Thomas Willett, Mayor of New York

Abt 1610 - 1674  (~ 64 years)

• Name	Thomas Willett  [1]
  Suffix	Mayor of New York
  Birth	Abt 1610  [2]
  Gender	Male
  Death	3 Aug 1674	Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts   [2]
  Alternate death	4 Aug 1674	Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts   [3]
  Person ID	I15416	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others
  Last Modified	13 Aug 2021

  
  

  Family	Mary Brown   d. 6 Jan 1669, Plymouth Colony
  Marriage	6 Jul 1636	Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts   [2, 4]
  Children	+ 1. Mary Willett,   b. 10 Nov 1637, Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts d. 24 Jun 1712, Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut (Age 74 years) > 2. Sarah Willett,   b. 4 May 1643   d. 13 Jun 1665 (Age 22 years)
  Family ID	F9721	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	13 Aug 2021

  
  

• Notes

  Emigrated to New England in 1630. First at Penobscot, then Plymouth, Rehoboth, New York in 1665, and Swansea, Massachusetts in 1668. Called by Robert Charles Anderson "possibly" a son of Thomas and Alice Willett of Norwich and Leiden. First and third mayor of New York City following its takeover by the English. From Wikipedia: Willett was placed in charge of the Plymouth Colony's trading post with the Native Americans at Castine in what is now Maine, and there developed the skills in trade and native language which would serve him well. The French forced Plymouth to abandon their operations at Castine in 1635. Willett married Mary, daughter of John Brown(e), Sr., a leading citizen of the Plymouth Colony. He moved with the Brown(e) family from Plymouth westward to the eastern shores of Narragansett Bay to Wannamoisett, near present-day Barrington, Rhode Island, and became a major merchant, trading with New Amsterdam. He was elected one of the assistant governors of the Plymouth colony, and acted as arbitrator in disputes between the English and Dutch colonies. He eventually became the Plymouth Colony's chief military officer. Accompanying the English commander Richard Nicolls, he contributed to the peaceable surrender of New Amsterdam to the English on September 7, 1664. When the colony received the name of New York, Willett was appointed the first mayor (12 June 1665) and a commissioner of admiralty on August 23, with the approval of English and Dutch alike. The next year he was elected alderman, and became mayor a second time in 1667. Shortly after he withdrew to Swansea, and here, after having lost his first wife, he married Joanna Boyse, the widow of clergyman, Reverend Peter Prudden. He was a member of the New York governor's executive council from 1665 to 1672 under Richard Lovelace. He retired in 1673, and died in 1674, at the age of sixty-nine. He was buried in the Little Neck Cemetery at Bullock's Cove, Riverside area of East Providence, Rhode Island.

  
  

• Sources

  [S5881] Ancestral Lines, Fourth Edition: 232 Families in England, Wales, the Netherlands, Germany, New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania by Carl Boyer III. Santa Clarita, California, 2015. [S101] The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Volumes 1-3 and The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volumes 1-7, by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996-2011. [S2044] George E. McCracken, "Who Was Aaron Burr?" The American Genealogist 40:65, April 1964. [S5881] Ancestral Lines, Fourth Edition: 232 Families in England, Wales, the Netherlands, Germany, New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania by Carl Boyer III. Santa Clarita, California, 2015., date only.