Person:Thomas Ufford (1)

ORIGIN: Nazeing, Essex.
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admitted to Roxbury church as member #39 [RChR 75]; admitted to Milford church 11 February1645 [Milford VR Barbour 168, citing Milford Old Long Book 98].
FREEMAN: 4 March 1632/3 (as "Thomas Uffott") [MBCR 1:367].
COMMENTS: Thomas Ufford does not appear in Springfield records after 1636; in particular, he is not in the January 1638/9 list of those contributing to the maintenance of Rev. George Moxon, or in the 24 Decenber 1640 distribution of the second division of planting ground [Springfield Hist 161, 167]. Since Thomas Ufford did not join Milford church until 1645, he may well have had another residence in the early 1640s, and on this basis we include the Wethersfield land record as his, rather than his son's. Banks gives the English origin of Thomas Ufford the parish of Newbourn in Suffolk, based on the ship money list of 1636 [Topo Dict 158]. Thomas Ufford probably moved to Nazeing, co. Essex in the early 1620s, since we find there the baptisms of his two sons, but not his marriage or baptism of his daughter, but Newbourn seems implausibly distant.

THOMAS, Roxbury 1632, came in the Lion, arr. at Boston 16 Sept. with w. Isabel and ch. Thomas, John, and a d. wh. m. Roger Terrill, but whose name is not seen. This uncommon name is spelled Uffitt as the ch. rec. of R. exhibits it, or Uskitt, perhaps in despair of getting the letters into a more common shape, in the rec. of his qualifica. at London, adm. freem. 4 Mar. 1633, rem. 1635, with Pynchon to Springfield, where the name is Ufford, as the descend. now write it, but passing into Conn. at Milford 1639, where he and w. join. the ch. 1645, it bec. Uffoote. Chapin confus. the f. with s. of the same name, makes him an early propr. of Wethersfield, and aft. of Stratford 1644, whereas he was never an inhab. of either of those towns. A yr. or two bef. his d. he m. at Stamford, Elizabeth wid. of Nicholas Thele, wh. outliv. him very little time, and d. 27 Dec. 1660. Of the day of his d. we are ign. but are sure that it was bef. 20 Aug. 1660, when his est. was div. tho. Lambert says he d. at Milford, 1691

Thomas Uffott died early in the year 1660. He married/1 Isabel (-----) who joined the church in Milford January 1644/5 and died before 1659. He married/2 ca 1659 Elizabeth (-----) Theale who died 27 December 1660 widow of Nicholas Theale of Stamford, Conn. The name Uffott is spelled in various ways and is not to be confused with Thomas Oviatt. Thomas is said to have resided in Newbourne, co. Suffolk, England. He sailed from London 22 June 1632 and arrived in Boston 16 September on the ship "Lion", William Pierce, Master. With him came his wife Isabel and children, Thomas, John and Abigail who married Roger Terrell. He was first admitted a freeman in the Mass. Colony 4 March 1633, residing first in Roxbury where the names of his wife and he are recorded in the record of Rev. John Eliot as church members. He left with William Pynchon for Springfield, Mass, and signed the "Articles of Agreement 14 May 1636, but later removed to Milford in 1645. His estate was divided between his sons Thomas of Stratford, Conn. and John of Milford in 1660.

'Thomas Ufford came from England in 1632 with his wife Isabel and three children in the ship Lion, and landed at Boston, where he was made a freeman that same year. He was in Milford as early as January, 1645, where he and his wife Isabel joined the church in that place. He died in Stratford in 1660, leaving an estate of £89, 12s, 7p.'