Captain Thomas Stoughton, II

Thomas Stoughton was chr. 23 Jan 1592/3 Naughton, Suffolk, England and died 25 Mar 1660 Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. He was the son of Rev. Thomas Stoughton (est 1557 - aft 1622) and Katherine Unknown (est 1565 - 1603).

Came to America on John Winthrop's Mary and John in 1630. He was a constable of Dorchester and a founder of the city of Windsor, CN.

Thomas came from England to Dorchester, MA in 1630 or 1633 and removed to Windsor, CT around 1640. Hs first wife died in England. He married second, Mrs. Margaret Barrett Huntington in Dorchester, MA.

Thomas Stoughton was baptized on 9 July 1593 at Naughton parish, Suffolk, England.1 He was the son of Rev. Thomas Stoughton.1 Thomas Stoughton married Elizabeth Montpesan circa 1612.1 Thomas Stoughton died on 25 March 1661 at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT, at age 67.

Thomas grew up in a home where the burning religious issues of the times were discussed. He had two brothers, John, who was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, who became a minister, with "obnoxious views", objectionable to the government, and Israel, who emigrated to New England, probably about 1633. Israel returned to England, about 1643, to support Oliver Cromwell against the crown.

Thomas Stoughton came on the Mary and John in 1630, with children, Thomas Jr., Katherine and possibly his first wife, although she may have died in England. He became a freeman in Dorchester on 18 May 1631 and he served in the General Court until 1634. The same year he was one of ten persons chosen to "order the affairs of the plantation." His first service began on 23 Sept. 1630, when he was chosen Constable of Dorchester. Soon after, he was fined 5 pounds and sentenced to be jailed until his fine was paid, for marrying Clement Briggs & Joane Allen. He did not pay the fine, nor was he jailed, and in 1638 the fine was rescinded. Never the less, he was regarded as a man of "Prominence, property & social distinction," and was referred to as "ancient, which signified Ensign or standard bearer in a military company.

When the religious dissention began in Dorchester, Thomas, along with Henry Wolcott, Mr. Newberry, Roger Ludlow and John Mason, were appointed to establish a new settlement on the Connecticut River, near the Plymouth Trading Post. These men defrayed most of the expenses of the migration, and the new plantation. This settlement became known as Windsor, Conn. Some of the people moved in 1635 and the others followed in 1636. In that year Thomas was chosen to establish the boundaries of Windsor. He was elected to the court in 1638 and served until 1648, during which tie he was elected 11 times.

http://www.holcombegenealogy.com/data/p370.htm#i18461

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THOMAS STOUGHTON

ORIGIN: Aller, Somersetshire MIGRATION: 1630 FIRST RESIDENCE: Dorchester REMOVES: Windsor 1635 CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: The lengthy theological discourses composed by Thomas Stoughton make it clear that he was a member of the Windsor church, and had probably been a member of the church when it was in Dorchester. FREEMAN: Requested 19 October 1630 and admitted 18 May 1631 [MBCR 1:79, 366]. EDUCATION: To Winthrop and Dudley, Thomas Stoughton wrote on 12 September 1646 "I being neither scholar nor logician, neither any way fitted for (nor attempting to meddle in) dispute until now upon this occasion," and then proceeded to write at great length on just such a range of topics [WP 5:103-11]. Again on 26 July 1651 he wrote to Winthrop a lengthy theological treatise, signing himself as "Thomas Stoughton son and heir of Thomas Stoughton deceased suffering" [WP 6:113-30]. The reference here is to his father, Rev. Thomas Stoughton, a leading light of Elizabethan Puritanism who was silenced early in the reign of James I and spent the rest of his life producing theological pamphlets. Thomas Stoughton the immigrant may not have had a formal university education, but he must certainly have gone to grammar school, and benefited from the learning of his father and of his brother, Rev. John Stoughton. OFFICES: Dorchester constable, 28 September 1630 [MBCR 1:76]. Fenceviewer for the East Field, 10 February 1634/5 [DTR 10].

  Connecticut assessor, 11 April 1640 [CCCR 1:48]. Jury, 2 March 1642[/3], 1 June 1643 (as "Mr. Stoughton"), 30 June 1646 (as "Mr. Stoughton"), May 1657, 6 March 1661/2 [RPCC 18, 20, 41, 176, 244]. Windsor constable, 4 March 1657 [RPCC 186]. ESTATE: At Dorchester in 1633 "Mr. Stoughton" was responsible for eighty feet of fencing for four cows (although this record may be for his brother Israel Stoughton, as both men were called "Mr." in the Dorchester records) [DTR 2]. On 17 April 1635 reference was made to "Mr. Thomas Stoughton's lot" [DTR 11].

  On 11 January 1640[/1] Thomas Stoughton's holdings included the grant of a homelot with fifty-two acres of meadow, "his meadow twenty-four acres" in an exchange with Thomas Gunne; "towards Pyne Meadow sixty nine acres"; "two parcels of swamp and woodland" purchased from the four sons of Thomas Dewey, Thomas, Josiah, Israel and Jedidia; "one parcel is seventeen acres [and] one quarter more or less"; "another parcel thirteen acres" [WiLR 37]. BIRTH: Baptized Naughton, Suffolk, England, 23 January 1592[/3], son of Rev. Thomas and Katherine (_____) Stoughton (evidently their second son of this name since "Thomas `Sloughe' the son of Thomas & Katherine his wife was bapt. 9 July 1588"). DEATH: Windsor 25 March 1661 [Grant 82]. MARRIAGE: (1) Great Totham, Essex, 5 May 1612 Elizabeth Tompson. She was buried at Aller, Somersetshire, on 29 December 1627.

  (2) About 1634 Margaret (Barrett) Huntington (in his letter of December 1634 to his stepfather Rev. John Stoughton, James Cudworth of Scituate reported that "my uncle Thomas is to be married shortly, to a widow that has good means and has five children" [Letters of NE 142]). She had married (1) SIMON HUNTINGTON. She died after 14 March 1665/6, when John Winthrop Jr. treated "Mrs. Stoughton, Margaret, of Winsor" [WMJ 634]. CHILDREN:

  With first wife

i ELIZABETH, bp. Great Coggeshall 28 February 1612/3; d. soon.
ii ELIZABETH, bp. Great Coggeshall 20 March 1613/4; bur. there 15 July 1619.
iii ANNA, bp. Great Coggeshall 29 October 1615; no further record.
iv SARAH, bp. Great Coggeshall 10 January 1618/9; d. Windsor 1652 [Grant 82].
v KATHERINE, bp. Great Coggeshall 12 May 1622; m. Hartford 18 January 1649/50 John Wilcock [HaVR 608].
iv THOMAS, bp. Aller, Somerset, 21 August 1625; m. Windsor 30 November 1655 Mary Wadsworth [CTVR 42; Grant 65].
ASSOCIATIONS: Brother of ISRAEL STOUGHTON.

COMMENTS: On 1 March 1630/1 "Mr. Tho[mas] Stoughton, constable of Dorchester, is fined £5 for taking upon him to marry Clem[en]t Briggs & Joane Allen, & to be imprisoned till he had paid his fine"; this fine was remitted in the general amnesty of 6 September 1638 [MBCR 1:83, 243].

  In 1953 Ralph M. Stoughton, in discussing Thomas Stoughton the son of the immigrant, suggested that "[t]he Sarah Stoughton whose burial in Windsor was recorded in May 1652 was probably his first wife" [TAG 29:197]. This death more likely applies to Sarah Stoughton, sister of this Thomas, a person who would not have been known to Ralph Stoughton, leaving Thomas with only one known wife. The Great Migration Begins Sketches PRESERVED PURITAN

1641, April 6. —Petition of Thomas Stoughton, citizen and merchant of London. About three years since petitioner shipped a cargo of "sneezing tobacco" to Dublin in the "Thomas and George," but the master, William Downing, was forbidden by the officers of Lord Wentworth and Sir George Radcliffe to land the cargo, under colour of a monopolising patent for the sole sale of tobacco; Downing was therefore obliged to sail again for England, and the ship was cast away with all her crew near Shoreham, to petitioner's utter undoing. Prays for redresss.

• Annexed, 1. Copy of acknowledgment by William Downing that he has received aboard three leather bags and three firkins of "sneezing" from Thomas Stoughton. 18 August 1638.
• 2. William Downing to Stoughton. Cannot land the "sneezing" without forfeiture of ship and goods. Dublin, October 1638.
• 3. Deposition of Michell Castell with reference to the loss of the ship. 9 Dec. 1640.
• 4. Deposition of Elizabeth, widow of William Downing, to the truth of Stoughton's statements. 29 March 1640-1.

Reports Part 1, p.59

Please see Sue Allan: In Search of Mayflower Pilgrim James Chilton of Canterbury, p. 106. (Steven Ferry, December 10, 2024.)