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Thomas Blodgett (bp. 1604–1641/2)

Susan Unknown (d. 1661)


Thomas Blodgett's English Ancestry

First Generation

THOMAS BLOWGATE (d. 1558/1560)

He was of Haughley, co. Suffolk. [1]

He signed his will on 1 Nov 1558; it was proved on 5 Jun 1560. [1]

Children of Thomas Blowgate: [1]

i. Thomas Blowgate married Elizabeth Ainsworth in 1573.

ii. John Blowgate

iii. Margaret Blowgate

iv. Andrew Blowgate

v. John Blowgate

vi. Rose Blowgate

vii. Robert Blowgate

Second Generation

ROBERT BLOWGATT (d. aft. 1602)

Robert was a yeoman of Haughley. [1]

He signed his will on 5 June 1602. [1]

Children of Robert Blowgatt:

i. Thomas Blowgatt died before 20 December 1662, when his will was proved. [1] He married Alice Unknown. [1]

ii. John Blowgatt married Unknown Witlock. [1]

John was an innkeeper in Stowmarket. [1]

iii. Elizabeth Blowgatt married Unknown Beverly. [1]

iv. Ann Blowgatt was married first Unknown Beaumond. [1] She married second John Myllar. [1

v. Frances Blowgatt [1]

vi. Margaret Blowgatt was baptized about 1574. [1]

vii. Ellen Blowgatt married Unknown Weith in 1595. [1]

viii. Robert Bloggatt was born in 1578.

ix. Joan Blowgatt was born in 1580. [1]

Third Generation

ROBERT BLOGGATT

Robert Bloggatt, the son of Robert Blowgat, married first Mary Witlock in 1598. [1]

Robert was an innkeeper in Stowmarket. [1]

Children of Robert Bloggatt and Mary Witlock:

i. Sarah Bloggatt married Edward Easterson in 1610. [1]

ii. Robert Blogatt was baptized in 1602 and died in 1620. [1]

iii. Thomas Blodgett was baptized on 18 November 1604.

iv. Phebe Bloggatt was baptized in 1607. [1]

v. John Bloggatt married Alice Unknown. [1]

Thomas Blodgett was baptized on 18 November 1604 in Stowmarket. [1] He died between 10 August 1641 and 8 July 1642. He married Susan ___.

Susanna Blodgett died on 10 February 1661 in Woburn. [2] She married second, as his third wife, James Thompson on 15 February 1644 in Woburn. [3] James, the son of John and Johan Thompson, was baptized on 4 March 1592 in Freiston, Lincolnshire. [2] He died on 28 February 1681/2 in Woburn. [2] He married first Anne ___. She was buried on 13 December 1625 in Freiston. [2] He married second Elizabeth ___. [2] She died on 13 November 1643 in Woburn. [2]

Having brought a certificate from their minister attesting to their conformity, Thomas Blodgett, age 30, and Susan, age 37, were listed as passengers, along with their children Daniel, age four, and Samuel, age 1-1/2, embarked on the Increase on 18 April 1635. [4]

Thomas was a glover. [5]

Thomas was a freeman on 3 Mar 1635/6. [6, 91] This implies that he was a member of the Cambridge church prior to that date.

Thomas bought a house and land in Cambridge from Jonas Austin in about 1636. [5] He was granted a two-acre house lot in Cambridge on 6 February 1636/7. [6, 91] In 1639 he had three parcels of land in Cambridge: the land he had bought from Jonas Austin, two acres granted by the town in the West Field, and a house lot granted by the town on the Cow Common. [5] By 1639, he sold the land he bought from Austin to Edmund Frost, and he sold his house lot on the Common to Robert Daniel. [5] At some time he received eight acres in the lower division on the south side of the Charles River and eight acres in the upper division. [5] At some time he held a two-acres parcel and a one-acre parcel in Fresh Pond Meadow. [5] When the inventory was taken on his estate on 28 (10) 1642, he held four acres of planting ground worth 14 pounds, five acres of meadow and marsh worth three pounds and ten shillings, and a house and yards worth 30 pounds.

On 6 January 1642/3, Susan held five parcels in Cambridge: a house and land on the Common, two acres in the New West Field, two acres in the West End, two and a half acres of marsh on the south side of the Charles River and two and a half acres in the Fresh Pond Meadow. [5] In 1645 she was granted three and a half acres on the west side of the Menotomy River. [5]

Thomas Blodgett of Cambridge made his will on 10 (6) 1641; his witnesses deposed on 8 (5) 1642. He left his estate to his wife Susan. She was to pay his eldest son Daniel and his second son Samuel each 20 pounds when they turned 21. His daughter Susan was also to have 20 pounds. He expressed his concern for his children: [7]

Should they have a father-in-law [stepfather] who does not treat them well my will is that the Deacons and our brother fessington & our brother Edward Winchsip, they or either of them should have the power to see into it & reforme it by one means or the other.

Thomas appears to have been literate; he signed his will and his inventory included books. [5]

Children of Thomas Blodgett and Susan Unknown:

i. John Blodgett was born in 1622 in England. [1] He was buried on 4 May 1632. [1]

ii. Nathaniel Blodgett was baptized on 28 Feb 1628/9 in Stowmarket. [1] He apparently died young.

iii. Daniel Blodgett died by 3 January 1671/2. He married first Mary Butterfield on 15 September 1653 in Chelmsford. [8] He married second Sarah Underwood, the daughter of William Underwood, on 10 March 1669 in Chelmsford. [8]

Inventory was taken on the estate of Daniel Blodgett on 3 January 1671/2. On 27 March 1672 Sarah, the widow of Daniel, asked the court for her father William Underwood to administer Daniel's estate. [9]

In April 1672, Daniel's widow Sarah and her father William Underwood were appointed administrators of the estates of Daniel Blodgett of Chelmsford, deceased. Thomas Blodgett, about 18, and Hannah Blodgett, age about 15, chose their uncle Samuel Blodgett as their guardian. Daniel Blodgett, about 13 chose Jonathan Butterfield, the son of Benjamin, as his guardian. Benjamin, about 1[1?] chose Jonathan Thompson as his guardian. In April 1685, Nathaniel Blodgett, about 15, chose his grandfather William Underwood as his guardian. [3]

iv. Samuel Blodgett was baptized on 12 July 1633 in Stowmarket. He died on 21 May 1720, at nearly 87, in Woburn, He married Ruth Eggleton.

v. Susanna Blodgett married Jonathan Thompson on 28 November 1655 in Woburn. [3] Jonathan Thompson was her stepbrother, the son of James and Elizabeth Thompson. [2] He was baptized on 14 December 1628 in Fishstoft, Lincolnshire. [2]

Jonathan and Susanna were the ancestors of the physicist Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford. [2]

vi. Thomas Blodgett died on 7 Aug 1639 in Cambridge. [1]

References:

1. Bradley Deforest Thompson and Franklin Condit Thompson, Blodget-Blodgett Descendants of Thomas of Cambridge, (Concord, NH: typewritten manuscript, 1955), pp. 1–2.

2. Leslie Mahler, "The English Origins of James Thomson of Charlestown and Woburn, Massachusetts," The American Genealogist 74 (1999): 101–4.

3. Edward Francis Johnson, Woburn Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages (Woburn: Andrew Cutlery & Co., 1890), Part 1 (births) 22–23 (Blodgett); Part 2, (deaths) 15 (Blodgett) ; Part 3 (marriages) 27 (Blodgett, guardians of Daniel's children).

4. John Camden Hotten, The Original Lists of Persons of Quality ... who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600–1700, reprinted (New York: Empire State Book Co., n.d.), 61.

5. "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620–1633, Volumes I-III," digitized book, AmericanAncestors.org, originally published as: Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 volumes (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 324–5.

6. Mary Walton Ferris, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines, vol. 1 (Milwaukee: Cuneo Press, 1931–1943).

7. William Trask, "Abstracts from the Earliest Wills on Record in the County of Suffolk, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 2 (1848): 185–6.

8. Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts: To the End of the Year 1849 (Salem: Essex Institute, 1914), 188.

9. "Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648–1871," database with images, AmericanAncestors.org, from records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives, case 1957 (Daniel).


09-May-2023