Notes |
- From The Great Migration Begins:
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admission to Cambridge church prior to 14 May 1634 implied by freemanship.
FREEMAN: 14 May 1634 (sixth in a sequence of nine Cambridge men) [ MBCR 1:369].
EDUCATION: He made his mark to his will.
OFFICES: Petit jury, 7 March 1649/50, 15 May 1650, June 1651, 7 September 1652, 7 June 1655, 1 December 1659, 6 June 1661, 5 June 1662 [ RPCC 77, 82, 101, 111, 143, 205, 234, 248]. Hartford constable, 4 March 1657[/8] [ RPCC 185].
ESTATE: Granted one rood for a cowyard in Cambridge, 5 August 1633 [ CaTR 5]. Granted a proportional share of one in the undivided meadow, 20 August 1635 [ CaTR 13]. In the 8 February 1635/6 list of house, credited with one in town [ CaTR 18].
In the Cambridge inventory of lands on 1 May 1635 "Thomas Spenser" held four parcels: "in the town one house with a garden plot and backside about one rood"; two acres in Smalllot Hill; one acre in the Neck; and one acre more in the Neck [ CaBOP 7]. The first two of these parcels were purchased by Edmund Angier [ CaBOP 50].
In the Hartford land inventory in February 1639/40 "Thom[as] Spenser, sergeant at arms," held thirteen parcels (some of which he acquired after the date of the inventory): "one parcel on which his dwelling house now standeth with yards & gardens therein being which was sequestered for Thom[as] Fisher & is now settled on Thom[as] Spenser part whereof he hath sold to Will[ia]m Spenser & now remaineth by estimation one acre"; one acre and two roods in the West Field; three roods in the Soldier's Field; four acres in the North Meadow; one acre and two roods on the east side of the Great River; one acre and one rood on the east side of the Great River "which is a parcel of that which was sequestered for Mr. Woolcott"; four acres on the east side of the Great River "which he bought of Will[ia]m Spenser for a parcel of land which lay in the Middle Oxpasture & contained seven acres two roods & was parcel of the said Thom[as] Spenser's land"; three acres and two roods in the cowpasture; five acres and twenty perches in the cowpasture; five acres in the Little Oxpasture "which he bought of Nath[aniel] Yela for land belonging to the said Thomas Spencer"; four acres & two roods in the Little Oxpasture "which he received of Richard Goodman for land belonging to the said Thomas Spencer"; two acres in the Little Oxpasture "which he bought of Ric[hard] Goodman" on 24 February 1653; and four acres on the east side of the Great River "which he bought of Joseph Eston" on 24 February 1653 [ HaBOP 152-54].
In his will, dated 9 September 1686 and proved 26 October 1687, "Thomas Spencer Senior of Hartford, ... finding the shadows of the evening are stretching over me," bequeathed to "my eldest son Obadiah ... my housing and land in Hartford, all my lands both meadow and upland on west side and east side of the Connecticut River" in Hartford (he paying certain legacies), along with some personal goods; to "my son Thomas" ?15, of which he hath ?5; to "my son Samuel (he having received a good portion of his uncle) all my wearing apparell"; to "my son Jarrad my shop & tools & ?12, all of which are in his hands"; residue to "my five daughters Sarah, Elizabeth, Hannah, Mary and Martha, to be equally divided to them by their brother my son Jarrad"; "my son Obadiah Spencer my executor"; "Capt. Allyn, Lieut. Caleb Standly and my cousin Samuel Spencer" overseers [ Hartford PD Case #5095; Manwaring 1:365].
The "inventory of the estate of Sergeant Thomas Spencer who deceased the 11th of September 1687" totalled ?139 19s., including ?132 in real estate: "six acres of land on the east side Coneticutt River," ?60; "four acres of land in the long meadow," ?20; "four acres of woodland," ?2; and "his homelot and housing," ?50; after listing the few items of personal estate, the appraisers noted that "the other moveable estate was distributed by himself and delivered to his daughters most of it in his lifetime and the remainder before the inventory was taken as his executors gave the account of said estate" [ Hartford PD Case #5095].
BIRTH: Baptized Stotfold, Bedfordshire, 29 March 1607, son of Gerard and Alice (Whitbread) Spencer [ TAG 27:162].
DEATH: Hartford 11 September 1687 (from inventory).
MARRIAGE: (1) After 2 November 1634 Anne Dorryfall, sister of BARNABY DORRYFALL [ NEHGR 105:197-99]. "Anne Dorifall, aged 24," sailed on the Elizabeth of Ipswich in 1634 [ Hotten 281] and was admitted to Boston church 2 November 1634 as "Ann Derifall, our brother Wm. Coddington's maid servant" [ BChR 19]. She died by 1645.
(2) Hartford 11 September 1645 Sarah Bearding [ HaVR 606], daughter of Nathaniel Bearding of Hartford.
COMMENTS: On 7 September 1652 Thomas Spencer undertook to pay the fine of Sarah Spencer [ RPCC 112].
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