Thomas HUNTINGTON
Biography

Thomas, probably the second son of Simon and Margaret, though we
have no record of the date of his birth. With nothing to oppose such an
order, I have arranged the last three of this family in the order in which they were "made free" by the general Court of Connecticut: Thomas being made free in 1651, Christopher in 1658, and Simon in 1663.

He appears to have resided in Windsor, Conn., as he purchased land there in 1656, and in 1658 was employed to mend the boat, and in 1660 was a fence viewer. He next appears on the records of the town of Branford in 1663. He married, probably, for his first wife, a daughter of Wm. Swain, of Wethersfield, and later of Branford; and for his second wife, Hannah, a daughter of Jasper Crane, merchant, who had moved from New Haven to Branford in 1652, at the settlement of the latter town. It will, perhaps, indicate, not doubtfully, his character that he secured, in that day, an alliance with two such families. The fathers of both of his wives were leading men, both in religious and civil affairs ; having been the first deputies to the general Court
of Electors from Branford, in May, 1653, and for the nest four years; Mr. Swain having been a delegate from Wethersfield, previously to his removal to Branford. That he was not unworthy of the alliance, the record also shows. In 1665, when, to avoid an unpleasant controversy which had arisen between the Branford people and their neighbors, on the union of the New Haven and Connecticut colonies, the Branford people decided to remove beyond the jurisdiction of these two colonies, we find his name among those who subscribed the new compact. In that instrument they bind themselves to provide " with care and diligence for the maintenance of the purity of religion professed in the Congregational churches of Connecticut." The subscribers had been alarmed by the admission into the civil offices of the union, of men
not connected with the Christian church.

These new adventurers having the purity of religion, mainly in view, in 1767 located themselves on the banks of the Passaic, in New Jersey, and laid there the foundations of the thriving city of Newark.

Among the pioneers of that new settlement, Thomas was a prominent man.
In 1677 he was appointed constable. In 1683 he was one of the townsmen; the first officer in the colony. In 1684 he was one of a committee appointed to treat with the Governor, in regard to a supposed infringement on the rights of the town. In 1685 he was one of the deputies from Newark to the general court of the province of New Jersey.

As Samuel, his son, was made in 1694 a proprietor, which office the father had held, it is probable that Thomas was not then living. The last record of him that appears on the book, being that of 1685 ; the absence of his name from the list of those who, in 1689, contributed to the support of preaching, is pretty good evidence that between these years he had died.

His widow, Hannah, married John Ward, first of Branford, and afterward
of Newark. And there is on record, a deed of land, in which this Hannah is named his wife, in 1695.

A genealogical memoir of the Huntington family in this country: embracing all the known descendants of Simon and Margaret Huntington, who have retained the family name (1863)
Author: Huntington, E. B. (Elijah Baldwin), 1816-1877
Subject: Huntington, Simon, 1583-1633; Huntington family
Publisher: Stamford, Conn., The author




Learn more about the life of     Thomas HUNTINGTON.

Visit Norwich, Norfolk, England
Discover the people who lived there, the places they visited and the stories they shared.