Thomas Doty (abt. 1640 - 1678)

Born about 1640 in Plymouth Colony, New England

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Churchill) Doty — married Dec 1672 in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony

Descendants

Died 4 Dec 1678 at about age 38 in Plymouth Colony, New England

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Biography

His birth record has not been found, but it's estimated he was born about 1641 and no later than 1642 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. His father died when he was about 14, and he inherited land in Dartmouth, MA; his mother remarried (John Phillips) when he was about 25.

Thomas was born about 1640 and died in December 1678 in Plymouth. He married Mary Churchill by 1675 and had three children. Mary Churchill was brought to court 17 Jan 1671/2 to answer for her conduct in connection with Thomas Dotey, found guilty. She confessed she had gotten pregnant by Thomas, son of Edward Doty, with whom she had "carnall coppulation" three times – first time on July 15, second time on August 8 and the third was about "senight" after. A sergeant went to Mary Churchill's house, found Doty there and took him into custody. Doty was warned to "take heed lest evil come of such carriages". Mary Churchill was fined and at the time of his court after Dec 1675; and Thomas m by 1678 another Mary, parentage unknown. He survived both her husband her son Thomas Jr. He died by 3 March 1678/9 in Plymouth, probably 4 or 5 Dec 1678.^[1]

Death, Will and Inventory

Thomas died at Plymouth 4 or 5 Dec 1678. He made a nuncupative (verbal) will on the 4th which was "Comitted to writing december 5th within 24 houres after the Death of the said Thomas Dotery." Mary, his wife, swore to the inventory 3 Mar 1678//9 the same day the will was submitted to probate.

Thomas was very sick at the time he made his will, but declared he had his senses and reason. He gave everything to his wife Mary Dotey.

The complete will and inventory^[2][3]

Children

Thomas' first wife, Martha "Mary" Churchill was the mother of the first two hearing Doty fled the colony, but returned by late 1674 by which time he was married to Mary (no marriage record found). Mary (Churchill) Dotey died shortly children:

1. Martha born out o wedlock about May 1672; single as of 1691, but probably married by 1696 to John White of Rochester (Mayflower descendant), living initially in Sandwich, then later to Rochester.
2. Hannah, born Dec 1675, died 12 Apr 1764; married 12 Jan 1699 Jonathan Delano.
3. Thomas born 22 Jul 1679 (posthumously); died near 8 Feb 1722 Truro, Mass; married first wife on 24 Feb 1702/3 at Plymouth, Elizabeth Harlow... married second wife on 18 Apr 1705 Mercy Ellis who survived him

The Edward Doty Society

Thomas2 Doty, son of Edward1 Doty, was born in 1641 or 1642 in Plymouth, MA. He married Martha Churchill about 1672, and had 2 daughters. He married Mary (?) 4 December 1678, and had 1 son. Thomas died in December 1678.^[4]

Research Notes and How Many Wives Did He Have?

In The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010), (Originally Published as: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995), "Edward Doty," p. 575, Anderson says:

Thomas Doty, b. say 1640; m. (1) by 1675 Mary Churchill (by whom he had had an illegitimate child in 1672); m. (2) 1679 Mary ____. Widow Mary m. (2) 8 February 1687/8 Henry Churchill [TAG 36:1-7 discusses these marriages exhaustively. An article in a forthcoming issue of TAG will argue that Thomas Doty had one wife named Mary Churchill, that she was daughter of John Churchill, and that Henry Churchill was not son of John Churchill, the immigrant to Plymouth.]

(Added later: The argument that Thomas Doty had only one wife, Mary Churchill, was made by Barbara L. Merrick in 1996 [TAG 71:114-20])

The TAG article mentioned by Anderson above, (Merrick, Barbara Lambert, "Doty and Churchill of Plymouth Colony, The Two Claimed Wives of Thomas(2) Doty" The American Genealogist Vol. 71(1996):114-120) states:

"An examination of all the court documents proves that Thomas Doty had only one wife, Mary Churchill, and that she was the mother of all three of his known children. Mary (Churchill) Doty married second, Henry Churchill, whose parentage has not been ascertained."

The inventory of Mary Churchill's mother Hannah (Pontus) (Churchill) Rickard was taken 17 Mar 1691. Hannah was the widow of John Churchill and daughter of William and Wybra (Hanson) Pontus, and third wife of Giles Rickard. Hannah Rickard died in Plymouth 22 Dec 1690. Her inventory mentioned items in possession of her children: Joseph, Eleazer, John, Henry and William Churchill, John Drew (husband of Hannah), and items in the possession of a grandchild Hannah Dotey, and things given to Martha Dotey.

The grandchild Hannah Doty is identified as the daughter of Thomas and Mary (Churchill) Doty. Martha Dotey is assumed to be, not a child of Hannah (Pontus) (Churchill) Rickard, but the illegitimate child born out of wedlock to daughter, Mary Churchill, prior to her marriage to Thomas Doty.

Henry Churchill's name appeared in Hannah's inventory because he was the second husband of Mary (Churchill) (Doty) Churchill, daughter of the deceased Hannah and her first husband John Churchill, not because he was another child of John & Hannah Churchill. His name was included for the same reason John Drew's was: because of his wife's relationship to the deceased, as only widows were named in their own right.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ Mrs. John E. Barclay, "Notes on the Dotey and Churchill Families," in The American Genealogist, 36 (Jan 1960): 1
2. ↑ "Thomas Doty's Will and Inventory.: The Mayflower Descendant vol 4:233, 234 cites Plymouth Colony Wills and Inventories, Vol. IV, Part I p. 33 and a torn copy of the will is on p 132 of the Scrap Book
3. ↑ "Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-997D-V3XK : 14 March 2023), Wills 1633-1686 vol 1-4 > image 495 of 616; State Archives, Boston.
4. ↑ Thomas Doty profile on Doty Society (accessed 25 May 2021)
5. ↑ added by Bobbie Hall 14 August 2016. If you have access to the TAG article in full, I think you'll be convinced that Thomas Doty had only one wife. If you don't have access, let me know. I can forward it to you.

• Mayflower Families Through Five Generations Volume 13 William White 2006 p. 22
• Wikipedia contributors, "Edward Doty," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, (accessed September 8, 2021).
• Ethan Allen Doty, The Doty-Doten Family in America, Brooklyn, NY: author (1897); FHL Microfilm., CC No 0280089 US Film 0844950, 1
• Olive K. Porter, The Doty-Doten Family in America (Porter), Salt Lake City, UT: Gen. Soc'y of Utah (1977)
• The National Genealogical Society Quarterly, volume? date? page?
• Marion B. Cushman, Richard Fetzer, Peter B. Hill & Robert S. Wakefield, Mayflower Families in Progress-Edward Doty, General Society of Mayflower Descendants
• Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins; Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society (1995), p 966
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61337429/thomas-doty : accessed 07 September 2021), memorial page for Thomas Doty (30 Apr 1641–4 Dec 1678), Find A Grave: Memorial #61337429; Maintained by Linda ~ In Loving Memory Of My Son ~ Harold (contributor 46931690) Unknown. (No gravestone extant.)