Thomas White

• General Notes
  • THOMAS WHITE of Charlestown, Massachusetts; b. 28th January, 1636, at Midgeham, Berkshire, England; d. 30th September, 1716; came to Boston on the ship Annabel, 8th May, 1660, locating at Charlestown. Thomas WHITE was a man of affairs, of business ability and sterling qualities; he served during King Philip's War; he is buried in the historic old Phipps Street Burying Ground at Charlestown; m. 17th November, 1663, Mary FROTHINGHAM, dau. of William and the noted Ann FROTHINGHAM, a descendant of Sir Peter FROTHINGHAM of Kent, England. Frothingham Hall was standing in 1844. He came from Holderness, Yorkshire, in John WINTHROP'S Company, bringing the Massachusetts Charter, his son ....   ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- Colonial Families of the United States of America: Volume 7 ISSUE  page 476 THOMAS WHITE, b. 28th January, 1636, in Midgeham, Berkshire County, England; bapt. 28th August, 1642, in St. Michael's Church, Fewston, Yorkshire, England. He was the only child of Walter and Margaret (EARLY) WHITE, who were m. 4th April, 1635. He emigrated to New England on the ship Annabel, Martin HARMON, master, 8th May, 1660, from London. The parentage of Thomas WHITE, the date of his departure from England, and in fact anything relating to him before his marriage to Mary FROTHINGHAM have been matters of conjecture, until the discovery of the passenger list of the ship Annabel in the British Museum. This paper was probably in the Custom House in Boston until the Revolutionary War, and taken to England at that time by officers of the Crown. There cannot be the slightest doubt that the Thomas WHITE of St. Michael, Fewston, Yorkshire, b. 1636, the emigrant, Thomas WHITE, on Annabel also b. 1636, as he was aged 24 when he emigrated in 1660, and the Thomas WHITE of Charlestown, Massachusetts, who was 80 years old when he d., 30th September, 1716, and consequently, b. also in 1636, were one and the same person, and this so much more so as no data indicate that he ever married or died in England, which would surely have been the case if he remained, while the other members of the family are all accounted for; we do not know of any other Thomas WHITE of the New World who was b. in 1636 than the man of Charlestown; and although every data referring to any one by the name of WHITE has been copied in Great Britain down to 1700, there is no Thomas WHITE, b. in 1636, who is not accounted for, by marriage or death. All this makes it as clear as we possibly can make any data bearing upon the connections between the emigrants and the foreign ancestry, that the three persons, of same name and same age, one of which neither married nor died in England, were the same person; this so much more so as the fact that Thomas WHITE m. a Yorkshire woman, and so comparatively near as Holderness, where many intermarriages took place. All emigration lists from the very first, the Oblata Rolls, which begin I John are in the British Museum, although not indexed. Fewston, Yorkshire, England, had been for many years the family locality. Thomas WHITE spent the first twenty-three years of his life in Midgeham, Berkshire, his mother's [p.476] home, and in Fewston. In deeds signed by himself and his wife he is designated as yeoman a distinction of eminent respectability. Thomas WHITE m. Mary FROTHINGHAM, the youngest child and favored dau. of William FROTHINGHAM. 17th November, 1663, when he was about 27 years of age. Mary FROTHINGHAM was b. 1st April, 1638. William FROTHINGHAM, her father, came from Holderness, Yorkshire, England, in John WINTHROP'S first company Thomas WHITE'S name appears in the list of freeman of Charlestown, 23d May, 1666. He was admitted to the Church 22d March, 1668; he was a soldier in King Philip's War, and served in Captain SYLL'S Company, 30th November, 1675; he received for service performed one pound, four shillings, nine pence; he was also a member of Capt. John CUTLER'S company of Charlestown, 24th July, 1676. Nathaniel FROTHINGHAM, Andrew STIMPSON, Thomas RAND and Peter FROTHINGHAM were members of the same company (see Bodge's Soldiers in King Philip's War, second edition). Thomas WHITE was a man of affairs and of business ability and sterling integrity, he d. in Charlestown, 30th September, 1716, in his eightieth year, as per the gravestone in the old Phipps St. burying ground. Administration was taken on his estate 7th January, 1717.