Thomas Gray (abt. 1669 - 1721)

Born about 1669 in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony

Ancestors

Husband of Anna (Little) Gray — married 3 Jul 1694 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay

Descendants

Died 3 Nov 1721 at about age 52 in Little Compton, Newport, Rhode Island

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Biography

Origins

Thomas Gray was born bout 1669, probably in Plymouth, MA, the son of Edward Gray, Sr. and Dorothy Lettice.^[1]

Life

He was chosen a Deacon of the First Congregational Church established 1704.^[2]

Marriage and Children

He married (1) Anna Little, the daughter of Ephraim Little and Mary Sturtevant, on 3 Jul 1694 in Boston, MA by Rev. John Bailey.^[1][3][4]

He married (2) Phebe Peckham ^[1], the daughter of John Peckham and Eleanor Weaver^[1] and the widow of Nathaniel Warren^[5], sometime after 29 Oct 1707.^[6]

He had a child out of wedlock, Jabez Warren, Sr. with Phebe Peckham, who first married Nathaniel Warren.^[7] See Research Notes section for new DNA evidence presenting this fact.

Will and Death

The Will of Thomas Gray:

"Thomas Gray of Little Compton yeoman.

To wife Phebe Gray a great looking glass, great brass kettle new bible, warming pan and negro girl called Peg. Use of great room and bedroom and cellar. To son Thomas Gray my now dwelling house on 50 acre lot the house stands on and also meadow west of the highway or onchard meadow. One half of 5o aorelotcalled Peckhams lott. To son Edward Gray that dwelling house where he liveth in and 50 acre lot that the dwelling house now stands on. to west of orchard. meadow down to sea which lies between land of John Bailey and Thomas Briggs. To daughter Anna Richmond my mulatto girl called Almey and a gold ring. To daughter Rebecca Gray two feather beds and one half house hold goods and fifty pounds. To son Edward Gray my gold ring, my negro woman called Sarah my mullato boy called Solomon. A book called Josephus and my negro man called Will, and my mulatto boy called Jefrey. To three Granchildren, Barzilla Richmond, Mary Gray and ansstress Gray a cow each. To sons Thomas and Edward Gray three 18 acre lots an Saconnet Neck lying between Thos Bailey and Wares Lott with the salt marsh on the east or the first great krick. The 9th 15 acre lot three eighths of lot 26 of 50 acre lots and all my lands in Tiverton. Witnesses: Deborh Palmer, Thomas Gray, William Simmons, Nathaniel Searls. Will made Sept 21 1721, Will proved Nov 23, 1721."^[1]

He died on 5 Nov 1721 in Little Compton, RI.^[1]

The inventory of the estate of Thomas Gray:

"Inventory of the estate of Capt Thomas Gray of Little Compton Dec taken Nov 7, 1721. Negro man Will, boy Soloman, Negro woman called Sarah, Negro girl called Almey and Negro boy called Jeffrey. Inventory not added. Land came to 3250 pds."^[1]

"Thomas Gray, in his will, gave his daughter Anna "a negro woman and a Bible". On March 28, 1728, Jack Richmond married Peggy Gray; undoubtedly Jack was a negro servant of William Richmond, and married Peggy Gray, the negro woman given to Mrs. Richmond by her father. Banns of Jack Richmond (probably the same Jack) and Phebe Merigo were published in Little Compton, September 24, 1743."^[8]

Research Notes

New DNA evidence proving Thomas Gray, son of Edward Gray and Dorothy Lettice, as the father of Jabez Warren, Sr.

The father of Jabez Warren, Sr. of Brimfield, MA and Lebanon, CT was proven through initial DNA evidence to be related to immigrant Captain Edward Gray (1623-1681) of Stapleford Tawney, England and not a Warren.^[9]

Jabez Sr.'s father could not have been a Warren because there would be a DNA match for one generation back from Jabez, Sr. that matches a Warren male, and the likelihood that a second different paternal ancestor other than Warren or Gray exists as his father is close to nil.

Initially, possible fathers for Jabez only included Captain Edward Gray's sons John (mother Mary Winslow), Thomas and Edward II (mother Dorothy Lettice).

Y-DNA test results from Fred Gray, descendant of Edward Gray, Dorothy Lettice, and Thomas Gray, has matching strands to Jabez Warren.^[7] Therefore, Thomas Gray was the father of Jabez Warren Sr. When Jabez was born, Thomas Gray (26 years old) had married Anna Little 3 Jul 1694 in Boston, MA and their first child, Thomas II Gray, was born soon after and his birthplace is unknown.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Benjamin Franklin Wilbour. Little Compton Families (Clearfield, 1967), p. 293.
2. ↑ Marcius Denison Raymond. Gray Genealogy: Being a Genealogical Record and History of the Descendants of John Gray, of Beverly, Mass., (Tarrytown: 1887), p. 263.
3. ↑ Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016, Marshfield, vol. 1,
4. ↑ Historical Society of Watertown, Mass. Watertown Records, vol. 4, (Watertown, MA. : Fred G. Barker, 1894), p. 101.
5. ↑ George Ernest Bowman. Mayflower Descendant, "Capt. Thoms Gray's Will", vol. 21, 84-88.
6. ↑ George Ernest Bowman. Mayflower Descendant, " Warren's Will and the Agreement of the Heirs", vol. 22, pp. 43-47.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Y-DNA results from WikiTree user Fred Gray, which can be found on the Gray/Gray Project page, sample #125099, at FamilyTreeDNA. Y-DNA results from the Warren Family Surname Project for Jabez Warren samples under New London County, CT, are also at FamilyTreeDNA.
8. ↑ Joshua Bailey Richmond. The Richmond Family, 1594-1896, (Boston: 1897), p. 35.
9. ↑ Gray, George Edward. The Gray Family of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Clues to the Origins of Jabez Warren of Lebanon, Connecticut, and Brimfield, Massachusetts. American Ancestors Magazine, Vol. 11, No. 4, Fall 2010.

See Also

• J. O. Austin. The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island: Comprising Three Generations of Settlers who Came Before 1690 (with Many Families Carried to the Fourth Generation), (Genealogical Publishing Co.), p. 85.
• Boston, MA: Inhabitants and Estates of the Town of Boston, 1630-1822 (Thwing Collection), ($)
• Augustus Peck Clarke. Clarke's Kindred Genealogies, (Cambridge, M: Harvard Print. Co., 1896) p. 76.
• Robert M. Sherman, Verle D. Vincent, Robert S. Wakefield, and Lydia D. Finlay. Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims Who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620. (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants), vol. 15, p. 13.
• New England Marriages to 1700, ($)