Holbrook line: Thomas Ford, Immigrant

Information is quite plentiful about Thomas Ford.  The problem is that much of it is contradictory, or makes no sense.  It's believed that he was born about 1587 in Bridport or possibly Symondsbury, Dorset, England.  The two towns are located just inland from the English channel, with Symondsbury being about one and a half miles west of Dorset.  Both towns were involved in rope and hemp making as their primary occupations, and both appear to have been quite small when Thomas was born.  I have at least three sets of proposed parents for Thomas, so am not able to make even a guess at this point. 

Thomas married first Joan Way, possibly, and secondly, Elizabeth Charde, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (possibly Bunckom) Charde at Bridport on June 19, 1616.  Elizabeth had first been married to Aaron Cooke in 1610, and she had one child, a son, with him. In 1623, the family was living in Dorchester, Dorset, England, where they were taught by Rev. John White, a Puritan.  Several of the families under his pastoral care traveled to America together, intending to settle together. Thomas and Elizabeth had five children together, all of whom came to America with their parents when they migrated in 1630 on the Mary and John.  Aaron Cooke, Jr. also was with them, counted as one of their six children. 

Thomas and his family settled first in Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony, where he was admitted a freeman on May 18, 1631, meaning he was a man of good standing, a member of the church, and owned property.  The family stayed in Dorchester for another five years, when they moved to the new settlement of Windsor, Connecticut.  Thomas was one of four men who purchased a large tract of land from native Americans, and he was granted fifty acres of land in Simsbury in 1637.  The Fords lived in Windsor, however, and it was from here that he served as deputy to the general court for at least four years.  Elizabeth died there in 1643.  She left Thomas with several teenagers and slightly older children to guide into adulthood, although some had already married and established their own homes. 

Thomas moved to Hartford, Connecticut about 1644 , where he married widow Ann Scott, and stayed there several years as the proprietor of an "ordinary", a combination tavern and inn, and then moved at some point between 1659 and 1670 to Northampton, Massachusetts, where several of his children had settled.  He had one child with Ann.  He died at Northampton in 1676, when he was about 89 years old, about a year after burying his third wife.   His estate was valued at about 369 pounds, which was certainly more than many of his contemporaries left, although not enough to be called wealthy. 

Thomas is an ancestor we can acknowledge with pride.  He participated in the building of Dorchester and Windsor, and served in political capacities for several years.  He was a man of strong religious beliefs.  He raised several children, including a step son, and saw them well situated when he died.  Of course I'd like to know more about him, but I am grateful to know this much. 

The line of descent is:

Thomas Ford-Elizabeth Charde
Abigail Ford-John Strong
Thomas Strong-Mary Hewett
Martha Strong-Samuel Judd
Elizabeth Judd-Ebenezer Southwell
Eunice Southwell-Medad Pomeroy
Eunice Pomeroy-Libbeus Stannard
Libbeus Stanard-Euzebia Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants