Thomas Roberts

- 1674

• Name	Thomas Roberts
  Gender	Male
  Death	Between 27 Sep 1673 and 30 Jun 1674	Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire   [1, 2, 3]
  Person ID	I36719	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of TSW
  Last Modified	22 Dec 2023

  
  

  Family	Rebecca
  Children	+ 1. Sarah Roberts   d. Bef Oct 1692 + 2. Esther Roberts   d. Between 9 Nov 1687 and 20 Dec 1687, Piscataway, Middlesex, New Jersey
  Family ID	F21585	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	22 Dec 2023

  
  

• Notes

  He arrived in New England from London in 1640. He was the last "President of the Court" (sometimes referred to as "governor") of the Dover (now New Hampshire) colony before it came under Massachusetts rule in 1642. His origins are unknown. "[S]aid to have come with the Hiltons, which is very probable as he was a fellow member of the Fishmongers Company of London with Edward Hilton, both marked 'in New England' in a list of 1641. Presumably that Thomas Roberts, son of John Roberts of Woolaston, apprenticed 29 April 1622. In 1639-40 he was elected 'President of the Court,' an office of agency for the Bristol Company, the proprietors of Dover, from which fact he is sometimes called 'Governor' although the territory under his authority was only one town. Signed the Dover combination, 1640; grand juror 1643, 1646, 1656. Various deeds, grants and suits. Sewell's History of the Quakers states that he rebuked his sons for their official cruelty to that sect. [...] In 1669 his wife was Rebecca, who died before 1673. In 1670 he gave land to sons John and Thomas, and in 1671 half his remaining estate to his daughter Sarah Rich. Will, 27 September 1673 - 30 June 1674, giving his homestead to Richard Rich and naming him executor." [Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, citation details below] "Thomas1 Roberts was an early emigrant to Dover, N.H. He lived on the eastern side of Dover Neck; in 1639 he was 'President' of the 'Court' (Winthrop says) or 'Governor' (Belknap says); was member of the First Church as early as 1639." [The Wentworth Genealogy, citation details below]

  
  

• Sources

  [S6040] Evelyn Rich, "Richard Rich of Eastham on Cape Cod and Some of His Descendants." The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 83:261, 1929. [S660] Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire by Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, and Walter Goodwin Davis. Portland, Maine: Southworth Press, 1928-1939. [S170] The Wentworth Genealogy, English and American by John Wentworth. Boston: Little, Brown, 1878.