THE CHARLES RIVER
Boston Harbor by Fitz Hugh Lane, 1854
Tom Hastings Composer
Cambridge, KingsVoyage to America
April 10 1634 , Ipswich, England
Thomas Hastings, aged 29, and wife Susanna, aged 25, embarked at Ipswich, England, April 10 1634 in the Elizabeth, William Andrews, master and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. In 1635 or 6, he "laid down" a lot in Dedham, but probably never resided there. He was admitted freeman May 6, 1635; was Selectman many times between 1639 and 1680; town clerk 1670 and 71; representative in 1673, and long held the office of deacon. His wife, Susanna died February 2, 1650 and he married April 1651, Margaret Cheney.
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Deacon Thomas Hastings' story and descendants (1634-1870)
1910 , Watertown, MA
(I) Deacon Thomas Hastings, immigrant ancestor, was born in England in 1605. Thomas, aged twenty-nine, and his wife Susanna, aged thirty-four, embarked at Ipswich, England, April 10, 1634, in the ship, "Elizabeth," William Andrews, master, for New England. He settled at Watertown, Massachusetts, where he was admitted a freeman May 6, 1635. He owned land in Dedham, but never lived there. He was selectman from 1638 to 1643 and from 1650 to 1671; town clerk in 1671-77-80; deputy to the general court in 1673, and long held the office of deacon. His wife Susanna died February 2, 1650. and he married (second) in April, 1651, Margaret Cheney, daughter of William and Martha Cheney, of Roxbury. He died in 1685, aged eighty. His will was dated March 12, 1682-83, and .proved September 7, 1685. The inventory of his estate amounted to four hundred and twenty-one pounds. He
r esided on the west side of School street, then called Hill street. He bequeathed the homestead to his son Samuel; to his son Thomas he gave only five pounds, saying, "I have been at great expense to bring him up a scholar, and I have given him above three score pounds to begin the world with.'' Children: 1. Thomas, born July 1, 1652. died July 23, 1712. 2. John, March 1, 1654, died March 28, 1717-18; married, June 18, 1679, Abigail Hammond. 3. William, August 8, 1655, drowned August, 1669. 4. Joseph, September 11, 1657, died October 7, 1695. 5. Benjamin. August 9, 1659, died December 18, 1711. 6. Nathaniel, September 25, 1661, died December 25, 1694. 7. Hepzibah, January 31, 1663. 8. Samuel, mentioned below.
(II) Samuel, son of Deacon Thomas Hastings, was born March 12, 1665, died July 24,
1723. His father died when he was a minor and John Nevinson was his guardian. Hastings was licensed to keep a tavern in Watertown in March, 1695, in the same house used for that purpose by his father-in-law before him. A few years later, however, he returned to the Hastings homestead , which was afterward sold to the town for a ministerial residence by his son, Daniel, and Joseph Coolidge, guardian of his son Nathaniel, and was later occupied by Rev. Seth Storer. Samuel Hastings married (first) January 1, 1687, at Watertown Mills, Lydia Church, born at Dedham, July 4r 1661, daughter of Caleb and Joanna (Sprague) Church, of Watertown. She died in January, 1691, and he married (second) April 24, 1694, Elizabeth Nevinson. born October 22, 1675. (laughter of John and Elizabeth Nevinson. His second wife died in 1700 and he married (third) July 10, 1701, Sarah Coolidge, daughter of Simon and Hannah (Barron) Coolidge. The third wife died January, 1724. Child of first wife: 1. Lydia, born January 2, 1691, died the following month. Children of second wife: 2. Elizabeth, baptized November 29, 1697. 3. Samuel, born October 30, 1698, married, October 13,
1724. Mary Eaton. 4. Benjamin, baptized November 17, 1700. died young. 5. Daniel, born July 19, 1702, married, August 5, 1724, Sarah Ball, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Fiske) Ball. 6. Nathaniel, mentioned below. 7. Ursula, died unmarried 1792, aged ninety-two years.
(III) Nathaniel, son of Samuel Hastings, was born at Watertown, about 1708-10. His uncle, Joseph Coolidge. was his guardian as late as 1728. He married, April 16, 1734, Esther Perry, born November 25, 1713, daughter of Samuel and Margaret (Iraine) Perry, of Watertown. He settled in Shrewsbury in that part set off as Boylston, Worcester county, Massachusetts, and was a farmer there the remainder of his life. Children, born at Boylston, then Shrewsbury: 1. Samuel, 1735, married, October 26, 1757, Anna Bigelow, daughter of Captain Joseph Bigelow; lived in Princeton. 2. Nathaniel Jr., 1738, married Elizabeth Goodnow and lived at Bolton, afterward Berlin ; was a soldier in the French and Indian war, died 1820; had eleven children.
3. Jonathan, baptized October 28, 1744, lived at Boylston; married Mary Fay, of Northborough ; gave a farm to each of his children.
4. Eunice, 1742-45, married. May 6, 1761, Jonathan Goodnow. 5. Silas, 1746, mentioned below.
(IV) Silas, son of Nathaniel Hastings, wa s born in Shrewsbury, now Boylston, in 1746. He was a soldier in the revolution from Boylston, a private in Captain Silas Gates's company. Colonel Ward's regiment in 1776. Me married. April 23, 1777, Hannah Reed. Children: 1. Thomas, lived at Boylston. 2. Silas Jr., born 1780, married, 1800, Mary Andrews, daughter of Deacon Daniel and Dinah (Bigelow) Andrews, of Shrewsbury; lived in Boylston ; children: George, died aged nine months; Mary Martha, born February 1, 1808. 3. Ezra, mentioned below. 4. Eunice,
married Howe, of Holden. 5. Mary,
married Luther Hastings and had four children. 6. Betsey, married Stephen Pollard, of Berlin; children: Sarah Pollard, married Erastus Wheeler; Abigail Pollard: Ezra Pollard. 7. Hannah, married Luther Ames and lived at West Boylston ; children: Harriet Ames, married Charles White; Mary Ames; George Ames. 8. Martha, married Joseph Flagg and lived in Berlin. 9. Sally, married Silas Howe; lived in Sterling. 10. Ephraim, born February 4, 1785. married Achsah Sawyer; (second) Almira Puffer, daughter of Rev. Reuben Puffer, of Berlin; they settled in Boylston.
(V) Ezra, son of Silas Hastings, was born in Boylston or vicinity, November 20, 1790, died in Boston, April 25, 1832. He chose his elder brother Silas as guardian April 4, 1809. He removed from Boylston to Boston. In his later years he drove a stage between Boston and Worcester. He was fond of horses and spent most of his life in Boston in the livery stable business in one capacity or another. Ezra Hastings married, April 3, 1822, in Bos
ton, Margaret Parsons, born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, died June 2, 1889, daughter of Ezekiel and Fannie Parsons, both natives of Gloucester. Children of Air. and Mrs. Parsons, all of whom grew to maturity and married:
i. Ezekiel Jr., born May 14, 1790, a mariner, lost at sea, January 4, 1807; ii. Nicholas, born May 31, 1792 ; iii. Fannie, born March 8, 1795 ; iv. John, born November 2, 1799; v. Margaret, born March 21, 1802, married Ezra Hastings, mention ed above; vi. Hannah Tucker, born February 2, 1808. All the sons were seafaring men. Children of Ezra and Margaret (Parsons) Hastings: 1. Julia Ann, born May 12, 1823, died August 23, 1830. 2. Albert W., mentioned below. Margaret ( Parsons) Hastings married (second) December 26, 1834, John Boles, of Massachusetts, and had children: i. Gaylord. died September 30, 1843;
ii. John William; iii. Maria Elizabeth, married S. A. Carlton, a prominent capitalist of Boston for many years, president of the Security Bank of Boston, died in 1903.
(VI) Albert W., son of Ezra Hastings, was born in Boston, February 21, 1827. He attended the public schools in that city and spent his youth there. When he was fifteen he left home, like his mother's brothers and ancestors, followed the sea. He made the voyage to South America in 1842, visiting the ports of Buenos Ayres and of Montevideo, returning in 1843, an( l sailing soon on an East Indian voyage to Manila, in the Philippines. He went again in 1845 anf' on trns voyage the vessel touched also at Hong Kong and Canton, China, returning with a large cargo of tea. The vessel encountered a typhoon on the return voyage, was dismasted and almost wrecked. A second storm threw her on the beam ends and all the crew had a narrow escape from death. The experiences of that voyage ended his love for a seafaring life. During the next three or four years he was bookkeeper for a West Indian trading company on Lewis wharf, Boston, filling this position with ability. He resigned in 1857 to establish an enterprise of his own. He began the manufacture of sash and blinds and other building supplies in a factory at 142 Friend street, Boston, and succeeded from the outset. He continued in business there until 1898, when he retired, leasing his business to his son, Albert .B., who had been in business with his father for sometime before. He made his home in West Roxbury. now part of Boston, in 1850, buying several acres of land at the corner of Poplar and Dale streets. The small house then standing on the property he enlarged and remodeled for a residence and has since occupied. He is one of the best known and most influential citizens of this section, and has always co-operated in movements calculated to advance the welfare and enhance the attractiveness of the community in which he lives. In religion he is a Unitarian. He and his sons are Republicans in politics. He married (first) in Boston, July 12, 1850, May Little Hall Bouve, born in Boston, June 29, 1828, died December 15, 1861. He married (second) May 26, 1864, Mary Burley Moses, born in New Hampshire, December 24, 1828, died at her home in West Roxbury, September 23, 1905. In both marriages Rev. Chandler Robins was the officiating clergyman. Children of first wife: 1. Albert Boles, born December 12. 1851, was associated with his father in business and succeeded him at the time of his retirement; married Lilian Masury ; children : Albert Augustus and Samuel B. 2. Frank Tracy, November 4. 1855, resides with his father; unmarried. 3. Margaret B., June 26, 1859, married Frank B. Skelton, a prominent newspaper man, reporter for the Boston Herald, now on the staff of the Boston Globe; child. Margaret Hastings Skel ton. 4. Mary E., December 4, 1861, lives at home and is devoted to her father in his old age. Children of second wife: 5. John William, March 19, 1865, died August 2, 1888, unmarried. 6. Annie Burley, May 4. 1870, died July 26, 1870.
cre8ivehavenadded this on 7 Nov 2010
Excerpt from "Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume 3" by William Richard Cutter and William Frederick Adams
found on ancestry.com
Data
b. 1605, England; d. 1685, Watertown, MA. His will was written Mar. 12, 1682/3 and proved Sep. 7, 1685. Thomas and his first wife Susanna (b. about 1609; d. Feb. 2, 1650/1, Watertown, MA) embarked at Ipswich, England Apr. 10, 1634 in the 'Elizabeth', William Andrews, master. Thomas was a signer of The Covenant of Dedham, MA in 1636 and "laid down" a home lot, but probably never resided there. At Watertown, MA 1635; freeman May 6, 1635; selectman at times 1639-1680; town clerk 1670-1671; representative; and Deacon. Will dated Mar. 12, 1682/3, proved Sep. 7, 1685, and estate inventoried Sep. 9, 1685 at £421. Married second about Apr. 1651, Watertown, MA.
found on ancestry.com
THOMAS HASTINGS (1605-1685) ~~~~~
Thomas Hastings (1605-1685) ~~~~~
Added by MargaretMastor on 3 Mar 2007
Thomas Hastings (He "long held title of Deacon.")Birth: 1605 in England Death: 1685 in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Aged 80 years. Emigration: Thomas Hastings, Puritan, aged 29, and his wife Susannah (Maiden Name Unknown), aged 34, embarked at Ipswich, England, 10 Apr 1634, on the "Elizabeth," William Andrews, Master, for New England, and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts Bay Colony. Occupation: Yeoman. (A person who owns and cultivates a small farm; one belonging to a class of English freeholders below the gentry. (OR one that performs great and loyal service in seeing a situation through.)Religion: Puritan. Education: Signed his deeds and his will. His inventory included "books" valued at 10s. 1635: Thomas Hastings was admitted as a Freeman: 6 May 1635. He was fifth in the admission sequence of eight Watertown men).1635: Admitted to the Watertown Church Membership, prior to 6 May 1635, (implied by freemanship).1635/1636: Thomas Hastings "laid down" a lot in Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1635 or 1636, but never lived there. 1636/1637: Comment: Thomas Hastings twice contemplated moving to Dedham, Massachusetts. He attended seven Dedham town meetings between Aug 1636 and Feb 1636/1637, during the period when the meetings were held in Watertown. He signed the 10 Sep 1636, petition to the General Court requesting a confirmation of the town grant, and also signed The Covenant of Dedham, Massachusetts On 11 May 1636/1637, at the third meeting held in Dedham, "Thomas Hastings laying down his lot unto our society, John Eaton is entertained into the same subscribed."1637/1638: On 20 Feb 1637/1638, "Thomas Hastings [is] entertained again subscribed," and, on 28 July 1638, he participated in a distribution of meadow to "those which inhabit on the east side of the little river." 1639: On 17 May 1639, "whereas Thomas Hastings hath sold unto Edward Richards all that his lot formerly granted unto him without consent of the town contrary unto an order made the 14th Sep 1636 whereby the said lot is become forfeited unto the town." 1639: On 26 June 1639, "it is now ordered that the said lot shall be seized upon and remain in the hands of the town until the said Tho[mas] Hastings be spoken with concerning the same." 1639: Finally, on 1 Nov 1639, "Thomas Hastings appearing to answer this case, and he acknowledging his fault in making sale of his lot without consent of the town freely submitted unto the censure of the town to stand to what they shall determine in the same. And for that he (living in Watertowne) was misinformed that the purchaser was accepted formerly for a townsman, so that his fault appeared to us to be rather of mistake than of any willingness. Wherefore we think fitting to remit the whole penalty that was fallen upon the lot by the same fault committed." Selectman of Watertown from 1638 to 1643, and again from 1650 to 1671. 1640: Committee on colony assessment, 13 May 1640. 1655: Committee to lay out Watertown land, 23 May 1655. 1669---: Town clerk, 1 Nov 1669, 7 Nov 1670, 1671, 1677 and 1680.1673: Thomas Hastings was Deputy, (Representative), for Watertown to the Massachusetts Bay General Court, 7 May 1673 - 16 Sep 1673. 1682: On the Committee to seat the meeting house, 6 Nov 1682.----------------------------------------------1685: According to an inventory, dated 9 Sep 1685, Thomas' real estate amounted to 421 pounds. He owned two farms and as many as fifteen other lots. He was grantee for seven lots and the remainder he had purchased.The west side of School Street, then called Hill Street, was his residence. His homestead passed to his son Samuel. In his will, dated 12 Mar 1683, proved 7 Sep 1685, Thomas gave to his oldest son Thomas, who had received a professional education, only 5 lbs, saying: "I have been at great expense to bring him up a scholar, and I have given him above three score pounds to begin the world with." To his sons John, Joseph, Benjamin, Nathaniel, Samuel, and to his daughter, Hepzibah Bond, he gave each 40 lbs. To his granddaughter Margaret, (eldest daughter of his son Thomas), he gave 5lbs, and to her sister, Hannah, 3 lbs, and the remainder to his wife Margaret.The inventory of the estate of Deacon Thomas Hastings of Watertowne deceased, taken 9 Sep 1685, was untotalled, the real estate totalling £409 15s."the dwelling house, barn orchard with 13 acres adjoining; with 8 acres bought of Old Bright, with 3 acres that was an addition to it; with 4 acres half bought of Edmond Lewis; with 3 acres bought of George Parkhust,; 4 acres bought of William Page; 3 acres bought of widow Boylston, the whole being 38 acres; half a cider mill," £160; 2 acres of meadow in Patch Meadow, £4; a lot bought of Martin Townsend, £35; a farm bought of Tarbell, £100; 80 acres of land bought of John Page, £60; 2 acres of meadow bought of Stowers in Patch Meadow, £6; 2 acres of meadow bought of Hager in Patch Meadow, £2 10s.; 6 acres bought of Mr. Wincoll in Patch Meadow," £24; 5 acres bought of Mr. Wincoll in Birch Meadow," £5; a piece of upland, swamp meadow bought of Mr. Wincoll," £1 10s.; 50 acres of meadow bought of Capt. Shearman," £20; 35 acres of dividend land bought of Brabrook," £20; 3 acres of marsh bought of Wetherell," £18; 25 acres of dividend being a town grant," £18 15s.; 50 acres of farm land," £15; "land meadow lying at Dearfield," £20 10s.; and "a piece of land bought of Old Bright," £10.His inventory included "one looking glass, brushes a rapier" valued at 7s. and "one musket" valued at 12s. -------------Married 1: Susannah, Maiden Name unknown. Born in England. Susannah died childless on 2 Feb 1650.------------Married 2: Margaret Cheney, b: 26 Nov 1628, Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts. Margaret was the daughter of William and Martha Cheney of Roxbury, Massachusetts. Marriage: Apr 1650, in Hatfield, Massachusetts. (OR) 10 Apr 1651, Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts.Children of Thomas Hastings and Margaret Cheney Hastings:1. Thomas Hastings, b: 1 Jul 1652, in Watertown, Massachusetts. Died 23 Jul 1712.******************************************************************DIRECT LINEAGE: 2. John Hastings, b: 4 Mar 1653/1654, Watertown, Massachusetts. Died 28 Mar 1718.******************************************************************3. William Hastings, b: 8 Aug 1655, in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Drowned after falling into a well, Aug 1669. 4. Joseph Hastings, b: 11/12 Sep 1657, in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Died 7 Oct 1695.5. Benjamin Hastings, b: 9 Aug 1659, in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Died 18 Dec. 1711.6. Nathaniel Hastings, b: 25 Sep 1661, in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Died 25 Dec 1694.7. Hepzibah Hastings, b: 31 Jan 1662-1664, Hatfield, Massachusetts.8. Samuel Hastings, b: 12 Mar 1664/1665, in Hatfield, Masachusetts. Died 1723.-----------------------------------------------------Sources:1. Title: The Cheney Genealogy (Boston, MA: C. H. Pope, 1897). Author, Charles Henry Pope, 2. Title: New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; pp. 32-33. 3. Title: New England Marriages Prior To 1700. Author: Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior To 1700 (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1985)4. Title: Great Migration Begins and Great Migration Project. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000.5. The Original Lists of Persons of Quality; Emigrants; Religious Exiles; Political Rebels; Serving Men Sold for a Term of Years; Apprentices; Children Stolen; Maidens Pressed; and Others Who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations 1600-1700. From Mss. Preserved in the State Paper Department of Her Majesty's Public Record Office, England. (London, England: Chatto and Windus, 1874. John Camden Hotten, [reprinted NY: G. A. Baker Co., 1931])6. Title: 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. Author: James A. Savage. Page: Vol. 8, p. 169 (The best known and most frequently used genealogical dictionary.This monumental work gives the name of every settler who came to New England before 1692, regardless of his rank, station in life or fortune. Traces the descendants of each person, giving dates of marriage and death, dates of birth, marriage and death of his children, and the birth dates and names of his grandchildren, thus recording the beginning of the third generation in New England. Binding is 4 vols. 2,541 pp.) Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 65-185417. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. XXVII, No. 2, April, 1873, pp. 135-139. 8. Title: Charles Hudson, History of the Town of Lexington, Middlesex County, From its First Settlement to 1860, 2 vols. (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913).
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Wikipedia Bio
Deacon Thomas Hastings (c.1605-1685) and his wife Susan left Ipswich, Suffolk, England on "The Elizabeth," April 30, 1634.[1] Although his home in England is unknown, the make-up of their ship's "company" strongly suggests that he was from East Anglia and perhaps from the counties of Suffolk or Norfolk.[2] He was among the approximately 20,000 immigrants who came to New England as part of the Great Migration (Puritan). Among his many public offices, he served on the Committee of Colony Assessments in 1640 and as Deputy for Watertown to the General Court of Massachusetts in 1673. He held property in nearby Dedham between 1636 and 1639 but there is no evidence that he ever lived there.
Contents
1 Family
2 Legacy
3 Some notable descendants
4 References
5 Bibliography
6 External links
Family
The only major genealogy to treat the family, The Hastings Memorial (Boston, 1866), states that he was of noble birth by descent from the illustrious family that included the Earl of Huntingdon line. He is not known to have claimed such a connection in his lifetime and there is no record to substantiate this supposed connection and much to argue against it. After the death of his first wife in 1650, Thomas married Margaret Cheney of Roxbury and together they had eight children. Remarkably for the day and given such a large brood, they all survived their parents.
In 1671, their 19 year old first son, Thomas, Jr., was accused of fathering a child out of wedlock and the Hastings and Woodward families (who came to America together on the same ship 37 years before) became embroiled in a highly embarrassing paternity suit before the Middlesex County Court. Intimate relations outside of marriage were not simply frowned upon but potentially criminal, as was fornication in the day. The social and political ramifications were foreboding too for Deacon Thomas, who was not only a leader in the church but serving as a selectman, town clerk and town meeting moderator during the controversy.[3] While the younger Thomas denied the relationship and asserted another was the father, Susannah Woodward was quite forthright about their alleged liaisons and “for all of which miscarriages ... she craved forgiveness.”[4] Although paternity could not be established, circumstantial evidence and hearsay led to an order that Thomas, Jr., pay for maintenance of the child and his father assumed the financial responsibility. Then like today, his father’s standing in the community brought relative leniency.
The younger Thomas married a year later and moved 150 miles west to the Connecticut River Valley and the village of Hatfield. He became a respected doctor which must have been a relief to his father who was to say later, “I have been at great charge to bring him up to be a Scholar and I hope he will live well by his arts and learning.” Dr. Thomas practiced medicine for some 40 years and served as town clerk for two decades. His was a frontier practice and as such, he treated many injuries sustained in skirmishes with the Indians and also wrote one of the best contemporary records of the devastating 1704 attack on nearby Deerfield.Legacy
In Watertown, Massachusetts where the American town meeting first took form, Thomas Hastings was repeatedly called to leadership positions inside and outside the church. At one time or another, he held virtually every office to include multiple stints as Selectman, Moderator and Town Clerk. His public service spanned five decades and he was last elected to public office (Selectman) in 1680.[5] As a Freeman, he owned property and would have been a devoted Puritan and believer of the Gospel as conveyed in the Geneva Bible. Certainly one of the town's most influential citizens, later historians have called him one of the "old war-horses"[6] of Watertown. Many of the surviving records from his time were written in his hand and often the government meetings were held in his home.[7]
The descendants of Thomas & Margaret are numerous and many have risen to positions of great importance or notoriety. Although no marker remains, he almost certainly lies among his many descendants in Watertown's Old Burying Ground (Arlington St. Cemetery). Margaret Hastings survived him by about five years. The old property locations are well established but no 17th century Hastings family structures remain.Some notable descendants
Albert Francis Judd
Calvin Plimpton
Carole Lombard
Daniel Ashley Dickinson (1839-1902) (an Associate Justice on the Minn. State Supreme Court)
Daniel Willard
Dorthea Dix Allen
Eliakim Hastings Moore
E.H. Moore
Frank Austen Gooch
Frederick Spaulding Coolidge
Gerrit P. Judd
Herbert Baxter Adams
James Chauncy Snow (1817-1884) (Mormon pioneer)
Lansford Hastings
Lawrence Judd
Lemuel H. Arnold
Marcus A. Coolidge
Seth Hastings
Smith H. Hastings (1843-1905) (Union Col. and Medal of Honor winner)
Solon S. Hastings (1806-aft. 1864) (Massachusetts legislator)
Susanna Willard Johnson (1730-1810) (Indian captive and noted diarist)
Theodore Parker
Thomas Hastings (architect)
Thomas Hastings (composer)
Thomas Nelson Hastings (1858-1907) (Member of NH State Senate and friend of Thomas Edison)
Waitstill Sharp
Wells Southworth Hastings (1878-1923) (Author)
William Soden Hastings
William Russell (governor)
found on ancestry.com
Coming to America
Thoms Hastings, aged 29, and his wife, Susanna, embarked at Ipswich, England, April 10, 1634, in the Elizabeth, Wm. Andrews, master, for New England, and settled in Watertown, Mass., then known as -The Massachusetts Bay Colony,- where he was admitted freeman, May 6, 1635. He laid down a lot in Dedham in 1635 or 1636, but never lived there. He was selectman from 1638 to 1643, and again from 1650 to 1671; town clerk 1671, 1677, 1680; representative in 1673, and long held the office of deacon."His wife, Susanna, died Feb. 2, 1650, and he married, April, 1651, Margaret Cheney, daughter of Wm. and Martha Cheney of Roxbury, Mass. She was the mother of all his children. He died in 1685, aged 80. According to Inventory dated Sept. 9, 1685, he owned two farms and as many as fifteen other lots, his real estate amounting to £421. He was legatee for seven lots, the remainder he purchased. The west side of School Street, then called Hill Street, was always his residence, which he enlarged by; the purchase of the lot of H. Bright, Senior. This homestead passed to his son Samuel. They had eight children. He was a great-grandson of a younger brother of Henry Hastings, 3rd Baron Hastings. The first of the family who enjoyed the peerage in England was Henry, lord of Hastings, son of Wm. de Hastings, steward of Henry II. They were allied by marriage to the royal family of Scotland and England. George, the third lord Hastings, was in 1529 created Earl of Huntingdon, had sons who became Puritans, and were obliged by persecution to leave their native land and find homes in the New World. As early as 1634 we find Thomas Hastings and wife arrived on this shore, and, in 1638, John and family had followed. That they were brothers was a tradition in the family; but it has not been clearly shown, and it is more probable they were cousins, Thomas being descended from a younger brother of the Earl of Huntingdon. The Hastings motto is -In Veritate Victoria.-"The family of Hastings has had nineteen peerages. Three now exist with scarcely an heir to bear the title. But from the younger sons of that family, who came to the New World for conscience- sake and established themselves through many privations, little dreamed of in -Merry England,- numerous sons and daughters have founded homes from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the tropical regions of South America."From: Leonard R. Cutter: In memoriam. July 1, 1825-July 13, 1894By Agnes Elizabeth Cutter BigelowPublished by Priv. print., 1898
found on ancestry.com
April 10 1634 , Ipswich, England
Thomas Hastings, aged 29, and wife Susanna, aged 25, embarked at Ipswich, England, April 10 1634 in the Elizabeth, William Andrews, master and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. In 1635 or 6, he "laid down" a lot in Dedham, but probably never resided there. He was admitted freeman May 6, 1635; was Selectman many times between 1639 and 1680; town clerk 1670 and 71; representative in 1673, and long held the office of deacon. His wife, Susanna died February 2, 1650 and he married April 1651, Margaret Cheney.
found on ancestry.com
Deacon Thomas Hastings' story and descendants (1634-1870)
1910 , Watertown, MA
(I) Deacon Thomas Hastings, immigrant ancestor, was born in England in 1605. Thomas, aged twenty-nine, and his wife Susanna, aged thirty-four, embarked at Ipswich, England, April 10, 1634, in the ship, "Elizabeth," William Andrews, master, for New England. He settled at Watertown, Massachusetts, where he was admitted a freeman May 6, 1635. He owned land in Dedham, but never lived there. He was selectman from 1638 to 1643 and from 1650 to 1671; town clerk in 1671-77-80; deputy to the general court in 1673, and long held the office of deacon. His wife Susanna died February 2, 1650. and he married (second) in April, 1651, Margaret Cheney, daughter of William and Martha Cheney, of Roxbury. He died in 1685, aged eighty. His will was dated March 12, 1682-83, and .proved September 7, 1685. The inventory of his estate amounted to four hundred and twenty-one pounds. He
r esided on the west side of School street, then called Hill street. He bequeathed the homestead to his son Samuel; to his son Thomas he gave only five pounds, saying, "I have been at great expense to bring him up a scholar, and I have given him above three score pounds to begin the world with.'' Children: 1. Thomas, born July 1, 1652. died July 23, 1712. 2. John, March 1, 1654, died March 28, 1717-18; married, June 18, 1679, Abigail Hammond. 3. William, August 8, 1655, drowned August, 1669. 4. Joseph, September 11, 1657, died October 7, 1695. 5. Benjamin. August 9, 1659, died December 18, 1711. 6. Nathaniel, September 25, 1661, died December 25, 1694. 7. Hepzibah, January 31, 1663. 8. Samuel, mentioned below.
(II) Samuel, son of Deacon Thomas Hastings, was born March 12, 1665, died July 24,
1723. His father died when he was a minor and John Nevinson was his guardian. Hastings was licensed to keep a tavern in Watertown in March, 1695, in the same house used for that purpose by his father-in-law before him. A few years later, however, he returned to the Hastings homestead , which was afterward sold to the town for a ministerial residence by his son, Daniel, and Joseph Coolidge, guardian of his son Nathaniel, and was later occupied by Rev. Seth Storer. Samuel Hastings married (first) January 1, 1687, at Watertown Mills, Lydia Church, born at Dedham, July 4r 1661, daughter of Caleb and Joanna (Sprague) Church, of Watertown. She died in January, 1691, and he married (second) April 24, 1694, Elizabeth Nevinson. born October 22, 1675. (laughter of John and Elizabeth Nevinson. His second wife died in 1700 and he married (third) July 10, 1701, Sarah Coolidge, daughter of Simon and Hannah (Barron) Coolidge. The third wife died January, 1724. Child of first wife: 1. Lydia, born January 2, 1691, died the following month. Children of second wife: 2. Elizabeth, baptized November 29, 1697. 3. Samuel, born October 30, 1698, married, October 13,
1724. Mary Eaton. 4. Benjamin, baptized November 17, 1700. died young. 5. Daniel, born July 19, 1702, married, August 5, 1724, Sarah Ball, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Fiske) Ball. 6. Nathaniel, mentioned below. 7. Ursula, died unmarried 1792, aged ninety-two years.
(III) Nathaniel, son of Samuel Hastings, was born at Watertown, about 1708-10. His uncle, Joseph Coolidge. was his guardian as late as 1728. He married, April 16, 1734, Esther Perry, born November 25, 1713, daughter of Samuel and Margaret (Iraine) Perry, of Watertown. He settled in Shrewsbury in that part set off as Boylston, Worcester county, Massachusetts, and was a farmer there the remainder of his life. Children, born at Boylston, then Shrewsbury: 1. Samuel, 1735, married, October 26, 1757, Anna Bigelow, daughter of Captain Joseph Bigelow; lived in Princeton. 2. Nathaniel Jr., 1738, married Elizabeth Goodnow and lived at Bolton, afterward Berlin ; was a soldier in the French and Indian war, died 1820; had eleven children.
3. Jonathan, baptized October 28, 1744, lived at Boylston; married Mary Fay, of Northborough ; gave a farm to each of his children.
4. Eunice, 1742-45, married. May 6, 1761, Jonathan Goodnow. 5. Silas, 1746, mentioned below.
(IV) Silas, son of Nathaniel Hastings, wa s born in Shrewsbury, now Boylston, in 1746. He was a soldier in the revolution from Boylston, a private in Captain Silas Gates's company. Colonel Ward's regiment in 1776. Me married. April 23, 1777, Hannah Reed. Children: 1. Thomas, lived at Boylston. 2. Silas Jr., born 1780, married, 1800, Mary Andrews, daughter of Deacon Daniel and Dinah (Bigelow) Andrews, of Shrewsbury; lived in Boylston ; children: George, died aged nine months; Mary Martha, born February 1, 1808. 3. Ezra, mentioned below. 4. Eunice,
married Howe, of Holden. 5. Mary,
married Luther Hastings and had four children. 6. Betsey, married Stephen Pollard, of Berlin; children: Sarah Pollard, married Erastus Wheeler; Abigail Pollard: Ezra Pollard. 7. Hannah, married Luther Ames and lived at West Boylston ; children: Harriet Ames, married Charles White; Mary Ames; George Ames. 8. Martha, married Joseph Flagg and lived in Berlin. 9. Sally, married Silas Howe; lived in Sterling. 10. Ephraim, born February 4, 1785. married Achsah Sawyer; (second) Almira Puffer, daughter of Rev. Reuben Puffer, of Berlin; they settled in Boylston.
(V) Ezra, son of Silas Hastings, was born in Boylston or vicinity, November 20, 1790, died in Boston, April 25, 1832. He chose his elder brother Silas as guardian April 4, 1809. He removed from Boylston to Boston. In his later years he drove a stage between Boston and Worcester. He was fond of horses and spent most of his life in Boston in the livery stable business in one capacity or another. Ezra Hastings married, April 3, 1822, in Bos
ton, Margaret Parsons, born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, died June 2, 1889, daughter of Ezekiel and Fannie Parsons, both natives of Gloucester. Children of Air. and Mrs. Parsons, all of whom grew to maturity and married:
i. Ezekiel Jr., born May 14, 1790, a mariner, lost at sea, January 4, 1807; ii. Nicholas, born May 31, 1792 ; iii. Fannie, born March 8, 1795 ; iv. John, born November 2, 1799; v. Margaret, born March 21, 1802, married Ezra Hastings, mention ed above; vi. Hannah Tucker, born February 2, 1808. All the sons were seafaring men. Children of Ezra and Margaret (Parsons) Hastings: 1. Julia Ann, born May 12, 1823, died August 23, 1830. 2. Albert W., mentioned below. Margaret ( Parsons) Hastings married (second) December 26, 1834, John Boles, of Massachusetts, and had children: i. Gaylord. died September 30, 1843;
ii. John William; iii. Maria Elizabeth, married S. A. Carlton, a prominent capitalist of Boston for many years, president of the Security Bank of Boston, died in 1903.
(VI) Albert W., son of Ezra Hastings, was born in Boston, February 21, 1827. He attended the public schools in that city and spent his youth there. When he was fifteen he left home, like his mother's brothers and ancestors, followed the sea. He made the voyage to South America in 1842, visiting the ports of Buenos Ayres and of Montevideo, returning in 1843, an( l sailing soon on an East Indian voyage to Manila, in the Philippines. He went again in 1845 anf' on trns voyage the vessel touched also at Hong Kong and Canton, China, returning with a large cargo of tea. The vessel encountered a typhoon on the return voyage, was dismasted and almost wrecked. A second storm threw her on the beam ends and all the crew had a narrow escape from death. The experiences of that voyage ended his love for a seafaring life. During the next three or four years he was bookkeeper for a West Indian trading company on Lewis wharf, Boston, filling this position with ability. He resigned in 1857 to establish an enterprise of his own. He began the manufacture of sash and blinds and other building supplies in a factory at 142 Friend street, Boston, and succeeded from the outset. He continued in business there until 1898, when he retired, leasing his business to his son, Albert .B., who had been in business with his father for sometime before. He made his home in West Roxbury. now part of Boston, in 1850, buying several acres of land at the corner of Poplar and Dale streets. The small house then standing on the property he enlarged and remodeled for a residence and has since occupied. He is one of the best known and most influential citizens of this section, and has always co-operated in movements calculated to advance the welfare and enhance the attractiveness of the community in which he lives. In religion he is a Unitarian. He and his sons are Republicans in politics. He married (first) in Boston, July 12, 1850, May Little Hall Bouve, born in Boston, June 29, 1828, died December 15, 1861. He married (second) May 26, 1864, Mary Burley Moses, born in New Hampshire, December 24, 1828, died at her home in West Roxbury, September 23, 1905. In both marriages Rev. Chandler Robins was the officiating clergyman. Children of first wife: 1. Albert Boles, born December 12. 1851, was associated with his father in business and succeeded him at the time of his retirement; married Lilian Masury ; children : Albert Augustus and Samuel B. 2. Frank Tracy, November 4. 1855, resides with his father; unmarried. 3. Margaret B., June 26, 1859, married Frank B. Skelton, a prominent newspaper man, reporter for the Boston Herald, now on the staff of the Boston Globe; child. Margaret Hastings Skel ton. 4. Mary E., December 4, 1861, lives at home and is devoted to her father in his old age. Children of second wife: 5. John William, March 19, 1865, died August 2, 1888, unmarried. 6. Annie Burley, May 4. 1870, died July 26, 1870.
cre8ivehavenadded this on 7 Nov 2010
Excerpt from "Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume 3" by William Richard Cutter and William Frederick Adams
found on ancestry.com
Data
b. 1605, England; d. 1685, Watertown, MA. His will was written Mar. 12, 1682/3 and proved Sep. 7, 1685. Thomas and his first wife Susanna (b. about 1609; d. Feb. 2, 1650/1, Watertown, MA) embarked at Ipswich, England Apr. 10, 1634 in the 'Elizabeth', William Andrews, master. Thomas was a signer of The Covenant of Dedham, MA in 1636 and "laid down" a home lot, but probably never resided there. At Watertown, MA 1635; freeman May 6, 1635; selectman at times 1639-1680; town clerk 1670-1671; representative; and Deacon. Will dated Mar. 12, 1682/3, proved Sep. 7, 1685, and estate inventoried Sep. 9, 1685 at £421. Married second about Apr. 1651, Watertown, MA.
found on ancestry.com
THOMAS HASTINGS (1605-1685) ~~~~~
Thomas Hastings (1605-1685) ~~~~~
Added by MargaretMastor on 3 Mar 2007
Thomas Hastings (He "long held title of Deacon.")Birth: 1605 in England Death: 1685 in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Aged 80 years. Emigration: Thomas Hastings, Puritan, aged 29, and his wife Susannah (Maiden Name Unknown), aged 34, embarked at Ipswich, England, 10 Apr 1634, on the "Elizabeth," William Andrews, Master, for New England, and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts Bay Colony. Occupation: Yeoman. (A person who owns and cultivates a small farm; one belonging to a class of English freeholders below the gentry. (OR one that performs great and loyal service in seeing a situation through.)Religion: Puritan. Education: Signed his deeds and his will. His inventory included "books" valued at 10s. 1635: Thomas Hastings was admitted as a Freeman: 6 May 1635. He was fifth in the admission sequence of eight Watertown men).1635: Admitted to the Watertown Church Membership, prior to 6 May 1635, (implied by freemanship).1635/1636: Thomas Hastings "laid down" a lot in Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1635 or 1636, but never lived there. 1636/1637: Comment: Thomas Hastings twice contemplated moving to Dedham, Massachusetts. He attended seven Dedham town meetings between Aug 1636 and Feb 1636/1637, during the period when the meetings were held in Watertown. He signed the 10 Sep 1636, petition to the General Court requesting a confirmation of the town grant, and also signed The Covenant of Dedham, Massachusetts On 11 May 1636/1637, at the third meeting held in Dedham, "Thomas Hastings laying down his lot unto our society, John Eaton is entertained into the same subscribed."1637/1638: On 20 Feb 1637/1638, "Thomas Hastings [is] entertained again subscribed," and, on 28 July 1638, he participated in a distribution of meadow to "those which inhabit on the east side of the little river." 1639: On 17 May 1639, "whereas Thomas Hastings hath sold unto Edward Richards all that his lot formerly granted unto him without consent of the town contrary unto an order made the 14th Sep 1636 whereby the said lot is become forfeited unto the town." 1639: On 26 June 1639, "it is now ordered that the said lot shall be seized upon and remain in the hands of the town until the said Tho[mas] Hastings be spoken with concerning the same." 1639: Finally, on 1 Nov 1639, "Thomas Hastings appearing to answer this case, and he acknowledging his fault in making sale of his lot without consent of the town freely submitted unto the censure of the town to stand to what they shall determine in the same. And for that he (living in Watertowne) was misinformed that the purchaser was accepted formerly for a townsman, so that his fault appeared to us to be rather of mistake than of any willingness. Wherefore we think fitting to remit the whole penalty that was fallen upon the lot by the same fault committed." Selectman of Watertown from 1638 to 1643, and again from 1650 to 1671. 1640: Committee on colony assessment, 13 May 1640. 1655: Committee to lay out Watertown land, 23 May 1655. 1669---: Town clerk, 1 Nov 1669, 7 Nov 1670, 1671, 1677 and 1680.1673: Thomas Hastings was Deputy, (Representative), for Watertown to the Massachusetts Bay General Court, 7 May 1673 - 16 Sep 1673. 1682: On the Committee to seat the meeting house, 6 Nov 1682.----------------------------------------------1685: According to an inventory, dated 9 Sep 1685, Thomas' real estate amounted to 421 pounds. He owned two farms and as many as fifteen other lots. He was grantee for seven lots and the remainder he had purchased.The west side of School Street, then called Hill Street, was his residence. His homestead passed to his son Samuel. In his will, dated 12 Mar 1683, proved 7 Sep 1685, Thomas gave to his oldest son Thomas, who had received a professional education, only 5 lbs, saying: "I have been at great expense to bring him up a scholar, and I have given him above three score pounds to begin the world with." To his sons John, Joseph, Benjamin, Nathaniel, Samuel, and to his daughter, Hepzibah Bond, he gave each 40 lbs. To his granddaughter Margaret, (eldest daughter of his son Thomas), he gave 5lbs, and to her sister, Hannah, 3 lbs, and the remainder to his wife Margaret.The inventory of the estate of Deacon Thomas Hastings of Watertowne deceased, taken 9 Sep 1685, was untotalled, the real estate totalling £409 15s."the dwelling house, barn orchard with 13 acres adjoining; with 8 acres bought of Old Bright, with 3 acres that was an addition to it; with 4 acres half bought of Edmond Lewis; with 3 acres bought of George Parkhust,; 4 acres bought of William Page; 3 acres bought of widow Boylston, the whole being 38 acres; half a cider mill," £160; 2 acres of meadow in Patch Meadow, £4; a lot bought of Martin Townsend, £35; a farm bought of Tarbell, £100; 80 acres of land bought of John Page, £60; 2 acres of meadow bought of Stowers in Patch Meadow, £6; 2 acres of meadow bought of Hager in Patch Meadow, £2 10s.; 6 acres bought of Mr. Wincoll in Patch Meadow," £24; 5 acres bought of Mr. Wincoll in Birch Meadow," £5; a piece of upland, swamp meadow bought of Mr. Wincoll," £1 10s.; 50 acres of meadow bought of Capt. Shearman," £20; 35 acres of dividend land bought of Brabrook," £20; 3 acres of marsh bought of Wetherell," £18; 25 acres of dividend being a town grant," £18 15s.; 50 acres of farm land," £15; "land meadow lying at Dearfield," £20 10s.; and "a piece of land bought of Old Bright," £10.His inventory included "one looking glass, brushes a rapier" valued at 7s. and "one musket" valued at 12s. -------------Married 1: Susannah, Maiden Name unknown. Born in England. Susannah died childless on 2 Feb 1650.------------Married 2: Margaret Cheney, b: 26 Nov 1628, Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts. Margaret was the daughter of William and Martha Cheney of Roxbury, Massachusetts. Marriage: Apr 1650, in Hatfield, Massachusetts. (OR) 10 Apr 1651, Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts.Children of Thomas Hastings and Margaret Cheney Hastings:1. Thomas Hastings, b: 1 Jul 1652, in Watertown, Massachusetts. Died 23 Jul 1712.******************************************************************DIRECT LINEAGE: 2. John Hastings, b: 4 Mar 1653/1654, Watertown, Massachusetts. Died 28 Mar 1718.******************************************************************3. William Hastings, b: 8 Aug 1655, in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Drowned after falling into a well, Aug 1669. 4. Joseph Hastings, b: 11/12 Sep 1657, in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Died 7 Oct 1695.5. Benjamin Hastings, b: 9 Aug 1659, in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Died 18 Dec. 1711.6. Nathaniel Hastings, b: 25 Sep 1661, in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Died 25 Dec 1694.7. Hepzibah Hastings, b: 31 Jan 1662-1664, Hatfield, Massachusetts.8. Samuel Hastings, b: 12 Mar 1664/1665, in Hatfield, Masachusetts. Died 1723.-----------------------------------------------------Sources:1. Title: The Cheney Genealogy (Boston, MA: C. H. Pope, 1897). Author, Charles Henry Pope, 2. Title: New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; pp. 32-33. 3. Title: New England Marriages Prior To 1700. Author: Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior To 1700 (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1985)4. Title: Great Migration Begins and Great Migration Project. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000.5. The Original Lists of Persons of Quality; Emigrants; Religious Exiles; Political Rebels; Serving Men Sold for a Term of Years; Apprentices; Children Stolen; Maidens Pressed; and Others Who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations 1600-1700. From Mss. Preserved in the State Paper Department of Her Majesty's Public Record Office, England. (London, England: Chatto and Windus, 1874. John Camden Hotten, [reprinted NY: G. A. Baker Co., 1931])6. Title: 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. Author: James A. Savage. Page: Vol. 8, p. 169 (The best known and most frequently used genealogical dictionary.This monumental work gives the name of every settler who came to New England before 1692, regardless of his rank, station in life or fortune. Traces the descendants of each person, giving dates of marriage and death, dates of birth, marriage and death of his children, and the birth dates and names of his grandchildren, thus recording the beginning of the third generation in New England. Binding is 4 vols. 2,541 pp.) Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 65-185417. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. XXVII, No. 2, April, 1873, pp. 135-139. 8. Title: Charles Hudson, History of the Town of Lexington, Middlesex County, From its First Settlement to 1860, 2 vols. (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913).
found on ancestry.com
Wikipedia Bio
Deacon Thomas Hastings (c.1605-1685) and his wife Susan left Ipswich, Suffolk, England on "The Elizabeth," April 30, 1634.[1] Although his home in England is unknown, the make-up of their ship's "company" strongly suggests that he was from East Anglia and perhaps from the counties of Suffolk or Norfolk.[2] He was among the approximately 20,000 immigrants who came to New England as part of the Great Migration (Puritan). Among his many public offices, he served on the Committee of Colony Assessments in 1640 and as Deputy for Watertown to the General Court of Massachusetts in 1673. He held property in nearby Dedham between 1636 and 1639 but there is no evidence that he ever lived there.
Contents
1 Family
2 Legacy
3 Some notable descendants
4 References
5 Bibliography
6 External links
Family
The only major genealogy to treat the family, The Hastings Memorial (Boston, 1866), states that he was of noble birth by descent from the illustrious family that included the Earl of Huntingdon line. He is not known to have claimed such a connection in his lifetime and there is no record to substantiate this supposed connection and much to argue against it. After the death of his first wife in 1650, Thomas married Margaret Cheney of Roxbury and together they had eight children. Remarkably for the day and given such a large brood, they all survived their parents.
In 1671, their 19 year old first son, Thomas, Jr., was accused of fathering a child out of wedlock and the Hastings and Woodward families (who came to America together on the same ship 37 years before) became embroiled in a highly embarrassing paternity suit before the Middlesex County Court. Intimate relations outside of marriage were not simply frowned upon but potentially criminal, as was fornication in the day. The social and political ramifications were foreboding too for Deacon Thomas, who was not only a leader in the church but serving as a selectman, town clerk and town meeting moderator during the controversy.[3] While the younger Thomas denied the relationship and asserted another was the father, Susannah Woodward was quite forthright about their alleged liaisons and “for all of which miscarriages ... she craved forgiveness.”[4] Although paternity could not be established, circumstantial evidence and hearsay led to an order that Thomas, Jr., pay for maintenance of the child and his father assumed the financial responsibility. Then like today, his father’s standing in the community brought relative leniency.
The younger Thomas married a year later and moved 150 miles west to the Connecticut River Valley and the village of Hatfield. He became a respected doctor which must have been a relief to his father who was to say later, “I have been at great charge to bring him up to be a Scholar and I hope he will live well by his arts and learning.” Dr. Thomas practiced medicine for some 40 years and served as town clerk for two decades. His was a frontier practice and as such, he treated many injuries sustained in skirmishes with the Indians and also wrote one of the best contemporary records of the devastating 1704 attack on nearby Deerfield.Legacy
In Watertown, Massachusetts where the American town meeting first took form, Thomas Hastings was repeatedly called to leadership positions inside and outside the church. At one time or another, he held virtually every office to include multiple stints as Selectman, Moderator and Town Clerk. His public service spanned five decades and he was last elected to public office (Selectman) in 1680.[5] As a Freeman, he owned property and would have been a devoted Puritan and believer of the Gospel as conveyed in the Geneva Bible. Certainly one of the town's most influential citizens, later historians have called him one of the "old war-horses"[6] of Watertown. Many of the surviving records from his time were written in his hand and often the government meetings were held in his home.[7]
The descendants of Thomas & Margaret are numerous and many have risen to positions of great importance or notoriety. Although no marker remains, he almost certainly lies among his many descendants in Watertown's Old Burying Ground (Arlington St. Cemetery). Margaret Hastings survived him by about five years. The old property locations are well established but no 17th century Hastings family structures remain.Some notable descendants
Albert Francis Judd
Calvin Plimpton
Carole Lombard
Daniel Ashley Dickinson (1839-1902) (an Associate Justice on the Minn. State Supreme Court)
Daniel Willard
Dorthea Dix Allen
Eliakim Hastings Moore
E.H. Moore
Frank Austen Gooch
Frederick Spaulding Coolidge
Gerrit P. Judd
Herbert Baxter Adams
James Chauncy Snow (1817-1884) (Mormon pioneer)
Lansford Hastings
Lawrence Judd
Lemuel H. Arnold
Marcus A. Coolidge
Seth Hastings
Smith H. Hastings (1843-1905) (Union Col. and Medal of Honor winner)
Solon S. Hastings (1806-aft. 1864) (Massachusetts legislator)
Susanna Willard Johnson (1730-1810) (Indian captive and noted diarist)
Theodore Parker
Thomas Hastings (architect)
Thomas Hastings (composer)
Thomas Nelson Hastings (1858-1907) (Member of NH State Senate and friend of Thomas Edison)
Waitstill Sharp
Wells Southworth Hastings (1878-1923) (Author)
William Soden Hastings
William Russell (governor)
found on ancestry.com
Coming to America
Thoms Hastings, aged 29, and his wife, Susanna, embarked at Ipswich, England, April 10, 1634, in the Elizabeth, Wm. Andrews, master, for New England, and settled in Watertown, Mass., then known as -The Massachusetts Bay Colony,- where he was admitted freeman, May 6, 1635. He laid down a lot in Dedham in 1635 or 1636, but never lived there. He was selectman from 1638 to 1643, and again from 1650 to 1671; town clerk 1671, 1677, 1680; representative in 1673, and long held the office of deacon."His wife, Susanna, died Feb. 2, 1650, and he married, April, 1651, Margaret Cheney, daughter of Wm. and Martha Cheney of Roxbury, Mass. She was the mother of all his children. He died in 1685, aged 80. According to Inventory dated Sept. 9, 1685, he owned two farms and as many as fifteen other lots, his real estate amounting to £421. He was legatee for seven lots, the remainder he purchased. The west side of School Street, then called Hill Street, was always his residence, which he enlarged by; the purchase of the lot of H. Bright, Senior. This homestead passed to his son Samuel. They had eight children. He was a great-grandson of a younger brother of Henry Hastings, 3rd Baron Hastings. The first of the family who enjoyed the peerage in England was Henry, lord of Hastings, son of Wm. de Hastings, steward of Henry II. They were allied by marriage to the royal family of Scotland and England. George, the third lord Hastings, was in 1529 created Earl of Huntingdon, had sons who became Puritans, and were obliged by persecution to leave their native land and find homes in the New World. As early as 1634 we find Thomas Hastings and wife arrived on this shore, and, in 1638, John and family had followed. That they were brothers was a tradition in the family; but it has not been clearly shown, and it is more probable they were cousins, Thomas being descended from a younger brother of the Earl of Huntingdon. The Hastings motto is -In Veritate Victoria.-"The family of Hastings has had nineteen peerages. Three now exist with scarcely an heir to bear the title. But from the younger sons of that family, who came to the New World for conscience- sake and established themselves through many privations, little dreamed of in -Merry England,- numerous sons and daughters have founded homes from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the tropical regions of South America."From: Leonard R. Cutter: In memoriam. July 1, 1825-July 13, 1894By Agnes Elizabeth Cutter BigelowPublished by Priv. print., 1898
found on ancestry.com
findagrave.com
Birth: 1605, England
Death: unknown, Watertown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
Born about 1605 (aged 29 on 30 April 1634). Yeoman who came to Massachusetts Bay in 1634 on the "Elizabeth" and settled in Watertown. (on 30 April 1634, "Thomas Hastings," aged 29, and "Susan his wife," aged 34, were enrolled at Ipswich as passengers for New England on the Elizabeth). Died between 12 March 1682[/3?] (date of will) and 7 September 1685 (probate of will).
Birth: 1605, England
Death: unknown, Watertown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
Born about 1605 (aged 29 on 30 April 1634). Yeoman who came to Massachusetts Bay in 1634 on the "Elizabeth" and settled in Watertown. (on 30 April 1634, "Thomas Hastings," aged 29, and "Susan his wife," aged 34, were enrolled at Ipswich as passengers for New England on the Elizabeth). Died between 12 March 1682[/3?] (date of will) and 7 September 1685 (probate of will).
MARRIAGES: (1) By 1634 Susan _____ (and perhaps earlier, given the age of her husband). She died at Watertown on 20 February 1650[/1].(2) Watertown "about April 1651" Margaret Cheney, daughter of William Cheney (in his will dated 30 April 1667, "William Cheiney" included a bequest to "my three daughters, to wit, Ellin, Margret & Mehitobell," and named as executors "my two sons Thomas Cheiney & Thomas Hastings").
Thomas Hastings twice contemplated moving to Dedham. He attended seven Dedham town meetings between August 1636 and February 1636/7, during the period when the meetings were held in Watertown. He signed the 10 September 1636 petition to the General Court requesting a confirmation of the town grant, and also signed the town covenant. On 11 May 1637, at the third meeting held in Dedham, "Thomas Hastings laying down his lot unto our society, John Eaton is entertained into the same & subscribed."
Burial:Unknown
found on findagrave.com - Find A Grave Memorial# 37059721
found on findagrave.com - Find A Grave Memorial# 37059721
I am Thomas Hastings grandson-9th generation removed. The Hastings family lineage of which I am part removed from Watertown in 1724 to Shrewsbury North Precinct to what later became the Town of Boylston. The complete story is this line of Hastings can be read in The Hastings of Boylston, Massachusetts by Gordon H. Hastings. It is available in paperback at Amazon.com .
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