Thomas Gridley (1612 - 1655)

Born 10 Apr 1612 in Essex, England

Husband of Mary D. (Seymour) Langdon — married 29 Sep 1644 in Hartford, Connecticut

Descendants

Died 12 Jun 1655 at age 43 in Farmington, Hartford, Connecticut Colony

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Thomas Gridley migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 141) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

The Gridley motto was “Devant si je puis” – “ahead, if I can.” The Gridley Coat of Arms appears in Burke's “General Armory,” 1884.

THOMAS GRIDLEY (1612 - 1655) Thomas Gridley, the son of Thomas and Hannah Gridley of Essex, ^{[citation needed]}

It has been claimed that Thomas Gridley came to New England in 1633 on the ship Griffin, with Thomas Hooker and company, went to Hartford with Hooker, removed to Windsor and then returned to Hartford. However, there is no proof of this and this is surmised because he was an early settler in Hartford. However, there are no known records in New England for Thomas prior to 1637.

Thomas Gridley was sent from Windsor in 1637 as one of thirty men to the "Pequot Fight" (Pequot War) under Capt. Mason.^[1] May of 1637 was a decisive month in this Indian War. Gridley is one of fourteen out of thirty men who can be named as coming from Windsor. His heirs received a grant of 120 acres of land for these services on October 12, 1671.^[2]

Thomas Gridley, of Windsor, was complained against in General Court in Hartford on September 5, 1639 for refusing a watch, for strong suspicion of drunkeness, for contemptuous words against the orders of the Court, and for quarreling with and striking one of Mr. Stiles' man. He was censored, to be whipped at Hartford and bound to his good behavior, for which he entered £10.^[3]

He was granted land at Hartford in 1639 'by courtesie of the town,"^[4][5] and was given a grant of 6 acres.^[6] His home lot, designated on the Map of Hartford 1640, # 149. His various land holdings were recorded starting in 1639.^[7][8]

"Thomas Gridla was maryed unto Mary Simmor upon Septm the twenty Nine one thousand six hundreth forty & fower."^[9][10][11] Mary may have been the Mary born on 19 December 1619 in Devonshire, the daughter of Richard Seymour and Mercy Rashleigh. She was known to have been of Norman descent, her ancestry tracing back to Seymour, the “Proud Duke of Somerset.”^{[citation needed]}

After his marriage to Mary Seymour, Thomas Gridley sold his home to Thomas Bunch, and established a new home on the "south side of the road from George Stubbs to the South Meadow." Thomas Gridley was a member of the First Church in Hartford. He is known to have been in conflict with John Clark, since John presumably succeeded in securing the most desirable pew of the church which both men attended. This led to an altercation with the law similar to what Thomas Gridley had experienced in Windsor. When Thomas Gridley passed John Clark's servant on the street, he took his wrath out on the servant by publicly whipping him. For this offense Gridley was arrested, tried and convicted. He was to pay a fine arid suffer a term of imprisonment. However, the court record reads: “Fine cancelled and sentence commuted.”^{[citation needed]}

31 Jan 1648, Thomas was chosen as surveyor of Hartford for the following year^[12] 4 Feb 1650 he was chosen as a chimney viewer.^[13]

On October 3, 1653 he was present at a Proprietor 5 meeting in Springfield, Mass., indicating that he had an interest in property in Northampton. He apparently left Northampton and returned to the Hartford area at Farmington, Conn. where he died on June 12, 1655. ^{[citation needed]}

Will An Inventory dated 12 June 1655 was recorded in Probate Court (Conn. Col. Probate, Vol. 2, p. 60). On December 12, 1655 the Inventory valued his estate at 282# 12s 06p.

The one page Inventory listed items such as: one feather bed with a canvas bed under it, one rug, 2 baskets and a mat, one bedstead, house feather pillows, one trundle bed and bedding for it, one table, two chests and two boxes, one warming pan and basket, one cubbard with clock and 3 chairs, a supply of paper, 6 pillow cases, 3 table cloths and napkins and towels, 4 pairs of sheets and 1 sheet, 3 small remnants of stuff, other remnants, a fine lock piece, a shroud waist and handkerchief.

In the middle of the list was the item: "His wearing apparrell and mony in his purse..”

The continuing list included: a piece of new cloth linen, a candle with some other small things, hogsheads with some other tubbs, a kneading trough, corn measures, a fan with other things, flax and yarn and one blankett, augers and other small things, a supply of corn in the house, pewter and brass and iron pots, vessels of beans and vessels of meat, wheels, corn growing, cart wheels with plow and harrow, yoaks, chaines and irons, a beetle and wedge, axes, with other small implements.

“The house and barn and land to it were valued at 100#, swine at 2#, cattle at 7#. Debts from the estate totaled 7#. ^[14]

To the record was added on December 20, 1655:

"The children are as followeth: ye beginning of next month Samuell Gridly eight years old: Thomas Gridly was 5 years old about ye latter end of July last. Mary Gridly was 3 uears old about last miheltide.

"The distribution of ye estate on ye other side is as ffolloweth.

'To ye relict eighty pounds.

"To Sam: Gridly ye house Barns etc and Land to it prized at 100# when hee attaines ye Age of twenty one yeares.

"To Thomas Gridly sixty pounds when hee attaines of Age of 21 years.

"To Mary Gridly thirty five pounds when shee attaines ye Age of 18 years.

"John Lanchton is Addinitted Administrator to ye whole estate, and is to pay all Debts; well educate ye children, learning ye sonnes to read and write and ye daughter to read and sow well and to maintaine ye buildings and fences in good repaire till it falls into ye hands of Sam: Gridly or his next heires: The sd. John Lanchton being aliso to putt in good security to ye court in March next for ye payment of ye portions of Sam: and Mary Gridly, and for ye fair full performance of ye whole Administrations when they shall attaine their respective Ages. If ye mother of ye aforesd children shall so long live on to ye court if her death shall swift happen.

It being ye minde of this courte that if any of ye children shall depart this life before they shall attaine ye aforesd respective ages: theire portions shall equally bee devided betwixt ye surviving children, and if ye Relict departs this life before any or all ye children doe attaine their aforesd respective ages, or before their several portions bee paid them, their aforesd severall portions shall att ye death of their mother imediately returne into ye hands of ye courte to bee improved for theire respective Advantage and benef itt of education and otherwise.' ^[15]

Following Thomas Gridley's death in 1655 Mary Seymour Gridley married Deacon John Langdon of Farmington. Langdon was the man named in the Gridley Probate record as the administrator for the estate for paying off debts of Thomas Gridley and for providing for the education of sons Samuel and Thomas and daughter Mary. After Mary Seymour Gridley married Deacon John Langdon, the family moved from Hartford to Farmington.^{[citation needed]}

Children

• "Samewell Gridla, sun of Thomas Gridla was born ye twenty and fifth of Nouer 1647," in Hartford.^[16][17]
• Thomas Gridla sun of Thomas Gridla was borne the first week in August one thousand six hudreth and fifty," in Hartford.^[18][19]
• Mary

Research Notes

Thomas Boslooper, "The English Ancestry of Thomas Gridley of Windsor and Hartford, Connecticut (1612-1655)," Connecticut Nutmegger, 28 (1995):33-45, especially 44; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors, but see also fraud notes.

Hartford 1639: proprietor "by courtesie of town" home lot southside of the road from George Steele's to the South Meadow; was of Windsor 5 Sep 1639; one of thirty men sent from Windsor to the "Pequot fight" under Capt Mason; heirs received grant of fifty acre 12 Oct 1671. Was at a meeting of proprietors concerning settlement of Nonotuck (Northampton) held in Springfield 3 Oct 1653, but d. in Harford; inv. 12 Jun 1655 £282.12.6. Also early member first church, moved to Farmington. ^[20]

Sources

1. ↑ Bodge, George M., Soldiers in King Philip's war; being a critical account of that war, with a concise history of the Indian wars of New England from 1620-1677, official lists of the soldiers of Massachusetts colony serving in Philip's war, and sketches of the principal officers, copies of ancient documents and records relating to the war, also lists of the Narraganset grantees of the united colonies, Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut; with an appendix, 3d ed., Publisher Boston, Mass., Printed for the author
2. ↑ Trumbull, J. Hammond. (transcriber) The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut from 1665 to 1676; with the Journal of the Coucil of War 1675 to 1678... (Hartford: F A Brown, 1852.) AKA Colonial Records of Connecticut. Vol II.1665-1678. Google Books p 161
3. ↑ Trumbull, J. Hammond. (transcriber). The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut Prior to the Union with New Haven Colony May 1665. (Hartford: Brown and Parsons, 1850.) AKA Colonial Records of Connecticut. Volume I. 1636-1665 Google Books p 33
4. ↑ Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society (The Connecticut Historical Society and the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut, Hartford 1860-1928) Vol. 6 Hartford Town Votes Vol. 1 1635-1716 p. 20
5. ↑ Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society (The Connecticut Historical Society and the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut, Hartford 1860-1928) Vol. 14 Original Distribution of The Lands in Hartford Among the Settlers 1639 p. 501
6. ↑ Vol. 6 Hartford Town Votes p. 24
7. ↑ Vol 6 Town Votes p. 50
8. ↑ Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society (The Connecticut Historical Society and the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut, Hartford 1860-1928) Vol. 14 Original Distribution of The Lands in Hartford Among the Settlers 1639 See [370 p. 341, 342] and the [https://archive.org/details/collectionsofcon14conn/page/660/mode/2up index p. 660
9. ↑ Connecticut Historical Society, "Early Hartford Vital Records," Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society (Hartford, Conn. : Published for the Society, 1860), Vol. 14(1912):605. Archive.org
10. ↑ "Hartford Records." NEHGR 13:53.
11. ↑ [Vol. 14 Original Distribution of The Lands in Hartford Among the Settlers 1639 p. 605
12. ↑ [collectionsofcon06conn Vol 6 Hartford Town Votes p. 85.]
13. ↑ Vol 6 Hartford Town Votes p. 95
14. ↑ Connecticut Colonial Probate Records, Vol. 2, section 2 - Inventories and Wills, p. 86.
15. ↑ Connecticut Colonial Probate Records,Vol. 2, section 2 -- Inventories and Wills, p. 87.
16. ↑ Births, Marriages, and Deaths in Hartford. NEHGR 12:175
17. ↑ Vol. 14 Original Distribution of The Lands in Hartford Among the Settlers 1639 p. 578
18. ↑ Births, Marriages, and Deaths in Hartford. NEHGR 12:197
19. ↑ Vol. 14 Original Distribution of The Lands in Hartford Among the Settlers 1639 p. 582
20. ↑ Barbour, Lucius Barnes. Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. , 1977.) p. 286 Accessed at Ancestry ($)

See also--

• Barbour, Lucius Barnes, "Families of Early Hartford, Conn." Baltimore, 1977.
• Bickford, Christopher, "Farmington in Connecticut," Canaan, New Hampshire, Second Revised Edition, 1988 (First Edition 1982).
• Love, William DeLoss, "The Colonial History of Hartford," Hartford, 1974
• Savage, James, "Genealogical Dictionary of New England," Vol. 2.
• Stiles, Henry, "History and Genealogy of Ancient Windsor," 2 vols. Vol. 1 - 1895, Vol. 2 – 1892 Hartford, Connecticut.
• Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s about Thomas Gridley, Name: Thomas Gridley, Year: 1639, Place: Connecticut, Primary Immigrant: Gridley, Thomas, Source Bibliography: COLKET, MEREDITH B., JR. Founders of Early American Families: Emigrants from Europe, 1607-1657. Cleveland: General Court of the Order of Founders and Patriots of America, 1975. 366p. Page: 128
• Connecticut, Town Marriage Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection) about Thomas Gridley [Thomas Gridla] Marriage Date: 29 Sep 1644 Marriage Location: Hartford, Spouse: Mary Simmor
• http://www.foundersofhartford.org
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founders_of_Hartford,_Connecticut
• Seymour, George Dudley. The English Home and Ancestry of Richard Seamer Or Semer of Hartford, Conn. (Stanhope Press, Boston, 1917) Page 7

Other--

• Information on the English background of the Gridleys came from a genealogy of the Gridley family produced by Mary Gridley Bell of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, daughter of General Asahel Gridley, through the help of a genealogical service in Chicago, Ill. and through a search conducted by the Media Research Bureau of Washington, D.C. sponsored by the family of Rev. Harold Gridley of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Additional Gridleys in New York State, Illinois, California, and Idaho were provided by Mr Kenneth Gridley of San Jose, Ca.
• The Oneida County Record Center, Utica, New York and the Surrogate Court at Utica.
• The Columbia County Historical Society of Kinderhook, New York, Old Dutch Reformed Church of Kinderhook, N.Y.
• “The New England Historical and Genealogical Register” and the files of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at Family History Centers in Tampa and Largo, Florida.
• "Lineage Book" of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Vol. Li, 1904, Washington, D.C., 1919 and Vol. LXXII, 1909, Washington, D.C., 1924.
• "The Report of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan," Vol. III, Lansing, 1881.
• U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 about Thomas Gridley, Gender: Male, Spouse Name: Mary Seymour Spouse Birth Place: En Spouse Birth Year: 1614 Marriage Year: 1644 Number Pages: 1
• Descendants of Thomas Gridley, 10 APR 1612 - 12 JUN 1655; Outline Format" (table showing many descendants, with dates and locations, and for some of them, spouses)