Holbrook line: Thomas Wight 1607-1674 Immigrant

It's been a while since I found a very early immigrant that I've not written about.  But here he is, with all his mysteries.  Thomas is attributed to two sets of parents, but the ones I've seen most commonly and the one that seems to make geographical sense is that he was born to Robert and Elizabeth Fulshaw Wight about December 6, 1607 at Hareby, Lincolnshire, England.  Robert definitely had a son named Thomas, per his will.  However, Exeter, New Hampshire also claims this Thomas Wight so it is possible that more records need to be found in order to establish with certainty his origins.  Another argument that might point toward a different parentage is that Thomas doesn't seem to have named a son Robert. 

It also has not been determined for certain the name of his first wife, the mother of his children.  He was married when he arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony about 1637, and his wife named Alice died prior to 1665, when he married Lydia Eliot Penniman, sister to the Apostle to the Indians, John Eliot.  Tradition and not much else says that her name was Alice Roundy.  Tradition also says they were married about 1630 on the Isle of Wight, but records to support these statements are lacking. 

Thomas and Alice settled first in Dedham, or at least were among the first settlers in Dedham.  The village of Dedham started forming in 1635 although it was a few years later before it became a town.  His name is found on a list of freemen who were in Dedham before 1647.  Thomas was a selectman in Dedham, and also a church deacon. 

Then he somehow shows up in Medfield.  The two towns are about 10 miles apart, so it is possible that he never moved from his original location but that his land was included in the new area.  That would be a fun thing to research at some point.  In Medfield, he again was a deacon.  I've not found anything about the town government yet, so I don't know if he served in some capacity there.  He married for the second time in Medfield, and that's where his wife died, so he was there for at least a few years, anyway. 

Thomas died March 17, 1674 in Medfield.  His will indicates that he and Lydia had a contract before marriage, and he then disposes of his land, house, household goods and clothing.  His son Ephraim seems to get the lion's share of the estate, so perhaps he had been caring for his father.  The inventory is interesting because it breaks out each item, room by room, so you can almost walk through the house and the out buildings with the appraisers.   He had books valued at one pound and 10 shillings, and a pike and a musket, as well as the usual kind of household goods (probably more than the average man, I would guess), farm implements, a spinning wheel, cattle, sheep, and swine but no horses.  The total value of his inventory was just over 465 pounds.

I of course would like to know more about Thomas, especially when he moved (if he did) and why.  Why did he come to America?  He lived more or less on the frontier.  What experiences did he have with the native Americans?  With John Eliot as a brother in law, he surely must have heard stories,  As a deacon, did he visit with some of them regularly?  Did he know some of their language?  There are questions that may never have answers, but we do know this much about his life, and I think we owe him respect. 

The line of descent is:

Thomas Wight-Alice

Samuel Wight-Hannah Albee

Hannah Wight-John Thompson

Joseph Thompson-Mary Holbrook

Alice Thompson-Joseph Rockwood

Levi Rockwood-Deborah Lazell

Susannah Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook

Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore

Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown

Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants