Thomas Brigham [14853]

  General Notes:

When his mother married Edmund Rice, Thomas went to her to Sudbury and Marlborough, and when he came of age he settled in Marlborough near Williams Pond in the southwest part of town. He was one of the purchasers of the old plantation Ockoocanganset, reserved originally for the Indians in Marlborough. On the old Brigham homestead on the south side of the present Forest Street, about a score of rods from the highway at the foot of Crane Hill is a slightly raised rectangular spot where rest the remains of the last of the Marlborough Indians. The first house in the homestead was destroyed by fire. In 1706 a frame house was built and became the (ell) of a house built by Gershom in 1724. The old house was used for a garrison during the Queen Anne's War.

The old ell was taken down in 1791 and the rest of the house occupied until 1859 and soon afterward it was torn down also.

Thomas Brigham was a leading citizen and held various offices. His will was dated April 21, 1716 and he died November 25 following. He married on December 27, 1665, Mary, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Moore) Rice.

His second marriage was in July 3, 1695 to Susanna Shattuck, daughter of William of Watertown and widow first of Joseph Morse and second John Fay, whose first wife was Mary, sister to Thomas Brigham.

ANOTHER HISTORY OF THE "PLANTATION"

At the time of Philip's War, they fled to Watertown. On their return, such was the feeling against Indian perfidy, a petition was made to the General Court to divide the 6,000 acre "Indian Plantation", a part of and contiguous to Marlboro. Although this was denied, the people, under the leadership of John Brigham, took a deed from the Indians to these lands July 15, 1684; and though this was declared null and void by the General Court, the white proprietors proceeded to divide and settle these lands under the supervision of their agent, John Brigham, who was their surveyor.

In the 1686 list of proprietors we find the names of all the young Brighams and their alliances, for the first time set out: Mercy Hunt (former widow of the Puritan Brigham, who before this time married her third husband, William Hunt, also then dead, Thomas Brigham, John Brigham, Samuel Brigham, John Fay (husband of Mary Brigham), and William Ward (husband of Harmah Brigham). Feeling uneasy over the adverse action of the Court, in 1683, the proprietors agreed that grants "shall stand good to all intent and purposes if they be attested by John Brigham, their Clerk." And so it stood, until, after a generation, having acquired title by possession, the General Court confirmed it.
------------

Source at genealogy library.com
The History of the Brigham Family
page 45 3 THOMAS2, son of Thomas1 and Mercy (Hurd) Brigham; born probably in Cambridge, Mass., about 1640; died in Marlboro,

Page 44 Page 45

Mass., 25 Nov., 1716; married (1), 27 Dec., 1665, Mary, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Moore) Rice, (daughter of John and Elizabeth Moore of Sudbury), and granddaughter of Edmund Rice, the emigrant, and his wife, Tamazine; married (2), 30 July, 1695, Susanna, daughter of William Shattuck of Watertown and widow (1) of Joseph Morse and (2) of John Fay, whose first wife was Mary, the sister of Thomas. It will be noted that every descendant of Thomas2 is also a descendant of Edmund Rice, who is an ancestor of many colonial families in eastern Massachusetts. He had a large number of children, some of whom were of mature age at the time of the emigration. Thomas went to Sudbury and Marlboro with his mother when she married Edmund Rice. On attaining his majority he bought of his stepfather, for œ30, a town right in Marlboro of "24 acres, with the frame of a dwelling house thereon, with all the privileges of the town commons and further additions of allotments to be made thereto." August 28, 1665, having completed payment for the same,

Page 64 he received a deed from the Executors of Edmund Rice.(*) This land, situated near Williams Pond in the southwest part of the town, was the beginning of his large farm, which included many acres stretching away toward Chauncey Pond in Westboro. Thomas Brigham also was one of the purchasers of the old plantation "Ockoocangansett," which had been reserved for the Indians out of the ancient boundaries of Marlboro, and which many contended they forfeited by their perfidy during Philip's War. Certain leading men of Marlboro, including the Brighams of the day, obtained, without the consent of the General Court, title to this plantation of 5800 acres and formed a company. The amount paid never can be known, because of the subsequent disappearance of the deed, but the sum doubtless was nominal. Miss Martha L. Ames, a descendant of Thomas2, residing on the old Joseph Brigham place in Marlboro, owns a very early Brigham deed, dated "May 10, 1706," being a conveyance of 13 3/4 acres of meadow land, as explained by a map, going to Thomas2 Brigham, out of "Cow common" land, and certified to by his brother "Dr. John," who had been chosen "surveyor and clerk" by the proprietors. On the old Thomas Brigham homestead, on the south side of present Forest Street, beyond the confluence of Glen Street, something like a score of rods from the highway and at the foot of Crane Hill, is a slightly raised rectangular plot, about 30 x 75 feet, from whose center springs a mature apple tree. Here rest the last of the Marlboro Indians, whose earlier generations listened to the great Indian Apostle Eliot.

Their last chief expired in his wigwam, near Williams Pond, and was buried at this place on the Brigham farm, where thirty other individual graves could be made out by the last generation of Marlboro citizens. This spot has always been sacredly preserved by the owners of the Brigham farm. The successive owners of the "old home place" since the Rices are as follows:

(*)The parchment deed of this purchase is owned by Charles F. Brigham, of Allston, Mass., who relates that when a boy he boasted at school that he had a deed on parchment at home, and being dared to produce it, he tore a small piece off one corner of it and carried it to school to vindicate his statement. The interview afterward with his father was not pleasant. This deed runs from Benjamin Rice to Thomas Brigham, and upon it Mercy Rice made her "Mark" in place of a signature. Thomas and John Brigham (with others) oppose petition of some fellow-citizens that the Gen. Court appoint a Committee to inquire into and settie certain municipal difficulties. The Committee was, however, appointed, and its adjustment recorded in the "New Town Book." A later Committee seems to have supported this adjustment (Hudson's Marlboro, p. 46).

Thos. and Sam'l Brigham supported the Rev. Emerson in the controversy of 1701 (Ibid., p. 102.) Thos. Brigham's "Garrison" about 1710 in Queen Anne's War, near Warren Brigham place (Ibid., p. 109). Thos. Brigham and 22 others of Marlboro in 1702 petitioned the Gen. Court that Chauncey (Western Marlboro) might be enlarged westward. Resulted in 1717 in setting off of Westboro. David, son of Thos., already settled there (Ibid., p. 113). Thos. and Jno. Brigham in Marlboro before 1665; two of the first 44 proprietors (Ibid., p. 247). Page 65 Page 45 Page 46 (1) Thomas2 Brigham; (2) Gershom3 Brigham; (3) Benjamin4 Brigham; (4) Warren5 Brigham; (5) Benjamin Thomas6 Brigham, son of Barnabas; (6) Elisha Bond, who bought it of Benj. T. Brigham; (7) Bradford Latham, son-in-law to Bond; (8) George F. Nichols, who bought it in 1893 from Latham; Mr. Nichols' wife is Abbie A.8, daughter of Addington M.7 Brigham of Marlboro.

The last male Brigham owner of the place is said to have strikingly resembled his paternal ancestry, having "thick, wavy black hair, black eyes and red cheeks; a fine looking man." The Thomas2 Brigham homestead has long been known as the "Warren Brigham place," from its fourth owner, who died at the age of 87, more than half a century ago. Up to his time there had been no Warren Brighams. This fact inspired some research, which resulted in discovering that Gershom3 Brigham, the second owner, had married Mehetabel Warren, daughter of Joseph Warren of Medfield. Like the sites of the homes of so many of the first settlers, that of Thomas2 Brigham's house seems almost to have been chosen for the landscape effect. The brook which gives the outlet to Williams Pond flows through the home lot. A few rods above the brook stood the house. From it the higher hills appear to encompass the valley of the brook, except where they break to the northwest and a narrow opening discloses the peak of Mt. Wachusett looming up twenty miles away. The first dwelling, a log hut built by Thomas2, was burned during his absence by flax catching fire.

In 1706 he built a frame house, which was left for an "ell" by his son Gershom, who built a two-story house about 1724. The old house was used as a garrison in Queen Anne's War. This "ell" was finally taken down in 1791, by Warren Brigham. Mrs. Lucy B. Brown of Marlboro was the last occupant of the Gershom Brigham house, from which she moved in 1859; the house was uninhabited for some time and was finally razed. The Gershom Brigham house "was clapboarded but never painted outside; only two rooms were finished; the sitting-room and the principal bedroom were plastered and painted." About 1825 the present house was built on the opposite side of the road from the old house, by Barnabas6 Brigham. The old well, from which many Brigham pilgrims drink, still exists. Thomas2 unquestionably was one of the principal citizens of the town and must have held offices of responsibility, but an important volume of the town records was lost many years ago, hence there is no connected record of town officers or of town proceedings from 1665 to 1739. The church records are also fragmentary or nonexistent for the early period. His lands, however, were Page 66 extensive, lying in what now are four townships.(*) They divided into comfortable farms for his descendants and made many of them well-to-do. He executed his will 21 April, 1716, and died 25 Nov. of the same year in his chair, which is now in the possession of Miss Martha L. Ames. His will, which was approved 2 Jan., 1717, is as follows:

WILL OF THOMAS2 BRIGHAM
In the Name of God Amen: This Twenty first Day of April Anno Domini one Thousand seven hundred and sixteen & in the second year of the Raigne of our Soveraigne Lord Georg of Great Brittian &c King I Thomas Brigham of the town of Marlborough in the County of middlesex in the Province of the massachusetts Bay in New-England yeoman being vere weak of Body but of perfect mind & memory Praised be God for it Knowing that it apoynded for men once to Dy Do make and ordain this my Last will & Testament first I bequeth my soul into the hands of Almighty God my maker hoping that through the merratorious Death of Jesus Christ my only Savour to know the free pardon of all my sins: And my Body to be Buried in Christian Like Decent & Cortly maner at the Discrestion of my hereafter Named Executors:

And as for such Worldly Estate as it hath pleased God to bless me with hear in this world I Give and Dispose of the same in the maner and forms following Item I will and Give to my Son Elnathan Brigham and to his heirs Three acres of land in Etton farm next adjoining to the seven acres I have given him by Deed Lying side by sid with it And also Twelve acres of Land in sd farm some where towards the uper End of the sd farm. Item I will and Give unto my two sons Nathan Brigham and Jonathan Brigham and to theirs all that part of my Etton farme that lies on the easterly side of Assabeth River except what I have Given Page 46 Page 47 to my son Elnathan Brigham.

Item I will and Give unto my Two sons Nathan Brigham & Jonathan Brigham and to their heirs Twenty two acres of the thirty acres that is laid out to me in Etton farme to have it on the Southerly end of the sd Thirty acres And also the pece of Land that Joyns to it on the westerly side. Item I will and Give unto my two sons David Brigham and Gershom Brigham and to their heirs eight acres of the thirty acres (*) Thomas and John Brigham (inter alias) in 1671 asked for grant of General Court 40 or 50 miles south or southwest of Marlboro. Refused as outside jurisdiction of Province of Mass. Bay (DeForest's Hist. of Westboro, p. 19). In 1672 grant to Thomas B. (and Sam. Goodenow) in easterly Northboro of to-day (Ibid). Thos., Jno., Sam'l and Nathan Brigham (inter alias) in 1702 petitioned for westerly extension of Marlboro (refused). Called "Kerly pet'n" from first signer, p. 33. Page 67 that is Laid out to me in Etton farme to have it on the northerly end of the sd Thirty acres And also all the Rest of my Etton farme that lies on the westerly side of Assabeth River I Give to the sd David Brigham & Gershom Brigham & to their heirs Except what is Given to others of my Children:

Item I give unto my son David Brigham & to his heirs all my meadow in Hokamok meadow and Brook meadow. Item my will is that all my Books be Equally Divided amongst all my Children.

Item I will and Give unto my Daughter mary Houghton the wife of Jonas Houghton junr of Lancaster the feather bed I ly upon with all the furnituer to it also I Give unto my Daughter mary Houghton above sd one Cow and my Great Brass Kittle that is at my son Jonathans and all my movable Goods with in Dors viz Brass Iron pewter with all my utensils in the house Except my part in the Barrels And Except Likewise some particular things that I have or shall Dispose of to som particular persns.

Item I Give unto my Daughter mary Houghton above mentioned & to her heirs Thirty six pounds in money to be paid by my sons as followeth: Twenty pounds to be paid to her or her heirs by my son Gershom Brigham within three years after my Deceas at three several payments viz six pounds thirteen shillings & four pence a year. And ten pounds to be paid her or her heirs by my son David Brigham within two years after my Decease And fourty shillings to be paid to her by my son Nathan Brigham And fourty shillings to be paid to her by my son Jonathan Brigham And fourty shillings to be paid to her by my son Elnathan Brigham these three last to be paid to her or to her heirs within one year after my Deceas:

Item: I will and Give unto my two sons David Brigham and Elnathan Brigham my Lot of Cedar Swamp that is in Chancy swamp:

Item I will and Give unto my son Gershom Brigham all my utensils for Husbandtre And one halfe my Lot of Sedar swamp in Cran Swamp And also my part in the barrels

Item I will and Give unto my Daughter mary Brigham the wife of Jonathan Brigham the Twenty shillings which John Emes oweth me

Item my will is that all my Cattle and horses be Equaly Divided amongst all my Children except what I shall Dispose of in my Life time

Item I Give unto my son Jonathan Brigham my bigest Brass Kittle here in the house:

Item I do hereby Constitute ordain and apoynt my Three sons Nathan Brigham, Jonathan Brigham & Gershom Brigham to be my executors of this my Last will and Testament Revoking & Disalowing of all other wills & Testaments what soever, Rattefying and Confirming this to be my Last will and Testament in wittness whereof I the sd Thomas Brigham have hereunto put my Hand &nd fixed my seal the Day and year above written

Item my will further is that if there be any part of my estate ether Real or personal be Left undisposed & which at present I have Page 68 not thought of that it be Equaly Divided amongst all my Children These lines were writen before signing and sealing there is three words bloted out in the thirteenth Line & there is three words bloted out in the twentieth Line & three words Likewise bloted out in the twenty third line which was done before signing & sealing Thomas Brigham (Seal) Signed sealed and Delivered in presence of witnesses Gershom How Ephraim How Jno Banister Eleasar How Page 47 Page 48 (On the reverse is written the following.)

The Lines may sertifie whom it may Concern that where as in the within writan will I Thomas Brigham have Given unto my two sons Nathan Brigham Jonathan Brigham Twenty two acres of a pece of Land in Etton farme wch I Did then Call thirty acres And it apears that there is in the sd peace Thirty three acres & one quarter of an acre wch three acres and one quarter not mentioned in the within wretten will I Give to my to sons Nathan Brigham & Jonathan Brigham to be Equaly Divided between them and Likewise what I have Given to my two sons Nathan Brigham and Jonathan Brigham in the within wreten will in Land it is to be Equally Divided between them And also what Land I have Given to my two sons David Brigham & Gershom Brigham is Likewise to be Equaly Divided between them And where I have made Assabeth River the Dividing Line between any of my sons my meaning is the main Body of the sd River in witness where of I the sd Thomas Brigham have here unto put my hand and seal this May 19th 1716 There is four words bloted out in the second line & six bloted out the sixth Line and all the seventh Line & one word in the eigth line which was Sow before signing & sealing Thomas Brigham (Seal) Signed sealed & Delivered in presence of witnesses Eleazar How Gershom How Jno Banister Midelsx Eleazer How and Gershom How apeared before me and mad oath that they saw this instrument sined and sealed and at the same time saw John Banister sine as a witness the above said Thomas Brigham being in perfect memory at that time January 1: 1717/18 Tho How Justice of peace Cambridge Jan 2, 1717 (Mid. Prob. Rec., 1733.)

Page 69 Children, by first wife, born in Marlboro: i Thomas3, b. 24 Feb., 1666-7, and no further reported; probably died before his father. 7 ii Nathan, b. 17 June, 1671. iii David, b. 11 Aug., 1673; died young. 8 iv Jonathan, b. 22 Feb., 1675. 9 v David, b. 12 April, 1678. 10 vi Gershom, b. 23 Feb., 1680. 11 vii Elnathan, b. 7 March, 1683. viii Mary, b. 26 Oct., 1687; m. Capt. Jonas Houghton of Lancaster, Mass., 30 July, 1710; he d. 15 Aug., 1739, '. 56.(*) Ch. (Houghton), b. in Lancaster: 1 Silas4, b. 26 Oct., 1713. 2 Betty, b. 20 March, 1715-16. 3 Mary, b. 8 March, 1720-21. 4 Prudence, b. 21 Oct., 1723. 5 Persis, b. 31 July, 1726. 6 Jonas, b. 21 April, 1728. 7 John, b. 13 Feb., 1731-2.

Source: Descendants of Deacon Edmund Rice at ERA (Edmund Rice Association) had d. 25 Nov 1717 and had d. at Marlboro so we took that instead of poss. Cambridge

Source at genealogy library.com Ward Family: Descendants of William Ward page 87 Thomas married Mary Rice, daughter of Henry Rice and Elizabeth Moore, on 27 Dec 1665. (Mary Rice was born on 19 Sep 1646 in Sudbury, Middlesex Co., Mass. 1 3 and died before 30 May 1695 in Marlboro, Mass. 1.) Thomas also married Susannah Shattuck, daughter of William Shattuck and Susannah ?, on 30 Jul 1695. (Susannah Shattuck was born in 1643 4.)

Sources

1 Edmund Rice Association, Edmund Rice Association Webpages.
2 Fay genealogy : John Fay of Marlborough and his descendants
, (Fay genealogy : John Fay of Marlborough and his descendants
Cleveland, O.: J.B. Savage, 1898, 442 pgs.
), page 15.
3 Sudbury Rice Births.
4 Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, Including Waltham and Weston

Thomas married Mary Rice [14859] [MRIN: 4914], daughter of Henry Rice [14860] and Elizabeth Moore [14861], on 27 Dec 1665. (Mary Rice [14859] was born on 19 Sep 1646 in Sudbury, Middlesex County, Massachusetts and died on 30 May 1695 in Marlboro, Massachusetts.)

Thomas next married Susanna Shattuck [14862] [MRIN: 4915], daughter of William Shattuck [14863] and Unknown, on 3 Jul 1695.