Holbrook line: Thomas Marsh 1676-1726

I started preparing this blog post without much hope.  Here's another ancestor who lived in what seems to be a kind of "dead zone" for genealogy records, even in New England.  My initial searches added little to the dates and location I already had.  I gave a great sigh, checked one more web site, and eureka!  There were his estate papers.  Looking them over, I had reason to rejoice.  This man was different from some of our other ancestors.  Let me count the ways...

Thomas Marsh was the son of Thomas and Sarah Lincoln Marsh.  He was born October 24, 1726 in Hingham, Massachusetts, the first of at least six children.  He was in the second generation of Marsh children born in the colony.  His father, another Thomas Marsh, was also born in Hingham, and his grandfather and great grandfather died there.  So Hingham was in his blood, so to speak. Thomas married Mary Burr, daughter of John and Mary Warren Burr, also of Hingham, on August 26, 1708, and Hingham is where the family stayed.  Thomas and Mary had at least 8 children, some of whom also seem to have stayed in Hingham.  The only town office I found that he held was that of constable, in 1716, but it is possible there were more. 

One wonders what the charms of Hingham were, besides family.  It is located on what is now called the "South Shore", part of the greater Boston area, although at the time Boston would have been maybe 30 or more miles away.  The fastest way to travel there would have been by boat.  So the little town, founded in 1635, was somewhat isolated.  Nearer neighbors were the towns of Weymouth, Braintree, and Quincy, as each town formed.  We recognize Weymouth as being a town where Holbrooks settled, and Braintree as being a town where Rockwoods and other family members settled, so this is one area that should be visited by anyone doing our family research.  Hingham's first settlers were necessarily farmers, and at the end of his too short life, that is how Thomas Marsh is described, as a "yeoman", meaning he owned the land he farmed.  That could be the end of the story, if the estate papers, like so many others, had been lost.  Fortunately, his weren't. 

Thomas likely died of a sudden illness or accident, because he didn't have a will.  He did, however, have an inventory, highly detailed and surprising.  And he had a clever wife, who had a houseful of young ones, the youngest being jut two years old.  The probate wasn't finalized until at least 1747, and meanwhile, Mary kept excellent records.  As for the inventory, it started out with a stunner...wearing apparel, 24 pounds"  This is a huge amount, much larger than for any other "yeoman" I've found.  What else would I find?  Well, there was more household furniture than seems usual, and especially more cloth and bedding than usual, and a French spinning wheel.  Where did these items come from?  Aha! 

Farmer though he may be, Thomas owned parts of a brigantine and several sloops. Brigantines were two masted ships suitable for sailing over the open sea, and sloops were one masted vessels that were likely used in coastal trade. Even though he may have never set foot at sea (and he could have made trips, we don't know), he was also what was known as a mariner, a ship-owner, or in this case, part owner.  He was smart enough to not put all of his eggs in one basket, it appears, but instead owned fourths and sixths of several sailing vessels.  He owned more land than our typical ancestor, including land on at least two coves, and he owned part of two saw mills. 

His inventory totalled 1733 pounds, 14 shillings and three pence.  There follows a list of debts that he was apparently owed, and a longer list of accounts that were paid, and then another list of debts that were collected.  I daresay everyone in town was on one list or the other, but the last accounting seems to have pushed the estate's value to over 2047 pounds.   Finally, in 1729, the estate is divided.  Mary gets her one third dowry for the rest of her life, as long as she doesn't remarry, son Thomas gets a double share of what is left, and the division of the lands is truly breathtaking.  How did they figure that out, anyway? There were a total of six children who received land and other items, so two of the children must have died earlier.  Mary died in 1747, when her remaining property was apparently dispersed.

The picture I have of Thomas is that he was a man of ambition, and that Mary likely shared his goals.  For a man of just 50 years of age, he had his finger in a lot of pies, and had he not died at that too early age, who knows what he would have accomplished.  I hope he was a kind and gentle man, too. 

The line of descent is:

Thomas Marsh-Mary Burr

Deborah Marsh-Isaac Lazell

Deborah Lazell-Levi Rockwood

Susannah Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook

Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore

Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown

Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants