Holbrook line: Thomas Mathewson 1673-1735

 We're back in Rhode Island, where a group of ancestors in the Holbrook line, starting with Roger Williams, lived for over one hundred years before the Eddy family moved onward.  I've written earlier of Thomas's parents, James and Hannah Field Mathewson.  Thier importance to this story, other than the obvious one of parenting Thomas, was that James left Thomas 41 acres of land in his will, even though Thomas was a minor at the time of James's death.  Thomas had the advantage of knowing he would have land when he came of age, and probably worked a little harder than he otherwise would have, to learn what he needed to know to use the land well.  

Thomas was born April 1, 1673 at Providence, in those days before the town was burned by native Americans during King Philip's War. (His parents likely left their home during that time, possibly going to Newport or to Aquidneck Island.)  Thomas was just two years old when the war broke out so likely had no recollection of it personally, although of course it would be remembered in family stories.  Thomas was one of nine children born to James and Hannah.  James had been something of a "big man on campus" although of course he lived in the shadow of the more well known founders of Providence.  

There is controversy concerning Thomas's wife.  Torrey identifies her as Martha Field; others believe she was Martha Sheldon.  I personally lean toward Martha Sheldon but would love to find a definitive answer.  Martha Sheldon is believed to be the daughter of Timothy and Sarah Balcom Sheldon. Which ever Martha he was married to, the marriage probably took place about 1704, as children started arriving in 1705. Thomas and Martha are thought to have had at least seven children.

We don't know very much about Thomas's life.  We do know that he received a deed of 4 acres of land from William Field on December 2, 1707.  This was located on or near what was then known as the "Great Pond", which became part of Scituate, Rhode Island when the town was set off from Providence in 1730.  Thomas died in Scituate, but we don't know whether this is where he had always lived or whether at some point he'd left Providence for a more frontier style life.  We also don't know what his religion was, although many of his neighbors were Baptist.  Was Thomas one of them?  I'm not finding his name on lists of men who served on military expeditions, although we can't rule that out.  He appears to not have served his community as part of any governing body, although he would have been expected to have been present at town meetings.  

Sadly, the inventory taken after his death on October 23, 1735 tells us most of what we know about Thomas's life.  From it, he appears to have been not a poor man; he may have been considered well to do, in fact.  Although the inventory is of his personal estate so does not list his land, the total value is over 719 pounds.  It's the number of animals that made me lift my eyebrows: two yokes of oxen, 13 cows, 6 calves, one bull, eight young cattle, two mares, 34 goats and 34 sheep, unspecified number of hogs but valued at over 22 pounds, and 6 shoats.   He also had 18 traps, which is not something I've seen often.  He had a gun and a small gun, and 12 shillings worth of books, along with a decent amount of household goods and farm equipment.  

At least three of the children were likely still living at home, so we can assume that Martha got at least 1/3 of the estate.  Unfortunately, I've not found a will, nor have a seen anything regarding an estate settlement,  The inventory is one that was posted on WikiTree; I've not seen it myself.  

I would love to know more about Thomas, including his religion, his military service if any, and how he acquired his apparent wealth.  I'd also like to know his relationship with any native Americans.  Was he afraid of them?  Did he ever "own" any?  Or did he follow in the path of Roger Williams and befriend them?  We do know this:  He must have been a hard worker, with that many animals to care for and so many traps to tend.

The line of descent is:

Thomas Mathewson-Martha probably Sheldon

Deborah Mathewson-Joseph Winsor 

Lillis Winsor-Nathan Paine

Deborah Paine-Enos Eddy

Joseph Eddy-Susan Lamphire

Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard

Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick

Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants

A side note:  This is my 800th blog post.  I still have a list of ancestors to explore, so there will likely be a few more before I'm "done".