Thomas Atkins (1620 - bef. 1716)

Born 1620 in England

Husband of Elizabeth (Scammons) Atkins — married 1645 in Maine [uncertain]

Descendants

Died before 1716 before age 96 in Portland, Cumberland, Maine

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Fred Sheffield [send private message], Bill Lander [send private message], and Brenna Ewing [send private message]

Biography

Thomas Atkins was one of sixteen men "living upon or near joining unto the river commonly called Kenibec" who took the oath of fidelity on 23 Apr. 1654, as commanded by the local "marshal of New Plymouth" under the direction of Plymouth Colony's Governor Thomas Prence.^[1]

Thomas Atkins of Kennebec was "an ancient settler who followed farming wholly. Against his land was a bay called Atkins Bay."^[2]

"The next British settlement at the mouth of the Kennebec River began in 1653; Thomas Atkins, a fisherman, purchased from the sachem Mowhotiwormet, commonly called Chief Robinhood, the southern end of Phippsburg (with the exception of Popham). Atkins Bay bears his name. The population gradually increased until King Philip's War, when Indians in August 1676 attacked the eastern side of the Kennebec River, massacring and scalping the colonists, or else carrying them into captivity. Dwellings were burned and stocks of cattle killed. The entire area was abandoned."^[3]

The names of the ten daughters of Thomas Atkins appear in a 1716 deed selling his land after his death: "'Whereas Thomas Atkins formerly of Kenebec husbandman 60 years since bot of the Indians a large tract of land in ye Province of Maine in New England lying between the River of Sagadahock or Kenebec and Casco Bay and did build upon improve and possess the same till driven thence by ye Indian War and did when ye war was over return to his said land and die there intestate leaving behind him no son but ten daughters.... Elizabeth Davis (of Beverly Widow), Samuel and Anne Clarke (of Marblehead, blacksmith), Sarah Gurney (wife of Samuel Gurney of Little Compton, husbandman), Thomas and Abigail Washburne (of Bridgewater, husbandman), John and Ruth Haskins (of Scituate, husbandman), James and Rachel Berry (of Boston, laborer) and Rebecca Hall living at Tarpolin Cove.' who give, grant, &c. unto John Wentworth et als. Dated 2 April 1716.--York County Registry of Deeds"^[4]

Elizabeth Scammon his second wife?

According to the Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire (p. 67), Thomas Atkins had a wife named Elizabeth. However, there is nothing to indicate who was the mother of his ten daughters.

Elizabeth Atkins, daughter of John Scammon, is mentioned in the 1682 will of Elizabeth Saffin.^[5] "Elizabeth wife of Peter Lidget, and afterwards of John Saffin, of Boston, and (probably) Anne, the second wife of Major Richard Waldron, were sisters of Richard Scammon. The former (Mrs. Saffin) in her will dated 14th April 1682, makes bequests to her brothers John and Richard Scammond, her sister Anne Waldron; her cousin Elizabeth Atkins daughter of her brother John Scammond; her cousin Jean Scammond daughter of her brother Richard Scammond, and her cousin Hannah Gerrish. (Suffolk Prob. Rec. X. 189-94.) Jane was eldest daughter of Richard Scammon, and Hanna Gerrish may have been the eldest daughter of Anne Waldron. Anna, daughter of Major Waldron, m. Rev. Joseph Gerrish of Wenham."^[6]

It appears that Elizabeth Saffin had two children born in Barbados around 1650, by her first husband Peter Lidget, who was born in 1629.^[7] Her second husband, Judge John Saffin of Bristol, Rhode Island, was born in 1632.^[8]

This would place Elizabeth Saffin's birth around 1630 or up to a few years later (child born in 1650). If her niece Elizabeth Atkins was indeed the wife of Thomas Atkins of the Kennebec area in Maine, then it appears that Elizabeth Atkins was too young to have been the mother of most Thomas's daughters, who seem to have been born starting around 1645. Presumably Elizabeth Atkins was a second wife of Thomas Atkins. Perhaps she was the mother of (at most) one or two of his daughters.

Research Notes

• The marriage of Thomas Atkins to Elizabeth "[?Scammon]" in 1645 per New England Marriages to 1700 not only questions the last name of the wife, but is even more cryptic in the location "Salisbury/Bath, ME".^[9] Salisbury/Bath is in England or is there a location "Salisbury/Bath, ME"?

Sources

1. ↑ Sybil Noyes, Genealogical Dictionary of New Hampshire (1979), p. 2.
2. ↑ Deposition of John Cock, 1 Apr. 1740, quoted in Sybil Noyes, Genealogical Dictionary of New Hampshire (1979), p. 20.
3. ↑ Wikipedia article on Phippsburg, Maine
4. ↑ Submitted by Charles E. Banks to The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 34 (1880), p. 314.
5. ↑ Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire (1979), p. 613.
6. ↑ "Genealogical Items Relating to Dover, N.H.", in [https://books.google.com/books?id=XwgQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=elizabeth+saffin&source=bl&ots=hF9Hl6Fc_t&sig=kCqwdBJpHg7qjShDGCwk9B8nQjY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBWoVChMI46O8ltCIxwIVwxeSCh1e3QJr#v=onepage&q=elizabeth%20saffin&f=false New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 8 (1854), p. 65.
7. ↑ Peter Lidgett page at genealogy.com
8. ↑ John Saffin Diary website.
9. ↑ New England Marriages to 1700. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1568/i/21174/50/426875091

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Atkins-678 created through the import of mike_walton_2011.ged on Aug 20, 2011 by Mike Walton.
• Bill Lander,
• This person was created through the import of grant2.ged on 07 February 2011. The following data was included in the gedcom.
• Thank you to Frederick Sheffield for creating WikiTree profile Atkins-1114 through the import of Buttrum Family Tree_2013-02-24.ged on Feb 24, 2013.