Thomas Leighton/Layton -- Great Migration lookup request

Question

If someone has a moment, can you lookup Thomas Leighton in the Great Migration Directory?  There was a Thomas Layton/Leighton in Dover, New Hampshire in 1640 who married Joanna Silsby in 1643.  There is also recorded a Thomas Layton entered as freeman on March 14, 1639 in Massachusetts.  Perhaps these are both the same person?

Answer 1

GMD p. 207: Unknown; 1640; Dover [NHPP 1:128, 10:701 40:6; Perley Leighton, A Leighton Genealogy: Desc. of Thomas... 2 volumes Boston, 1989] Source key  No listing for Thomas Layton

I've had my name on the waiting list for Volume I of the Leighton Genealogy for a looooong time.

Comments

Thanks.  So I guess Thomas should get the PGM box?

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I didn't realize there were books that had long waiting lists at ArXiv.  I'm surprised there's that much depand, so I wonder if one person just made a bunch of accounts and added themselves to the list repeatedly.

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I've had other books that I'm sure are in demand. But I'm amazed that Leighton is one of them. I had it once, but at the time it was just a use it book, so I didn't get everything I needed because I knew I could go back. Except when I went back it had become a borrow only.

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And yes he should get the PgM box. I've added it and the project account. Thank you

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Ann,

I assume by now 5 years later you've managed to get access to that book you mentioned. But in the odd chance that you didn't this is a link to a scanned copy available via the Internet archive

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL2194368M/A_Leighton_genealogy

From a quick perusal it seems to me that the author was not entirely sure of Thomas's origins either except that they were pretty sure that logically Alexander would not be the father.

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Yes. Thank you. I did eventually get to borrow it.

Answer 2

Note that the Robert Leighton who married Anne Devereux (the parents) was the son of Thomas Leighton MP (1554-1600) of Wattlesborough in Shropshire. (theperage.com p496940) Cites Burke's Peerage. For Thomas Leighton see History of Parliament online. Nothing to do with Glasgow. Perhaps Robert and his son should be detached from Anne Devereux so that she can have the correct husband.

Comments

The claim seems to be that the immigrant Thomas was indeed a son of Robert Leighton of Wattlesborough.

I suspect there's no source for it, just as there was no source for the previous claim that he came from Scotland.

The internet is trying to merge two incompatible theories, as it does.

Answer 3

Barry, the short answer is no, they aren't the same. Thomas Leighton of Dover is not the Thomas Lettyne (Laighton, Layton, Laughton) of Lynn, Mass. (b. about 1612, d. Aug. 8, 1697) who was on the list of freemen in 1639. I made a guess and at the first try I found him in WikiTree already, under the name Thomas Laughton (Laughton-85) only the profile doesn't seem to know much about him. His descendants were Laughtons.  You can probably find him in:
Charles Evans Banks, Planters of the Commonwealth
Charles Pope, Pioneers of Massachusetts
Charles Evans Banks, Topographical Dictionary
John Savage, Genealogical Dictionary of New England
Sorry I didn't keep the page numbers.
I hope that helped.
Pauline Layton