Some Descendants of John Thomas of Jamestown, Rhode Island
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068. Wesson6 Thomas (Benjamin5, John4, Peleg3, John2, John1) was born c.1774 at Halifax, Windham Co., Vt., and died 13 Nov 1834 at Adams, Jefferson Co., N.Y. He married, say 1795, Hannah (perhaps Hall). She was born c.1776 and died 21 Jun 1838 at Adams, N.Y. Wesson's earmark, as registered in the Halifax town records c.1797, was a half penny on the underside of the left and the upper side of the right ears. He was certified as a Baptist in the Halifax town records on 3 May 1800. On 7 Dec 1805, Wesson sold 70 acres of land on lot 55 at Halifax, Vt., to David Lynde for $1,000, and the family then moved to Adams, N.Y., before 1810. They lived and farmed there the rest of their lives, buying and selling several parcels of land. Wesson and Hannah Thomas are buried in Paul's Corners Cemetery, Ellisburg, Jefferson Co., N.Y. (See will of Wesson Thomas in Appendix B.) Children of Wesson and Hannah Thomas: 166 i. Edmund7, b. 11 Jun 1796. 167 ii. Isaac, b. c.1798. iii. Rebecca, b. c.1800; mar. Giles Kellogg; living at Sullivan, Ashland Co., Ohio, in 1850. 168 iv. Joel 2nd, b. c.1804. v. Lovina, b. c.1805; mar. Jonathan Hakes; living at Westmoreland, Oneida Co., N.Y., in 1860. vi. Olive, b. c.1807; mar. Alvin M. Tripp. vii. Alice, b. c.1811; mar. Asa Crapo; she apparently died in the 1830s, at Fort Wayne, Allen Co., Ind. (Sources: Town Records, Halifax, Windham Co., Vt., Vol. 2A, pp. 8 and 35; Will of Wesson Thomas, Jefferson Co., N.Y., Surrogate's Court, Probate Records, Will Book A, pp. 138-305; Will of Benjamin Thomas, Sr., Probate Records, Marlboro District, Windham Co., Vt., Vol. 11, pp. 544-6; Halifax, Windham Co., Vt., Deed Book 4, p. 114; Jefferson Co., N.Y., Cemetery Records; Correspondence in Thomas Family Folders, Genealogy Research Room, Flower Library, Watertown, Jefferson Co., N.Y.; Federal and N.Y. State Census Records.)
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About the Book
In 1636, Roger Williams, recently banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony because of his religious beliefs, established a settlement at the head of Narragansett Bay that he named “Providence.” This small colony soon became a sanctuary for those seeking to escape religious persecution. Within a few years, a royal land patent and charter resulted in the formation of the “Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,” which incorporated Williams’ original settlement and espoused his tenets of freedom of religion and separation of church and state. During the ensuing decades, thousands of Baptists, Quakers, Jews, and Huguenots relocated to Rhode Island from other New England colonies, the British Islands, and Europe in search of religious freedom.
One such individual, John Thomas, an immigrant from Wales, made significant contributions to early settlements at Jamestown on Conanicut Island and at Wickford on the nearby mainland of Rhode Island. He was the first town constable of Jamestown in 1679, and later owned hundreds of acres of land in the towns of North and South Kingstown.
This fully indexed work traces and sketches the lives of his descendants, many of whom were at the forefront of the great American westward migration, and represents the most comprehensive compilation of them to date. It is the result of twenty years of extensive research and includes detailed information from military pension archives, will and estate records, agricultural data, county histories, and migration patterns that far exceeds the standard for genealogical works of this scope and magnitude.
It is important for us to remember those who helped shape our nation. This work provides valuable information for those who are interested in this family and its evolution in America.
About the Author
Hollis A. Thomas, M.D., is a retired physician and Air Force colonel who had a long and distinguished career in military and academic medicine. He is a former professor of interventional and diagnostic radiology at three medical schools and has authored numerous medical journal articles. He and his wife, Yvonne, live near the Wilderness Battlefield in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.