Thomas Purchase

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1660

Thomas married Elizabeth Williams on 3 Dec 1679 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. Elizabeth (daughter of John Williams and Elizabeth) died after 3 Nov 1727. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Thomas Purchase was born on 29 Jan 1680 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts; died on 27 Dec 1758 in West Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1 May 1678, Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts

Notes:

Arrived in 1630. First settler of what is now Brunswick, Maine. Removed to Lynn, 1675.

He was probably a sibling of Joan Purchase, wife of Bernard Capen; of Aquila Purchase, who died at sea en route to New England; and of the Purchase who married George Way.

According to Dunkle (citation details below), "Thomas was a man of position in England, having been a servant to King Charles I, a brother-in-law of George Way of Dorchester, England, also his partner in the original Patent, as appears from Way's will, and also a relative of the Rev. Samuel Purchase."

His birth date of 1577 is based on his last wife's statement in a petition shortly after his death. Robert Charles Anderson (citation details below) notes that "[i]f his age as stated by his widow is close to accurate, Thomas Purchase would have been in his fifties at his first known marriage, about sixty when he sat with the other Commisioners [of Maine], in his seventies when he attempted to leave his debts behind, eighty when he married his last wife, and about one hundred when he indicated in his will that he was in 'good health.' As unlikely as that may seem, a birth for Thomas Purchase about 1577 would be consistent with what is known of his presumed siblings."

Thomas married Elizabeth Andrews before 1657. Elizabeth (daughter of Samuel Andrews and Jane) was born on 4 May 1632 in London, England; was christened on 13 May 1632 in St. James, Garlickhithe, London, England; died after Nov 1678 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Came with her family on the Increase in 1635.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 1639, Saco, York, Maine

Notes:

He was a London dyer. With his wife, he emigrated on the Increase in 1635, and settled in Saco, Maine.

Samuel married Jane before 1625. Jane was born about 1605; died between 20 May 1676 and 24 Oct 1676 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Following Samuel's death she removed to Falmouth, where she married Arthur Mackworth. She outlived him as well; his will called for her to divide the estate fairly between the children of both her husbands, a task she performed with great skill.

Modern American genealogist Nathaniel Lane Taylor, a descendant of Jane and her second husband, has an interesting blog post here about the family Bible from which so much information about this cluster of people comes to us.