Thomas Williams (1672 - 1724)

Born 16 Feb 1672 in Mashaupaug, Providence, Rhode Island

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Blackmar) Williams — married about 1700 (to 1 Jul 1717) in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island

Descendants

Died 27 Aug 1724 at age 52 in Providence, Rhode Island

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Patrick Tierney [send private message]

Biography

Thomas Williams, son of Joseph and Lydia (Olney) Williams and grandson of Providence founder Roger Williams, was born in Providence in about 1672, and died there on 27 Aug 1724. 1724 is both the date of his will, and of his death.

Torrey's "New England Marriages to 1700" documents Thomas's marriage to Mary Blackmar, daughter of James & Mary Blackmar (her parentage inscribed on her tombstone); Torrey's reference to her as "1/wf" hints at a second marriage, but no documentation of a second union has yet been found and an unsourced second marriage to "Hannah Sprague" originally shown in this profile has been removed.

Mary (Blackmar) Williams died in 1717, her husband surviving her until 1724; both are buried in the Williams family cemetery at Providence.

Research Notes

Thomas Williams is a very common name. This man lived in Providence, Rhode Island; all his children were born in Rhode Island, and his wife died there as well. For the Thomas Williams of Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts who died there on 3 February 1757, see Thomas Williams. The death information in this profile has been returned to the date originally shown, 27 August 1724.

A second, unsourced marriage originally shown in this profile, to Hannah Sprague, is also shown -- again without any primary source offered for the marriage, her birth, or her death -- in a tree at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:3ZRR-X91. It is perhaps possible that there is some confusion with Hannah Coggeshall, later Hawkins, then Sprague; however, the tree sidebar for Hannah shows a 1718 marriage to Thomas, and Hannah (Coggeshall) Sprague was at that time already remarried to Jonathan Sprague, Jr. ... who lived until 1764.

The tree may in its turn be reliant on an unsourced claim in "A Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas Olney", by James H. Olney, Press of E.L. Freeman & Son, 1889, p. 14 (see https://archive.org/details/genealogyofdesce1889olne/page/14). The presence of the claim in the Olney genealogy lends it some credence, as the original source might be a family record of some kind, but no reference is made to such a source. The Sprague Genealogy (see https://archive.org/stream/spraguefamiliesi00spra/spraguefamiliesi00spra_djvu.txt ; p. 511) offers one possible candidate for this Hannah, but without any details of birth or marriage: Hannah, daughter of "William Sprague, of Fairfield, Conn., immigrant, b. prob. before 1660, m. prob. before 1680, Hannah dau. of Humphrey and Ann (- ) Hide. His first appearance on the records of Fairfield was Oct. 23, 1680"; a son, Humphrey, was born 5 June 1680 (chr. 8 June; see [1]), Hannah was presumably born thereafter (possibly this is the daughter b. 1683 but shown as "Ann"; see [2]; Ann, however, m. Joseph Ogden). William evidently "sold all his estate, real and personal, Jan. 25, 1697-8, and removed elsewhere. , (Ref. Hist. Fairfield, Conn., 1889, Schenck, i, 411.)"; it is conceivable, but only speculative, that the family might have removed to Providence or its environs.

Sources

• Marriage (to Mary Blackman/Blackmar): 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/rd/21176/1684/426910456 (subscription required)

• Death: Rhode Island: Vital Records, 1636-1850. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014), Originally Published as: Vital record of Rhode Island 1636-1850: First Series: births, marriages and deaths: a family register for the people, by James N. Arnold. Providence, RI: Narragansett Historical Publishing Company; https://www.americanancestors.org/DB532/rd/14342/1-278/260633750 (subscription required); see also: Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 24 October 2018), memorial page for Thomas Williams, Sr (16 Feb 1672–27 Aug 1724), Find A Grave Memorial no. 59710168, citing Williams Family Cemetery, Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave (contributor 8); https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/59710168/thomas-williams

• Birth and lineage: "Ancestry of Thirty-Three Rhode Islanders Born in the 18th Century", Albany, N.Y, by John Osborne Austin, Joel Munsell's Sons, Albany, NY, 1889: chart: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015028775222&view=1up&seq=79&size=150

• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=sargent-sergent&id=I85723

• Bertha Williams Anthony, "Roger Williams of Providence, R.I.", Published by Mrs. C. W. Bertha Williams Anthony, 1949::

• James Savage, "Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England", Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co. 1977 (4 vols)

• John Osborne Austin, "The Ancestral Dictionary", 1891

• Elizabeth Bushnell Williams, "Descendants of Roger Williams Book IV Through Joseph Williams", 2009

• The genealogical dictionary of Rhode Island : comprising three generations of settlers who came before 1690 : with many families carried to the fourth generation by Austin, John Osborne, 1849-1918 (pg21); Published 1887 (available from Archive.org)