Thomas Hewitt

Return to main file

Thomas Hewitt (say 1634–after 1662)

Hannah Palmer (bp. 1634–after 1681), daughter of Walter Palmer and Rebecca Short

Thomas Hewitt was probably a migrant. He was born say 1634. He died after 1662. He married Hannah Palmer on 26 April 1659. [1]

Thomas established a West India trade and set out in a coasting ship in 1662 and was never heard of again. [2]

Hannah, the daughter of Walter and Rebecca Palmer, was baptized on 15 (4) 1634 in the church in Charlestown. [3]

Hannah Palmer married second Roger Sterry on 27 December 1671. She married third John Fish on 25 August 1681. [4]

In May 1657 Thomas Minor wrote in his diary that he delivered a firkin of butter to Thomas Hewitt to take to Simon Cobden. In December 1658 he wrote that Thomas Hewitt was at Mystic. In March 1660 he wrote that Thomas Hewitt’s vessel was “tached.” [1]

On 12 May 1676 Hannah Hewitt of Stonington petitioned the court, saying that she had not heard from her husband Thomas Hewitt in over eight years. The court granted her leave to marry again if she chose. [5]

In January 1667/8 Thomas Minor wrote in his diary that Hannah Hewitt was with Mr. Noyes. On 27 December 1671 Thomas wrote that Mr. Stanton told him that he was going to marry Hannah Hewitt. In March 1673/4 Thomas wrote in his diary that the Stonington church was examining Roger Sterry. On 25 August 1681 Thomas wrote, “Thursday 25 John ffish and Hanah steere was married.” [1]

On 7 October 1668 Thomas wrote in his diary that, “John ffish was hurt.” [1]

Thomas Minor wrote in his diary that, “Roger Steerie went into the bay the 12 day of September 1671 & sume say he stayed 5 weeks.” [1]

John Fish was on a 1668 census of Stonington. He was admitted to the first church in Stonington on 5 December 1680. [6]

Children of Thomas Hewitt and Hannah Palmer:

i. Thomas Hewitt died on 3 June 1686 in Stonington. He married Lydia Utley in June 1683 in Stonington. [7]

Thomas was baptized as an adult at the first church in Stonington on 18 September 1681. [6]

ii. Benjamin Hewitt was born about 1664. He died on 26 April 1725. He married Mary Fanning.

Children of Hannah Palmer and Roger Sterry:

i. Hannah Sterry

ii. Samuel Sterry died on 15 April 1734 in Preston. [7] He married first Hannah Rose on 22 February 1703 in Preston. [7] She died on 19 July 1724 in Preston. [7] He married second Mehitable [ ] on 8 February 1724/5 in Preston. [7] Mehitable married next William Blodgett.

J.P. Root says that Mehitable is the daughter of Major Thomas Fenner and that she married first Timothy Starkweather. According to Preston town records Timothy Starkweather married Mehitable Fenner on 18 October 1705 in Preston. Root goes on to assert that this Mehitable is the one who married second Samuel Sterry and third Doctor William Blodgett. [7][8]

Samuel Sterry made his will on 3 March 1734. He named his sons Samuel, Cyprian, Robert and Roger, his daughters Hannah and Zerviah, Elizabeth Rose and her daughter Hannah. He left his wife Mehitable her widow's third, a brown pacing horse and 20 pounds besides her dowry. He named her is executor and asked her to bring up his little son Roger. [9]

Endnotes

1. Thomas Minor, Sydney H. Minor and George D. Stanton, The Diary of Thomas Minor, Stonington, Connecticut, 1653–1684(New London: Press of the Day, 1899). “Tuesday .26. [Apr. 1659] sister hanah was married.”

2. Emily Wilder Leavitt, Palmer Family Groups: John Melvin of Charlestown and Concord, Mass., and Some of His Descendants, (Boston, David Clapp & Son, 1901–1905), 25.

3. Editors, "Record Book of the First Church in Charlestown", New England Historical and Genealogical Register 25 (1871): 147.

4. Richard Anson Wheeler, History of the Town of Stonington (New London: Press of the Day, 1900), 508.

5. J. Hammond Trumble, The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, vol. 1 (Hartford: Brown & Parsons, 1850; vol. 2 (Hartford: F.A. Brown, 1852), vol. 3 (Case, Lockwood, & Co., 1859), vol. 2, 129.

6. Richard A Wheeler, History of the First Congregational Church, Stonington, Conn., 1674–1874 (Norwich, T.H. Davis and Co., 1875), 41, 189, 196.

7. "Connecticut: Vital Records (The Barbour Collection), 1630–1870," database with images, AmericanAncestors.org > Stonington, 123; Preston, 193.

8. J.P. Root, Genealogy of the Fenner Family (Newport, R.I.: unknown, 1989).

CWP. "Connecticut, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1609–1999," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9049) > Hartford > Probate Packets, Stark, Judith–Sterry, S., 1675–1850, images 1486–1550.

Revised July 5, 2023