Person:Thomas Munson (2)

The first appearance of Thomas Munson (1612-1685) in America is recorded in Hartford, Connecticut in 1637 as a member of the militia unit engaged in the Pequot Indian War. (He also appears as an original settler on an obelisk in the Center Church Burial Ground, erected 1837.) In 1639, he signed the Fundamental Agreement at New Haven where he established his permanent home.  His life and actions are well documented in The Munson Record Volume I and the Connecticut Colony records.^[5]

He is listed in the Catalogue of Members of the First Church of New Haven in 1640, his wife Joanna joining in 1646.^[6] He was seated by the First Church of New Haven 10 Mar 1646. In 1669, he was appointed to a committee that was to establish the boundaries between New Haven and Branford. He led soldiers from New Haven in King Phillip’s War in 1675. He served as a representative in the general court from 1666 to 1675.^[7]

The Thomas christened in Suffolk in 1612 is not positively tied to the one in New Haven but seems to be generally accepted for two reasons: his tombstone says he was 73 (making his birth in 1612) and Susan Munson, thought to be his wife or sister, who came in 1634, came over with Kimballs and Scotts from the Rattlesden area.^[8]

His inventory was taken 25 Mar 1685 by Moses Mansfield and John Winston. Agreement was made 12 Jun 1685 between Mansfield, Richard Higgenbotham and Joseph Tuttle on the estate of “our father”. The estate was divided among the men, grandson Thomas Munson, Elizabeth Higgenbotham and Hannah Tuttle. ^[11]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Thomas Munson, in Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Directory. (Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, Jun 2015)
   236.

   "Munson, Thomas: [Origin] Unknown; [Emigration] 1637; [Resided] Hartford, New Haven [NHCR 1:32; CCCR 1:66; HsBOP 82, 194, 312, 348; TAG 17:129-34; FANH 1285-87; NEHGR 57:331-32 (clue), 81:129; Myron A. Munson, The Munson Record, volume 1 (New Haven 1895)]."

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Munson, in Jacobus, Donald Lines. Families of Ancient New Haven. (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1974)
   6:1285.

   "Thomas (Munson). Variant, Monson. bp 13 Sep 1612 Rattlesden, co. Suffolk, d 7 Mar 1685 æ 73 (gravestone, City Burial Ground, New Haven) [1658/6]; Capt.

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} 1. Thomas¹ Munson, in Munson, Myron A. (Myron Andrews). The Munson record, 1637-1887: A Genealogical and Biographical Record of Captain Thomas Munson (A Pioneer of Hartford and New Haven) and His Descendants. (New Haven, Conn.: Thomas Munson Foundation, 1896)
   1:61.
4. ↑ Thomas Munson, in 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)
   3:257.

   "Thomas (Munson), Hartford, 1641, rem. next yr. to New Haven, had Samuel, bapt. 6 Aug. (but not 7, as print in Geneal. Reg. IX. 361), 1643; and Hannah, 11 June 1648; was rep. 1666, 9, 70-5, and serv. in the Ind. war. He d. 1685, and in the div. of his est. we find ano. ch. Eliz. w. of Richard Higginbotham. Hannah m. 2 Mar. 1667, Joseph Tuttle. Susan, who came in the Eliz. to Boston, 1634, aged 25, was, perhaps, his w."

5. ↑ The Thomas Munson Foundation.
6. ↑ Dexter, Franklin Bowditch, and Connecticut) First Church of Christ (New Haven. Historical catalogue of the members of the First Church of Christ in New Haven, Connecticut, (Center Church), A.D. 1639-1914. (New Haven, Connecticut: [s.n.], 1914)
   4, 11.
7. ↑ Greene, Richard Henry. Munson or Monson. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Apr 1875)
   29:139.
8. ↑ ^8.0 8.1 Thomas Munson, in Rubincam, Milton. The Munson Family of County Suffolk, England and New Haven, Con.. The American Genealogist. (Jan 1941)
   17:129-34.

   "There is a strong possibility─although it is not yet a proved fact─that the Thomas Munson, recorded as having been there (Rattlesden) baptized on September 13, 1612, was the same man of that name who so distinguished himself in the public affairs of colonial New Haven."

9. ↑ Olorenshaw, J. R. Notes on the History of the Church and Parish of Rattlesden, in the County of Suffolk: Together with a Copy of the Parish Registers from 1558 to 1758, and Index of the Marriages. (J.R. Olorenshaw, 1900 (Peterborough : G. C. Caster))
   256.

   "1612 … 13 of September Thomas Munson y^e sone of John and his wife baptized"

10. ↑ Thomas Munson, in Find A Grave.
11. ↑ ^11.0 11.1 Thomas Munson, in Alcorn, Winifred S. Abstracts of the Early Probate Records of New Haven, Book 1, Part 1, 1647-1687. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Apr 1927)
    81:129.

    "Munson, Thos. Inventory, taken Mar. 25, 1685, by Moses Mansfield and John Winston. Agreement made June 12, 1685, by Samuel Munson, Richard Higinbotham, and Joseph Tuttle, on distribution of estate of 'our father.' Estate divided between the above mentioned, the grandson Thos. Munson, Elizabeth Higinbotham, and Hannah Tuttle."