Thomas Adgate (abt. 1620 - 1707)

Born about 1620 in England [uncertain]

Husband of Marie (Marvin) Adgate — married before 1661 in Connecticut Colony [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 21 Jul 1707 at about age 87 in Norwichtown, New London, Connecticut Colony

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Deacon Thomas Adgate

Founder of Norwich, Connecticut.

Born:
Deacon Thomas Adgate was born about 1620 (based on his age of 87 at his death in 1807), probably in England.

Married First:

• Unknown

Married Second:
It is not known precisely when he married his second wife, Mary Marvin, the widow of Richard Bushnell. Richard, her first husband, died between 1 Dec 1659 and 17 July 1660. The first child of Thomas and Mary was born in August of 1661. "Marey Adgate Deceased ye 29th day of March: 1713"^[1]

Died:
The month and year, July 1707, are carved into Thomas' gravestone. This sentence from the New London probate records establishes the date as the 21st: "Inventory of estate of decon Thomas Adgat of Norwich Disceased 21 Jul 1707, taken 12 Aug. 1707 by Solomon Tracy and Josephs Renells. Thomas Adgate made oath."^[2] He is buried at the Old Norwichtown Cemetery. On a rounded stone is the following inscription^[3].

   HEARLIES

  THEBODYOF

DEACoNTHOMA

SADGATEWHO

DYEDJULY1707

AGED87YEARS

There have been no records found for Thomas prior to his time in Saybrook, CT. Two daughters, by his unnamed first wife were born and recorded in Saybrook, Elisabeth in Oct. 1651, and Hannah born Oct. 1653.^[4]. The Saybrook early records are very sketchy, but he is listed as attending a town meeting Jan. 7, 1655/6.^[5]

"Norwich, when purchased of the Indians, June 6, 1659, consisted of a tract of wild land nine miles square, in the heart of the Mohegan territory, at the head of what was then called Mohegan or Pequot river"^[5], today known as the Thames. Into this wild land went Thomas Adgate and his family along with other men from Saybrook and their families. They were the thirty-five founders of Norwich.

Thomas was a deacon of the church in both Saybrook and Norwich, CT. It is believed that he performed this office for over fifty Years. He was a Townsman of Norwich in 1674, 1676, 1679, 1680, 1682, 1684, 1686. In 1662, he was chosen as part of a commission to serve on what today would be small claims court. In 1694, he was part of the committee to “treat” with Mr. Jabez Fitch in the matter of his succeeding his father James Fitch as pastor of the church.^[5]

Hinman, in his catalogue of Puritan Settlers, says, “This was a respectable, pious and good family.”

CHILDREN the first two were born in Saybrook, with the rest born in Norwich.^[1]

"The names & ages of The children of Thomas Adgate which were borne to him by his first wife are as ffolloweth

• Elisabeth Adgate was borne in October An 1651
• Hannah Adgate was borne in October An 1653"

"The names & ages of the Children of Thomas Adgate by his fecond wife who was left a widow by ... Richard Bufhnell are as followes

• Abigaill Adgate was borne in Aguft Anno 1661
• Sarah Adgate was borne in January An 1663
• Rebeckah Adgate was borne in June Anno 1666
• Thomas Adgate was borne in March An 1669/1670"

The Deacon Thomas Adgate who married Ruth Brewster was one of these children.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Vital Records of Norwich 1659-1848, Part I. Hartford: Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut, 1913.
2. ↑ Jacobus, Donald Lines, M.A. of New Haven, Conn. New London (Conn.) Probate Records: Abstract of Records before 1710. TAG 9:230
3. ↑ There is on the internet an incorrect transcription of this stone, which is frequently directly next to a picture of the stone
4. ↑ Nash, Rev. Sylvester. Records of Saybrook, CT., The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass., 1850) Vol. 4, Page 19.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Caulkins, Frances Manwaring. History of Norwich, Connecticut: From Its Possession by the Indians to the Year 1866. Hartford: Friends of the Author, 1873

• Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Volumes 1-3; The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volumes 1-6. Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1996-2011. Vol. V, M-P, pages 68, 70, 71, citing TAG 9:230-31, Marvin Descendants 303-5. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB401/i/12155/68/235138504
• Ancestry.com. Connecticut, U.S., Deaths and Burials Index, 1650-1934 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011, FHL Film Number: 3076.
• Perkins, Mary. Old Houses of the Antient Town of Norwich, 1660-1800 (Bulletin Co., Norwich, Conn., 1895) Page 408 Chapter XXXI, starting on page 175. (E-Book, which can be downloaded)

• Hinman, Royal Ralph. A Catalogue of the Names of the Early Puritan Settlers of the Colony of Connecticut. p.445-446.

• Barbour, Lucius Barnes. Families Of Early Hartford, Conn. (The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1977)

• Find A Grave memorial #35726564

• Merrick, Barbara Lambert, Mayflower Families in Progress, William Brewster of the Mayflower and his Descendants for Four Generations, General Society of Mayflower Descendents, Plymouth, MA., Revised Third Edition, 2006 Person # 44.

• Perkins, Mary. Old Families of Norwich, Connecticut (Norwich, Connecticut, 1900) Vol. 1, pt. 1., Page 5

• Ancestral File (TM) Ancestral File Number: 10LM-KX7. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: June 1998 (c), data as of 5 JAN 1998

• Brainerd, Dwight. Ancestry of Thomas Chalmers Brainerd (Montreal, Quebec, 1948) Page 8

• Jacobus, Donald Lines. The Granberry Family and Allied Families (E.F. Waterman, Hartford, Conn., 1945) Page 144-5

• Northwestern Historical Association. Memoirs of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (Northwest Historical Association., Madison, Wisconsin, 1904, Vol. 1, p. 370)

• Gates, Gilman C.. Saybrook at the mouth of the Connecticut : the first one hundred years. Orange, Conn.: Press of the W.H. Lee Co., 1935, Chap V, p. 139.