Thomas Dutton (abt. 1621 - abt. 1687)

Born about 1621 in Dutton, Cheshire, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Ruth (Unknown) Dutton — married 10 Nov 1684 in Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died about 22 Jan 1687 at about age 66 in Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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Biography

Birth

Birth:

Date: Abt. 1621

Place: England

Death

Death:

Date: 1687

Place: Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Marriage

Thomas Dutton and Susannah _____ were married, likely in 1647 judging from the births of their children, perhaps in Lynn, or in Reading, or in Woburn, or in Billerica, but the wedding does not appear in the records of any of those towns. Many genealogies say her maiden name was Palmer, but no primary or other contemporary sources for that have been found.

Children

Thomas and Susannah had at least nine children, first one somewhere in Massachusetts Bay, next three in Reading,^[1] last five in Woburn^[2][3] All the birth records identify only the child's father, not the mother.

• Thomas Dutton, 14 Sep 1648
• Mary Dutton, b. 14 Sep 1651
• Susannah Dutton, b. 27 Feb 1653
• John Dutton, b. 2 Mar 1656
• Elizabeth Dutton, b. 28 Jan 1659
• Joseph Dutton, b. 25 Jan 1661, m. Rebecka Fitch in Reading 19 Aug 1685, then Mary Smith in 1693
• Sarah Dutton, b. 5 Mar 1662, m.__ Lewis
• James Dutten Dutton, b. 22 Aug 1665
• Benjamin Dutton, b. 19 Feb 1669

Thomas Dutton Sr. and Ruth Hooper, wid., of Redding, were married Nov. 10, 1684, in Billerica, Massachusetts^[4]

From Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania:

Thomas Dutton, son of John Dutton, was born in 1620, in Chester, England, and was ten years old when brought by his father to the colonies. He lived for a time in Reading, Massachusetts, and afterward in Woburn, finally settling in Billerica, where he was accepted as an inhabitant on November 22, 1669. He lived on the south side of Fox Brook, by an old road, long since abandoned, leading to the "Great Plain." In 1675 he was ordered by the selectmen to the house of the Rev. Samuel Whitling as one of the garrison during the Indian troubles of that year. His son Thomas was "In the Indian war at the East, and had a remarkable escape in 1677, when many were killed." (History of Reading, Massachusetts, and Billerica, Massachusetts.) Thomas Dutton married (first) Susannah , who died August 27, 1684, leaving the following children: Thomas, born in 1648; Mary, born November 14, 1651 ; Susannah, born February 27, 1654; John, born March 2, 1656; Elizabeth, born January 28, 1659; Joseph, mentioned below; Sarah, born March 5, 1662; James, born August 25, 1665 ; Benjamin, born February 19. 1669. Thomas Dutton married (second) Ruth, said by one authority to have been the daughter and by another the widow of William Hooper who died in 1678, leaving both widow and daughter by that name. NOTE: Ruth Hooper, Widow per marriage record.[1][2]

Thomas Dutton and his wife Susanna were in Reading by the year 1651 when their eldest daughter and second child, Mary, was born. According to a deposition made in 1668 Thomas and family lived in "Reading for the Space of Seven yeares or Thereabouts" before moving to Woburn where they were said to "having lived amongst us in the Towne of Woburne nere the space of tenne yeare." That would put the Dutton's in Woburn by the year 1658 which accords well with the birth records of both Reading and Woburn. The last child of Thomas and Susana born in Reading was in 1656 and the first child in Woburn in 1659. Thomas did not receive an allotment in the 1652 distribution of lots in Reading but he did get a piece of meadow in the 1655 distribution of meadow "downe below the falls."

In Woburn, Thomas rented a "dwelling house Barne orchard together with all the meddow & uppland there unto apertayning". The lease, signed on December 17, 1656, ran for seven years from the following February 15 at £7 per year to be paid in wheat, rye and Indian corn. The rent was to be delivered to the house of John Carter who lived next door. Both John Carter's farm and the one leased by Thomas Dutton had originally belonged to Carter's father, Thomas, who, in 1647, divided his property between his son John and his son-in-law William Greene. After Greene's death, his widow married Thomas Browne who soon began complaining of encroachments by Carter upon the property. A neighbor later remembered that "goodwife browne and her husband tould mee that they had thoughts to remove their hows beecose of this desturbance." The overseers of Greene's will, Edward Johnson and John Carter, leased the farm to Dutton in the name of Greene's children and heirs.

By 1658 Thomas Dutton was embroiled in a court case against John Carter, having accused him of moving the boundary stakes between the two properties and building a shed and an extension of his house on the land so gained. Testimony in the case indicates that several neighbors gathered on the disputed property to consider Dutton's charges. He indicated a fence and charged "This tow rayle fence standeth upon the [Greene's] childrens land." Insisting that Dutton's charges were false, John Carter pointed out a boundary marker as proof that the boundary was just asserting "this stake is the towns." The deponent, William Johnson, looked at the stake but was unconvinced: "noe said I this can not bee it for here it is surlee newly [ ] and that it would not be if it had stood soe many years." His father agreed and further noted that "it did not [ ]aing even with the barne and th[at] it shold doe if it were the stake."

Johnson described his next move: "then I having a sticke in my hand serched up and downe upon t[ ] and at last the sticke went in to the ould stake hole as wee all did judge it being couered almost with” dirt. "I doe bee leve that this is the ould stake hole [ ] even with the barne," exclaimed another neighbor, "and had I not seene him serch up an downe with the sticke and it went in [ ] un awars I shold not have beeleived it: for the ground was hard all about it." "Then says Thomas Dutton [the other] is here about and serching finds one put upin acorner amongst potts." Another man took the stake from Thomas and "put it into the hole and it filled and fitted it very well." From which evidence they deduced Thomas' charges to be true.

The Duttons in America are of Saxon nativity. The ancient family of Duttons assumed their sirname from the place of their residence- Duntune- now contracted Dutton, a township about five miles east of Frodsham, on the river Wever in Cheshire. The Duttons emigrated to New England about 1630, many of whose descendants settled in Connecticut.

The family of Dutton or Dunton takes its name from the ancient town of Dutton, England, mentioned thrice in Domesday Book. One part of this town was held by Odard, or Udard, also spelled Hodard and Hudard. After Hodard received his grant from the Earl of Chester, his descendants added the name of the town to their Christian names, as John de Dutton. The family has borne a coat-of-arms, from the earliest days, and from 1060 to the present time has ranked among the leading noble families of Great Britain.

(II) Thomas Dutton, son of John (1), was born in England, in 1621. Most of the Dutton families of New England of colonial stock are traced to him as their ancestor.

He figured in two rather remarkable cases in court. He was charged with beating his wife in 1661, and was fined, notwithstanding the denials of both his wife and himself. In 1668 he brought suit against Michael Bacon. Jr., for slander in charging him with theft of a napkin and spoon. Bacon was found guilty and fined fifteen pounds, showing that the court regarded the unfounded story as a malicious lie. At that time fifteen pounds was an enormous penalty in a case of this kind. The best men of Reading and Woburn testified to the excellent character of Dutton, and effectually disposed of any suspicion aroused by the charge of wife beating.

Dutton lived in Reading seven years, and in 1668 had lived ten years in Woburn. He removed to Billerica in 1669 and was accepted as an inhabitant November 22, 1669. He settled on the south side of Fox Brook, by the old and abandoned road of the Great Plain, northwest of the Davis place.

He was living in Billerica in 1675, and died there January 22, 1687. His wife Susannah died August 27. 1684, aged fifty-eight years.

He married second, November 10, 1684. Ruth Hooper, probably widow of William Hooper, of Reading. Children, born at Reading:

1. Thomas, born September, 1648. 2. Mary, born September 14. 1651, married Jacob Hamlet. 3. Susanna. born February 27, 1653-54; married John Durrant. 4. John, born March 28, 1658-59. Born at Woburn: 5. Elizabeth, born January 28, 1658-59. 6. Joseph, born January 25, 1660-61. 7. Sarah, born March 5, 1661-62; married April 3. 1683, Samuel Lewis. 8. James, born August 22, 1665. 9. Benjamin, born February 19, 1667; married Joanna (Jefts) Davy, widow of Humphrey Davy.

Fact: Christening (6 October 1623) Frodsham, Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom

Fact: Arrival (1630) New England

Fact: Lease of house and farm in Woburn (17 December 1656) This Indenture made the 17th of the 10mo in the yeere 1656 betwene Edward Johnson & John Carter Bouth of the towne of Wooburne ane the one part & Thomas Dutton of the towne of Reading in the county of Middlesex husbandman one the other parte Witneseth that the said Edward Johnson & John Carter (overseers of the Last will & testament of William Greene deseaced) have demised granted & to farme letten one dwelling howse Barne orchard together with all the meddow & uppland there unto apertayning as it was late in the occupation of Thomas Browne unto the said Thomas Dutton his executors & assinges duering the terme of seven yeeres Begining the fifteenth of the second month next after the Date hereof Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America Fact: Involved in court case (28 December 1658) Encroachment on the land in Woburn that he was leasing by John Carter Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America

Fact: Deposed in a court case (19 March 1669) The testiony of Thomas Dutton of Woburne aged fifty yeares and Seabred Taylor of Reddinge aged about 27 yeares [deposition in the a case of Thomas Taylor's land] Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America Fact: Burial (January 1686) Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America

Fact: Taxed in Billerica (24 August 1688) Towns rates of Newton and Billerica Tho Dutton senr, 1 p'son & estate 03s 01d Tho Dutton junr, his estate 04s 06d John Dutton, 2 p'sons & estate 04s 00d Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America

Fact: Occupation Farmer

Fact: http://familysearch.org/v1/LifeSketch 4th Great Grandfather of Joseph Smith Jr. - ---------- Below text added from “Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, 1847-1918”, Volume 1, pages 249-252, by William Richard Cutter

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924092221278&view=1up&seq=9 or https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ssd?id=coo.31924092221278;page=ssd;view=plaintext;seq=309;num=249

Research Notes

From Torrey's New England Marriages.

DUTTON, Thomas1 (1621-) & 1/wf Susanna/Susan ____ (1626-1684); by 1648; Reading/Woburn/Billerica {Reading Hist. 63; Dutton (ms) 1; Utah Gen. Mag. 20:62; Durant 21; Smith-Hale 227}

DUTTON, Thomas1 (1621-) & 2/wf Ruth (?MARSHALL) HOOPER, w William?; 10 Nov 1684; Billerica/Reading {Durant 21; Hooper 4; Smith-Hale 228; Dutton (ms) 1}

slim pickings here: Durant and Dutton are mss. and not online. Smith-Hale has a waiting list, Hooper is a mere mention of wife two

Sources

1. ↑ Middlesex, Vital Records of Reading Massachusetts, to the year 1850, Births, p. 71, marriages, p. 323
2. ↑ Middlesex, Vital Records of Woburn, Massachusetts to the year 1850, Births, p. 82
3. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FCMY-P52 : 3 November 2017), Thomas Dutton; citing Births, Woburne, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilms 892,249 and 859,998.
4. ↑ Billerica p. 249. Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1621-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016). https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/i/7660/249/141916225

• Thomas Dutton(Birth 1621, Dutton, Cheshire) on Find A Grave: Memorial #112115541 Retrieved 17 January, 2018.
• "Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-36162-13353-87?cc=2106411 : 22 May 2014), Middlesex > Deeds 1731-1732 vol 32-33 > image 412 of 614; county courthouses and offices, Massachusetts.
• "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FCMY-5XD : 3 November 2017), Thomas Dutton in entry for Sarah Dutton, 05 Mar 1662; citing Birth, Woburne, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, , town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 892,249.
• "Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-36172-9414-71?cc=2106411 : 22 May 2014), Middlesex > Deeds 1649-1670 vol 1-3 > image 579 of 645; county courthouses and offices, Massachusetts.
• "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHDK-BLZ : 13 July 2016), Thomas Dutton in entry for Susanna, 27 Aug 1684; citing Death, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, , town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 901,881.
• "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHDV-N3B : 13 July 2016), Tho. Sen. Dutton in entry for Susanah, 27 Aug 1684; citing Death, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, , town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 901,881.
• "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FCSH-22N : 3 November 2017), Tho. Sr. Dutton and Ruth Hooper, 10 Sep 1684; citing Marriage, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, , town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 892,249.
• "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FH7J-QQS : 5 November 2017), Thomas Sen Dutton and Ruth Hooper, 10 Nov 1684; citing Marriage, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, , town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 901,881.
• "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FH7F-72V : 5 November 2017), Tho. Sen. Dutton and Ruth Hooper, 10 Nov 1684; citing Marriage, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, , town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 901,881.
• "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FC9J-WT1 : 13 July 2016), Thomas Jr. Dutton in entry for Susanna Dutton, 03 Sep 1688; citing Death, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, , town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 892,249.
• Cutter, William Richard. New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial (Lewis Historical Publishing Co., New York, 1913); vol.1,p.195
• Jordan, John W. Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania, Vol. 1 (Lewis Historical Pub. Co., New York, 1915, p. 136-140)

"Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 15 October 2020, 09:17), entry for Thomas A. Dutton(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:LTNN-3XW); contributed by various users. Source Citation Place: Salem, Massachusetts; Year: 1630; Page Number: 72 Source Information

Ancestry.com. U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010.

Original data: Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2012. Description

Updated annually, this database is an index to passengers who arrived in United States and Canadian ports from the 1500s through the 1900s. It contains listings of approximately 4,838,000 individuals and references thousands of different records compiled from everything from original passenger lists to personal diaries. For each individual listed, you may find the following information: name, age, year and place of arrival, and the source of the record. ----------------- - ---------- Below text added from “Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, 1847-1918”, Volume 1, pages 249-252, by William Richard Cutter

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 15 October 2020, 09:17), entry for Thomas A. Dutton(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:LTNN-3XW); contributed by various users.
• Source Citation

Place: Salem, Massachusetts; Year: 1630; Page Number: 72 Source Information

Ancestry.com. U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010.

Original data: Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2012. Description

Updated annually, this database is an index to passengers who arrived in United States and Canadian ports from the 1500s through the 1900s. It contains listings of approximately 4,838,000 individuals and references thousands of different records compiled from everything from original passenger lists to personal diaries. For each individual listed, you may find the following information: name, age, year and place of arrival, and the source of the record.