Allen line: Thomas Starr 1711-1759

 Sometimes people get overlooked.  Perhaps they weren't prominent in their town. Perhaps they have no known military record.  Perhaps they stayed out of court.  Maybe their land records aren't readily accessible.  They may not have been mentioned in church records.  But they were there.  They raised families, they worked, they probably attended church.  And they mattered to their families, to their neighbors, and their co-workers.  They matter to me, these people who are almost invisible.

Thomas Starr is almost one of these men.  His main claim to fame is family.  His great great grandfather was William Brewster.  One of his sons moved to Nova Scotia but returned at the time of the Revolutionary War and was injured at Fort Griswold, at the Battle of Groton Heights. Another was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary War, but I haven't yet learned his story. If it weren't for those two factors, Thomas would be almost totally ignored by history, but not by his memory-keepers.  

Thomas was born April 10, 1711, the son of Thomas and Mary Morgan Starr and died May 14, 1759.  He married Jerusha Street, daughter of Nicholas and Jerusha Morgan Street.   Yes, the Morgan women were sisters, so Thomas married his first cousin.  In a town the size of Groton, options were limited, and marriage of cousins was not as uncommon as one would think.  So Thomas and Jerusha would have grown up knowing each other and at some point, a courtship developed.  The two were married September 1, 1732, but I have no documentation for that fact.  Jerusha had lost both her parents in 1726 and 1727 so she was probably glad to marry at the age of 16 or 17.  

We know that Thomas and Jerusha had at least 8 children.  7 were alive when Thomas wrote his will in 1758, although one died before Thomas.  We know that they "owned the covenant", (became full members) of the Congregational Church on September 1, 1734, the day their first son was baptized. I'm not sure of the practice of this particular church, but in some churches the parents had to "own the covenant" before their children could be baptized.  Once a member of the church, there was great peer pressure to stay within the strict rules the church expected of its members, so we can believe that their family was raised to be devout, God-fearing, and hard-working.  

Thomas inherited a little over 59 pounds from his father's estate, probably when he turned twenty one, so just about the time he was married.  This included some land, but I've not been able to determine how much, nor whether he added to it.  Thomas's father was a ship carpenter and it is possible that Thomas also followed this trade or worked in the maritime industry in some fashion, as this was the main focus of the town.  Land in the area was not conducive to growing the best crops.  

That's all we know of Thomas, except for his will.  He left everything to his wife to be used in raising the young children.  When she died or remarried, the 4 boys were to divide the estate between them, and each daughter was to eventually get 40 pounds.  Jerusha lived until 1790, never remarrying.  I have not found probate papers for her so probably one or another of her children cared for after the children were raised, and Thomas's wishes were then carried out, if they had not been completed earlier.  

The line of descent is:

Thomas Starr-Jerusha Street

John Starr-Betsy Chester Havens

John Havens Starr-Clarissa Falley

Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott

Edith Knott-Edward Allen

Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook

Their descendants