. one wh. was his mo.), aunts of the notemaker; I gain the right to ask who can tell the ws. of the hs. Wyburn and Hall, for after many hours' search, at various times, that almanac fails to instr. me. Baylies, IV. 139, 40, has largely portrayed his character. Ten of this name had been in 1834, gr. at the N. E. coll. of wh. four of Yale, and Harv. and Dart. had ea. two.

3. ↑ French, Elizabeth. "Genealogical Research in England", in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society)
   68:186.

   [From the Parish Registers of Hawkhurst, Co. Kent, 1550-1635]
   "1619 'March 19 Bapt Thomas sonne of Samuell Hincle' [1619/20]"

4. ↑ Freeman, Frederick. The history of Cape Cod: the annals of Barnstable County and of its several towns, including the district of Mashpee. (Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts: Parnassus Imprints, 1965)
   1:341-3.

   "In 1706, April 25, died suddenly, in Barnstable, Gov. Thomas Hinckley, at the advanced age of 86; a gentleman of distinguished reputation and of great energy of character, who, as we have seen, filled a large space in the history of the County of Barnstable, and especially in the affairs of the Plymouth Colony. In truth it may be said that it was his to fill a large space in the world's history. He had stood by the cradle of the Colony in its infancy, and 'had been, from first to last, the associate, in weal or woe, of its great and good men, and had lived, himself the chief among the surviving, to see the last chapter written in its immortal annals'."
   [This passage is quoted many places, e.g., Source:NEHGR, p. 13:209, where it notes that Thomas Hinckley must have been 87 in 1706, based on Source:NEHGR, p. 1:95 where Hinckley stated he was in his 85th year (84) in 1703. However, using the baptism date, 86 would indeed appear to be the correct age at death. This despite the fact that Freeman says in a footnote that "Gov. H. was b. in 1618", showing he was not aware of the baptism date. It would appear that Freeman was probably using the same 1703 statement, which actually should have yielded an age at death of 87, or even 88, if Hinckly died in 1706. Now, we know that the date of death is actually 1705^S5, if Freeman had calculated the birth using 1705 and age 86, he could have indeed arrived at a birth in 1618 (late 1618 to early 1619). So, it appears 1706 was actually a typo in Freeman and he meant 1705. But the others relied on his erroneous date of 1706, doing their own age calculation, and getting 87 instead of 86.]

5. ↑ "Governor Thomas Hinckley's Will and Inventory", in Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants. Mayflower Descendant: An Illustrated Quarterly Magazine of Pilgrim Genealogy, History and Biography
   5:237.

   Will of "Thomas Hinkley Barnstable", dated 16 Oct 1700, signed 31 Dec 1700, proved 27 Apr 1705, inventory dated 1 May 1705, wife Mary, son John, "I have given to all my Children which are married", son Samuel, son Ebenezer. Mary nominated sole Executrix. "By reason that Mary Hinckley wife of the deceased died before the testator", administration of the estate granted to "mr Samuel Prince of Sandwich Son In Law", 27 Apr 1705.

6.   Thomas Hinckley, in Find A Grave.