Holbrook line: Thomas Carter, Immigrant and blacksmith

I haven't written about Thomas Carter before for a very good reason.  There were at least 4 Thomas Carters living in Massachusetts Bay Colony at about the same time, and only one of them is ours.  Several trees on line have them mixed up and to make it worse, there seem to be at least seven prospective sets of parents in England, some of them named Thomas. 

I don't know if anyone will ever figure out who his parents are, unless it is through some as yet unavailable DNA tests and results.  I don't know if we'll ever know who his wife was.  But I do know we have some other basic facts about him, and he was an interesting man.  

Thomas Carter's birth date is variously given as 1566, 1588, about 1590, and other dates unknown.  If I were a betting person, which I'm not, I'd say it was probably about 1585, because his oldest son Thomas is said to have been born about 1607.  That 1607 date suggests we might look in 1606 or a little earlier for a marriage record, but of course the question is where to look.  

We are told that Thomas arrived in Charlestown in 1636, but we don't have an exact date for his arrival.  He had six children born in England (where?), the least born in 1620.  We don't know how many of his children came with him and Mary.  And then there's the matter of freeman.  Men by that name were admitted in 1636, 1638, and 1647.  One of these is our Thomas, but which one? I believe the 1636 Thomas is Rev. Thomas Carter, not our man, and the 1647 Thomas is Thomas Jr, possibly the son of our man. So our Thomas was likely the one of 1638. 

We know from his inventory that Thomas was a blacksmith.  He had at least one other blacksmith friend, because in 1644, he was witness to the will of Daniel ""Sheopardson" of Charlestown. Thomas further confuses us by having land in Woburn, where it's believed a different Thomas Carter lived.  On March 24, 1647, Thomas Carter of Charlestown deeded half of his land in Woburn to his son in law William Green. "The writing was committed to Edward Johnson until John Green came of age. Witness James (can't read)."  So Edward Johnson apparently held the deed, but why he was to hold it until John Green (William Green's son) came of age is a bit of a puzzle.  Did John need to care for his father?  That's a subject for another post, I think.  

To me, the interesting part of Thomas's life is revealed only in his will.  Thomas held the indenture for Matthew, a Scotsman.  The sad explanation is that in 1650, Oliver Cromwell,s army defeated a Scots army defending their land, and about 6000 of the Scots were taken prisoner.  Many were sent to New England to work in the colony, and Thomas apparently purchased the indenture for Matthew.  In his will, he asks that the servant be sold to Mr. Russell, and also asks that 9 months be deducted from the term of Matthew's indenture.  We don't know the length of the indentureship, but it could have been anywhere from 4 to 8 years.  Many of these Scots were banned for life from returning to their homeland or their families, so the ships that brought them to New England would have been sad places indeed.

John's will is transcribed on the WikiTree website, for which I'm very grateful.  It is very blurry or smeared on the available databases.  This is where we learn that he and Mary had six surviving children.  (There may have been others as there is a gap of about five years between the first known child and the second one.) This is also where we learn that Thomas, in the 16 years or so he had lived in Charlestown, had accumulated several pieces of land.  His own home also included his shop, a barn, and orchard, and a house he owned that son Thomas lived in also had a barn, outbuildings, orchard and a garden.  Thomas Senior's homestead was valued at 80 pounds and his son's at 30 pounds.  There were also additional lands and meadows.  Next in value was the "Scotchman", Matthew, valued at 14 pounds.  He had a musket, sword, bandoliers and "the rest", possibly other weapons, or the necessary accessories for military outfits.  He had several farm animals, four rights to the cow commons, and quite a bit in the way of household goods, especially linens.  Some of the furniture was in the "upper chamber" and there was equipment listed in the kitchen, so this is a house that is nicer than many others in this time and place.  For a blacksmith, Thomas was doing rather well.  (I did not see a mention of books in the inventory.)

We don't know what the cause of death was for Thomas.  He was likely approaching 70, if not already there.  His wife Mary lived until March 6, 1664/65. She apparently had nothing to dispose of, since Thomas had provided for her until her death, but then the property was to go to their children. 

I like Thomas, because this is a picture of a hard-working man.  I also like him because he "purchased" Matthew the Scotchman, but thought enough of him to knock some months off his servitude, and arranged for his "purchase" by someone known to him.  I also like him because without him, I wouldn't be here!

The line of descent is:

Thomas Carter-Mary

Hannah Carter-William Green

Mary Green-John Snow

Zerubabbel Snow-Jemima Cutler

William Snow-Elizabeth Stevens

Lucy Snow-Josiah Whittemore

Josiah Whittemore-Betsy Foster

Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph Holbrook 

Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown

Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants