Thomas Flegg

  Noted events in his life were:

• Emigration: from England to Massachusetts.

He embarked from Soratby, Norfolf in 1637. He was then in the employ or service of Richard Carver, at age 21.

• Family Background Information.
The Fleggs at this period seem to have been of the middle class--their wills show them possessed of some landed and other property. A tradition unearthed by Dr. John S. Flagg seems to attribute to them some pride of race. Thomas is said to have been in love with a girl of station below his own, and to get around the opposition of his parents, as a young man of 21 he decided to emigrate to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, established at Boston seven years before.

We find him attaching himself to an elderly gentleman, Richard Carver, who was emigrating at the age of 60 with wife and two daughters; being entered as one of Carver's three servants at the port of embarkation, Seratby, Norfolk, in 1637. It is clear that he was not a servant in the ordinary sense, both from the social standing of the family in Norfolk and the fact that right away on arrival in America he became a landed proprietor in his own right, and soon held office to which none but those in high social standing were eligible.

In those days emigration to the colonies was growing to be a serious drain on the home population and religious persecution was beginning in England; so it is not unlikely Thomas was technically evading some statute or regulation by entering the household of a man of family. The tradition goes pages 60-61 Descendants of Josiah Flagg of Berkeley County, West Virginia

Joseph Bemis and Thomas Flagg, were never admitted [as freeman], although they were both selectmen, and held other offices. page 807, Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, Including Waltham and Weston

"He [Thomas] had a homestall of six acres, also twenty acres origally granted to John Rose, July 25, 1636. He is ancestor of all the American families of this name as far as the genealogists know. The name in England was spelled Fleg and Flegg; as spelling that still prevails. The lineage of the family has been traced in England to William Flegg, who died in 1426, and various Fleggs and de Fleggs are mentioned in English records in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The head fo the English family was the Lord of the Manor of Flegg Hall, Winterton, in the Hundred of East Flegg, county of Norfolk."

~ New England Families Genealogical and Memorial: Third Series, Volume I, p. 258

• Will, 5 Mar 1697.
February 16, 1697-1698 Will Proved

He bequeathed to wife Mary; to sons Micheal, Thomas, Eleazer, Allen and Benjamin; to daughters Mary, Elizabeth Bigelow and Rebecca Cooke; to grandchild, John Flagg, and to the heirs of deceased son Gershom.

New England Families Genealogical and Memorial: Third Series, Volume I,
p. 258

• Dates & Events.
In 4 Feb 1659, Thomas Flegg Petitioned coney loss of his left eye by a gun Wit: Hugh Masa Re Beeres

Found in Court Files of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, 1649-1675, in the Database on the website of The New England Historical and Genealogical Society

• Background Information. ⁵⁶⁷
The Flagg, or Flegg family were among the early settlers of New England. Thomas Flegg having left Cratby, hundred of East Flegg, Norfolk in 1637, and embarked in the company with Sir Richard Carver, from Yarmouth for this country. He settled in Watertown, and was for nine years one of the selectmen of that town. He had eleven children and numerous descendants. His Grandson, John Flagg of Boston, born 25 May 1673 and died in 1782 as his will was proved Dec. 19th of that year. Among his children were Ebenezer, Gershom and Elazer.

Gershom was the executor of his father's will, and came into possession and ownership of the homestead, which was situate upon the spot of what is now Hanover St., which his father purchased in 1717 from Samuel, the son of John Vickers.
~Originally in the NEHGR, Vol. 27 July 1873, p. 247

Genealogical Notes on the founding of New England, p. 364

• Background Information. ⁵⁶⁷
An ancient armigerous family of County Norfolk, England, deriving its name from the hundreds of East and West Flegg near Norwich. Records of the family go back to about 1120. For at least five generations it flourished as landed gentry.

For three successive generations, the heads of the family attained the honor of Knighthood, Arms Per pale in chief a label of five points. About 1280, Sir William de Fleg died without surviving male issue. His estates went to his daughters and the main line died out.

Later generations bearing the family name descended from younger sons and sank to yeoman estate. Ancestors of the emigrant, Thomas Flegg can be traced with certainly only as far back as James Flegg, born about 1440.
~Genealogical Notes On The Founding Of New England, Ernest Flagg, pg. 15

Thomas came to New England when he was 21 years of age with Richard Carber, in whose employ he was. They embarked at Scratby, Norfork in 1637. Although he was not among the first proprietors of Watertown, his name appears on the records as early as 1641, as owner of a "homestall" of six acres and a lot of twenty acres. Between 1671 and 1687, he was Selectman eight times, between 1671 and 1687. He lost his eye by a gunshot accident. He was released from training Apr 1659 by paying the company 5 shillings per annum and was fully released therefrom by the Court, 5 Apr 1681, when his eldest son was forty years old.

Genealogical Notes on the Founding of New England, p. 253

• Children. ⁵⁶⁷

• Gershom Flegg, b. 16 Apr 1641, married Hannah Leffingwell
• John Flegg, b. 14 Jun 1643; d. 6 Feg 1696/97; m. 30 Mar 167, Mary, daughter of Richard Gale of Watertown
• Bartholomew Flegg, b. 23 Feb 1644/45; d. 18 Dec 1675. A member of Captain Moseley's Co. killed in the Great Swamp Fight, King Philip's War
• Thomas
• William, b. abt. 1648; d. 22 Aug 1675, Lancaster, Massachusetts, in King Philip's WarMichael Flegg, b 23 Mar 1650/51; d. 16 Oct 1711; m. 3 Jun 1674, Mary, daughter of John Bigelow of Watertown who died 3 Sep 1704; second marriage, 27 Dec 1704, Mary widow of John Earle and daughter of George Lawrence
• Eleazer Flegg, b. 14 May 1653; d. 21 May 1722. In Major Samuel Appleton's Company in King Philip's War, m. 10 Oct 1676, Deborah Barnes of Concord, Massachusetts
• Elizabeth Flegg, b. 22 Mar 1654/55; d. 9 Aug 1729; m. 20 Oct 1676, Joshua, son of John Bigelow of Watertown
• Mary Flegg, b. 14 Jun 1657; d 7 Sep 1720; m. 3 Jun 1674, Samuel, son of John Bigelow of Watertown
• Rebecca Flegg, b. 5 Sep 1660, d. 20 Jun 1721; m. 19 Nov 1679, Stephen, son of Gregory Cook of Cambridge
• Bejamin Flegg, b. 25 Jun 1662; d 3 May 1741; m. 26 Sep 1690, Experience, daughter of Richard Child of Watertown.
• Allen Flegg, b. 16 May 1665; d. Oct 1711, m. 12 Mar 1685, Sarah, daughter of John Ball, Jr. of Watertown
  
  ~Genealogical Notes on the Founding of New England, pp. 195-196
  
  

  Thomas married Mary . (Mary wife of Thomas Flegg was born about 1619 ⁵⁶⁷ and died between 30 Dec 1702 and 21 Apr 1703 in Watertown, Massachusetts ⁵⁶⁷.)