Thomas Barber (abt. 1644 - 1689)

Born about 1644 in Massachusetts [uncertain]

Husband of Anne (Chase) Barber — married 17 Apr 1671 in Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died 25 Jul 1689 at about age 45 in Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut

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Biography

Probably the son of John and Hannah Barber of Springfield, Massachusetts, and brother of the John Barber who married Joanna Miller (daughter of Obadiah and Jane (Coggin) Miller.)

The first record of Thomas Barber of Newbury/Springfield/Suffield Massachusetts (Suffield, or Stony Brook, was in the state of Massachusetts until the mid-1700s):

Marriage. "Anne, and Thomas Barbar, Apr. 27, 1671." Newbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. Anne Chase was the daughter of Aquila Chase and Ann Wheeler Chase of Newbury: "Anne, d. Aquilla, abt. July 6, 1647." The couple had two children born in Newbury: Thomas and Elizabeth Barber.

Original Proprietor. In 1674, Thomas Barber received a 50-acre grant at the Suffield Plantation by the Suffield Plantation Committee. At the conclusion of King Philip's War, Suffield was settled anew. The Barbers left Springfield - where they had moved from Newbury, Massachusetts - to establish themselves there.

As the first twins born in Suffield (1676/7), Joseph and Benjamin Barber were given an allotment of forty acres in Suffield, in 1682, provided their father paid the rates until the sons came of age. Suffield-born Barber children: Joseph, Benjamin, Aquila, Anna, Moses, and John Barber.

Thomas, son Benjamin, and wife Ann Chase Barber died in Suffield in the space of two years - between 1689 - 1691. Their orphaned sons, Aquila, John, and Moses, and daughter Ann, were taken in by Salem County, NJ Quakers. It appears likely that Joseph Barber remained in Suffield.

Surviving son Aquilla Barber shows up in Pilesgrove Township, Salem County, New Jersey records in 1701:

"1701 May 30. Benjamin ACTON of Pile Grove, Salem Co., weaver, to Stephen BUTLER, late of Chessester Co., Penna., husbandman, for 100 acres near the head of Salem Creek, adjoining Equilla BARBER's plantation, part of the 1,500 a. tract bought of Wm. HALL April 29, 1695."

NOTE: Not to be confused with the Thomas Barber family of Windsor CT.

Sources

• Vital Records of Newbury to the Year 1849. Volume 1, Page 87 -88.
• Stony Brook Currents, Newsletter of the Suffield Historical Society, July 2008.
• Suffield, Connecticut Vital Records.
• Salem County, New Jersey Deeds, No. 7, page 629, 639.
• George B Chase, Genealogical Memoir of the Chase Family of Chesham, Bucks, in England, and of Hampton and Newbury in New England, with Notices of Some of Their Descendants, H. W. Dutton & Son; Boston,
• Preston, Belle. Bassett-Preston Ancestors (Tuttle Morehouse & Taylor Co., New Haven, Conn., 1930) Page 57
• Donald S. Barber, "The Family of John Barber of Springfield, Massachusetts", Massachusetts Barbers, p. 11.[1]