Old Burying Ground Cambridge Middlesex County Massachusetts, USA
All Saints Church Holme on Spalding Moor
Birth: 1603, Holme on Spalding Moor, East Riding of Yorkshire, England
Death: December 8, 1653, Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
Thomas Brigham fathered the first Brigham generation in America. History books have called him "The Emigrant" or "The Puritan". In the spring of 1635 a group of adherents of Reverend Thomas Shepherd, who had been preaching in Buttercombe, England, a few miles north of Home-on-Spalding-Moor, decided to migrate with him to the new world in order to escape religious persecution. On April 18 1653, they embarked on the ship "Suzan and Ellen" on a voyage from Bristol to Boston, that would last sixty-four days. Appearing in the passenger list: Thos. Brigham, aged 32
Symon Crosby, husbandman, aged 26
Ann Crosby, Uxer, aged 25
Tho. Crosby, child aged 8 weeks.
Ann was Thomas's first cousin. Soon after reaching New England, Thomas Brigham settled Cambridge, Massachusetts. His 14-acre homestead adjoining that of Simon Crosby. He owned a windmill and records show he owned a third of all the swine in town. Thomas Brigham was made by the general court a Freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Company, 18 April 1637 and thus became a member of the body politic and acquired the right to vote. He was selectman 1640, 1642, 1647. A constable from 1639 to 1642. In 1637 when Thomas was about 34, married Mercy Hurd, aged about 21. (The name Hurd is only traditional, and the Rice Genealogy by Ward is responsible for the tradition.)
Spouse: Mercy Brigham Rice Hunt (____ - 1693)
Burial: Old Burying Ground, Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
Burial: Old Burying Ground, Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
Note: According to: Brigham, Willard Irving Tyler. The History of the Brigham Family:. Vol. 1. New York: Grafton, 1907. Print. Thomas is buried here without a marker.
found on findagrave.com
Thomas BrighamThomas Brigham fathered the first Brigham generation in America. History books have called him "The Emigrant" or "The Puritan".In the spring of 1635 a group of adherents of Rev. Thomas Shepherd, who had been preaching in Buttercombe, England, a few miles north of Home-on-Spalding-Moor, decided to migrate with him to the new world in order to escape religious persecution. On April 18 1653, they embarked on the ship "Suzan and Ellen" on a voyage from Bristol to Boston, that would last sixty-four days. Appearing in the passenger list: Thos. Brigham, aged 32, Symon Crosby, husbandman, aged 26, Ann Crosby, Uxer, aged 25, Tho. Crosby, child aged 8 weeks.
Ann was Thomas's first cousin. Soon after reaching New England, Thomas Brigham settled Cambridge, Massachusetts. His 14-acre homestead adjoining that of Simon Crosby. He owned a windmill and records show he owned a third of all the swine in town. Thomas Brigham was made by the general court a Freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Company, 18 Apr 1637 and thus became a member of the body politic and acquired the right to vote. He was selectman 1640, 1642, 1647. A constable from 1639 to 1642. In 1637 when Thomas was about 34, married Mercy Hurd, aged about 21. (The name Hurd is only traditional, and the Rice Genealogy by Ward is responsible for the tradition.)
found on ancestry.com
Burial place of Thomas BrighamOld Burying Ground, Cambridge
Birth: 1603z-Yorkshire, England
Death: December 8, 1653, Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
Born about 1603 (aged 32 in 1635), son of John and Constance (Watson) Brigham of Holme-on-Spalding-Moor, Lancashire. Came to Massachusetts Bay in 1635 on the "Susan and Ellen," and settled in Cambrige Massachusetts. Died in Cambridge, 8 December 1653.
Married by about 1641, ____. She married (2) at Sudbury, 1 March 1655/6, Edmund Rice (with whom she had 2 children). She married (3) Marlborough, [blank] October or November 1664, William Hunt. He was buried at Marlborough, 22 December 1693.
Family links: Spouse: Mercy Brigham Rice Hunt (____ - 1693)*
Burial: Old Burying Ground, Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=brigham&GSfn=thomas&GSby rel=in&GSdyrel=in&GSst=21&GScnty=1181&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=38419321&df= all&
From "The History of the Brigham Family" (1907)
"He was buried, there is convincing reason to believe (Mr. Morse notwithstanding), in the old Burial Ground on the south side of the Cambridge Common, a few minutes' walk from his mansion; but no stone remains to mark the spot. Only one of the existing stones records a death as early as 1653, that of Ann Erinton, who died two days after Thomas Brigham. The stone next in age is ten years later, and commemorates Elizabeth Cutter, sister-in-law of Mercy Brigham's sister, if Mr. Morse's supposition is correct."
found on ancestry.com
Thomas Brigham's ImmigrationThomas Brigham, passenger #58, was born circa 1603. Came to America on the"SUSAN and ELLEN" in 1635, to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he died 8 December 1653. He married Mercy Hurd, the second wife of Edmund Rice.
"Thomas Brigham (married Mercy Hurd) was born about 1603 in Holmes-upon-Spalding-Moor,Yorkshire, England. He is the son of John Brigham (born about 1574) and Constance Watson (christened 17 August 1578).
John's brother Thomas Brigham (christened 21 May 1575). John and Thomas are the sons of Thomas Brigham (born about 1550/51) and Gillian,Thomas Brigham (christened 1575, above) married Isabelle Watson (christened 21 February 1560/61), he being her second husband. Isabelle Watson is the sister of Constance Watson who married John Brigham (born about 1574). Thomas Brigham (christened 1575) and Isabelle Watson, had two daughters Constance and Ann. Ann (born about 1610), married Simon (Symon) Crosby, who both, with their infant son Thomas, came on this same ship with Thomas Brigham (married Mercy Hurd).
found on ancestry.com
Re Brigham land in Cambridge
According to The History of the Brigham Family (1907), p. 35:September, 1639.
Thomas Brigham's property is described as follows:
" In the West end one house with three acres of Land and a halfe the highway to watertowne North Joseph Isack Southeast Symon Crosb(y) Southwest, the high waye to the Windemill Hill West." (P. R., p. 64.)*
Situated thus at a corner, the lot can be identified with exceptional certainty; the " highway to watertowne," now Brattle Street, and the " high waye to the Windemill Hill," now Ash Street, being two very early thoroughfares, which have maintained their identity from 1630 to the present day. If the curious reader cares to follow Ash Street to the river, he will notice that the " Winde mill hill" was a low one, being rather a projection of the higher land into the marshes; and looking up the Charles River, as it comes down through the broad meadows, it is still evident why, in 1632, the mill was removed to Boston, because only when the wind came from across these meadows to the west had it force to propel the sails.
Forty-one pages further on, in the Proprietors' Book, this description is repeated, except that we now have " one Dwelling house with out houses." Elizabeth Isaacke is now on the Southeast and " John Benjamin and An Crosby on the South west."
Their father Symon died in 1639. When this property was deeded in 1654, it is described as " conteyning the late mansion house of the sd Thomas Brigham with the Edifices, Barn, Cow houses and about three acres and a halfe to the same adjoining a part whereof is a garden and orchards." Radcliffe College has lately acquired a portion of this estate, known as the Greenleaf estate, as it lies directly across Brattle Street from its grounds which contain " Faye House," " Agassiz Hall" and the Gymnasium building, and eventually will form its principal quadrangle. [NOTE: Radcliffe still has a building named Greenleaf in that spot as of 2011.]
The Watertown Book of Possessions describes Thomas Brig ham's property in that town as follows (a. d. 1639):
" Thomas Brigam.
" 1. Thirteen Acres of upland more or less and one Acre of Meddow bounded the East with John Marrett and Cambridge line the West with Thomas Andrews and Robert Keies the North with Cambridge Street the South with River and Samuel Saltonstall." Here again the bounds are of exceptional clearness: the river, Cambridge Street (now Brattle Street) and the " Cambridge line" (now Sparks Street).
The inventory of Thomas Brigham's property is extensive and shows a dwelling house and barn with 4 acres of land; a lot bought from Goodman Doggett in Watertowne; the upland and meadow in the other end of Watertowne; 10 acres in rocke meadow; 9 acres in salt marsh; a small farm on the Charlestown line; cows, calfs, horses, swine, oxen, sheep, etc. He also had two indentured servants, Daneel Mykene, a Scot, and Anne Keche, 6 years to serve. Brigham presumably paid for their passage to America.
found on ancestry.com
Will of Thomas Brigham, the Puritanfound on findagrave.com
Thomas BrighamThomas Brigham fathered the first Brigham generation in America. History books have called him "The Emigrant" or "The Puritan".In the spring of 1635 a group of adherents of Rev. Thomas Shepherd, who had been preaching in Buttercombe, England, a few miles north of Home-on-Spalding-Moor, decided to migrate with him to the new world in order to escape religious persecution. On April 18 1653, they embarked on the ship "Suzan and Ellen" on a voyage from Bristol to Boston, that would last sixty-four days. Appearing in the passenger list: Thos. Brigham, aged 32, Symon Crosby, husbandman, aged 26, Ann Crosby, Uxer, aged 25, Tho. Crosby, child aged 8 weeks.
Ann was Thomas's first cousin. Soon after reaching New England, Thomas Brigham settled Cambridge, Massachusetts. His 14-acre homestead adjoining that of Simon Crosby. He owned a windmill and records show he owned a third of all the swine in town. Thomas Brigham was made by the general court a Freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Company, 18 Apr 1637 and thus became a member of the body politic and acquired the right to vote. He was selectman 1640, 1642, 1647. A constable from 1639 to 1642. In 1637 when Thomas was about 34, married Mercy Hurd, aged about 21. (The name Hurd is only traditional, and the Rice Genealogy by Ward is responsible for the tradition.)
found on ancestry.com
Burial place of Thomas BrighamOld Burying Ground, Cambridge
Birth: 1603z-Yorkshire, England
Death: December 8, 1653, Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
Born about 1603 (aged 32 in 1635), son of John and Constance (Watson) Brigham of Holme-on-Spalding-Moor, Lancashire. Came to Massachusetts Bay in 1635 on the "Susan and Ellen," and settled in Cambrige Massachusetts. Died in Cambridge, 8 December 1653.
Married by about 1641, ____. She married (2) at Sudbury, 1 March 1655/6, Edmund Rice (with whom she had 2 children). She married (3) Marlborough, [blank] October or November 1664, William Hunt. He was buried at Marlborough, 22 December 1693.
Family links: Spouse: Mercy Brigham Rice Hunt (____ - 1693)*
Burial: Old Burying Ground, Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=brigham&GSfn=thomas&GSby rel=in&GSdyrel=in&GSst=21&GScnty=1181&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=38419321&df= all&
From "The History of the Brigham Family" (1907)
"He was buried, there is convincing reason to believe (Mr. Morse notwithstanding), in the old Burial Ground on the south side of the Cambridge Common, a few minutes' walk from his mansion; but no stone remains to mark the spot. Only one of the existing stones records a death as early as 1653, that of Ann Erinton, who died two days after Thomas Brigham. The stone next in age is ten years later, and commemorates Elizabeth Cutter, sister-in-law of Mercy Brigham's sister, if Mr. Morse's supposition is correct."
found on ancestry.com
Thomas Brigham's ImmigrationThomas Brigham, passenger #58, was born circa 1603. Came to America on the"SUSAN and ELLEN" in 1635, to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he died 8 December 1653. He married Mercy Hurd, the second wife of Edmund Rice.
"Thomas Brigham (married Mercy Hurd) was born about 1603 in Holmes-upon-Spalding-Moor,Yorkshire, England. He is the son of John Brigham (born about 1574) and Constance Watson (christened 17 August 1578).
John's brother Thomas Brigham (christened 21 May 1575). John and Thomas are the sons of Thomas Brigham (born about 1550/51) and Gillian,Thomas Brigham (christened 1575, above) married Isabelle Watson (christened 21 February 1560/61), he being her second husband. Isabelle Watson is the sister of Constance Watson who married John Brigham (born about 1574). Thomas Brigham (christened 1575) and Isabelle Watson, had two daughters Constance and Ann. Ann (born about 1610), married Simon (Symon) Crosby, who both, with their infant son Thomas, came on this same ship with Thomas Brigham (married Mercy Hurd).
found on ancestry.com
Re Brigham land in Cambridge
According to The History of the Brigham Family (1907), p. 35:September, 1639.
Thomas Brigham's property is described as follows:
" In the West end one house with three acres of Land and a halfe the highway to watertowne North Joseph Isack Southeast Symon Crosb(y) Southwest, the high waye to the Windemill Hill West." (P. R., p. 64.)*
Situated thus at a corner, the lot can be identified with exceptional certainty; the " highway to watertowne," now Brattle Street, and the " high waye to the Windemill Hill," now Ash Street, being two very early thoroughfares, which have maintained their identity from 1630 to the present day. If the curious reader cares to follow Ash Street to the river, he will notice that the " Winde mill hill" was a low one, being rather a projection of the higher land into the marshes; and looking up the Charles River, as it comes down through the broad meadows, it is still evident why, in 1632, the mill was removed to Boston, because only when the wind came from across these meadows to the west had it force to propel the sails.
Forty-one pages further on, in the Proprietors' Book, this description is repeated, except that we now have " one Dwelling house with out houses." Elizabeth Isaacke is now on the Southeast and " John Benjamin and An Crosby on the South west."
Their father Symon died in 1639. When this property was deeded in 1654, it is described as " conteyning the late mansion house of the sd Thomas Brigham with the Edifices, Barn, Cow houses and about three acres and a halfe to the same adjoining a part whereof is a garden and orchards." Radcliffe College has lately acquired a portion of this estate, known as the Greenleaf estate, as it lies directly across Brattle Street from its grounds which contain " Faye House," " Agassiz Hall" and the Gymnasium building, and eventually will form its principal quadrangle. [NOTE: Radcliffe still has a building named Greenleaf in that spot as of 2011.]
The Watertown Book of Possessions describes Thomas Brig ham's property in that town as follows (a. d. 1639):
" Thomas Brigam.
" 1. Thirteen Acres of upland more or less and one Acre of Meddow bounded the East with John Marrett and Cambridge line the West with Thomas Andrews and Robert Keies the North with Cambridge Street the South with River and Samuel Saltonstall." Here again the bounds are of exceptional clearness: the river, Cambridge Street (now Brattle Street) and the " Cambridge line" (now Sparks Street).
The inventory of Thomas Brigham's property is extensive and shows a dwelling house and barn with 4 acres of land; a lot bought from Goodman Doggett in Watertowne; the upland and meadow in the other end of Watertowne; 10 acres in rocke meadow; 9 acres in salt marsh; a small farm on the Charlestown line; cows, calfs, horses, swine, oxen, sheep, etc. He also had two indentured servants, Daneel Mykene, a Scot, and Anne Keche, 6 years to serve. Brigham presumably paid for their passage to America.
found on ancestry.com
7 November 1653, Cambridge, MassachusettsWILL OF THOMAS BRIGHAM, THE PURITAN
In the name of God Amen, I Thomas Brigham of Cambridge being at this pnt writeing weake in body, and not knowing how the Lord will dispose of me, whether for life or death, and haveing yet through the mercy of God, a good memory and sound under¬standing, do hereby ordeine and make this my last Will and Testi-ment, my poare Soule wch I do beleive is imortall and shall live when my body is dissolved to dust, I do desire by faith humbly to comitt and leave it in ye Armes of the everlasting mercies of God the father in his deare and Eternal Sonne Jesus Xt, who when I was altogether full of Enmity agst him, and a miserable undone child of wrath, did then send his holy word accompanied with the irresistable power of his own blessed spirit to make knowne and apply the exceding and abundant riches of his grace to my Soule, by wch faith I have desired to live, and do now desire to dy, and go to that Lord Jesus who hath Loved me to the Death that I a poarc sinner might live, my body I comitt it to the earth to be decently buried at the discretion of my Executrix, and as for my children, and outward blessings wch the Lord hath bin pleased of his goodncs to blesse me wUl all and for a time to make me Steward of my will is that they be thus disposed of as followeth, viz1, my just debts being first sattisfyed, my will is that my loveing wife shall have to her owne vsc one third pt of my estate, according to the Law of the Country: and to ray Eldest sonne Thomas I give one third pt of the remainder of my estate, and the rest of my estate to be equally divided between my other 4: children Jn° and Mary and Hannah and Samuell my will is that my wife shall have the vsc of my whole estate dureing her widow hood, for the bringing up and education of my children and in case the Lord shnll provide for my wife by manage, it shall then be at the will and discretion of the overseers of this my lust will and testament, whether my children with their portions shall continue with her or not, and as they see meet to dispose of them and their portions for their education and bringing up. I do appoint my wife to be sole Executrix of this my last will and Testament and do also desire my Loveing Brethren Thomas Danforth, Jn°. Cooper, Thomas Fox, Jn°. Hastings, and William Towne to be overseers of this my last will and testament: and in witness hereof I do hereunto put my hand and seale this 7th, of the 10th mo. 1653,Read and signed in the presence of John Cooper Thomas Brigham (Seal)John Hastings. Tho: Danforth Proved 3d 8m 1654, At a County Court held at Cambridge the 3: (8mo) 1654Thomas Danforth, John Cooper, Thomas Fox and Jno. Hastings appearing before the Court, Attested upon oath that the within named Thomas Brigham deceased: being of a sound mind and good memory made this his last will and testamentThomas Danforth Recorder.
Entered and Recorded 25-11-1654, Mid. Prob., L. V., p. 41 and 43-7.By Tho: Danforth No. 1733 Recorder
Dennis Tomlinson added this on 7 February 2011
Will of Thomas Brigham. Text appears as the spelling that was used in the 1600's. Many words, meanings, and phrasings, look spelled wrong but were correct at that time this was written in the 1600's
found on ancestry.com
excerpt from "The Brigham Family, Volume 2", page 13, England, MassachusettsTHE HISTORY OF THE BRIGHAM FAMILY. SECOND VOLUME
By EMMA ELISABETH BRIGHAM
With Foreword by WILLIAM E. BRIGHAM of the Editorial Staff of the Boston Evening Transcript and THE ENGLISH ORIGIN OF THOMAS BRIGHAM THE EMIGRANT, 1603-1635
Discovered by J. Gardner Bartlett, Member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HERBERT O. BRIGHAM State Librarian of Rhode Island
THE TUTTLE COMPANY Publishers of Genealogies RUTLAND, VERMONT 1927 THE TUTTLE COMPANY PRINTED IN U. 8. A. BRIGHAM ANCESTRY IN ENGLAND
INTRODUCTION A search for the English ancestry of Thomas Brigham has been conducted by members of the family for many years and "The History of the Brigham Family" gives an account of the various conjectures regarding the English ancestrj'. In 1914 J. Gardner Bartlett of Boston, a genealogist of high repute and one of the leading authorities on the English lines of ancestry of the early settlers of New England, brought to the attention of the compiler of this Second Volume some material that he had unearthed in making a research for the English ancestry of the emigrant, Simon Crosby, in behalf of the late ]\Irs. Eleanor D. Crosby, the compiler of the Crosby genealogy. Mr. Bartlett observed a close relationship between Simon Crosby and Thomas Brigham, who came to America together. In the spring of 1635 a small party of Yorkshire men, under the guidance of Rev. Thomas Shepard, who had been preaching at Buttercrambe in Yorkshire, decided to emigrate with him to New England, and went to London where, on April 18, 1635, they embarked on the ship Susan and Ellen. In the passenger list appear the names of Thomas Brigham, Simon Crosby, his wife Ann and their small children. About twelve miles south of Buttercrambe is the rural parish known as Holme-on-Spalding-Moor and here is found the original location of both the Brigham and the Crosby families. This place, named in the Rand-McNally Atlas as ' ' Holme, ' ' is situated about half-way between the cities of Hull and York, about twenty five miles from the North Sea and about ten miles north of the River Humber. Prom the first ancient registry book of this little parish, Mr. Bartlett obtained many valuable records which establish the ancestry of Thomas Brigham. The book was found to be in wretched condition, mutilated and discolored, with several gaps due to lost pages, and with much of the writing illegible; but from an examination of this volume and other correlative data, he has prepared the appended pedigree which extends back to 1475. About that year a Thomas Brigham was born (the name Thomas appears to continue through many gen- If) The Brigham Family erations). and in 1528 he is recorded on the rental roll of the Manor of Holme as holding a toft, an orchard, a bam, a close and half a bovate of land. He was probably the father of Thomas 2d, born about 1500, who appears as Thomas Brigham, Jr., on the same rental roll of 1528, holding property in Holme-on-Spalding-Moor. He was married about 1525 to a person whose first name was Elizabeth, but she outlived him by several years, his death occurring in 1560, his wife's in 1573. He also had a son Thomas 3d, bom about 1525, who married in 1548 Janet Milligton, a daughter of William and Barbara Millington. He was a yeoman, lived throughout his life at Holme, and died in 1599 leaving a will proved that year. Thomas the 4th, born about 1549, is mentioned in the will of his father, also in the will of his cousin Peter Millington. He was a Webster, or cloth worker, married a woman whose first name was Gillian, and died in 1586. Our line of Thomases is broken by a son named John, born about 1573, who resided in his native parish and in the adjoining parish of Hotham. He married in 1599 Constance Watson, the daughter of James Watson. She is mentioned in the wills of her father, her sister and her brother-in-law Robert Brigham. On account of the loss of the registers between 1601 and 1628 the baptismal record of only the eldest child of John is preserved, but in the will in 1640 of Robert Brigham, the brother of John, there are named six children of John, viz., William, John, Robert, Gillian, Margaret and Phillippa, all "now in this land." Undoubtedly this phrase signifies there were other children not then in England, evidently referring to the emigrants Thomas and Sebastian Brigham who were across the seas in company with Simon and Ann Crosby, Ann the wife of Simon Crosby being their own cousin and a daughter of Thomas Brigham, a brother of John and Robert. This brings us down to Thomas Brigham, the Puritan, who was born about 1603, son of John, and named for his grand-father. He is evidently one of the "other three children" of John Brigham given bequests in the will of their great-grand-uncle Henry Brigham of Seaton in 1606. An interesting corroboration of the conclusions of Mr. Bartlett concerning the will of Thomas Brigham, a will which did not even mention his name, but noted six children "now in Introduction 17 this land," came to light in the publication, "Letters of the Earl of Barrington," where, by a curious chance, a letter written by the Rev. Thomas Shepard to the Earl of Harrington in 1641 contained the following stray phrase: "I am sending this message to you by the hands of one Sebastian Brigham who is returning to England about some estate that has befallen him." The letter was written in March, 1641, and Robert Brigham had made his will in the previous November. There was the definite proof that the shrewd guess of our genealogist, J. Gardner Bartlett, was absolutely correct. After the arrival of Thomas Brigham and Simon Crosby in this country, the life of Thomas Brigham and his descendants is detailed in "The History of the Brigham Family," First Volume, and in the Second Volume, that of his ancestry and descendants not enumerated in the First Volume. Just a word about Sebastian, the brother of Thomas, who came to this country for a period of twenty years. The baptism of two of his children appears on the Holme registers in 1635 and 1637, and he came out to the new world in 1638 in company with the Rev. Ezekiel Rogers of Rowley, county York (about twelve miles south-east of Holme), who founded the town of Rowley, Massachusetts. Sebastian first went to Cambridge where his brother Thomas Brigham and his own cousin Ann Crosby, wife of Simon Crosby, were living, and bought a house there; but a few months later he sold this house and moved to Rowley where he was a captain of the military company and deputy to the Massachusetts Court. He probably returned permanently to England about 1656. The Brighams in England were not armorial and land-owning gentry of great means, and with one exception — Robert, who died in 1640, they had modest properties. They were leasehold yeomanry of the best class, and the family was of good substance and esteem in that section of Yorkshire. The Hobne registers show numerous entries regarding the Brigham family, and we are able to identify and correctly place nearly all of the names in these registers. In conclusion there should be noted the close relationship between Thomas and Ann Crosby. Their fathers were brothers, their mothers were sisters — an unusual type of double cousin ship. Thomas Brigham, Simon Crosby, his wife Ann Brigham, 18 The Brigham Family Constance Brigham Crosby, the widow of Robert, and Sebastian Brigham, were all young people together in the same place in England. Thomas, Simon and Ann settled in Cambridge; Sebastian and Constance with her three daughters in Rowley. Later Simon's children removed to Barnstable County, Thomas' children removed to Marlboro with their mother upon her second marriage, and Constance's children, all girls, married, and some of their descendants are in the middle and far west. Thus the three lines which should have kept in close touch with each other, on account of the nearness of relationship, were all separated and lost to each other.
found on ancestry.com
Notes for Thomas Brigham
Notes for Thomas Brigham:The following items extracted from The history of the Brigham family: a record of several thousand descendants of Thomas Brigham the emigrant 1603-1653 (W.L. Tyler Brigham 1907):
In September 1639 Thomas Brigham's property was described as 'in the west end one house with 3 acres of land and a half the highway to Watertown north, Joseph Isack southeast, Symon Crosb(y) southwest, the highway to the Windemill Hill west.' When this property was deeded in 1654 it was described as 'containing the late mansion house of the said Thomas Brigham with the edifices, barn, cow houses, and about 3 acres and a half to the same adjoining... a part whereof is a garden and orchards.'Thomas Brigham's Will: In the name of God Amen, I Thomas Brigham of Cambridge being at this point writing weak in body, and not knowing how the Lord will dispose of me, whether for life or death, and having yet through the mercy of God, a good memory and sound understanding, do hereby ordain and make this my last Will and Testament, my poor soul which I do believe is immortal and shall live when my body is dissolved to dust, I do desire by faith humbly to commit and leave it in ye Arm of the everlasting mercies of God the father in his dear and Eternal Son Jesus Xt, who when I was altogether full of enmity against him, and a miserable undone child of wrath, did then send his holy word accompanied with the irresistible power of his own blessed spirit to make known and apply the exceeding and abundant riches of his grace to my soul, by which faith I have desired to live, and do now desire to die, and go to that Lord Jesus who hath Loved me to the Death that I a poor sinner might live, my body I commit it to the earth to be decently buried at the discretion of my Executrix, and as for my children, and outward blessings which the Lord hath been pleased of his goodness to bless me with all and for a time to make me Steward of my will is that they be thus disposed of as followeth, viz. my just debts being first satisfied, my will is that my loving wife shall have to her own use one third part of my estate, according to the Law of the Country: and to my Eldest son Thomas I give one third part of the remainder of my estate, and the rest of my estate to be equally divided between my other 4: children Jno and Mary and Hannah and Samuel my will is that my wife shall have the use of my whole estate during her widow hood, for the bringing up and education of my children and in case the Lord shall provide for my wife by marriage, it shall then be at the will and discretion of the overseers of this my last will and testament, whether my children with their portions shall continue with her or not, and as they see meet to dispose of them and their portions for their education and bringing up. I do appoint my wife to be sole Executrix of this my last will and Testament and do also desire my Loving Brethren Thomas Danforth, Jno. Cooper, Thomas Fox, Jno. Hastings, and William Towne to be overseers of this my last will and testament: and in witness hereof I do hereunto put my hand and seal this 7th of the 10th mo. 1653, Proved 3rd August 1654Thomas Brigham married probably in 1637 his wife Mercy, but of this date there is no record. We know she must have been a woman of unusual strength, force and determination. The Rev. Abner Morse says, on the authority of tradition, that her maiden name was Mercy Hurd, that she was 10 or 15 years younger than her husband, and that, persecuted in England for nonconformity, she came to New England with her sister, who married Qilliam (?) Cutter. Tradition should be taken as a clue to the truth rather than truth itself, for investigation where practicable is likely to find the basis of truth small in tradition a century old. The 'Cutter Genealogy' states that when William Cutter returned to England, probably he was a bachelor.
found on ancestry.com
Thomas Brigham "owned" Daniel McKean, Scottish Prisoner of War
1652, Charlestown, MassachusettsThomas Brigham "owned" a Scottish prisoner of war. The inventory of his estate lists a "Daniel Mykene" as an asset of the estate, right before the name of a woman who is an indentured servant. "Daneel Mykene" is listed as worth 15 pounds. Here's what the Thomas Brigham Genealogy (available on Ancestry.com) says about this curiosity:
"In October 20, 1651, by Act of Parliament, certain Scottish prisoners were made free. A large number of them seemed to have come to Charlestown in December, 1652. In the list was one Daniel Mackajne (Suffolk Deeds, vol. i, page 6). It seems possible that it was he who appears in the inventory as Daneel Mykene. Thomas Brigham may have paid his passage money [note: see comment below], to be repaid subsequently in labor as was then the custom, so that at the death of Thomas Brigham the value of labor due was 15 lbs."
This analysis of the status of Daniel McKeen is totally wrong. Brigham didn't pay for McKeen. The fact that Daniel wasn't an indentured servant is evidenced by the entry of a real indentured servant in the next line of the inventory with her name and the number of years left on her "contract of indenture." I do not know what Daniel McKeen's legal status was at the time of Thomas Brigham's death, if Daniel had already been freed by an act of parliament in 1652. However, it is clear that he was NOT an indentured servant, a contract of indenture being voluntarily entered into by both parties.
Approximately 21,000 Scots were captured by Cromwell at the battles of Dunbar (3 December 1650-11,000) and Worcester (3 Sep 1651-10,000) during the Third English Civil War. A total of 25,000 Scots prisoners of war may have been captured and transported to the colonies as "involuntary servants" (i.e., slaves). Many of these men were highlanders who were Presbyterian and did not speak English, but Gaelic. Cromwell's treatment of these prisoners, the miserable conditions under which they were held at Durham Cathedral, and their forced walk through Scotland and England to the ships in London that would transport them to the various colonies has been compared to the Bataan Death March. They were transported to various colonies in chains. Most went to Barbados and Bermuda, some came to New England where they were employed in iron smelting and other fields. They were "forced laborers", not indentured servants. The Puritan merchants purchased the "services" of these slaves to do jobs no Englishman would do. If you are interested in this little known aspect of NE history, do a Google search of Battles of Dunbar and/or Worcester and look at all the Scottish websites that describe the battles and the treatment of these prisoners.
I am a descendant of two of these Scottish prisoners of war, William Monroe/Munro and John Craiggen, both of whom were transported on the "John and Sarah of London" to Boston in December 1651. The Monroes were captured at the Battle of Worcester and Craiggen was captured at Dunbar.
According to "Original Scots Colonists of Early America, Supplement," [available on ancestry.com], Daniel McKean was taken prisoner at the battle of Worcester and transported from London to New England on the John and Sarah of London, the same ship as William Monro and John Craiggen were transported on. The ship landed in Boston in December 1651.
William Monroe/Munro was chained next to his three brothers. All 4 Monroe/Munro brothers eventually settled in Lexington and Concord. Their descendants played a significant role in the Battle of Lexington, with the first shot of the revolution supposedly fired by an Ebeneezer Monroe [doubtful].
found on ancestry.com
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