Thomas Thames Sr (abt. 1700 - bef. 1758)

Descendants

Died before 3 Jun 1758 before about age 58 in Bladen, North Carolina

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This profile is part of the Thames Name Study.

Biography

Thomas was born about 1700, location unknown. He made his will at Bladen County NC March 1758.

Research Notes

The Will of Thomas Thames, transcribed from the original with emphasis added (not from the will book, this is Thomas's original will with his signature on it):^[1]

In the Name of God Amen-- I Thomas Thimes of the Province of North Carolina & County of Bladen being weak in Body But of Sound Memory (Blessed be God) Do this Sixth Day of march & in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & fifty Eight make & publish this my Last Will & Testament in maner following - (that is to say) First I give & Bequeath unto my Loving wife Prudence Themes one Hundred acres of Land Being the plantation where I Now Live Likewise I give unto her the Sd Prudunce Themes ten Cows & Calves also I give unto my Dear wife all the moveables of my Estate Except a Bed & furniture I give to my Daughter Phebe Themes and to my Daughter marcy Themes I give a Bed & firniture & a Chest of Draws The Land above mentioned after the Decease of my Beloved wife I give & Bequeath unto my Son Samuell Themes & his heirs & assigns for Ever. also to my son Joseph Themes I give the sum of five Shillings. also I give unto Corn^l Themes the Sum of five Shillings, also I give unto my son Thomas Themes one hundred acres of Land Lying in the provence above sd & County of Craven on the flat Swamp also I give unto my Sons John Thomes & Amos Themes two hundred & twenty acres of Land Lying on Dunns Creek To Be Equally Divided Between Each of them. Also Eight head of Cattle to be Equally Divided Between them Each also I give unto my Son Samuel Themes eight head of cattle also unto my Daughter Elizabeth Themes a Bed, also I give unto my Daughter Prisilla Dunn the Sum of five Shillings - And I make & ordain her my above sd wife Executrix and my son Cornelius Themes my Executor of this my will in Trust for the Intents & purposes in this my will Contained. To take Care & see the same performed - according to my true Intent & meaning.

Thomas Thames's will

Thomas Thems {seal}

Signed Sealed & Delivered by the sd Thomas Themes as & for his Last will & Testament in the Presence of us who were present at the Signing & Sealing thereof Josiah Evans Jon^a Evans Junior

Each of Thomas's sons are accounted for, with the exception of very little information on his son, Thomas.

No further information has been found on his daughters Elizabeth and Phebe.

Deed and other court records for Bladen County were burned on three different occasions, leaving gaps in records. It seems the deed books have been pieced together from scraps of burned books and, very likely, by owners bringing in their copies of deeds to be recorded again, to ensure ownership in county records. As a result, the deed books contains dates that are all over the place, with far-ranging time spans in each one.

It is apparent that Thomas acquired more land in Bladen County than the 100 acres he purchased from Robert Dunn in 1750. John and Amos received 220 acres of land on Dunns Creek, and he leaves to his sons Joseph and Cornelius five shillings each, which indicates they had already received from Thomas what he considered their legacies. Priscilla also receives five shillings, so she probably received a bed and furniture at her marriage.

Regarding the 220 acres inherited by John and Amos, Thomas acquired this land from Robert Dunn, but we don't know when because of the record loss in Bladen. It was originally patented to John Dunn, who conveyed it to Richard Dunn, who conveyed it to Robert Dunn, and by Robert to Thomas, and then to Thomas's children after his decease. This is all made apparent in Bladen Co NC Deed Book 1738-1779, p 337, in which John and Rachael Legett sell this property to James Jackson (James is the husband of Marcy Thames, Thomas's daughter) in a deed dated 11 Oct 1766.^[2]

Then, on 29 Oct 1768 - two years later - James and Marshea Jackson sell this property to William Maulsby. The metes and bounds are the same as the 1766 deed. When the chain of ownership is described, it is further detailed by saying "...by the said Robt. Dunn to Thomas Thimbs senr & by the said Thomas his last will & Testament left the same to his sons John & Amos Thimbs & the said Thomas's the same to John Legett & from the said Legett to James Jackson and by the said Jackson conveyed to Wm Maultsby..."^[3]

The parents of this Thomas Thames are unknown at this time. Some have claimed without evidence that it was one William Thames who can be found in a few records in VA in the late 1600's.

Nor do we know where Thomas was born, whether it was in the American Colonies or England or elsewhere - there were Thames's in the Caribbean colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries.

We can definitely say that his parents were not Amos Timms and his wife "Elizabeth Prudence." Back in the mid-2000's, about 40 male, direct-line descendants of both Amos Timms and Thomas Thames did Y-DNA tests for the sole purpose of determining whether or not they were related, and as it turns out, the two family groups are not related in any way. Thames Haplogroup is R-M512 and Timms Haplogroup is primarily R-M269 - completely different. But still this error persists. Review the test results: [6]

Please join in working to correct this long-standing error.

Research Notes by Rebecca Thames-Simmons

Research into Thomas. I don't claim this is "our" Thomas, but he's not been located in any other early records, so these records shouldn't be discounted.

28 Aug 1732 - Prince William Co VA - Thomas Thims witnessed a deed between Edward Friers and Patrick Lynch. Other witnesses were Margaret Rutter, Alexander Campbell and Charles Plenty.^[4]

17 Sep 1732 - Prince William County, VA Deed Book Liber A, p 360-361: 17 Sep 1732, recorded 21 Sep 1732, Lease: Richard Wood of Prince William County, planter, 100 acres to William Pirsey, for consideration of 5 shillings, plus 1 peppercorn to be paid each year on the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel. Witnesses: Cavan Dulaney, Thomas Barton, Thomas Thems

1732 - Prince William County, VA Deed Book Liber A, p 361-364: 21 Sep 1732, recorded 21 Sep 1732, Release, Bargain and Sale: Richard Wood of Prince William, planter, the same 100 acres as the lease above to William Pirsey, for consideration of 10 lbs. Witnesses: Cavan Dulaney, Thomas Barton, Thomas Thems. Richard's wife Martha releases dower. Note: In the margin at the beginning of this deed, the deed is noted as "Richd Woods Release To Wm Perseys Oct. 7. 1738. [illegible, possibly "dd" or "td" Jno. Shirman C[illeg., "Clerk"?]

1732 - Prince William County, VA Deed Book Liber A, p 364-365: 20 Sep 1732, recorded 21 Sep 1732, Lease: Richard Wood of Prince William County, planter, 100 acres to Thomas Thems of same, for consideration of 5 shillings, plus 1 peppercorn to be paid on the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel. Witnesses: Cavan Dulany, Thomas Barton, William Piercy. Description of land: Beginning at a marked white oak standing on the [illeg] of the Kiteckton mountain Corner tree to the said Land of Woods extending thence East 40 poles to a red Oak standing on the side of the said mountain thence North 27 d[degrees] East 30 poles to a Red oak thence North 47 West 322 Poles to a marked red Oak the Line of the main Tract of Land thence South seventeen degrees 110 poles to a red oak on a hill thence South 45 East 202 Poles to the beginning.

21 Sep 1732 - Prince William County, VA ^[5] - Recorded 21 Sep 1732, Release, Bargain and Sale: Richard Wood of Prince William, planter, the same 100 acres as the lease above to Thomas Thems, for consideration of 10 lbs. Witnesses: Cavan Dulaney, Thomas Barton, William Piercy. Richard's wife Martha releases dower. Description of land: Beginning at a marked white oak standing on the side of the Kiteckton mountain Corner tree to the said Land of Woods extending thence East 40 poles to a red Oak standing on the side of the said mountain thence North 27 d[degrees] East 30 poles to a Red oak thence North 47 West 322 Poles to a marked red Oak the Line of the main Tract of Land thence South seventeen degrees 110 poles to a red oak on a hill thence South 45 East 202 Poles to the beginning.

15 Nov 1732 - Survey for William Godfrey of Prince William County for 5,122 acres of land, partially adjoining Thos Tims, also spelled Thims.^[6]

Notes on geographic location in historical context: Kiteckton Mountain is likely Catoctin Mountain, which presently traverses Frederick County, MD southwestward into Loudoun County, VA. At the time the 1732 leases and sales were made, Prince William County encompassed all of the northern portion of Virginia, but was divided to form Fairfax County in 1742, and Loudoun County was formed from Fairfax County in 1757.

1734 - Prince William County, VA Deed Book Liber D p 117-119^[7]: 28 Jan 1734, recorded 21 Sep 1732, Lease: Thomas Thems* of Prince William, planter, to John Mead*, Carpenter, of said County and Henry Ballinger of Monoqasie [Monocacy] in Prince Georges County in the province of Maryland, planter, consideration of 5 shillings silver, plus one grain of Indian corn each year for 3 years on the 10th of December, the same 100 acres as the lease above from Wood to Thems. Witnesses: Amos Janney, John Gordon, Richard Abrill.

Important information about the recording of this lease, immediately beneath the witnesses and Thomas's signature, is written:

At a Court continued & held for Prince William County the eighteenth day of July 1734.

This Lease from Thomas Thems planter & Mercy his wife to John Mead, Carpenter, was proved by the Oaths of Richard Abrill & John Gordon two of the witnesses thereto which on the motion of the said John Mead is Ordered to be Certified.

Test. Catesby Cooke Clk

At a Court held for Prince William County May 28, 1739. This Lease was further proved by the Solemn Affirmation of Amos Janney a Quaker one of the Witnesses hereto to be the Act & deed of Thomas Thems & was thereupon admitted to Record.

Test. Catesby Cooke Clk

*The clerk who copied the lease into the deed book writes all his lower-case "e" identically as his lower-case "o" - such that "year" is spelled "yoar", "sovereign" is spelled "sovoroign," etc. Since the property in the deed immediately above is the same as the property sold by Wood to Thems, "Thomas Thoms" as it appears in the deed books is "Thomas Thems."

1734 - Prince William County, VA Deed Book Liber D p 119-122: 29 Jan "in the year of our Lord God one thousand seven hundred & thirty three four," recorded 18 Jul 1734, Release, Bargain and Sale: Thomas Thems planter & Mercy his wife to John Mead of the said County Carpenter and Henry Ballinger of Monoqusie in Prince George's County in the province of Maryland Planter, in consideration of the sum of forty pounds, the same land described above but with additional clarification as such, "all that tract or parcel of land lying & being on the branches of Kittockton run amongst the broken hills about ten miles from Goose Creek..." Witnesses: Amos Janney, John Gordon, Richd Abrill. Signed by both Thomas Thems and Mercy Thems. Note: In the margin at the beginning of this deed, the deed is noted as "Thems To Mead & Ballinger Release. Augt 9th 1740 [illeg.] dd Jno Mead [further confirming the written o's are actually e's]

And the recording of the deed:

At a Court continued & held for Prince William County the eighteenth day of July 1734.

This Release from Thomas Thems planter and Mercy his wife to John Mead Carpenter was provied by the Oaths of Richard Abrill & John Gordon two of the witnesses thereto which on the motion of the said Mead is Ordered to be Certified.

Test. Catesby Cooke Clk

At a Court held for Prince William County May 28, 1739.

This Release was further proved by the Solemn Affirmation of Amos Janney a Quaker one of the witnesses hereto to be the Act & deed of Thomas Thems and Mercy his wife and was thereupon admitted to Record.

Test. Catesby Cooke Clk

A note of interest: Amos Janney, the Quaker, does not affirm the signatures of Thomas and Mercy until five years after the date of the deed. About Amos Janney, the Quaker and the movements of Quakers into Virginia: According to "Quaker Migration from Pennsylvania and New Jersey to Hopewell Monthly Meeting, 1732-1759," by Thomas H. Fawcett, published in Bulletin of Friends' Historical Association (August 1937, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 102-108) (available on JSTOR.com) in about 1732, Amos Janney led a group of Quakers from the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (encompassing areas of Pennsylvania and New Jersey) the short distance south to Prince William County VA, where the Hopewell Monthly Meeting was founded, and from it within a few short years (due to so many Quakers following Janney), additional meetings sprang from Hopewell. Unfortunately, in 1759 all the Hopewell Monthly Meeting records were burned in a fire. Also according Fawcett's article, prior to Janney's migration, in 1725, Josiah and Henry Ballinger from Salem Monthly Meeting in West Jersey settled in Maryland at Monocacy, which was near the Potomac. The distance from the Monocacy settlement to the Hopewell settlement was "scarcely fifty miles, and several of the first settlers at Hopewell lived previously at Monocacy." Fawcett continues that in 1730, the Nottingham Monthly Meeting petitioned the Governor and Council of Virginia for a grant of 100,000 acres on Opequon Creek in the Shenandoah Valley, which they would receive provided that they seat 1 family per 1,000 acres. Two years later, they provided proof of 70 families and received grants of 70,000 acres. Other petitions by Quakers were made for the same purpose, in the same region of the Shenandoah. The new settlement was called the Hopewell Monthly Meeting, finally formally established in 1735. Members from the Nottingham Monthly Meeting who were living in the bounds of the Hopewell Monthly Meeting in 1735 became members of Hopewell without record of transfer being made since it was merely a matter of boundary changes. Among them was a name familiar to Thames (et al) researchers: Stephen Hollingsworth. Also transferred was Henry Ballinger (presumably of the above deeds). After 1744, however, the next southward Quaker migration took place, to North Carolina, primarily to Cane Creek and New Garden Monthly meetings.

9 Apr 1740 - A land survey and warrant in Prince William Co VA for Catesby Cocke and John Mercer, 5,985 acres (or 5,122 acres - there was a bit of conflict about it). Thomas Thims is mentioned as an adjoining property, although his property also refers to Richard Wood. The survey also shows "Timms Br. of the Kittocktin."^[8]

Mar 1733 - Another record for Marcy: In the New Jersey minutes of the Little Egg Harbor Monthly Meeting Women's minutes (Ocean County), in the second month 1733 (which would be April), "their was request made for a cirtificate for Marcy Thims this meeting apoints Abigal Cramer and Margary Recange to inquier into her conversation and mak Report to the next meeting." But at the next meeting and subsequent meetings, there is no report. Is it possible she was requesting a certificate so she could transfer to a new monthly meeting? Possibly to the burgeoning meeting in Prince William County, Virginia?

Core Sound Monthly Meeting was in the vicinity of New Bern, NC. In the Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, vol. 1, the earliest dates for records for individuals at the Core Sound MM, which included Quaker Meeting Houses in both Carteret and Craven Counties, are for the following individuals (these are the earliest records in Hinshaw's entries for Core Sound, even though Core Sound was established by 1733, per Hinshaw) :

1737- William Hill and wife received on certificate

1738 - Marcy Thems, cert read in mtg. [This means, based on my research, that she received a certificate from the monthly meeting she left and it was read at her new monthly meeting, Core Sound]

That's it. The next record for Core Sound Monthly Meeting is dated 1741.

1741 - Beaufort Co NC - William Carruthers sells 55 acres to Walter Morgain, part of the description being at the fork of Browns Creek, beginning at a mark'd pine at the mouth of a small branch a little below Thems lower landing..." The deed is dated 10 Sep 1741, witnessed by Thomas Thems and Wm Feps.^[9] Because of the reference to "Thems lower landing," it implies that he already owns land there.

1741 - Beaufort Co NC - William Carruthers sells 80 acres to Thomas Thems. The land is described as "lying & being on the east side of the head of Browns Creek in Beaufort County begining at the mouth of a gut, between sd Thems & William Conaways..." This deed is also dated 10 Sep 1741, and is witnessed by Wm Feps and Walter Morgan.^[10]

The above two deeds reference land that Thomas is already in possession of - but records of his acquiring and/or selling this land have not yet been located. I continue searching.

1744 - Thomas purchases, in Craven County, from William Wilkinson, 100 acres on Flat Swamp.^[11] This parcel of land he wills to his son Thomas, who sells it to James Caddell in 1762.^[12]

1748 - In the Craven County, NC County Court Minutes, Thos. Thems is listed as a grand juror for the Court of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions 1742-1748 (Book III 644-45 - this book is not online and I am quoting from "The Thames Family of North Carolina Circa 1735 to 1850" by Walter S. and Maxine C. Gabennesch, second edition 15 Nov 2006, of which I have a copy).

After this, we find Thomas purchasing land in Bladen County in 1750, and the history from this point on is well documented.

What are we to make of this Thomas Thems and his wife Mercy? Circle back to the Quaker record of Mercy Thems' certificate being read at the Core Sound Monthly Meeting (Carteret County NC) in the 10th month of 1738, which would be December. Could she perhaps be Mercy the first wife of our Thomas Thames of the Prince William County VA deeds? After all, we don't know when Thomas married Prudence, so Prudence could very well have been a second wife. After Thomas and Mercy sold their 100 acres in VA in 1734, where did they go? There are no further deeds for Thomas in Prince William County, albeit Deed Book C (1736-1737) is missing. As we know, Thomas had a daughter named Marcy, but 1738 is far too early for his daughter to be having a letter read at a monthly meeting.

Core Sound Monthly Meeting (Carteret County) had seven subordinate meetings - see if any records can be found: Core Creek (within a few miles of Core Sound MM house) Clubfoot Creek (within a few miles of Core Sound MM house) Beaufort (within a few miles of Core Sound MM house) Upper Trent - Craven Co Lower Trent - Craven Co Bath Mattamuskeet (north of the Pamlico River)

References: Seth B. and Mary Edith Hinshaw, eds., Carolina Quakers (1972) Seth B. Hinshaw, The Carolina Quaker Experience (1984) Francis C. Anscombe, I Have Called You Friends (1959) Pat Dula Davis and Kathleen Hill Hamilton, eds., The Heritage of Carteret County, North Carolina, Volume I (1982)

Sources

1. ↑ North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, loose wills, item 5200.11.590, also available on FamilySearch by this hyperlink
2. ↑ Bladen Co NC Deed Book 1738-1779 p 337 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L98M-697G?i=340&cat=330546
3. ↑ Bladen Co NC Deed Book 1738-1779 p 337[1]
4. ↑ Prince William Co VA Deed Book A p 386
5. ↑ Prince William Co VA Deed Book Liber A, p 366-368
6. ↑ Virginia State Land Office, Northern Neck Grants - Loose grants and warrants collection
7. ↑ Prince William County, VA Deed Book Liber D p 117-119
8. ↑ Virginia State Land Office, Northern Neck Grants - Loose grants and warrants collection
9. ↑ Beaufort Co NC Deed Book 2 p 415[2]
10. ↑ Beaufort Co NC Deed Book 2 p 416[3]
11. ↑ Craven Co NC Deed Book 3 page 52-53[4]
12. ↑ Craven Co NC Deed Book 2 p 514[5]

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 11 June 2017, 00:53), entry for Thomas Thames(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:MHD1-243); contributed by various users.
• https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/thames/522/

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Barbara Corley for creating WikiTree profile Thames-117 through the import of export-BloodTree.ged on May 12, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Barbara and others.