The family of Thomas Marsh 1618ish to 1658

 Thomas Marsh, the son of George and Elizabeth maiden name uncertain Marsh, was born about 1618 in England, possibly in or near Hingham.  He came with his parents to New England in 1635, possibly with the Hobart group, and settled in Hingham, Massachusetts.  He married Sarah Beal, the daughter of John and Frances Ripley Beal in 1649.  The couple had five children before Thomas's early death in 1658, still in Hingham. 

Sarah remarried in 1662 to Edmund Sheffield, the son of Edmund and Thomazine Sheffield, and had three children with him-Mary, Nathaniel, and Deborah.  This post, however, is following the children of Thomas and Sarah.  

Sarah was their first daughter, born in 1649.  She married James Brackett, the son of Richard and Alice Blower Brackett.  (The older Bracketts are our ancestors in another line, which I hope to follow someday.) Sarah and James's children are Joseph, Nathan, Sarah, Mary, Deborah, Anne/Hannah, and Abigail.  Sarah died in 1727 in Braintree, Massachusetts.

Thomas was the next child and first son.  He was born in 1651 and died in 1723 in Hingham. He married Sarah Lincoln, the daughter of Thomas (known as the husbandman, because there were several men named Thomas Lincoln in this town by now) and Margaret Langer Lincoln.  Their children are Sarah, Thomas, Mary, Lydia and possibly Caleb and John.  I will follow this family in my next post.  

John was born next, in either 1653 or 1654.  He lived either just a few days, or a year and a few days.  

Ephraim was born next, in 1655.  He died in 1715 in Hingham.  He first married Elizabeth Lincoln, the daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth Hawke Lincoln. (I have not found a connection between Thomas, mentioned above, and Stephen Lincoln.  If there is one, it is several generations back.)  Elizabeth was the mother of his four children, who were Ephraim, Elizabeth, Stephen and David.  After Elizabeth died, he married Abigail Stodder, the daughter of Daniel and Abigail Lane Stodder.  She was 43 at the time of this marriage and there were no known children.  

Finally, Mary was born, in 1658.  She married Joseph Parmenter, the son of Robert and Leah Saunders Parmenter.  (We have a Parmenter family a generation or two back from Joseph.  I have not yet made a connection, but it's a possibility.) Their children are Sarah, Joseph, Mary, Benjamin, Hannah, and Deborah. Joseph may or may not have married Sarah Sheffield after Mary's death.  Mary died in 1719.

It seems a little odd to me that neither of the sons, Thomas and Ephraim, are listed as having served in King Philip's War.  They were certainly of the right age to do so, and most of the men in the state were involved in the war.  However, I've not yet found record of their participation, if any.  Yet, these men and women were in Massachusetts from early days, and are part of the history of our family-and our country.