Thomas Scott

Thomas SCOTT (1595 – 1654) was Alex’s 11th Great Grandfather; one of 4,096 in this generation of the Miller line

Henry Scott - Coat of Arms

Thomas Scott was born in 26 Feb 1594/95 in Rattlesden, Suffolk, England. His parents were Henry SCOTT and Martha WHATLOCK. He married Elizabeth STRUTT 20 Jul 1620 in Rattlesden, England. After the death of his father on Christmas Eve of 1624, his widowed mother Martha sailed to the new world with her three adult children; Thomas, Ursula and Roger. Thomas came with his wife, Elizabeth (Strutt) Scott and children to this country on the same vessel as Richard KIMBALL and his family. The Scott family from Ipswich England sailed in April 1634 on the English ship “The Elizabeth”.

(On 30 April 1634, “Thomas Skott,” aged 40, “Elizabeth his wife,” aged 40, “Martha Scott,” aged 60, “Elizabeth Scott,” aged 9, “Abigail Scott,” aged 7, and “Thomas Scott,” aged 6, were enrolled at Ipswich as passengers for New England on the Elizabeth).

Seventeenth century ships were typically less than 200 feet in length and would have taken two months to cross the Atlantic ocean in good weather. The Elizabeth would have carried crew, passenger and supplies including farm animals, casks of fresh water and food needed for the crossing. Each family would have cooked their own food in metal boxes called braziers. All washing was done with salt water, as the precious casks of fresh water were only used for drinking. Thomas Scott, wife Elizabeth arrived in Boston in 1634, only fourteen years after the Mayflower landed in Plymouth Massachusetts.  Thomas died between 8 Mar 1653/54 (date of will) and 17 Mar 1653/54 (date of inventory) in Ipswich, Mass

Elizabeth Strutt was born 16 May 1594 in Rattlesden, Suffolk, England. Her parents were Christopher STRUTT and Ann WALKER. Elizabeth died 22 Jun 167 in Ipswich, Essex, Mass.

Children of Thomas and Elizabeth:

After a short stay in Cambridge he settled in Ipswich, where he was granted a house-lot in 1635.

Scott took the Freeman’s Oath on 4 Mar 1634/35. He was selectman of Ipswich in 1636/37, constable in 1641, served on grand juries 1645, 1648 and 1651, and on trial juries in 1647, 1649 and 1653. The town of Ipswich sued him for debt in 1646, and he was one of Major Denison’s subscribers in 1648. He was a glover by trade.

Gov. Winthrop tells of one Scott and Eliot of Ipswich who “were lost in their way home and wandered up and down six days and eat nothing. At length they were found by an Indian being almost senseless from want of rest.” These were the hazards of land travel in the forests of Essex county in the early seventeenth century.

The will of Thomas Scott of Ipswich was made 8 Mar  1653/54, and proved 28 Mar 1654. To his daughters Elizabeth and Abigail he left £25 each, half to be paid within half a year of his decease and the rest within a year. To his daughters Hannah, Sarah and Mary, £25 each, to be paid when they reached the age of twenty-one, but, if they married before that age, one-half was to be paid on their marriage days. Residue to son Thomas. Executors: brother[in-law] Richard KEMBELL, Thomas Rowlinson, sr., Edmund Bridges. The inventory of £318 lists three books, much cloth and pewter and the house, barn and land. The legacies of Sarah and Mary Scott were paid to Mr. Ezekiel Rogers for them in 1661 and 1663, and Haniell Bosworth receipted for that of his wife Abigail in 1663[4] …

9 Jan 1694 – Thomas Scott’s grandson William Rogers addressee a petition to the Probate Court saying”

Thomas Scott my Grandfather dyed in Ipswich about thirty and eight yrs agoe … he left my Grandmother with onely two Children viz margerett Scott my mother and thomas Scott … my sd uncle thomas Scott went into old England and dyed ther … when I was about fur years old my mother dyed and in a short time after my Grandmother about sixten yers agoe … my sd Grandfather dyed seazed of agood Considerable estat in land in Ipswich … I am the onely surviving person descended from my sd Grandfather and now I am come to the age of twenty one yers doe humly Crave that your Honnour will Grant administration to me of the estat of my sd Grandfather that hath not bien legally disposed of.”

Children

1. Elizabeth SCOTT (See Hugh CHAPLIN and Nickolas JACKSON‘s pages)

Some sources say Elizabeth Scott married in Rowley, MA in 1647, John Spofford, from an ancient Yorkshire family (pre-dating 1066, according to the records). John Spofford was born 1612 in Selby, Yorkshire, England. John died 6 Nov 1678 in Rowley, Essex, Mass John Spofford was the son of another John Spofford, who, in 1662, lost his ministery in Silkston, Yorkshire for “non-conformity.” He was, of course, a Puritan. A daughter of John and Elizabeth (Scott) Spofford, Sarah Spofford, born 22 Mar 1661-2, married Richard Kimball(3). The passengers on the Elizabeth were very much an inter-related group; it also included Munnings, undoubtedly related to Richard Kimball.

2. Abigail Scott

Abigail’s husband Hanniel  Bosworth was born ca 1615 in Boston, Lincolnshire area according to his disposition made in 1681.  A lawsuit tried in 1645 in Ipswich, Mass left a record of his immigration.  In 1638 a Mr. John Whittingham of Southerton, Lincolnshire. was contemplating a removal to New England with his mother. Mr. Whittingham negotiated with a number of young men, in the area of Boston, Lincolnshire, to come to New England with him as apprentices. They were to serve ten years in exchange for their passage and resulting living expenses. After arrival in New England, some of the apprentices served their ten years and went on to other endeavors. Hanniel Bosworth was one of these apprentices and remained in the service of John Whittingham and he was a witness to the John Whittingham’s will in 1648. Hanniel was one of only four people, outside the immediate family, to receive a legacy from this will.  . References:FH23:440-442; FH49:105-106; PH7:84; PH211:31; PH97:59

3. Thomas Scott

Thomas’ wife Margaret Hubbard  was the sister of Rev. William Hubbard.  Her parents were William Hubbard , M (1595-) and Judith Knapp.  After Thomas died, she married about 1661 to Ezekiel Rogers.  Margaret died in 1678 in Boston, Mass.

Thomas’ brother-in-law Rev. William Hubbard, of Ipswich wrote “A History of New England and A Narrative of Troubles with the Indians” in 1677.  Historians have debated whether the Pequot migrated about 1500 from the upper Hudson River Valley toward what is now central and eastern Connecticut. The theory of Pequot migration to the Connecticut River Valley can be traced to Rev. William Hubbard who, in 1677, claimed that the Pequot, rather than originating in the region, had invaded it sometime before the establishment of Plymouth Colony. In the aftermath of King Philip’s War, Hubbard sought in his Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New-England, to explain the ferocity with which New England’s Native peoples responded to the English. Hubbard described the Pequot as raging queers to the region, though not invaders from another shore, but “from the interior of the continent” who “by force seized upon one of the goodliest places near the sea, and became a Terror to all their Neighbors.” Much of the archaeological, linguistic, and documentary evidence now available clearly demonstrates that the Pequot were not invaders to the Connecticut River Valley but were indigenous for thousands of years.

WILLIAM HUBBARD, a New England clergyman of decided historical bent, was born in England in 1621, and died in 1704 at Ipswich, where he had been pastor from 1665 until a year before his death. He was brought to New England as a child in 1630, and was graduated at Harvard in 1642. A friend describes him as “hospitable, amiable, equal to any of his contemporaries in learning and candor, and superior to all as a writer,” but the specimens that we present will hardly bear out the last judgment. His abilities were, however, highly regarded by his fellow New Englanders, for the Government commissioned him to write a history of New England, for the manuscript of which he was paid fifty pounds. This was not then printed, and barely escaped destruction by the mob that burned Governor Hutchinson’s house in 1765. It was rescued by Dr. Andrew Elliot and presented by his son to the Massachusetts Historical Society, by whom it was printed in 1815. It is more voluminous than interesting, and is not represented in our selections. His Narrative of the Trouble with the Indians of New England, a less ambitious but very popular work, a volume of sermons, and a Testimony of the Order of the Gospel in Churches, alone appeared in the lifetime of their author. This selection is taken from theNarrative of the Troubles, a book which, with many others dealing with the subject of Indian warfare, aroused breathless interest around New England firesides.The Beginning of Hostilities.[From “A Narrative of the Indian Wars in New England.” 1677.] THE OCCASION of Philip’s so sudden taking up arms the last year, was this: There was one John Sausaman, a very cunning and plausible Indian, well skilled in the English language, and bred up in the profession of Christian Religion, employed as a schoolmaster at Natick, the Indian Town, who upon some misdemeanor fled from his place to Philip, by whom he was entertained in the room and office of secretary, and his chief councillor, whom he trusted with all his affairs and secret counsels. But afterwards, whether upon the sting of his own conscience, or by the frequent solicitations of Mr. Eliot, that had known him from a child, and instructed him in the principles of our religion, who was often laying before him the heinous sin of his apostacy, and returning back to his old vomit; he was at last prevailed with to forsake Philip, and return back to the Christian Indians at Natick where he was baptized, manifested public repentance for all his former offences, and made a serious profession of the Christian Religion: and did apply himself to preach to the Indians, wherein he was better gifted than any other of the Indian nation; so as he was observed to conform more to the English manners than any other Indian: yet having occasion to go up with some others of his countrymen to Namasket, whether for the advantage of fishing or some such occasion, it matters not; being there not far from Philip’s country, he had occasion to be much in the company of Philip’s Indians, and of Philip himself: by which means he discerned by several circumstances that the Indians were plotting anew against us; the which out of faithfulness to the English the said Sausaman informed the Governor of; adding also, that if it were known that he revealed it, he knew they would presently kill him. There appearing so many concurrent testimonies from others, making it the more probable, that there was certain truth in the information; some inquiry was made into the business, by examining Philip himself, several of his Indians, who although they could do nothing, yet could not free themselves from just suspicion; Philip therefore soon after contrived the said Sausaman’s death, which was strangely discovered; notwithstanding it was so cunningly effected, for they that murdered him, met him upon the ice upon a great pond, and presently after they had knocked him down, put him under the ice, yet leaving his gun and his hat upon the ice, that it might be thought he fell in accidentally through the ice and was drowned: but being missed by his friend, who finding his hat and his gun, they were thereby led to the place, where his body was found under the ice: when they took it up to bury him, some of his friends specially one David, observed some bruises about his head, which made them suspect he was first knocked down, before he was put into the water: however, they buried him near about the place where he was found, without making any further inquiry at present: nevertheless David his friend, reported these things to some English at Taunton (a town not far from Namasket), occasioned the Governor to inquire further into the business, wisely considering, that as Sausamin had told him, If it were known that he had revealed any of their plots, they would murder him for his pains: wherefore by special warrant the body of Sausaman being digged again out of his grave, it was very apparent that he had been killed, and not drowned.  [Hubbard wasn't a great believer in the period; this selection has only three sentences.  For a little more click here] After Thomas died, his widow Margaret married Ezekiel Rogers, son of the Rev. Ezekiel Rogers who lead the party to Rowley.  Margaret died his widow in Boston in 1678. For going into the woods, singing and shouting and taking liquor with them, at an unseasonable hour, Thomas and several other young men were in court in 1649.  His punishment was to learn Mr. Norton’s catechism before the next court which he failed to do. Thomas was of Stamford “in the jursidiction of New Haven in 1654 when he conveyed to Kimball and Bridges, his father’s executors, all of his father’s real and personal property , to be divided according to the will.  Kimball sold the land, a fifty acre grant in Ipswich to  [our ancestor] Twyford WEST on 31 Jan 1654/55. Administration on the estate of Thomas Scott was granted to his wife Margaret on 29 Sep 1657.  It was small containing no real estate and was insolvent.  Thomas Patch and Abigail Bosworth petitioned for administration on the estate of their brother Thomas Scott, deceased. 5. Hannah Scott Hannah’s husband Edmund Lockwood was born 1625 in Combs, Suffolk, England. His parents were Edmund Lockwood and Ruth [__?__]. Edmund died 31 Jan 1692 in Stamford, Fairfield, CT. 7. Mary Scott Mary’s husband Thomas Patch was born in 1615 in England. Sources: From Phoebe Tilton, 1947 by Walter Goodwin Davis http://www.boydhouse.com/michelle/coffin/henryscott.html http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=177050