Thomas Nash (bef. 1588 - 1658)

Born before 27 Mar 1588 in Bewdley, Worcestershire, England [uncertain]

Husband of Margery (Baker) Nash — married about 1609 in Worcestershire, England

Descendants

Died 12 May 1658 after age 70 in New Haven, New Haven Colony

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Thomas Nash migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 237) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

This profile is part of the Nash Name Study.

This is the profile for Thomas Nash, who emigrated to the New Haven Colony in 1639.

Parentage; Date and Place of Birth

Thomas was very probably the Thomas Nashe, son of Thomas Nashe, who was baptized in Ribbesford, Worcestershire, England on 27 March 1588.^[1] Ribbesford is a small village adjacent to Bewdley, Worcestershire. At the time, St. Leonard's Church in Ribbesford was the parish church for both Ribbesford and Bewdley.^[2] Since an 1844 pedigree of the family of Thomas' wife states that Thomas Nash was "of Bewdley",^[3] it is perhaps more likely that Thomas' family lived in Bewdley rather than Ribbesford.

Thomas Nash in Leiden, Holland -- Mistaken Identity

There was a Thomas Nash among the Pilgrims in the church in exile, at Leiden, Holland, as evidenced by a letter from the Leiden church which he cosigned, dated 30 Nov 1625.^[4] A further reference to this Thomas Nash in The England and Holland of the Pilgrims by Henry Martyn Dexter.^[5] This states he had different wives Margaret Porter and Margaret Stuart. The last sentence mentions that this Thomas was witness to his step-son Simon Stuarts wedding 17 May 1640.^[6] So this could not possibly the immigrant to New Haven.

Journey to New England - 1639

Thomas Nash and his fellow immigrants sailed from London, about 20 May 1639, (with the 25 men who signed the Guilford Covenant during the voyage^[7]), arriving with his wife, Margery (Baker) Nash, and their five children, in Quinnipiac Harbor (later known as New Haven Harbor) between July 6 and 10th, 1639.^[8] Thomas Nash first settled at Guilford, 1639.^[9]

Signed the Fundamental Agreement Jun 4, 1639

On the ship with the Nash Family was the Rev Henry Whitefield's party, who settled Guilford.^[4] On Jun 4, 1639, Thomas "Naish" was one of the signers to the Fundamental Agreement, pledging loyalty to each other and to be ruled by law of God, made aboard ship on the voyage to Quinnipiac.^[4]

A Gunsmith in New Haven

Thomas Nash removed from Guildford to New Haven.^[9] New Haven, Col. Rec., (I, p. 82) says: "brother Nash his shoppe did stand by the creeks." His house was on the west side of State Street in New Haven. He was a gunsmith, and probably well advanced in life at the time of the emigration, for his eldest son John was old enough to be made Freeman, April, 1642, and in his will of August 1st, 1657, he mentions his old age.^[4] He was chosen a Fence Viewer "for Mr. Eatons & Mr. Davenports quarter", March, 1645/6. The General Court ordered on May 25, 1646: "In regard of severall occassions and worke to be done agaynst trayning day, bro: Nash is spared." ^[4]

Marriage and Children

Thomas Nash married Margery Baker, daughter of Nicholas Baker and Mary Hodgetts,^[3] in England. Based on the date of baptism of their first child, they were probably married about 1609. Based on the baptism records of their children, the couple originally settled in Oldswinford, Worcestershire, then the home town of Margery's family and about 1616 moved to back to Ribbesford/Bewdley, Worcestershire (perhaps upon Thomas' inheritance of his family's estate).

Children of Thomas and Margery Nash:^[10]

1. Mary, bpt. 14 January 1609/10 at Oldswinford, Worcestershire,^[11] married Roger Allen/Alling about 1643.^[12]
2. Sarah, bpt. 11 August 1611 at Oldswinford, Worcestershire,^[13]married Robert Talmage.^[14]
3. Judeth, bpt. 25 December 1612 at Oldswinford, Worcestershire, bur. 2 January 1614/5 at Oldswinford, Worcestershire^[15]
4. John, bpt. 1 October 1615 at Oldswinford, Worcestershire;^[16] married Elizabeth Tapp; achieved military rank of major; lived in New Haven; served in various town offices for decades. ^[17]
5. Timothy, bpt. 15 February 1617/8 at Ribbesford, Worcestershire,^[18] bur. 21 July 1618 at Ribbesford^[19]
6. Joseph, bpt. 15 February 1617/8 at Ribbesford, Worcestershire,^[20] presumably died before July 1619
7. Joseph, bpt. 4 July 1619 at RIbbesford, Worcestershire;^[21] called sergeant; lived in Hartford, Connecticut; married Mary _____, then Margaret _____. (One of his wives may have had the maiden name of "Norton".)^[22]
8. Timothy, bpt. 1 July 1627 at Ribbesford, Worcestershire;^[23] achieved rank of lieutenant; settled in Hadley, Massachusetts.^[24]
9. Samuel, bpt. 29 March 1630/1 at Ribbesford, Worcestershire^[25]

Margery died between 11 Feb 1655 and 1 Aug 1657; Thomas died 12 May 1658. ^[10]

Thomas' will is dated 1 August 1657 and his inventory was taken on 6 July 1658.^[26]

Thomas is buried at Center Church on the Green Churchyard, New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut, USA ^[27]

Research Notes

Original Documents Establish Arrival in 1639

Mistaken date and ship: "Thomas came on the good ship, Hector arriving Boston on July 26, 1637...", as cited from Records of the Descendants of Thomas Nash of New Haven, Connecticut, 1640, compiled by Rev. Sylvester Nash, (1853) page 13. The date and ship Thomas Nash arrived on - Hector in 1637 - are supplanted and corrected by research published in 1897.

In A history of the plantation of Menunkatuck and of the original town of Guilford, Connecticut : comprising the present towns of Guilford and Madison], (cited by R.C. Anderson), by Bernard Christian Steiner, (1897), page 24-26, letters and diaries of the times show Thomas Nash arriving on the unnamed ship at New Haven Harbor (not Boston) between the 6th and 10th of July, 1639.

The ship Hector did indeed arrive in 1637 at Boston -- only Thomas Nash was not on it.

Quinnipiac or New Haven

Note:^[28] New Haven was so named in 1640. When Thomas Nash arrived in 1639 it was still called Quinnipiac, as was the river which emptied into the harbor. The river is still called Quinnipiac, after the tribe of Indians who were endemic to that area before the arrival of Europeans.

Notes on Thomas Nash, by Earnest Flagg

Note: Genealogical Notes on the Founding of New England, page 245:

Savage says he was of Guilford in 1639, but this is probably a mistake. (Steiner's History of Guilford, 1897, pp. 23, 29, 48.)

The first date attached to his name at New Haven, is "1st of the 7th Moneth 1640", when he was admitted member of the General Court and received the charge of Freeman.^[29]

Before emigration, he was a member of the church in Leiden, Holland, and was one of five who wrote an interesting letter (given in full on pages 155, 156 & 157 of vol. 1 of the 4th Series of the Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1852.) from there, Nov. 30, 1625, to their brethren in Plymouth, informing them of the death of John Robinson, Pastor of the church, which included in its membership the planters in Plymouth as well as those left.

Sources

1. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NY9C-FQ9 : 5 February 2023), Thomas Nashe, 1588.
2. ↑ "St. Leonard's, RIbbesford, nr. Bewdley", achurchnearyou.com. Accessed on 11 Feb 2024.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} County Genealogies, Pedigrees of Hertfordshire Families. Collected by William Berry. J.R. Smith, 1844. pp. 83-84. Link to page at hathitrust.org.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4} Genealogical Notes On the Founding of New England, 1629-1640 by Earnest Flagg, (1926), page 245
5. ↑ at Google books p. 626
6. ↑ Verified at openarchives. Heritage Leiden and environs in Leiden (Netherlands), Church records marriages Schepenhuwelijken (1592-1795), Part: 199, Period: 1633-1646, Leiden, archive 1004, inventory number 199, April 17, 1640, Trouwen Gerecht C. juli 1633 - juli 1646., folio C - 122 https://www.openarch.nl/elo:898d4636-ca03-32d1-035f-767e691bf241
7. ↑ Note: History of The Colony of New Haven by Edward Atwater (1902) p. 626 says "It is stated in the John Stone Family Genealogy (189 ), p. 150 that the first ship, the St. John, commanded by Captain Russell, sailed ... He probably meant The family of John Stone, one of the first settlers of Guilford, Conn by William Leete Stone but p. 150 does not list the ship.
8. ↑ A history of the plantation of Menunkatuck and of the original town of Guilford, Connecticut : comprising the present towns of Guilford and Madison, by Bernard Christian Steiner, (1897), pages 24 - 26
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Anderson, Robert Charles, F.A.S.G., The Great Migration Directory, page 237
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} Descendants of Thomas Nash, p. 18
11. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NYPT-H4G : 4 February 2023), Mary Nashe, 1609.
12. ↑ Descendants of Thomas Nash, p. 19
13. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J372-LH8 : 4 February 2023), Sara Nashe, 1611.
14. ↑ Descendants of Thomas Nash, pp. 23-24
15. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NYPT-M95 : 4 February 2023), Judeth Nashe, 1612.
16. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NGT1-VZX : 4 February 2023), John Nashe, 1615.
17. ↑ Descendants of Thomas Nash, pp. 19-23.
18. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JQD9-LLB : 5 February 2023), Timothy Nash, 1617.
19. ↑ Parish Burials, St. Leonard, Ribbesford, Worcestershire, National Burial Index for England & Wales. Record available on findmypast.com.
20. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NVVD-TQ5 : 5 February 2023), Joseph Nash, 1617.
21. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NVVD-BLC : 5 February 2023), Joseph Nash, 1619.
22. ↑ Descendants of Thomas Nash, pp. 24-26
23. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NY9C-N7M : 5 February 2023), Tymothy Nash, 1627.
24. ↑ Descendants of Thomas Nash, pp. 26-29.
25. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JQD9-LX5 : 5 February 2023), Samuell Nash, 1630.
26. ↑ “New Haven Probate Records, Vol. 1-2, 1647-1703”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L92K-G9NY-3 : 5 March 2021), New Haven, Connecticut, FHL microfilm 007626739, image 49. New Haven Probate Record, 1647-1687, Vol. 1, Part 1, page 76-77.
27. ↑ Thomas Nash, Find A Grave.
28. ↑ New Haven Colony, Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
29. ↑ Records of the colony and plantation of New-Haven, from 1638 to 1649], by New-Haven Colony; New Haven (Conn.); Hoadly, Charles J. (1857), page 40

See also:

• Anderson, Robert Charles, F.A.S.G., The Great Migration Directory, (Boston, Massachusetts, NEHGS, 2015), "Concise entries for all immigrant families for the entirety of the Great Migration, from 1620 to 1640." Includes all entries from The Great Migration Series, the Study Project, The Pilgrim Migration 1620-1633 and the The Winthrop Fleet 1629-1630. Thomas Nash page 237
• Gertrude Nash Locke. Lives and Times of the Nash family. Watertown, Mass., Eaton Press, 1971.
• Nash, Rev. Sylvester. The Nash Family, or, Records of The Descendants of Thomas Nash, of New Haven, Connecticut, 1640 (Case, Tiffany, Hartford, 1853) Page 267: Last Will and Testament
• A history of the plantation of Menunkatuck and of the original town of Guilford, Connecticut : comprising the present towns of Guilford and Madison, database online at Archive.org, by Bernard Christian Steiner from the manuscripts of the Hon. Ralph Dunning Smyth, (Baltimore, self-published, 1897), page 24-26 [cited by Robert Charles Anderson in The Great Migration Directory, (2015), page 237]
• New Haven, CT: Families of Ancient New Haven. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as New Haven genealogical magazine. vols. I-VIII. Compiled by Donald Lines Jacobus. 8 vols. Rome, New York: Clarence D. Smith, 1923-1932. Vol 6, Page 1312 [cited by Anderson in The Great Migration Directory, page 237]
• County genealogies, pedigrees of Hertfordshire families. Collected by William Berry. Transferred from his own hand writing and printed in lithography by Fredk. Alvey. (London, J.R. Smith, 1844), page 83
• Ancestry.com. Genealogical Notes On the Founding of New England, 1629-1640, [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007. Original data: Ernest Flagg. Genealogical Notes On the Founding of New England. My Ancestors Part in that Undertaking. Baltimore, Maryland: Reprinted for Clearfield Company, Inc. by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1990, 1996. Original copyright: 1926. Page 245, 309, 41, 50
• Records of the colony and plantation of New-Haven, from 1638 to 1649, at Archive.org, by New-Haven Colony; New Haven (Conn.); Hoadly, Charles J. (Charles Jeremy), (1857), (Hartford, Printed by Case, Tiffany and Company), page 40 [cited by Anderson in The Great Migration Directory, page 237]
• Topographical Dictionary of 2885 English Emigrants to New England, 1620-1650. Repository: http://www.Ancestry.com.
• Nareen, et al. "Thomas Nash". Find A Grave Memorial #12315984. Accessed July 26, 2014.
• Vital Records of New Haven, 1649-1850 (Order of the Founders and Patriots of America. Connecticut Society, 1917) Vol. 1, Page 4.