Thomas Besson
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Thomas Besson (abt. 1615 - bef. 1679)

Capt. Thomas Besson aka Beeson [uncertain]
Born about in Englandmap
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married 3 Aug 1642 in Lavenham, Suffolk, Englandmap
Husband of — married after 1658 in Anne Arundel, Marylandmap
Descendants descendants
Died before before about age 64 in South River, Anne Arundel, Marylandmap
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Profile last modified | Created 14 Sep 2010
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Contents

Biography

U.S. Southern Colonies Project logo
Thomas Besson was a Maryland colonist.
There is a great deal of uncertainty concerning Thomas Besson's origins. One old family genealogy has him born In France. Besson is a common French surname, but it was also well established in England by the 1500s.
We also find that many online trees have him born in Devon, England (see 1. below).
1. Thomas BESSON is said by some to have been born in Plymouth, Devon, England about about 1616. An examination of the baptismal records for Plymouth shows that a Thomas Besen was baptized on 11 Jan 1617 at St. Andrew, Plymouth, Devon, England. Father was Thomas. But, the records also show that this same Thomas Beson was buried the next day on 12 Jan 1617, also at St. Andrew. So, he cannot be the same person who emigrated to Virginia.
2. Another Thomas Besson/Beeson was born in Dartford, Kent county, England on 1 May 1615. His parents were Rafe (Ralph) Beeson and Joan Harnewood (various spellings) who married 24 July 1614 in Dartford. Ralph died before Oct. 1618. His widow remarried William Lee on 4 Oct 1618 in Dartford. William Lee died 20 August 1631. Nothing else is known about this Thomas Beeson. It should be pointed out that Dartford is only a few miles from London.
3. A third Thomas Besson married Anne Pecke, 5 November 1635, at St. Mary de Castro, Leicester, England. The fact that his wife was also named Ann makes this a good possibility. His age at marriage would be about right. There is nothing else in the available records about him.
4. The most intriguing possibility is the Thomas Beeson/Besson who married Anne Swanton 1642 in Lavenham, Suffolk, England. What makes this family so interesting is that they had a son Thomas who was baptized on 12 Jan 1647 in Lavenham. The Thomas Besson who emigrated to Maryland in 1649 is known to have had a wife named Ann and a son named Thomas said to be born about 1645. The parallels are striking. Of all the candidates this is the one that holds the most promise.
In a Chancery Court deposition on 10 Mar. 1674 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, he gave his age as 58 which would put his birth about 1616/17. [1]
He may be the Thomas BESON mentioned on the ship's manifest below as arriving in Virginia in 1635. However, I am doubtful that he is the right man because his age (24) does not match that given by Thomas Besson in his 1674 deposition. Our Thomas Besson would have been 19 in 1635. It would also make him 63 in 1674, not 58. This makes him a questionable candidate. It's doubtful that Thomas Besson would have been wrong about his age by five years.
The original lists of persons of quality; emigrants; religious exiles; political rebels; serving men sold for a term of years; apprentices; children stolen; maidens pressed; and others who went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600-1700 : with their ages and the names of the ships in which they embarked, and other interesting particulars;
by John Camden Hotten
Passinger wch Passed From Ye Port of London
24 July 1635
THEIS under-written names are to be transported to Virginea imbarqued in the Assurance . . . examined by the Minister of the Towne of Gravesend of their conformitie in or Religion. the men have taken the oaths of Allegeance & Supremacie.
p. 112
Thomas Beson 24
Since Thomas Besson stated that he was transported by Robert Freeman, this patent book entry is certainly the correct one.
1. CAVALIERS AND PIONEERS PATENT BOOK No. 1 Part II; p. 97
ROBERT FREEMAN, Merchant, 700 acs. in Chickahominy Riv., James Citty Co., 11 Sept. 1638, p. 597. S. W. upon sd. river, into the woods N. E., beg. where land of Francis Barrett ends. Due for trans. of 14 pers: John Moore, Wm. Rebell, Robert Drewry, Robert Haywood, Jon. Markedon, Jerimiah Slye, Robert Selbee, Math. Dixon, Tho. Moore, Georg Whitaker, William Charles, John Chappell, Tho. Besson, John Pricker.

Marriage

Marriage record, Lavenham, Suffolk, Enland
3 Aug. 1642 Thomas Beeson to Anne Swanton [2]

Immigration

Type: Arrival
Date: 1649
Place: Maryland[3]

See notes below: Arrival in Virginia seems to have been 1638 and his settlement in Maryland, 1649. [4]

Maryland Land Patent

On 2 July 1649, Thomas Beeson was granted a Maryland Land Patent for 450 acres on Beeson's Branch of the South River, Chesapeake Bay in Anne Arundel County, Province of Maryland based upon "Thomas Beeson hath transported himself, Anne his wife, Thomas & Anne his children & Edward Cox his servant" into the Province "bearing at date att London ye Second day of July in ye of Our Lord God 1649 & remayning in uppon record in Our Province".[5]

The Patent has been uploaded to Images on this Profile.

Public Offices

Legislative Sericve: Assembly, Providence (Anne Arundel County), 1657; Lower House, Anne Arundel County, 1666. [6]
Justice, Anne Arundel County, 1658-1668.[6]

Death

Date: 15 OCT 1677
Place: South River, Anne Arundel,Province of Maryland.

Last Will & Testament

In the Name of God Amen the 15th day of Octobr 1677 In the 46th yeare of the dominion of Caecilius x--. I Thomas Besson the Elder of South River in Ann Arrundell County being sick & weake in body but of sound & perfect memory praise be given to god the the same and knowing the uncertainty of this life on Earth & being desirous to settle things in order doe make this my last will & testamt in manner & forme foll[owing] That is to say first & principally I commend [my] soule to Almighty god my Creator hopeing for full pardon & Remission of all my Sinns & [be] saved by the pretious blood death & merritts of Jesus Christ my Savior & Redeemer & my body to the earth from whence it was taken to be buried in such decent & Christian manner as my Exx hereafter named shall be thought [in margin] & convenient And as touching such worldly Estates as the Lord in mercy hath sent me my will & meaning is the same shall be Imployed and bestowed as hereafter by this my will is Expressed & first I doe Renounce fully? & make voyd all wills by me formerly made a[nd] declare & Appointe this my last will & testam[ent]. I give & bequeath unto my Sonne John Besson to him & his heires for ever that parcell of Lande Adjoyning to my Sonne Nicholas Gassaway but if my said Sonne dye before he Comes to age then the said Land to goe to the next heire. Item I give & bequeath unto my Sonne William Besson to him & his heires for ever that parcell of Land betwixt my Sonne John Besson lands & the Little Necke, but if my said Sonne dye before he Comes to Age then the said Land to goe to the next heire.

Item I give & bequeath unto my Sonne Thomas Besson the younger sonne to him & his heires for ever all the Land between David Steward Line & the branch of the little Necke, but if in Case he the said Sonne Thomas Besson dyes before he Comes of age then the said Land to goe to the next heire.
Item I give & bequeath unto my daughter Martha to her & her heires for ever the young mare Nobsye Coult with all her Increase but if in Case the heifer Eareling which was came? in the yeare 1676 with all her Increase but if in Case she my said daughter dyes before she Comes to Age to fall to the next heire.
Item my will is that my Loving wife Hester Besson shall have the use of the Plantacon I now Live on either to build & Cleare what she shall have Occasion for during her life.
Item all my Rest of my Estate my Just debts being first satisfyed I give and Bequeath unto my Loving wife Hester Besson & my Children above menconed to be Equally devided between them.
Item my will is that Every & Each of my children aforesaid shall have an Equall benefitt share & priviledge in the Orchard which is on the Plant. I now live on & the fruite which shall yearly Produce for five yeares after they Come to full age Provided they see that theire be a sufficient Fence Keepe aboute the said Orchard during the said time.
Item I Constitute & Appointe by Loving wife Hester Besson to be the sole & whole Exx of this my last will & testament my Loving sonne Thomas Besson the Elder Overseer of my sole estate In Witness whereof I have hereunto sett my hand & seale the day & yeare first above writtn.

Signed sealed In the Presence of Tho Besson Sealed
Edward Burges
his
Robert X Ward
marke
John Greene

April 29 1679 This day Came before me Edward Burgess Robert Ward John Greene the Witnesses of the a foregoing Will & Oath did make that they did see the aforesaid Will by the testator signed sealed & delivered & declared to be his last Will & testament William Burges[7] [8]

Potential Gateway Ancestor

Thomas Besson appears to be a potential gateway ancestor who has a rather illustrious (but unproved) pedigree with a trail to Surety Baron, William Mowbray. There is some question as to the parentage of Thomas Besson and his lineage that places his potential Gateway ancestor statue in question.

Research Notes

The Maryland Land Grant indicates the family arrived from London, but other sources say Virginia.

The Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 states he was transported to Virginia by Robert Freeman, a merchant, and subsequently, he and his family immigrated to Anne Arundel, Maryland.[6]

Thomas BESSON immigrated to Anne Arundel Co., MD where he demanded 600 acres "for transporting himself and family" in 1649 into the province and since that time 3 servants Thomas JONES, Robert SAWLY, Alecia CROWDER. (3) He received a patent on the 450 acre tract Bessenden that was stated as transportation of "himself, Ann his wife Thomas and Ann his Children and Edwd COX his Servant." (4)

That his daughter Ann was born before 1649 would dispute Harry Wright Newman's belief that Ann was not born before 1658, or the mother of her husband Nicholas GASSAWAY's eldest children born about 1668 and 1670. (10) Newman apparently believed that Hester was the only wife of Thomas BESSON, and since they were not married before 1658, concluded that BESSON's daughter Ann was not born before then. If that were true, she would have been too young to have been the mother of Nicholas GASSAWAY's eldest children. Newman had apparently not seen the patent for Bessenten, which in combination with his demand for that land, showed that Thomas BESSON had a first wife Ann, and his daughter Ann was born by 1649 when he transported her into MD.

J. D. Warfield stated that as shown by Thomas BESSON's will, that Nicholas GASSAWAY married his daughter Hester. While BESSON's will did show that a daughter married Nicholas GASSAWAY, her first name was not given in the will. While Thomas BESSON's second wife was named Hester, there is no evidence of his having a daughter of that name.

Thomas BESSON secondly married after 1658 to Hester, widow of Henry CAPLIN. A widow did not normally wait too long to remarry, and it was stated that the lands of CAPLIN were in the occupation of BESSON until CAPLIN's daughter Elizabeth married Thomas WATKINS, the marriage of Thomas BESSON to Hester was probably about 1658.

Thomas BESSON died in Anne Arundel County between 15 Oct. 1677 and 29 Apr. 1679. After his death, his widow Hester married to Thomas SUTTON.

Thomas BESSON and first wife Ann had children:

1. Thomas BESSON b. say 1646; ) m. Margaret SAUGHIER Mar.8 [year blank, ca. 1677]
2. Ann BESSON b. say 1648;m. Nicholas GASSAWAY5; d. before 1692

Thomas Besson is mentioned in the Will of Wiliam Burges, of Anne Arundell, Maryland dated 11 July, 1685. This was in reference to land that Burges had purchased from Thomas Besson [9]

Sources

  1. Proceedings of the Chancery Court of Maryland 1669-1679, p. 155
  2. "Lavenham, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom Records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BT-HQF7-7 : June 7, 2023), image 682 of 722]
  3. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s Note: Data: Text: arrival date: 1649 arrival place: Maryland APID: 1,7486::1401403
  4. "Cavaliers and pioneers; abstracts of Virginia land patents and grants, 1623-1800
  5. Original Maryland Patent Records, 1657-1658, p. 58 Available at the Maryland State Archives
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Beeson, Thomas, (ca. 1617-1679), A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al.
  7. Transcript of Thomas Besson's Will-Broken Link
  8. Original will of Thomas Besson At Images 42-45
  9. "Genealogical gleanings in England. Parts I-xxiii,xxv"

Also See:

  • Archives of Maryland 51:155.
  • Peter Wilson Coldham, The Complete Book of Emigrants 1607-1660, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1987), 156-157.
  • Maryland Patents Q:69, FHL microfilm 0,013,064.
  • Maryland Patents Q:404-406, FHL microfilm 0,013,064.
  • Anne Arundel Co., MD land records WH4:295-299, FHL microfilm 0,013,208.
Thomas Besson "with the consent and approbacon of hester my wife" gave a gift of 160 acres of Bessenden to "my beloved sonne in law Nicholas Gassaway and Anne his now wife" on 19 Oct. 1672.
  • Thomas Besson account, MD Inventories and Accounts 7a:125-127, FHL microfilm 0,012,919.
Thomas Sutton had married the executrix Hester. In the 1680 account she askedfor an allowance for a heiffer given as per will to Martha Aldridge and a mare called Nobsey. [See #5 where these were willed to Thomas Besson's daughter Martha Besson].
  • "Jones Bible Records," Maryland Historical Magazine 14 (1919): 75-79.
From the birth of the first child of Thomas and Margaret in December 1667, the marriage was probably in either 1667 or 1666
  • Nicholas Gassaway Will, MD Wills 2:228-231, FHL microfim 0,012,841.
  • Harry Wright Newman, Anne Arundel Gentry, Volume 1, 2nd Ed., (Annapolis: Newman, 1970), 149.
  • D. Warfield, The Founders of Anne Arundell and Howard Counties, Maryland,(Baltimore: Kohn & Pollock, 1905).
  • Archives of Maryland 51:261-262.
  • Estimate from emigration in 1649, and Thomas having a first child born in 1667.
  • Estimate from marriage between 1677 (in #5) and 1680 (in #7), and Nicholas and Martha having a child born as late as 1706 (#15).
  • F. Edward Wright, Anne Arundel County Church Records of the 17th and 18th Century, (Westminster, MD: Family Line Publications, 199-).
  • Abstracts of the Testamentary Proceedings of the Prerogative Court of Maryland: Volume II: 1670-1674. Libers: 5, 6, V. L. Skinner, V. L. Skinner, Jr., Genealogical Publishing Com, Jun 1, 2009.
  • De Bernardy's Index Register, for Next of Kin, Heirs at Law, Legatees, and of Unclaimed Property, in Great Britain, the Colonies, and on the Continent, from 1754 to 1856, Constantine William DE BERNARDY, W. J. Golbourn, 1860, page 19.
  • Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s Author: Gale Research Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010.Original data - Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2010.Original data: Filby, P. William, ed.

Research Sources

  • "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J36X-HLJ : 30 December 2014, Thomas Besen, 11 Jan 1618); citing SAINT ANDREW,PLYMOUTH,DEVON,ENGLAND, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 0896648 IT 2
  • "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NP85-YXM : accessed 11 May 2016), Francisci Beeston in entry for Thomas Beeston, 18 Dec 1619; citing ILKLEY,YORK,ENGLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 599,156. (Possible confustion between the two Thomases ?)
  • "England, Devon, Parish Registers, 1538-1912," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KC98-3JC : 4 November 2017), Thomas Besen, 1617, Baptism; from "Church of England parish registers 1538-1911," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing Devon, archive reference , images provided by FamilySearch International.
  • "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JM7K-TH4 : 6 December 2014, Thomas Besson, 01 May 1615); citing DARTFORD,KENT,ENGLAND, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 396,472, 396,473.
  • Emison, Jr., James Wade. Emison Families, revised: Origin and History of the Kentucky Emisons, with partial genealogies and notes on the Emisons of Virginia, Tennessee, Long Island, Massachusetts, with the following collateral families, Baird, Holmes, Clark, Love, Posey-Wade, Allen, Dunning, Ruby, Reiley, Rabb, Braun, James, Chalke, Weaver, Sinclair, Blackburn, Buckley, Randall, Chew, Browne, Porter, Shipley, Mansell, Gassaway, Sheperd, Montague-Johnson-Straughn-Haynie-Grimes, Dutton, Gee, Barr, Simpson, McCord, Hogue, Patterson-Cullop, Scott, McClellan, Brevoort, Mantle, McFarland, McClure, Barkley, Snell, Briscoe, Mitchell, McHatton, Hoopes.(Shipley/Gassaway, pp. 262 & 265 of 369), Vincennes, Indiana: c1947. Familysearch.org, FHL Repository, Book Call No. 929.273 Em48e 1954, FHL Digitized version link
  • Rutherford, William Kenneth, and Anna Clay Zimmerman Rutherford. Genealogical History of the Gassaway Family. Authors, 1990, p. 40 (Nicholas Gassaway, son of Benjamin and Ruth Gassaway, with some listed children, Gassaway ancestry) FamilySearch.org, FHL respository, FHL Film #1033804(6), FHL Digitized Film #7953227.




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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Thomas by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Thomas:

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Comments: 8

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I undertook a clean up edit of this profile, but someone needs to address Rick Saunders findings below. This is so especially in light of the reference in the Patent to the families arrival from London, not Virginia.
posted by Bob Pickering
edited by Bob Pickering
Note that while there is a marriage for a Thomas Besson and Anne Pecke on 5 November 1635 at St. Mary de Castro, Leicester, Leicestershire, England.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP4W-H2SL

there are also baptisms at the same church for: Presela Besson, daughter of Thomas, on 17 July 1650 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP4M-35V8

and Joseph Beson, son of Thomas on 13 June 1652 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPW1-CXRS

There is also a burial for a Thomas Beson there on 8 July 1668 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP4Q-8TGK

Priscilla Beeston married there on 1 November 1679 to Thomas Smith https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP4W-C6T3

posted by Rick Saunders
I undertook a clean up edit of this profile, but someone needs to address Rick Saunders findings below. This is so especially in light of the reference in the Patent to the families arrival from London, not Virginia.
posted by Bob Pickering
Thomas "Beeson" marriage to Ann Swanton 3 August 1642 at Lavenham

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BT-HQF7-7

There are also: Ann, daughter of Thomas "Beston" baptized 10 February 1642/3 at Lavenham https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BT-HQ6G-P

Ann, daughter of Thomas "Besen" buried 31 May 1646 at Lavenham https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BT-HQ6L-G

Thomas, son of Thomas Besson, baptized 12 January 1646/7 at Lavenham https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BT-HQ6P-5

John, son of Thomas "Beeson" baptized 19 October 1650 at Lavenham https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BT-HQ6P-Q

In 1658 Thomas Besson claimed land in Maryland for transporting his family in 1649. Unless in claiming land he gave the wrong year and John died before the transportation, he would not be the Thomas of Lavenham. Also, if he is the Thomas in Virginia in 1638, he would have had to have gone back to England and married and had children born there to be the Thomas at Lavenham.

posted by Rick Saunders
edited by Rick Saunders
Wow, this is a Great profile. I wish all of mine were this good.
posted by [Living Boren]
Marriage Record from St. Mary, Leicester, Leicester, England, between Anne Pecke and Thomas Besson, married May 11, 1635

source: England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973, Author, Ancestry, FHL Film #585273, 585274, 942 B4PRS V.64 The Registry of St. Mary, Leicester, in the county of Leicester, Vol. 61-65, p. 130: Thomas Besson and Anne Pecke 5 Nov 1635

posted by Pam Kreutzer
Besson-69 and Besson-3 appear to represent the same person because: I am sorry to have caused difficulty, I unwittingly created an identical Besson. I propose a merge.

Thank you.

Besson-3 and Besson-36 appear to represent the same person because: These appear to be the same person- both came up as matches on my import and seem to be the same.
posted by Sara (Vergara) Freer

B  >  Besson  >  Thomas Besson

Categories: Anne Arundel County, Province of Maryland | Maryland Colonists