Holbrook line: Thomas King, Immigrant

This is another case of "Will the real Thomas King please stand up?"  Many people are identifying him as the Thomas King who was born at Taunton, Dorset, England before April 20, 1676 and he was then believed to be about 71 years old.  So wew have a nine to ten year discrepancy on his birthdate, or location, or both. 

We also don't know the name of his wife, other than Ann or Anne.  It is possible that he had two wives named Ann, since the first one died in 1642 and he didn't marry Bridget Loker until 1655.  However, Ann #1 is believed to be the mother of all his children, since all known children were born before she died. Thomas and Ann are believed to have come to America about 1638, so some of the possibly as many as nine children were born here.

 It is likely that Ann died of complications of childbirth because the last son, Thomas, was born December 4, 1642 and Ann #1 died December 24, 1642.  Sadly, their infant son followed within a few days and died on January 3, 1643.  So there Thomas was in Sudbury, Massachusetts, a widower with as many as nine children, and it's hard to imagine that he didn't marry again, quickly.  Unless he had a sister or other close relative who could live in the home and help out, Thomas would have needed a wife, quickly.  The other possibility is that all the children who were underage were bound out, or sent to live with relatives. As far as I know, there is no documentation for this; it's just speculation on my part.

Thomas and family seem to have spent their first two or three years in Watertown and then moved on to Sudbury.  The Kings stayed there for several years, even after Ann had died.  After he had married Bridget, he was found in Marlborough.  This had been considered part of Sudbury until it was partitioned so I'm not sure whether he actually moved or not.  In Marlborough, he was a selectman, a town constable, and responsible for laying out the highways in town.  He received several grants of land in the divisions that were made to the settlers.

When King Philip's War came in 1675-76, Thomas was counted in the household of his son-in-law, William Kerley.  He may have gone there, temporarily, for protection.  Or, as a seventy year old man (or older, depending on birth date), he may have been ready to live with a younger member of his family. 

He wrote his will on 3/21/1675 and added a codicil January 15, 1676.  The inventory showed a valuation of 295 pounds, 10 shillings. 

This is what we know.  We don't know what his occupation was, or what religion he professed. We don't know whether he was literate.  We don't know about his life during the thirteen years between the death of Ann #1 and Bridget.  We don't know what the exact circumstances were that had him living with his son in law in 1675-76, and we don't know whether Bridget was with him then or not. 

But we do know he was an immigrant here during the end of the Great Migration, and we know he contributed to the growth of America.  He wasn't rich but he wasn't poor, either.  He had probably improved his family's fortune by coming to America, so it was a win for him and a win for us. 

The line of descent is:

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