Thomas Baxter Sr. (abt. 1653 - 1713)

Born about 1653 in Massachusetts Bay Colony

Husband of Temperance (Gorham) Baxter — married 27 Jan 1679 in Yarmouth, Plymouth Colony

Descendants

Died 22 Jun 1713 at about age 60 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Massachusetts Project WikiTree [send private message], Halsey Bullen [send private message], and Debra Allison [send private message]

Thomas Baxter Sr. is a part of Massachusetts history. Join: Massachusetts Project Discuss: massachusetts

Research Note

Three Thomas Baxters lived in Massachusetts and New York in the mid-to-late 17th century. Though near-contemporaries, they were at most cousins, if even that.

1. Thomas Baxter who lived in Westchester, New York, born circa 1654, married Rebecca (Adams?), died 1714, will proved January 1715. They had 11 children between 1675 and 1703, including a son named Thomas.< ^[1] His father was apparently Capt. Thomas Baxter of New Amsterdam, Fairfield, and elsewhere, who married Bridget Clark^[1]

2. Thomas Baxter, profiled here, who lived in Yarmouth, Barnstable Co., Plymouth Colony, married Temperance Gorham the widow of Edward Sturges, and died in 1713. They had 3 children between 1679 and 1687, including a son named Thomas.^[1]

3. Thomas Baxter-2247 who lived in Braintree, Massachusetts Bay, born to John Baxter in 1660, died there in 1670 at age 10.

And there seems to have been another Thomas Baxter in Virginia and Maryland, also with a son Thomas. Ideal situation for confusion, which seems to have happened:

The first two Thomas Baxters were previously conflated in this profile Baxter-31. They are separate men, who had children during the same period with different wives living a hundred miles apart. Ruling out bigamy, they needed to be in separate profiles. The Thomas who lived a short life in Braintree, and the Thomas in Virginia and Maryland, are also separate men, but there has been no conflation so they can be left to themselves

Biography

Birth

Perhaps 1653, but it is not that clear when, where, or to whom this Thomas Baxter was born. His gravestone in Yarmouth (see attached image with transcription) states that he died in 1713 in his 60th year, which would make his birth in 1653 or 1654. That dating conflicts with the view of some that he is the Thomas born in 1626, the man who built the wall in New Amsterdam, took up privateering, and abandoned his wife Bridget. That view is tempting, since it would supply an ending for the man born in 1626 and a beginning for this man, for whom the first records found in Yarmouth are his service in King Philip's War, 1675, and his marriage to Temperance. in 1680. However, it seems most unlikely that whoever erected his gravestone would have thought that an 87-year-old man was only 60 when he died. Also, nothing found so far suggests that the Thomas born in 1626, who trained as a military man and captained a warship, had learned the trade of bricklaying. Therefore, unless convincing evidence to the contrary surfaces, the conclusion is that this wounded bricklayer turned miller in Yarmouth was NOT the same man who was so active in the New Netherlands. The 1653 birthdate inferred from his gravestone is used in this profile.

Military and Commercial Activities

Thomas Baxter of Yarmouth was an ordinary soldier in Capt. Gorham's company, part of the Plymouth colony's forces in King Philip's War, in 1675. He lost the use of an arm from a wound sustained during their expedition. Unable to work thereafter in his trade of bricklaying, "he devoted his time to study, and was much employed in public business." With his brother-in-law Shubael and his sons, he built a fulling mill and a grist mill in Yarmouth.^[2]

Marriage

Thomas Baxter married his former Captain's daughter Temperance Gorham, as her second husband, on 27 Jan 1679/80 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, Plymouth Colony. ^[3]

Children of Thomas and Temperance Baxter:

1. John BAXTER b: 11 MAY 1679, Death: after 18 April 1749
2. Thomas BAXTER b: ABT 1683 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, MA ,Death: after 15 April 1745
3. Shubael BAXTER b: 1687 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, MA , Death: 12 April 1741

Death

• Image of Yarmouth gravestone.

Date: 22 June 1713

Place: Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts^[4]

Burial: Ancient Cemetery, Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts^[4]

Possibly ancestry in Scotland "The Yarmouth Register Library of Cape Cod Families, No. 79, p. 1, states: Thomas Baxter came from Scotland. He married the widow Temperance Sturgis (widow of Edward Sturgis, Jr.) on January 27th, 1679-80. He (Thomas Baxter) died June 22nd, 1713. She (Temperance (Gorham) Sturgis- Baxter) died March 12th, 1714-15. Thomas Baxter died in his 60th year (see Yarmouth, Mass., Graveyard Inscriptions)."^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Torrey, Clarence A., New England Marriages Prior to 1700, viewed on ancestry.com($), bottom of p. 53, top entry on page 54
2. ↑ Otis, Amos, Genealogical notes of Barnstable Families, (Barnstable, 1888, FB & FP Goss), Vol. 1, p. 414.
3. ↑ Torrey, Clarence A., New England Marriages Prior to 1700, viewed on ancestry.com($), p. 54:"BAXTER, Thomas ( - 1713) s. Temperance (GORHAM) STURGES (1646-1715) w Edward. . . 27 Jan 1679/80; Yarmouth"
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Find A Grave, database and images (accessed 11 September 2019), memorial page for Thomas Baxter (1653–22 Jun 1713), Find A Grave: Memorial #35038342, citing Ancient Cemetery, Yarmouth Port, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by ditdit (contributor 47012745) Gravestone picture
5. ↑ The New York genealogical and biographical record (1918), p. 240

See also:

• Genealogies and Biographies of Ancient Wethersfield, The Baxter Family, pages 50 & 51
• Mayflower Pilgrim descendants in Cape May County, New Jersey by Howe, Paul Sturtevant, pg 8
• Mayflower Planters, Cape Cod Series Vol II, Five Sister Ships of the Mayflower, 162
• John Howland of the Mayflower, Vol I Title: John Howland of the Mayflower, Vol I Author: Elizabeth Pearson White Publication: Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, Apr 2004
• Pilgrim Genealogies and Histories, 1600s-1900s Title: Pilgrim Genealogies and Histories, 1600s-1900s Author: Genealogical Publishing Co, Inc Publication: Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co, Inc, 1999
• Scottish Covenanters Index Title: Scottish Covenanters Index Author: Drown, Isabelle McLean, comp. Publication: Provo, UT, USA: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2003
• http://archive.org/stream/earlywillsofwes00pell/earlywillsofwes00pell_djvu.txt
• http://www.archive.org/stream/baxterfamilydesc00baxt/baxterfamilydesc00baxt_djvu.txt
• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lzrslong/b259.htm#P25055
• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jcahill/westchtr.htm#id5588
• http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=gbonnet&id=I36873
• "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001"
• Joseph Baxter, "Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910"
• Bowman, George Ernest. Gravestone Records in The Ancient Cemetery and The Woodside Cemetery, Yarmouth, Massachusetts (Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, Boston, Mass., 1906) Page 10