Holbrook line: Thomas King, Immigrant

I have a lot of summaries of the life of Thomas King.  who lived from 1605 to 1676/1677.  Thomas was born in England, possibly in Shaftsbury, Dorset.  The problem is that there are quite a few Thomas King's,, and it's hard to figure out which one he is.  In addition, the maiden name of his wife is not agreed upon.  Her first name was Anne but she may or may not have been a Tice.  I am disinclined, at this point, to think that she was Anne Collins.  We don't even know whether the children he had were all from one wife.

His parents are generally given as Thomas and Sarah or Susan King, also of Shaftsbury.  The senior Thomas is sometimes said to have died in 1642 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts but I've not been able to find documentation for that.  So we have uncertain parentage, uncertain wife, and are even uncertain when he arrived in the New World.  We do know that a Thomas King arrived in 1635 but we don't know if that was our Thomas, Thomas's purported father, or another Thomas King entirely. 

However, we do know that he went to Sudbury, which was founded in 1639.  He was not one of the very earliest settlers, but apparently was one of those who came just a bit later.  His wife died in childbirth in 1642, leaving Thomas with six children (the baby lived only a few days longer than his mother)  .  We don't know whether this wife was his first wife, or whether some of the first children had a different mother.  Thomas was of a hardier sort than most men, as he stayed single for thirteen years, apparently raising his children himself, or with the help of his oldest children.  He remarried in 1655, when his children were mostly grown or at least ready to earn their own living. 

He acquired land in Sudbury and then in 1656 petitioned for land in what became Marlboro.  Here he was a selectman and also assisted in laying out the roads for the new town.  Again he acquired land and farmed. 

He wrote his will on March 1, 1676/77 and it was proven on April 20, 1676/77. We don't know whether he died of illness, accident, or possibly in the Indian attacks of King Phillip's War, which took place at about this time.  He certainly died at an unhappy time in the history of Marlboro. 

His wife Bridge survived another nine years, dying in 1685.

I've not found reference to the Kings' religion but it was likely Puritan, based on family association (son Peter was a deacon, and assigned to rebuild the Sudbury church).  I don't know if he was literate, or what he did in England before coming to America.  But I do know he came, and survived what must have been a difficult life, and for that, I admire our Thomas King.

The line of descent is:

Thomas King-Ann
Sarah King-Nathaniel Joslin
Nathaniel Joslin-Esther Morse
Israel Joslin-Sarah Cleveland
Sarah Joslin-Edward Fay
Daniel Fay-Mary or Mercy Perrin
Euzebia or Luceba Fay-Libbeus Stanard
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants