Thomas Tibbals (1613 - 1703)

Born 27 Jun 1613 in Great Hampden, Buckinghamshire, England

Husband of Mary (Unknown) Tibbals — married 1642 in London, New London, Connecticut

Descendants

Died 8 Apr 1703 at age 89 in Milford, New Haven, Connecticut Colony

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Thomas Tibbals migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Great Migration (Series 2), by R. C. Anderson, vol. 7, p. 35) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Birth

Thomas Tibbals was baptized 27 Jun 1613 in Hampden, Buckinghamshire, England, son of Thomas Tibballs, Tibulles ^[1][2] and Avis unknown.^[3]Anderson in his Great Migration gives no name for the mother of Thomas Tibballs.^[1]although TAG 84:310 quotes the baptism record, "Thomas Tibbuls soone of Thomas Tibulles & Avis his wife of Elsborough parish was upon sufferance baptized at great Hampden the 27th of June [1613]."^[4]

Migration

He migrated to New England in 1635 on the Truelove; "Thomas Tibbald's" was 20 years old when he was enrolled at London as a passenger. He sailed with Zachariah Whitman, John Stream and Thomas Stream and other Buckinghamshire emigrants.^[4]His first residence may have been Dorchester or Weymouth, moving to New Haven in 1639 and Milford, New Haven Colony by 1640; being listed as one of the founders of Milford. He was in the company of Zachariah Whitman and John Stream at Milford, suggesting the possibility that he may have been related to one or both of these families.^[1]

Freeman

He was made Freeman at Milford, 1669 ^[5]He was admitted to the Milford church on October 24, 1645 or 1646.^[1]

Marriages & Children

Thomas married first about 1642,^[1] to Mary (nee Unknown) New London, New London, Connecticut (1617 – 1644).^{[citation needed]} She was admitted to the Milford Church as "Mary the wife of Thomas Tibballs" in late 1643.^[1]She died on June 11, 1644.^[6]

Children of Thomas and Mary (1st marriage):^[1]

1. Mary Tibballs was born about 1642 and baptized February of 1643/44. She married Nicholas Smith (sometimes known as "Seversmith") at Milford on July 12, 1664.
2. Samuel Tibballs was baptized at Milford on April 14, 1644.

Thomas married second by 1645 to SARAH SEABROOK(?), (1624 – 1718)^{[citation needed]} a woman with an unknown name. Anderson's "Great Migration" gives no Christian name nor surname for Thomas Tibballs second wife.^[1]

Children of Thomas Tibballs and his 2nd wife:^[1]

1. John Tibballs, 1645 – 1732 was baptized in late 1645 or early 1646 at Milford. He married after March 15, 1680/1 to Margaret (Tomlinson) Harger, daughter of Henry Tomlinson and widow of Jabez Harger. He married (2nd) at Derby on March 28, 1700 to Hannah (Rose) (Stiles) Harger, the daughter of Robert Rose and widow of Isaac Stiles and Samuel Harger.
2. Josiah Tibballs, 1648 – 1726 was born about 1648. He was made a Connecticut freeman on October 14, 1669. On July 13, 1670 at Milford he married Mary Sherwood, daughter of Thomas Sherwood of Stratford.
3. Thomas Tibballs, bap. 1650/51 – 1691 was baptized at Milford on March 2, 1650/1. He married on December 12, 1672 at Milford to Abigail Stream, daughter of John Stream.
4. Sarah Tibballs, 1654 – 1712 was born at Milford on November 29, 1654 and baptized there in late 1654. She married at Derby on June 3, 1677 to Daniel Collins. She married (2nd) at Enfield on July 15, 1691 to Joseph Warriner, son of William Warriner. She married (3rd) Obadiah Abbe after 1697.
5. Hannah Tibballs, 1656/57 – 1711 was born March 13, 1656/7 at Milford and baptized at Stratford about July 1657. She married Eliakim Cooley at Springfield on March 12, 1679/80?.

Disputed Children

1. Detached Mary Tibbals-119 as this Thomas Tibballs did not have a daughter, Mary who died young. Detached John Tibbals-117 and Avis Tibbals-118 who were born too young to be children of this Thomas Tibballs-10. (They may have been siblings.)

Military

Thomas Tibballs served in the Pequot War in 1637. He was made sergeant of the train band on June 23, 1654, "Sergeant Tibballs of Milford" and sent on an expedition against the Dutch.^[1]In so doing he became knowledgeable of Quinnipiac and the land lying west so he was able to guide the Milford settlers from New Haven to the area they purchased from the Indian owners.^[7]

Landholdings

He was holding a homelot of 3 acres, 3 acres of upland, 1 acre and 48 poles of meadow at Milford on November 22, 1643; by 1646 he held 7 parcels; and on May 11, 1671 the Connecticut General Court granted to him (for his service in the Pequot War) 59 acres of land in Connecticut.^[1]

Death and Will

He died 8 Apr 1703 in Milford, New Haven, Connecticut as "Sergeant Thomas Tibballs Senior." His will which was dated December 2, 1699 and proved June 1, 1703, mentions his sons John, Thomas, and Josiah; his daughters Sarah Warriner, Mary wife of [illegible] Smith, Hannah the wife of Eliakim Coley; grandson Daniel Collins. The inventory is illegible.^[1]

To here is sourced and accurate according to Great Migration.^[1]

Memorial at Founders Cemetery Memorial Site, Milford, New Haven County, Connecticut, USA. Note: commemorative stone, not an actual burial. Inscription: "The stone bridge is simple in design, its broad copings surmounted with rough hewn blocks of granite, bearing the names of the first settlers. There are ten blocks on the south and twenty on the north coping. At each end of the former is a stone four feet wide by five and a half high. Two inscriptions, on their curved and polished surfaces, recite briefly the services of the colony's first guides. One is dedicated to Thomas Tibbals, who led the people along the tortuous Indian trail from New Haven to Wepowagee, and is "in consideration of his helpfulness at the first coming to Milford to show the first corners the place." See photo ^[8]

Research Notes

Below was here previously, has no inline citations, and (guess) looks like copy/paste.

In 1637, near the end of the Pequot-Mohegan War, Sergeant Thomas Tibbals noticed that the land along the Wepawaug River flowing into Long Island Sound would be an ideal site for a future English settlement. Later Tibbals mentioned the location to Rev. Peter Prudden and his congregation, and in 1639 they settled here and founded Milford.

Indian Fighter Leads Settlers to Milford

A resident of Wethersfield, Connecticut’s first town and then part of Massachusetts Colony, Thomas Tibbals was one of Connecticut's first residents having sailed at age 20 to Massachusetts in 1635 aboard the "Truelove." He passaged as a "person of Quality" mainly meaning that he paid his fare and wasn't a servant of any other passenger(s). According to Henry Whitmore of Brooklyn, New York in the 1800's, The name Tibbals derives from Theobald, one of the castles used by Queen Elizabeth 1st. It was shortened to Thebald then Tebald and in this country, the phonetic spelling Tebais or Tibbals. In English records it is sometimes spelled "Tibaiz" in phonetic spelling." According to "English Church Times" of April 11, 1938, "Theobalds" is pronounced "Tibbals".

At the time he arrived in America, a powerful Indian tribe dominated Southern New England. Well organized and aggressive warriors, the Pequots under Sassacuss, ruled from Narragansett Bay to the Hudson, Block and Long Islands. A number of Pequot killings of white settlers and traders starting in 1634, including Capt. John Oldham a founder of Wethersfield while trading at Block Island, and a Capt. Stone, who would occasionally drink and thus be unsuitable for Puritan civilization but nevertheless was English. Violence escalated in what could only be termed a war of annihilation against the settlers.

Early in 1637 Pequot raiders killed seven farmers, a woman and child and abducted two young women at Wethersfield. Both Massachusetts and Plymouth Colonies mobilized and the Court at Hartford on May 1, 1637 authorized war against the Pequots. Capt. Mason with 90 men from Wethersfield, including Tibbals who served as an Indian expert and scout, and 70 Braves under “Mohegan” Chief Uncas, moved to Saybrook to fight. From there the party took their boats to the Thames where a powerful Pequot force was ensconced on the ridge at Groton. Seeing a frontal assault uphill as not propitious, Mason sailed back out of he Thames and moved east.

Thinking they had won, Sassacus led a body of several hundred to destroy Wethersfield and Hartford. Far from giving up, Mason with Uncas and the Saybrook men under Capt. Underhill sailed to present day Rhode Island landing on Narraganset Bay. Joined by Narraganset Indians, they moved 38 miles through the wilderness to attack the Pequot fortified village "Misistuck" near Mystic. Attacking into the two entrances of the fort the men quickly got bogged down in close quarter combat and started suffered casualties. Mason withdrew and used the ultimate weapon of the age, he fired the village.

The result was more massacre than a battle; 600-700 men, women and children were killed. Only swift young braves escaped dodging the surrounding troops and their muskets. Many Pequots, abandoning the strong Harbor fort on the Thames, raced to the village to fight only to be cut down in open battle having given up their geographic advantage. Pequot survivors, joined by the Wethersfield raiding party recalled after the battle, fled west. Hot on their heels, Mason, bolstered by newly arrived Israel Stoughton’s 120 Massachussans and their Mohegan allies, pursued them on land and sea.

At the Connecticut River, Pequots found two or three white trappers, possibly Dutch, tied them to a tree and gutted them as a warning. The grisly sight did not deter the English who followed with all dispatch and, if anything, even more determination.

Soldiers chasing the fleeing Pequots passed through "Quinnipiak," called by the soldiers “Red Mount,” undoubtedly for East Rock. Peaceful Quinnipiac Indians, whose camp fires had brought the colonist's attention, were left unmolested. Massachussans who tracked through the area deemed it the finest land in all of New England.

The final battle in the Southport area swamps decimated the remaining Pequots. Not wishing the repeat the carnage at the Mystic village, women, children and non-Pequots mostly Mattabesic whose village, Sasqua, was nearby, were allowed free exit but the Pequot braves fought on. Only a relative handful escaped in the fog the next morning but found few friends or safety. Mohawks, historic Pequot enemies and constant threat to the peaceful Iroquois (including the Wepawaugs), took the head of Sassacus and presented it as tribute to the English.

Sgt. Thomas Tibbals, returning from the swamp victory found a most appealing land with a brook with a good harbour. He returned to Wethersfield, his job done, but remembered the pleasant coastal lands he had traversed.

in 1637 two parties of Puritans escaping the religious oppression of Charles 1st's England sailed from London to Boston. All were welcomed and invited to stay in Massachusetts, but the two Reverends, Peter Prudden and John Davenport, sought to establish their own colony and, with God's help, find their piece of heaven on earth. Hearing of the good reports of the "Red Mount" area to the South, a group led by Theophilus Eaton, Davenport's co-leader, scouted the south shores of New England looking for a suitable site. They found the headwaters of the Quinnipiac. The Prudden and Davenport parties sailed there the following spring, 1638, to found the Colony of New Haven.

Peter Prudden was an inspiration to the puritan English settlers of New England. His stay in Boston netted him a number from Roxbury and Dorchester, MA, who joined the New Haven settlers including John Astwood, Thomas Baker, John Burwell, Benjamin Fenn, Thomas Sanford, and Thomas Uffott. He eventually preached in Connecticut's first town, Wethersfield, then still part of Massachusetts Colony. Richard Miles, Andrew Benton, John Fletcher, Thomas Tapping (Topping), George Hubbert, John Sherman (Sharman), Robert Treat and one Sgt. Thomas Tibbals also joined Prudden in New Haven. All would become Milford Founders.

In New haven, friction arose between the two reverends and their supporters. Sgt. Tibbals with his experience in the Pequot War, suggested the Wepawaug area as a suitable place to remove the Prudden community. Sgt. Tibbals and several men went to scout the area and indeed found it quite suitable. A group of Prudden followers met with the Indian Sachem Ansantawae (2008 Hall of Fame Inductee) on February 12, 1639 to purchase the land encompassing nearly all of present day Milford, Orange and parts of Woodbridge.

Still in New Haven, the Prudden party met at Robert Newman's Barn on August 22, 1639 to found the First Church. After approving the members who would move to the new colony, preparations were made. When the time came, Sgt. Tibbals, who had then been to the Wepawaug area several times, led the bulk of the party through the woods on winding Indian trails with their animals, food and personal possessions. Bulky items, farm and personal utensils and the pre-fabricated frame work for the common house was transported by sea. Nearly a third of Milford's founders were Colonists from the Boston area and Wethersfield, including Tibbals, who, inspired by Prudden, joined his Hertfordshire Immigrants at New Haven then Milford.

In commemoration of his knowledge of the area in suggesting the Wepawaug as the home of the new colony and guiding the Society to this promised land, Sgt. Thomas Tibbals was granted founder's lot #53 (and, possibly, two other parcels) and the status of one of the 44 original free planters. He had two wives Mary, d. 6/18/1644, and Sarah (?) and sired seven children, Mary, Samuel, John, Thomas, Josiah, Sarah and Hannah. It was said he also had an Indian sweetheart who lived in the Milford area and that he married her, but we have no proof of this. At least one report indicates he was a Free Mason by 1669 so he may have been a "free thinker" by Puritan standards.

After 1665 he would be called "Captain Tibbals" indicating either esteem of the community, or a high position of Milford's civic defense, probably both. Indian raiding, particularly Mohawk, was a constant threat well into the 18th Century. Milford, in addition to the surrounding stockade, had a well trained and active militia, military training and constant watches assigned to its citizens on a rotating basis. After he died at age 88 on April 8, 1703, his dear friends, Governor Robert Treat (HOF inductee) and Daniel Buckingham, served to oversee his will.

For his service his name appears prominently on the Memorial Bridge. Many generations of his descendants still reside in the area. Tibbal's store, belonging to a descendant, was a fixture of downtown Milford through much of he 19th to early 20th centuries. It's been said that Thomas was 20 years of age when he came to New England in 1635 on the ship "Truelove" in the company of Zacharia Whitman who was later ruling Elder of Milford. Thomas was in the party of soldiers who dislodged the Pequot Indians from their stronghold at New London and pursued them to where is now the town of Fairfield where the Indians were completely broken up as a tribe. It was during this pursuit that Thomas noted the area now the town of Milford. He later conveyed to the part of Hereford, who were desirous of making a settlement apart from Mr. Davenport's Company. In recognition of the valuable service, on two separate occasions, he was granted land in the settlement that became Milford.

Came to Massachusetts Bay in 1635 on the Truelove. (On 19 Sept 1635, "Tho[mas] Tibbald's," age 20, was enrolled at London as a passenger on the Truelove.) His 1st residence is unknown, but he was in New Haven in 1639 & moved to Milford in 1640. He was baptized at Great Hampden, Buckinghamshire, 27 Jun 1613. son of Thomas Tibballs. He married 1st by about 1642 Mary ____. She died at Milford on 18 Jun 1644. They had 1 known child. He married 2nd by 1645, ____ ____.They had 6 known children. He died at Milford 8 Apr 1703, as "Sergeant Thomas Tibballs Senior." Thomas sailed for New England with Zachariah Whitman {1635, Dorchester}, John Stream {1635, Weymouth}. & Thomas Stream {1635, Weymouth}, & was associated with the 1st 2 of these families in Milford, suggesting that he was related to one or both of them, & perhaps resided with one of them at Dorchester or Weymouth during the 1st years after his arrival in New England.^[9] Spouses: Mary Tibballs (____ - 1644) 2nd wife Tibballs Children: Thomas Tibbals (1620 - ____)

more Biography

• Thomas Tibbals Sr. was a brick maker. Before he died (about age 50) he was lame and sick, but was keen of mind. In his Will he instructed son John to be his executor and teach the brick making trade to his younger brother Thomas, (our Thomas who came to Milford).

His wife had died three years before he did. He was married only 2 1/2 yrs to his 2nd wife Mary Gates. After Thomas' death Mary remarried to Thomas Stillford in 1628. By Thomas Tibbals she had 2 daughters, Elizabeth and Mary Tibbals. By Thomas Stillford she had 4 more daughters. Thomas Stillford died in 1676.Our Thomas Tibbals was only age 9 when his mother died and age 12 when his father died.

and more Biography

The name Tibbals comes from the name Theobalds. This is the name that they were referred to in early records. Just exactly when the change took place is still a mystery at this time. Thomas and his wife Mary were the setlers of Milford Connecticut in 1639. The stone in the memorial bridge is to his memory. (info was taken from the Tibbals Family 1639-1898 record) which was originally taken from church and town records of the time in Milford, connecticut.Thomas was also a Captain (Land Records), also Thomas was married to a second wife Sarah. One pedigree chart showed death date 1 Jun 1703, buried June 1 1703. Sergent Thomas tibbals was born about 1615 in england and came to America in 1635 on the "Truelove". He was one of the first settlers of Milford, CT. He served in the Pequot War and in 1671 waas granted 50 acres for his military services. His first wife was named Mary; she died June 1644, and he married a second wife. Thomas died in 1703, and his will was proven June 1 of that year. By his first wife there were two children, Mary and Samuel; by his second wife six children, John, Thomas Mary (or Mercy), Hannah, who married Eliakim Cooley, Josiah and Sarah.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12} Great Migration 1634-1635, T-Y.
2. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J3NV-7B7 : 19 September 2020), Thomas Tibulles, 1613.
3. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J3NV-7B7 : 30 December 2014), Thomas Tibulles, 27 Jun 1613; citing GREAT HAMPDEN,BUCKINGHAM,ENGLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 924,816.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT.
5. ↑ Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut vol 2 p 524 https://archive.org/details/publicrecords02conn
6. ↑ Milford 1st Congregational Church register, 1:2 [FHL film #1,012,263].
7. ↑ Smith, Robert Atwater. "History of the Colony of New Haven..."
8. ↑ http://collections.ctdigitalarchive.org/islandora/object/40002:19280
9. ↑ Anderson's Great Migration Study Project.

• Great Migration 1634-1635, T-Y. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2012.) Originally published as: The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume VII, T-Y, pp. 35 - 38; by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011. Featured sketch: Thomas Tibballs.subscribers$
• The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) "Thomas' Tibbals of Ellesborough, Buckinghamshire, and Milford, Connecticut" by Clifford L. Stott. Vol. 84, pp. 308 - 315.subscribers$
• Smith, Robert Atwater. "History of the Colony of New Haven and its absorption into Connecticut." The Journal Publishing Company, Meridan, Conn. 1902. pp. 654, 655.see at archive.org.

See also:

• Milford Hall of Fame Written by Joseph B. Barnes, Esq.
• "The Society of Colonial Wars in the State Services of Ancestors. " 1941 pp. 1240
• "Commemorative biographical Record of New Haven, Co., Conn." P.1188
• "Families of Early Milford, Conn." by Susan W. Abbot
• "Conn. Record of New Haven Co. PP. 1426/7
• Tombstones Milford, Conn Cemetery
• Savage's "a Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settler's of New England" Vol. 44
• Will of Thomas Tibbals New Haven Probate Records, Vol. 2. Page 308
• Christening record of Great Hampden Parish, Buckingham-shire, England
• England Burial Record: Ellesborough Parish, Buckinghamshire, England Tibbals family, Milford Conn.

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Ancestral File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:1:M4MC-MTX : accessed 2016-03-13), entry for Thomas TIBBALLS.

• Black/NobleCT", by Julie Barrows//trees.ancestry.com/ Note: Sanford-Shulsen Family", by Evelyn Beran

• Find A Grave, database and images (accessed 27 January 2020), memorial page for Capt Thomas Tibbals (27 Jun 1615–8 Apr 1703), Find A Grave: Memorial #16396170, citing Milford Cemetery, Milford, New Haven County, Connecticut, USA ; Maintained by Catherine Clemens Sevenau (contributor 47082189) .

• Susan Woodruff Abbott, Families of Early Milford, Connecticut, CD-Local and Family Histories: CT, 1600's - 1800's, (Produced in collaboration with the Genealogical Publishing Company, 2000), p. 745. "On the ship 'Truelove' which sailed from London in 1635 is found the name of Thomas 'Tibbalds', aged 20. His name appears in Wethersfield, Conn, before he came to Milford in 1639. During the Pequot War he served under Capt. Mason, Stoughton and Underhill, and had passed through what later became Milford at that time. Being much impressed with the Wepawaug River and the surrounding country, he recommended the location to the Wethersfield group and piloted the first settlers through the wilderness to settle the place ... In 1654 he was sergeant in the New Haven Colony Tropp [sic] and in July 1665 was confirmed as sergeant of the Milford Train Band."

• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:SBV9-TX2 : accessed 2016-03-14), entry for Thomas (Sgt.) (Theobalds) /Tibbals/.