Thomas Hale

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ⁶⁰¹
From the Genealogy of descendants of Thomas Hale of Watton, England, and of Newbury, Mass., Robert S. Hale,Albany, N.Y. Weed, Parsons & Co. 1889:

According to Robert. S. Hale in, Genealogy of Descendant of Thomas Hale of Watton, England and of Newbury, Mass, both Savage & Coffin were incorrect about the ancestry of Thomas Hale. Robert Hale points to a letter published in The Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections, 4^th series, vol. vii, p.10 of a letter from Francis Kirby to Gov. John Winthrop, Sr., dated May 1737 as further proof of the real ancestry of Thomas Hale. In the second paragraph Francis Kirby states:

"These are now to intreat you that you would be assistante to the bearer herof (Thomas Hale, my neer kinsman) in your councell & aduise to put him in the way how & where to settle himself in a hopefull way of subsisteinge with his family. He hath brought with him all his estate, which he hath . . ."

The rest of the letter deals with Thomas and his family needs starting out in the American colonies. It is signed, "Your loving frend, Fra: Kirby. Coffin & Savage have the date of Thomas Hale settling in Newbury in 1635, rather than 1737, the date of Thomas Hale's introduction to Governor Winthrop, Sr.

There was correspondence between John Kirby and both John Winthrop the elder and younger between the years of 1631-1239. Although these letters are about business, they show a very cordial relationship between Francis and especially John Winthrop the younger. They contain information about local and family news.

In addition to this letter, the author, Robert Hale had a noted genealogist, Col. Joseph L. Chester investigate our Thomas Hale's English ancestry. Robert Hale says of Col. Chester that his research was "conducted with his well-known accuracy and thoroughness, established beyond question that Thomas of Newbury was not identical with Thomas the son of Richard of King's Walden, but is another Thomas Hale, son of an English yeoman, born in the neighboring parish of Hertfordshire, within a few weeks, probably within days of Thomas the son of Richard."

Francis Kirby was the uncle of our Thomas Hale. Thomas was the namesake of his father, also Thomas Hale of the parish of Watton, otherwise called Watton-at-Stone in Hertfordshire. The elder Thomas Hale's wife was Joan Kirby of the parish of Little Munden, and the sister of Francis Kirby. Thomas was probably born at Watton on the 15 Jun 1606, as "Thomas Hale, son of Thomas and Joane."

Another indication of the ancestry of Thomas Hale is proved by all the family records that can be found for the Kirby and Hale family in Mutton. Included among these records are these two entries found in the Registry of baptisms in the parish church of Watton:
" 1633. Nov. 18. Thomas Hale, son of Thomas and Thomasine."
"1635. April 19. John Hale, son of Thomas and Thomasine."

~Genealogy of descendants of Thomas Hale of Watton, England, and of Newbury, Mass.. pp. 1-16

• Dates & Events. ²⁹³
Thomas Hale, his wife, Thomasine, or Tamosin, and his son Thomas came to Newbury in 1635. His name first appears date of August 10, 1638. "Thomas Hale and John Baker are appointed haywards till the town shall appoint new" He moved to Haverhill about 1645. In that year he is named as a landholder in Haverhill and "from Newbury." His name heads the list of the first board of selectmen chosen in Haverhill in 1646.

In 1647, he is chosen by the town and approved by the Genral Court, with Henry Palmer and Thomas Davis, "to try small causes." In the same year he was appointed by the General Court a commissioner to lay out a road from Andover to Haverhill. In 1651, "Little River" in Haverhill was named as "Thomas Hale's River."

Around 1652, he returned to Newbury, and contiued to reside there until 1657, when he removed to Salem. He again returned to Newbury in 1561 where he stayed until his death.

Thomas's name appears in the list of proprietors of Newbury, beclared by the ordinance of 7 Dec 1642, as the only persons "acknowledged to be freeholders by the town and to have proportionable right in all waste lands, commons and rivers undisposed..." His names appears on the town records of 1659 in Felt's "Annals of Salem," among the list of "glovers." His name also shows up in the twon records of Salem in 1657 as "Sarjent Thomas Hale," and he is several times referred to in those records as "clerk of the market."

Thomas seems to have been a public-sprited citzen and he is held in respect by his towns men in the several town he lived in. He was by trade a glover, but his many public employments as a surveyor, and other public jobs show that he had been a man of fair education and had a good sense at business.

Thomas died on 21 Dec 1682 in Newbury. His widow only survived him by forty days. Her death took place in Newbury on 30 Jan 1682/32. Their children were born in Newbury, with the exception of their eldest, Thomas. Their children were:
Thomas, born 1633; married Mary Hutchinson
John, married first Rebecca Lowell; second, Sarah Somerby; third, Arah (Symonds) Cottle
Samuel, born 2 Feb 1639/40; married Sarah Ilsley
Apphia, born 1642; married Bejamin Rolfe

~New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Jan. 1877, pp. 81-83

Thomas married Thomasine Dowsett, daughter of Gabriel Dowsett and Mercy, after 11 Dec 1632 in London, Middlesex, England ⁶⁶⁹.^,671 (Thomasine Dowsett was born in 1606 in England and died on 30 Jan 1683 in Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts ^293,670.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Marriage Record. ^669,671

From the New England Historical & Genealogical Register, April , Vol. 64, pg. 186:
"1632 Dec 11, Thomas Hall of Watton, apud Ston, Co. Hertfort, glover and Thomasin Dowsett, maiden; p. lycense" [Registers of St. Helen's Bishopsgate, London, Harl. Soc., p. 133, Marriagess.