Thomas Browning (abt. 1585 - aft. 1670)

Born about 25 Apr 1585 in England

Descendants

Died after 16 Feb 1670 after about age 84 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts [uncertain]

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Thomas Browning migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 46) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Thomas Browning stated his age was 73 in the year 1660, therefore he was born about 1587. ^[1]

Thomas Browning married Mary _____ by 1636.^[2]

The date of his immigration to New England is unknown, but he is found in Salem in 1636.^[3]

He bought 13 acres of land in Topsfield, Massachusetts (about ten miles north of Salem).^[4]

In 1657, he was sued by Town for fencing in a meadow (town land) and cutting hay there several years previously. Served on grand jury in Ipswich, MA in 1657.^{[citation needed]}

Children

Thomas was fifty when his first child was born in 1637. Thomas and Mary Browning had no sons, and four daughters (Towne, Simmons, Williams, and Meacham), as shown in the records of Salem and Topsfield, Massachusetts .^[5]

1. Mary Browning married Edmund Towne.
2. Elizabeth Browning married James Symonds.^[6]
3. Sarah Browning married Joseph Williams.
4. Deborah Browning married 1st John Perkins, and 2nd Capt. Isaac Meacham.

Mary was baptized 7 Jan 1637/8,^[7] She married Edmund Towne, son of William and Joan (Blessing) Towne, of Salem and Topsfield. They had four sons and five daughters.^[8]

Elizabeth married James Symonds, son of John and Elizabeth Symonds of Salem, 20 Nov 1661. They had twelve children.

Sarah married Joseph Williams, son of George and Marie Williams of Salem 20 Nov 1661. They had nine children.

Deborah was baptized 31 Jan 1646/7; married at Topsfield, Massachusetts, on 28 Nov 1666, (1) John Perkins,^[9] son of Thomas and Phebe (Gould) Perkins of Topsfield. They had a son, Thomas Perkins. John died 19 May 1668. She married (2) on 28 Dec 1669, Capt. Isaac Meacham, son of Jeremiah and Deborah (Brown) Meacham of Salem. They had eleven children.

Note: The dates show that the two middle sisters, Elizabeth and Sarah, had a double wedding, being married on the same date.

Death and Estate

Thomas Browning died in February after the 16th, in 1671, age 83, at Salem, Massachusetts. ^[10]

In his last will and testament 16 Feb 1670, he gave "all my land and housing at Topsfield" to "my daughter Towne and her husband and my daughter Simmons and her husband".^[11] His will was proved 28 June 1671.

Thomas signed his will 16 Feb 1670. It was proved 28 day of the 4th month of 1671, (old calendar), which is June 28, 1671 by the modern calendar. His wife Mary was still living 1682.

Thomas Browning left his house and property at Topsfield to his daughters Mary Towne and Elizabth Symonds, but only after the death of his wife Mary. He left his house and property at Salem to his daughters Sarah Williams and Deborah Meacham with the same condition - after the death of his wife Mary. ^[12]

His estate consisted of a house and a hundred acres at Salem, a house and seventeen acres at Topsfield, plus seventy cattle, a mare and a cow, two Bibles and household goods.

Mary Browning died sometime after 1682.

Unknown origins

Thomas Browning's origins are unknown. Although different parents and birth locations have been claimed and imported as part of various Gedcoms for Thomas Browning, no sources have yet been found to support any of these claims. In the absence of sources, all parents have been detached and his place of birth listed as England.

Unsupported parent claims include William Browninge and Mary (Hall) Brown.

Sources

1. ↑ The ancestry of Lieut. Amos Towne, 1737-1793, of Arundel (Kennebunkport), Maine, pages 17-22.
2. ↑ Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700, Vol I, page 228.
3. ↑ He is on the list of Freemen for Massachusetts April 17, 1637; "List of Freemen," NEHGR Vol 3 p. 95.
4. ↑ Great Migration 1634-1635, R-S, page 611.
5. ↑ Joshua Coffin,"Early Settlers of Essex and Old Norfolk." NEHGR Vol 6. 1852. Page 245.
6. ↑ The ancestry of Lieut. Amos Towne, 1737-1793, of Arundel (Kennebunkport), Maine, by Walter Goodwin Davis, page 21
7. ↑ Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988: Salem Births, page 132
8. ↑ The Towne Family, NEHGR Vol 21 (1867), page 16
9. ↑ Massachusetts, Marriages, 1633-1850
10. ↑ Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850
11. ↑ Essex County, MA: Early Probate Records, 1635-1681 - Last Will and Testament of Thomas Browning, Vol 2, page 228
12. ↑ Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991

See also

• Coffin, Joshua, et. al. Early Settlers of Essex and Old Norfolk. NEHGR Vol 6. 1852. Page 163, 245.
• Davis, Walter Goodwin. The ancestry of Lieut. Amos Towne, 1737-1793, of Arundel (Kennebunkport), Maine. Portland, Me. Southworth Press, 1927. Page 17 - 22.
• Towne, William B. "The Towne Family." NEHGR Vol 21. 1867. Page 16.
• Holbrook, Jay and Delene Holbrook. Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records. Holbrook Research Institute.

Baptism of Mary daughter of Thomas Browning, 7 day of 11th month of 1637 [7 Jan 1637 by modern calendars] and baptism of Deborah, daughter of Thomas Browning, 31st day of 11 month of 1646 [31 Jan 1646 by modern calendars]

• Essex County, MA: Early Probate Records, 1635-1681 - Last Will and Testament of Thomas Browning - Vol 2 page 228, and Probate Vol 2, page 229. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015.
• Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850, (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2010). "Feb 1670" O.S.
• Early Settlers of Essex and Old Norfolk, compiler Joshua Coffin, NEHGR Vol 6 (1852), page 245.