Holbrook line: Thurston Clarke, Immigrant, abt 1590-1661

 Update 8/11/2022  This man is not our ancestor.  I am leaving the post up, however, in case someone is interested in reading about him.  The error is that Sarah Doty did not marry Josiah Standish, according to current research.

Sadly, I don't know the parentage of Thurston (aka Tristam) Clarke.  He is believed to have come from Ipswich, Suffolk, England, but even with that clue no one has found his birth or christening record yet.  There are a few trees that give his birth date as 1574 and give him parents, but those parents were also born in the 1570s and as such, are probably too young to be Thurston's parents.  So the search goes on. 

We know very little of Thurstan's life in England.  He married a woman named Faith, possibly Faith Loes, and they had six children.  Two died in England and one died when she was about twelve, so there were three children who came to America.  We can't trace the arrival of anyone other than Thurstan and Faith the daughter, who came to America on the Francis in 1634.  It appears that his wife, Faith, stayed in England until after Abigail died in 1637.  Perhaps the boys stayed behind, too, to help their mother with all that was needed during the time of Abigail's illness. 

The early death of Mary Clarke, daughter of Thurstan and Faith, who only lived about a month, resulted in a sentence of death by hanging of Anna Puse, wife of Richard Puse of Ipswich.  She was tried as a witch for having caused the death of Mary, by "inchantments, witchcraftes and charmes".   I have not been able to verify that she actually was hanged, but it's possible.  From the books I've read, it was somewhat unusual for a married woman to be accused of such a crime, and this was a little late in the witchcraft scare, but someone had to be one of the last to be hanged, I suppose. 

Thurstan had been a husbandman in England and was a husbandman again in his new home of Plymouth Colony, in what became Duxbury.  He was a neighbor of William Brewster and Miles Standish, but was not nearly as prominent in the running of the colony.  He was educated to a certain point, or at least his inventory included a Bible and a psalmbook.  His sons were admonished in 1644 for not frequenting the public assemblies on the Lord's Day.  From this, we can conclude that Thurstan and Faith did attend, and that they didn't have total control over their sons.  That second factor mught have made them feel uncomfortable in a conformist colony like Plymouth. 

The only evidence we have of participating in colony life was that he was appointed a surveyor of highways in 1655. 

His death on December 6, 1661 was sad.  The jury determined that he had died of cold and exposure, as his body was found covered in ice.  It is also possible that he had a heart attack or other life ending event, and that the body froze after his death, but we will never know for sure.  He had been traveling on foot between Duxbury and Plymouth when he died. 

His estate was quite small, only 97 pounds.  His wife died in 1663 and at that time daughter Faith was granted 1/4 of the estate, with the balance going to the sons Henry and Thurstan Jr.  Henry and Thurstan were found in 1690 to be impoverished and unable to take care of their needs, so arrangements were made that they would be cared for.  John Doty, their nephew, was directed to care for them. 

Thurstan had a difficult life.  He lost three children young, his sons didn't amount to much, as we would say today, and he didn't built much of an estate.  However, he came to America with his three children, and built a home and a life here, and for that, we can be grateful. 

I would certainly like to know what his thoughts were about the witchcraft trial for the woman accused of killing his daughter.  Did he instigate the charge, or did his wife?  What was the relationship between these families?  Why would the court have found the woman guilty?  If there was a hanging, did Thurstan and his wife attend?  This part of his life is difficult to comprehend, but it is part of his story.

The line of descent is:

Thurstan Clarke-Faith possibly Loes
Faith Clarke-Edward Doty
Samuel Doty-Jane Harman
Sarah Doty-Josiah Standish
Hannah Standish-Nathan Foster
Nathan Foster Elizabeth Lansford
Jude Foster-Lydia M
Betsy Foster-Josiah Whittemore
Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph Holbrook
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen