| Notes |
- From Ancestors and Descendants of Sarah Eleanor Ladue (citation details below):
John Tompkins is said to have come to Boston in 1630, but no proof of this has been found. It seems far more likely that John Tompkins belonged to the group of men who formed the Concord Plantation and who came in to Concord by way of Newtowne in 1635. This was a Company of Colonists under the direction of Reverend Peter Bulkeley and Elder John Jones.
"The Concord plantation was a place where the pioneers found hard fare, and built their huts by leaning the rough logs against the hillside, which served the double purpose of a support and a chimney back.
"The settlers soon erected a grist mill, near what is now the Common, and the little stream which furnished the power, still runs on, but with a lesser current. It is known as Mill Brook." (Hudson, Hist. of Concord, 20-22) Next a meeting house and parsonage were built. The site of the latter is on the present Lowell Street, and is modestly marked by a memorial tablet whic reads:
"Here in the house of the Reverend Peter Bulkeley, first minister and one of the founders of this town, a bargain was made with the Squaw Sachem, the Sagamore Tahattawan and other Indians, who then sold their rights in the six miles square called Concord, to the English planters, and gave them peaceful possession of the land, A.D. 1636."
In 1644 there was dissatisfaction and dissension among these planters. They were disappointed in conditions of the soil, and a decision was arrived at by which about one-seventh of the colony emigrated to Fairfield, Connecticut, under the direction of the Reverend John Jones. John Tompkins was one of these emigrants, and he was made freeman at Hartford on 13 May 1669. It is thought by some historians that he died in Fairfield about 1688, and that he never went to Eastchester, as his sons did.
The name of John Tompkins' wife remains unknown, also the date of her death. They had three children. Where the first one, Nathaniel, was born is not known, but the births of Ruth and John are registered in Concord, Mass.
From History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield (citation details below):
Of Concord, Mass.; came with Jones contingent to Fairfield where he died; his widow m. William Heyden and rem. to Eastchester, New York.
He died so early that his will is not found; but on 7 Mar. 1660/1, John Wheeler and George Squire, as overseers to [the younger] John "Tomkins," sued William Hayden for £30 for neglect in executing the will of John Tompkins. They won the suit, and Hayden was ordered to surrender the lands to [the son] John. Since William Hayden [of Windsor] sat on the jury which tried the case, it is obvious that a different man of the same name was the defendant.
On 27 Dec. 1687, William Hayden of Eastchester put it upon record that he had sold out of his possession land at Eastchester to his sons-in-law Nathaniel and John Tompkins. [Westchester Deeds]
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To clarify the above: After the death of the elder John Tompkins, his wife, whose name is lost to history, remarried a William Hayden, who therefore became stepfather to the second John Tompkins. This is what was meant when William Hayden of Eastchester referred to the second John Tompkins as his "son-in-law", because at this time, this term could refer to a step-parent relationship as well as a relationship by marriage. Many sources -- including Ancestors and Descendants of Sarah Eleanor Ladue -- call Mary, the wife of the second John Tompkins, "Mary Hayden" based on this misunderstanding of what the terms "son-in-law" and "father-in-law" could mean in the time and place in question.
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Nielsen Hayden genealogy
- Bef 1661
[2, 3]