Joseph Loomis (abt. 1590 - 1658)

Born about 1590 in Braintree, Essex, England

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (White) Loomis — married 30 Jun 1614 in Shalford, Essex, England

Descendants

Died 25 Nov 1658 at about age 68 in Windsor, Connecticut Colony

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Joseph Loomis migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 211) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Joseph Loomis, son of John Loomis and Anne Lingwood, is generally estimated to have been born around 1590 based on his date of marriage and the age of his wife. He was a woolen-draper from Braintree, co. Essex, England. He immigrated with his wife and children arriving in New England on the Susan and Ellen on 17 July 1638. He initially is found in Dorchester, Massachusetts, but by 1639 he had moved to Windsor, Connecticut.

Name and Origins

Name: Joseph Loomis, of Braintree, Essex, England and of Windsor, Connecticut.

Orthographic variations: Loomis, Lomas, Lummys, Lummis

The most common spelling for Joseph, his parents and of his descendants is Loomis. It is Lummis in the will of his father-in-law, Lummys in his marriage record, Lomas in a document he signed.

Though the earliest record of Joseph Loomis is his marriage in Shalford, that he was from Braintree is confirmed by the deposition of Joseph Hill and the will of his father-in-law, both of which specifically call him "of Braintree."^[1]

Birth

Born: About 1590 (1585 to 1593), almost certainly in Braintree, Essex, England.

The date is the general estimate based on his marriage in 1614. The Loomis family was from Braintree, and he was called from Braintree in the will of his father-in-law and at the time of his immigration.

Marriage and Children

Married: Mary White, the daughter of Robert White and Mary Allgar, on 30 June 1614 at Shalford, co. Essex, England.

parish church of Shalford:-- "Ane Dni 1614 -- Joseph Lummys was married unto Marye whight the XXX daye of June..." ^[2][3]

Children of Joseph Loomis and Mary White:

1. Joseph Loomis
2. Sarah Loomis
3. Elizabeth Loomis
4. Mary Loomis
5. John Loomis
6. Thomas Loomis
7. Nathaniel Loomis
8. Samuel Loomis

Death

Died: 25 November 1658 in Windsor, Connecticut.^{[4][5] [6][7]}

Will: Joseph Loomis apparently died intestate. The administration and division of his estate survives:

"Court Record Page 115, 2 December 1658. An agreement for a division of the estate by the children of Joseph Loomis, Decd, and approved by this court of Magistrates to be an equal division. To Joseph Loomis, to Nicholas Olmsted, to Josiah Hull, to John Loomis, to Thomas Loomis, to Nathaniel Loomis, to Mary Tudor, to Samuel Loomis.

"The agreement of the children of Mr. Joseph Loomis respecting the division of the estate of ye father deceased approved by The Court 2 December 1658: We whose names are hereunto subscribed doe by these prsents testify that it is our mutual and joynt agreement to attend an equal division of the estate of Mr. Joseph Loomis, our father, lately deceased, wch said estate being distributed in an equal prption we doe by these prsents engage to set down Satisfied and Contented respecting any future trouble or demands about the fore said estate now presented by Inventory to ye Court of Magistrates.

"Witness our hand, 2nd December, 1658. Joseph Loomis, Josias Hull, Thomas Loomis, Mary Tudor, Nicholas Olmsted, John Loomis, Nath. Loomis, Samll Loomis."^[5]

Notes

England

Joseph Loomis came from a successful merchant family from Braintree, Essex, England. He was a woolen-draper which was a profession following in the footsteps of his father.^[8] In his will, his father called himself a tailor of Braintree. Joseph was the primary heir, only son and executor of his father’s will in 1619. His mother came from an armigerous family with pedigrees entered in the Visitations of Exxex.^[9]

He married Mary White, the daughter of Robert White and Mary Algar, in nearby Shalford where she was born.^[3] Robert White was a wealthy man who named in his will among others “my daughter Marie wife of Joseph Lummis of Branectree.”^[10] His sons-in-law Joseph Loomis and William Goodwin served as the executors of his will. Several of the children of Robert White ended up immigrating to New England. Mary’s brother John White and her sister Elizabeth (White) Goodwin immigrated to New England in 1632 and settled in Hartford, Connecticut in 1636. Her sister Anne (White) Porter with her husband came shortly after the Loomis family in 1638 or 1639; Joseph Loomis and John Porter settled on adjacent farms in Windsor, Connecticut in 1639.^[3]

Immigration

His origins and immigration are confirmed by a deposition of Joseph Hills in 1639. From this we learn the exact departure and arrival date of the Susan and Ellen. and the interesting details of exactly how much cargo Joseph Loomis was allowed to bring and how he transported his belongings to London:^[11]

Deposition of Joseph Hills of Charlestown, taken 30th July, 1639.

"Joseph Hills of Charlestowne, in New England, Woollen Draper, aged about 36 yeares, sworne, saith upon his oath that he came to New England undertaker in the ship called the Susan & Ellen of London whereof was master Mr. Edward Payne, in the yeare of our Lord one thousand six hundred thirty and eight, the 14th yeare of the raigne of our Souraigne Lord the King that now is and this knowes that divers goods and chattells, victualls & commodities of Joseph Loomis late of Brayntree in the County of Essex, Woolen-draper, wch were put in three butts, two hogsheds, one halfe hogshed, one barrel, one tubb & three firkins, transported from Malden in the County of Essex to London in an Ipswch Hye, were shipped in the said ship upon the eleventh day of Aprill in the yeare abovesayd, and this deponent cleared the said goods wth divers other goods of the said Joseph Loomis and other mens, in the Custome-house at London, as may appeare by the Customers bookes, and this dept saith that the said goods were transported into New England in the said ship where she arrived on the seaventeenth day of July in the yeare aforesayd." ^[12]

"He therefore probably came to Windsor in the summer or autumn of 1639, and he is generally supposed to have come in company with Rev. Ephraim Huet, who arrived at Windsor, Aug. 17, 1639. He brought with him five sons, all of whom were freemen, Oct. 7, 1669, and three daughters. His house was situated near the mouth of the Farmington River on "The Island," so called because at every great freshet it became temporarily an island by the overflowing of the Connecticut River." ^[13]

Windsor, Connecticut -- 1639

After staying a year in Dorchester, Joseph Loomis is supposed to have accompanied Rev. Ephraim Huit to Windsor, Connecticut on Aug. 17, 1639. He settled near the junction of the Farmington river with the Connecticut, on the island. The island was high land and so called because it became an island at every great freshet of the river. His house has been in the perpetual possession of the family down to the present time and is probably the oldest one now standing in Connecticut, which is still owned by the descendants of the pioneer builder. It was on this island that Capt. William Holmes and a few other men of the Plymouth colony established a trading house in 1633, which was the first permanent English settlement in Connecticut.

Home lots of Joseph and John Porter were adjacent because their wives were sisters (Mary White Loomis and Anna White Porter). Their brother, John White, and their sister, Elizabeth White Goodwin had settled in Hartford in 1636.

Joseph Loomis was Deputy in 1643, 1644. In Feby. 1640 he had granted him 21 acres on the west side of the Connecticut river; he also had several large tracts on the east side, partly from the town and partly by purchase.^[14]

Common Errors to Avoid

• Marriage location: Page 121 of The Descendants of Joseph Loomis states he was married in Messing, Essex, England.^[15] This is an error possibly caused by a misreading of the NEHGR article.^[3] It is confusing as it cites the Shalford parish registers, but still gives Messing as the location of the marriage. The marriage location is, however, correctly given on page 108.^[16]

Sources

1. ↑ NEHGR, vol. 30 no. 4 (October 1876): page 459. "Passengers and Vessels that Arrived in America: The Susan and Ellen, 1638", by The Editors.
2. ↑ Loomis. Descendants of Joseph Loomis in America, revised edition, (1909): page 108.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 55, no. 1 (January 1901): pages 22-31. The Children of Robert White of Messing, co. Essex, England, by A Descendant.
4. ↑ David Thaler, "Descendants of Thomas Loomis," armidalesoftware.com Text: died on 25 Nov. 1658 in Windsor.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Manwaring, Charles William, A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records, vol. 1 (Hartford, 1904): pages 135-136.
6. ↑ Descendants of Joseph Loomis in America.
7. ↑ One Branch of the Booth Family, Charles Edwin Booth.
8. ↑ See the deposition of Joseph Hill where he is called Woolen-draper from Braintree.
9. ↑ Metcalfe. Visitations of Essex, vol. I, (1878): page 440 Lyngwood, pages 242-243 Marlar.
10. ↑ Starr. Various Ancestral Lines of James Goodwin, vol. 2. (1915): pages 395-397, will of Robert White.
11. ↑ Descendants of Joseph Loomis in America: and his antecedents in the Old World, Charles Arthur Hoppin, pp 21
12. ↑ Lechford, Thomas. Notebook Kept by Thomas Lechford, Esq. from June 27, 1638-July 29, 1641. Cambridge: John Wilson & Son (1885), pp. 137-138.
13. ↑ James Hallowell Holcombe Jr "Joseph Loomis" on Thomas Holcombe of Connecticut website.
14. ↑ Charles Edwin Booth, One Branch of the Booth Family,
15. ↑ Loomis. Descendants of Joseph Loomis in America, revised edition, (1909): page 121.
16. ↑ Loomis. Descendants of Joseph Loomis in America, revised edition, (1909): page 108.

Source list:

• Loomis, Elisha S and Charles Arthur Hoppin ed. Descendants of Joseph Loomis in America, and his Antecedents in the Old World, revised edition, (1909). Archive.org Link, Google Books Link, Hathitrust.org Link.

• Loomis, Elias LL.D. Descendants of Joseph Loomis in America, and his Antecedents in the Old World, first edition, (New Haven, 1875). Archive.org Link. Caution: Contains errors corrected in 1909 edition.

• Manwaring, Charles William, A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records, vol. 1 (Hartford, 1904): pages 135-6.

• Metcalfe, Walter C., ed. Visitations of Essex by Hawley, 1552; Hervey, 1558; Cooke, 1570; Raven, 1612; and Owen and Lilly, 1634. To which are added Miscellaneous Essex Pedigrees from Various Harleian Manuscripts: and an Appendix containing Berry's Essex Pedigrees, vol. I, (Harleian Society Visitation Series, vol. 13, 1878): page 440 Lyngwood, pages 242-243 Marlar.

• New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 30 no. 4 (October 1876): page 459. "Passengers and Vessels that Arrived in America: The Susan and Ellen, 1638", by The Editors.

• New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 55, no. 1 (January 1901): pages 22-31. The Children of Robert White of Messing, co. Essex, England, by A Descendant.

• Starr, Frank Farnsworth. Various Ancestral Lines of James Goodwin and Lucy (Morgan) Goodwin of Hartford, Connecticut, vol. 2. (Hartford, 1915): pages 395-397.

• Thistlethwaite, Frank, Dorset Pilgrims: The story of West country Pilgrims who went to New England in the 17th Century, (London, Barrie & Jenkins, 1989). Joseph Loomis, Sr: pages 145, 180, 200. NOTE: a scholarly work with 12 pages of sources, detailing the lives of the founders of Dorchester, Massachusetts and Windsor, Connecticut, particularly in their interrelationships.

• Stiles, Henry Reed. History of Ancient Windsor, volume 2. page 432.

• Stiles, Henry Reed. The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Vol 1, (1891), at HathiTrust.org, details of Windsor lives from 1635

See also:

• Charles Edwin Booth, One Branch of the Booth Family Showing the Lines of Connection with One Hundred Massachusetts Bay Colonists, New York (Author) 1910 (online at GenealogyLibrary.com).

• Thomas Holcombe of Connecticut, holcombegenealogy.com

• David Thaler, "Descendants of Thomas Loomis," armidalesoftware.com

• Find A Grave: Memorial #19929272 Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 19 February 2021), memorial page for Joseph Loomis Sr. (24 Aug 1590–25 Nov 1658), citing Loomis Homestead Cemetery, Windsor, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA ; Maintained by Carol STEVENS (contributor 46861595) .

• Ancestors and descendants of Thomas Rice Lyon and his wife Harriet Wade Rice : with related families, p.448, Joseph Loomis. https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/552590-ancestors-and-descendants-of-thomas-rice-lyon-and-his-wife-harriet-wade-rice-with-related-families?viewer=1&offset=47#page=458&viewer=picture&o=info&n=0&q=

• Swigart, Edmund K. An Emerson-Benson saga : the ancestry of Charles F. Emerson and Bessie Benson and the struggle to settle the United States, including 194 allied lines. p. 351. https://archive.org/details/emersonbensonsag00swig/page/350/mode/1up?view=theater