Holbrook line: Thomas Strong 1637 ish to 1689

I hate to use "ish" with a date.  It shows my ignorance, or ability to find documentation to support a date.  However, that's the way it is.  The most specific date I found, which I can't support with a document, is October 24, 1637, likely in Hingham, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts.  There are even those who state that his parentage isn't known, or at least that his mother isn't known.  However, most sources report him to be a son of Elder John Strong, whom I wrote about earlier, and his (possibly second) wife, Abigail Ford.  Thomas, as still a young boy, moved in 1647 to Windsor, Connecticut, where his parents lived until 1659.

Thomas lost no time in marrying Mary Hewitt at Northampton on October 3, 1659.  She was the daughter of Rev. Ephraim and Isabel Overton Hewitt (also spelled Huit, particularly in earlier records).  Thomas's father was the elder of the church, or soon would be, and Rev. Ephraim was a strong Puritan pastor, so Thomas and Mary would seem to have been well-matched.  However, Thomas's name is not on the list of those who first owned the Covenant, nor is Mary's. One wonders where they were spiritually, that they would not have joined the church immediately.  I've not been able to learn the dates that they joined, but it must have happened, because Thomas was a tithing man in 1669 and possibly for years thereafter.  (A tithing man was a sort of "law enforcer" for the church).

Thomas would have belonged to the militia of the town and would have been deeply involved in defending the town during King Philip's War.  I have not found his name on any lists indicating he fought outside of town but every able-bodied man would have been needed.  There were native American attacks on the palisades the men had built, and it was the spirit of the men (and women) inside that kept the rest of the townspeople safe (several died in the fields as some of the attacks began).  Thomas is listed as a "trooper" for Windsor, Connecticut in 1658 under Captain John Mason, but I haven't been able to determine what that service would have entailed, or why it was needed.

Thomas and Mary had five children together before she died February 20, 1671.  He then married Rachel Holton and they had at least eleven children together.  The youngest was born after her father's death, which occurred on October 3, 1689.  The estate papers are really hard to figure out, although they are mostly legible.  Apparently nothing was filed until 1695.  The estate seems to have been valued at over 400 pounds, more or less.  Rachel or a committee, or both, attempted to divide the estate so that each of the children would have their portion, and so the younger children could be raised until put to work.  I didn't locate an actual will, but she seems to be following some sort of directions from someone.  (Rachel later remarried, so some of the adult children actually had a step mother and a step father)

From the inventory, it appears that Thomas was a farmer, as he had several plots of land, oxen, cattle, horses, sheep, and lambs.  He may have been a shoemaker at one time, as there is the "remains of a last" in the list.  The inventory was taken 6 years after his death, so it is not a perfect look at his holdings.  Some goods, such as food and seeds, were used up in the meantime, as were cloths that were cut up for clothes for the children.  There were two guns listed, but no Bible that I could see.  Surely Thomas would have been able to read, though, as all Puritan boys were expected to meet this standard.

I wish we knew more about John Strong.  His father overshadowed him and out-lived him, too.  So was our John a meek and mild-mannered man, or was he strong and silent?  Was he a source of help to the community during and after King Philip's war, when some had lost their husbands and fathers and many had lost their homes and crops?  There is so much more I'd like to know!

The line of descent is

Thomas Strong-Mary Hewitt
Maria Strong-Samuel Judd
Elizabeth Judd-Ebenezer Southwell
Eunice Southwell-Medad Pomeroy
Eunice Pomeroy-Libbeus Stanard
Libbeus Stanard-Luceba Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Fun fact:  Thomas Strong is the 8th great grandfather of Lady Diana.  He is my 8th great grandfather, too.  So that makes us ninth cousins, which is kind of fun.