Thomas Bliss (bef. 1595 - bef. 1651)

Thomas Bliss migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 33) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Thomas Bliss was a founder of Hartford.^[1] He is called "Sr" in town records.

Birth

In Hale, House and Related Families^[2] Jacobus analyzes the available information and concludes that Thomas was born between 1590 and 1595, location in England, unknown, but possibly Painswick, Gloucestershire. Another researcher Myrtle Stevens Hyde^[3] adds Rodborough, where Thomas was married and eldest son Nathaniel was christened as a possibility. Parents are unknown.

Emigration

Thomas arrived in Massachusetts after the 1637 baptism of son Samuel, but was present in Hartford prior to 1640.^[2][4]

Marriages

Thomas Bliss married Margaret Snowe, as his first wife, 14 April 1616 at St. John the Baptist Parish, Gloucester, England.^[4][5] Margaret was buried 4 June 1621 at St. Nicholas Parish, Gloucester.^[6] They had three children.^[4]

Thomas married October 18, 1621, at St. Nicholas Church, Gloucestershire, England Margaret Hulings, born August 9, 1601, in Rodborough Gloucestershire, England, daughter of John Hulings and Margaret [?Lawrence]. She died August 28, 1684 in Springfield, Massachusetts.^[7][3]

Hartford

Thomas' public life in Hartford was fairly uneventful.^[8][9][10]

Both Thomas Bliss Sr. and Thomas Bliss Jr. are on an early list of inhabitants granted lots by the towns courtesy, with liberty to fetch wood and keep swine or cows by proportion on the common.^[8][10] This early list gives them status as Founders of Hartford, with their names on the Founder's Monument.

As of Feb 1639 Thomas owned several lots in Hartford. He owned his house lot, with house, yards and gardens about 2 rods; a parcel of upland about two acres and two rods; about two acres he bought from Thomas Bliss Jr.; a five acre piece of upland, part from Thomas Bliss Jr and part from the town that was John Sables; and another two rods that had also been granted to John Sabells; nineteen acres near the Wethersfield border; six acres on the Great River that he bought of Thomas Bliss jr; 25 acres that belonged to Thomas jr.^[8][10]

In September 1639 Thomas was behind paying his town rates, 5s.^[10]

4 March 1646, Thomas Blisse was fined 2s for not training.^[9]

Death

Thomas died February 1650/51, as indicated by his inventory and the appointment of his wife as estate administrator.

Probate

”Bliss, Thomas, Hartford. Invt. ₤86-12-08. Taken I4 February, 1650, by Nathaniel Ward, Joseph Mygatt. Nuncupative Will. Testimony of John Pinchon & Hen: Smith gives property to his wife. Mary Parsons, a daughter, of Springfield, doth Testify to the same.

”Court Record, Page 17 – 20 February, 1650-1: Adms. to the Relict, She to keep the whole Estate in her Hands for her Use and the Education of the Children during her life, then to be divided among the Children, viz: to Lawrence, to ]ohn, to Samuel, to Hester, to Elizabeth, to Hannah, and to Sarah Bliss.”^[11][12]

Children

Children listed following generally Jacobus,^[2] The first three Thomas, Ann and Sarah by first wife Margaret Snowe, the remainder by Margaret Hulins.^[4]

1. Thomas Blisse, was baptized 23 Jan 1617/8 at St. John the Baptist.^[4][13] d. at Norwich, Conn., 15 Apr. 1688; m. at Saybrook, Conn., 30 Oct. 1644, Elizabeth [?Birchard]^[14], b. [say 1622], d. at Norwich, 28 Feb. 1699/1700.
2. Sarah Blisse, baptized 23 April 1620 at St. Nicholas,^[4][15] Presumably died young since a second Sarah was born later to Thomas 2nd wife.
3. Anna or Ann, was born about 1620 or 1621^[4]; d. at Saybrook, Conn., 20 Nov. 1685; m. at Saybrook, 29 Apr. 1642, Robert Chapman^[16], b. abt. 1617, d. at Saybrook, 13 Oct. 1687 ae. 70. Note that the order of Ann and Sarah is uncertain.
4. Nathaniel, bp. December 28, 1622^[7]; d,. at Springfield, Mass., 18 Nov. 1654; m. at Springfield, 20 Nov. 1646, Catherine Chapin^[17], probably b. at Berry Pomeroy, Devon, in 1626, d. at Springfield, 4 Feb. 1712, dau. of Dea. Samuel and Cicely (Penny) Chapin. She m. (2) 30 June 1655, Thomas Gilbert, who d. at Springfield, 5 June 1662, and (3) 28 Dec. 1664, Samuel Marshfield who d. 8 May 1692.
5. Mary; b. [say 1626]; d. at Springfield, 29 Jan. 1712; m. at Hartford, 26 Nov. 1646, Cornet Joseph Parsons^[18], b. 1617-18, d. at Springficld, 9 Oct. 1683.
6. William Blysse, son of Thomas Blysse was baptized at St. Mary of the Crypt 25 April 1628.^[19]
7. Lawrence, b. [say 1630] (changed from 1628) ; d. at Springfield, in 1676; m. at Springfield, 25 Oct. 1654, Lydia Wright^[20], b. abt. 1633, d. at Springficld, 13 Feb. 1698/9, dau. of Dea. Samuel and Margaret (Stratton) Wright. She m. (2) 3l Oct. 1678, John Norton, who d. 24 Aug. 1687; (3) 27 Jan. 1687/8, John Lamb, who d. 28 Sept. 1690; and (4) 1 Mar. 1691/2, Quartermaster George Colton, who d. 17 Dec. 1699. "at night.”
8. Hannah, b. [say 1633]; d. at Springfield, 25 Jan. 1660/l, never married.
9. John, b. [say 1635]; d. at Springfield, 20 Sept. 1702; m. at Springfield, 7 Oct. 1667, Patience Burt^[21], b. at Springfield, 18 Aug. 1645, d. there 2 Oct. 1732, dau. of Henry and Ulalia (March) Burt.
10. Samuel, bpt. 4 Feb 1637 at St. Mary de Crypt in Gloucester;^[4][22] d. at Springfield, 23 Mar. 1720; m. at Springfield, 10 Nov. 1665, Mary Leonard^[23], b. at; Springfield, 14 Sept. 1647, d. there 1 Jan. 1723/4, dau. of John and Sarah (Heath) Leonard.
11. Sarah, b. [say 1638]; d. at Springfield, 27 Sept. 1705; m.(1) at Springfield, 20 July 1659, John Scott^[24], who d. 2 Jan. 1689/90; m. (2) 16 Nov. 1690, Samuel Terry^[25].
12. Hester (twin), b. abt. 1640; d. at Springfield, 12 June 1683; m. at Springfield, 26 Dec. 1661. Edward Foster^[26], who d. 22 Feb. 1719/20. He m. (2) 17 Jan. 1683/4 Sarah (Marshfield) Miller, who d. 9 Mar. 1708/9, widow of Thomas Miller.
13. Elizabeth (twin), b. abt. 1640; d. before 1684; m. at Springfield, 15 Feb. 1669/70, as his second wife, Sergt. Miles Morgan^[27], b. abt. 1615, d. at Springfield, 28 May 1699.

Research Notes

The several Thomas Blisses of New England have had their vital records, family relationships and biographical facts mixed and matched in a Gordian knot by those who were less than attentive to details as they imported unevaluated and unsourced data including fanciful pedigrees into their family trees. In brief, we are dealing with three or possibly four individuals of the name Thomas Bliss:

1. Thomas Bliss (called Sr) b. before 1595 a founder of Hartford, wives Margaret Snowe and Margaret Hullings (and the subject of this profile)
2. Thomas Bliss b. about 1618 of Saybrook and Norwich son of #1, wife Elizabeth Birchard who may or may not be the Thomas Bliss, called Jr. in early Hartford records and counted as a founder.
3. Thomas Bliss of Rehoboth, Mass. Wife Dorothy Wheatlie, father: John.

Barbour who based his work on the Genealogy of the Bliss Family in America^[28] mingles the lives of Thomas Bliss of Hartford and Thomas Bliss of Rehoboth and treats Thomas Bliss, Jr. as his son. In editing the biographies of the several Thomas Blisses I (djt) have elected to treat Thomas Jr. of Hartford as the same person as Thomas Bliss of Saybrook and Norwich.

Disputed Information

• Mother of Children: Disputes over whether Thomas had one wife or two and questions of which children if any belong to a first wife are now solved by finding a record of his first wife and her burial.

• There is no known family relationship between Thomas of Hartford and Thomas of Rehoboth as reported by John Homer Bliss in his 1881 Genealogy of the Bliss family in America, from about the year 1550-1880. ^[28] This was reviewed by Donald Lines Jacobus in 1951^[2] and found to be without any basis in fact. However, descendants generally accept that they were cousins of uncertain degree.^[29]

• The father of Thomas Bliss was not Thomas of Belstone. He did not come from Belstone Park In the Genealogy of the Bliss family in America^[30] J H Bliss included two chapters on the family of immigrants Thomas and George Bliss. Whose alleged father was Thomas of Belstone Park. English research published by Charles Arthur Hoppin in The Bliss Book: a romantic history of the Bliss family... found that Thomas and George were sons of John of Preston Parva.^[31] John Homer Bliss published a correction, which unfortunately, is not in every copy. The version on Ancestry does not have the correction. The version at Archive.org has the replacement pages. It also has the replaced pages with X drawn on them, so we can compare.

• Thomas of Hartford, was not the man from Daventry / Preston Parva, son of John. Hoppin also made errors. He jumped to the conclusion that the Thomas of Preston Parva was Thomas of Hartford. Jacobus notes: “There is evidence of only one Thomas Bliss born about 1590, belonging to the Daventry and Preston Capes family, and he was of John; common sense makes this Thomas the one who married Dorothy Wheatley in 1614 and who was most certainly the emigrant to Rehoboth, Massachusetts. As for Thomas Bliss of Hartford, Conn., there is not the slightest evidence or even reason to believe that he belongs to the Daventry of Preston Capes family.”^[32]

• Thomas of Hartford was from Gloucestershire. Newer research has located family members and the marriage of Thomas to Margaret Hulins in Gloucestershire.[two TAG Articles]

• Margaret Lawrence was a made up person. Given name Margaret is known from the will of Thomas of Hartford. Lawrence was an assumption because they named a son Lawrence, but this was a common enough given name.

Sources

1. ↑ Barbour, Lucius Barnes, Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut, (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., and Glastonbury, Connecticut: Connecticut Society of Genealogists, Inc., 1982), pp.75; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/BookView.aspx?dbid=48020&pageno=75 : accessed July 2023).
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Jacobus, Donald Lines, Hale, House and Related Families (Hartford: The Connecticut Historical Society, 1952), [pp. 476-480.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Hyde, Myrtle Stevens, "The Marriage of Thomas Bliss and Margaret Hulins," The American Genealogist, 60:202 (1984)
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7} Bennett, Anne Selene. "The First Wife and Older Children of Thomas Bliss of Gloucester, England and Hartford, Connecticut. The American Genealogist Vol 91, No1, January 2019. p. 43-45
5. ↑ Gloucestershire Archives Gloucester, Gloucestershire; Gloucestershire Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P154/9 IN 1/1 Accessed at Ancestry.com as Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1813 image 85 of 134 at Ancestry
6. ↑ Gloucestershire Archives; Reference Number: GDR/V1/134. . Reference Number P154/15 IN 1/1 image 239 of 332
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Hyde, Myrtle Stevens, "Thomas and Margaret Hulins Bliss of Hartford, Connecticut," The American Genealogist, 52:193-97, (1976)
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society Vol. 14, Original Distribution of The Lands in Hartford Among the Settlers 1639. (Hartford, Connecticut: The Connecticut Historical Society and the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut,1860), Indexed Thomas Sr., abutter 257, 277, 284; land bought by 258; land bought of 286, 287; land recorded to p. 256; mentioned as proprietor p. 501
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Hoadly, Charles J, MA. (editor) Records of the Colony and Plantation of New Haven, From 1638 to 1649. (Hartford: Case, Tiffany and Company, 1857.), p. 147
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3} Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society]] Vol. 6, Hartford Town Votes Vol. 1 1635-1716 (Hartford, Connecticut: The Connecticut Historical Society and the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut, 1897), https://archive.org/details/collectionsofcon06conn/page/n5 (p. 8, Sept? 1639 "Goodman bles" behind of 1 rates allsoe 00 05 0); (pp 63, 64. 16 May 1642 town gave permission to "Goodman Blis" to use the lot of John Sables that adjoins his); (p. 20 inhabitants granted lots by town’s courtesy (sr and jr)); (p 24. 3 Jan 1639 footnote additions to list of proprietors.); (p. 47, 48. 24 March 1650/1 "Thomas blise Jewnier shall have 2 acre near Hucanum pownd. Thomas blise Senier shall have 2 acre near Hucanum pownd"; (p. 50. A list Thomas Blysse Senior 6, Thomas Blysse Junior 4.)
11. ↑ Manwaring, Charles William, A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records (Hartford, Connecticut: R. S. Peck & Co., Printers, 1904), p. 98
12. ↑ Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society]] Vol. 22 Records of the Particular Court of Connecticut 1639-1663 (Hartford, Connecticut: The Connecticut Historical Society and the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut, 1928) Vol 22 -- pp. 46 suit ___ Blysse; 45 not training fine; 93, 94 estate;
13. ↑ Gloucestershire Archives Reference Number P154/9 IN 1/1 https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/4732/41511_636897_1956-00051/2171115 image 50 of 134
14. ↑ New England Marriages Prior to 1700, pg. 78
15. ↑ Gloucestershire Archives Reference Number: P154/15 IN 1/1 image 118 of 332 @ Ancestry.
16. ↑ New England Marriages Prior to 1700 pg. 145
17. ↑ New England Marriages Prior to 1700 pg.78
18. ↑ New England Marriages Prior to 1700 pg. 562
19. ↑ (Bishop's transcripts for St. Mary-de-Crypt Church, Gloucester, 1570-1812. Catalog: https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/catalog/315560. Baptisms, marriages, and burials, 1570-1812. Film #425421 > image 48 of 444. FamilySearch Image: 3Q9M-CSNL-7FRB.) Ancestry share link
20. ↑ New England Marriages Prior to 1700 pg. 78
21. ↑ [New England Marriages Prior to 1700 pg.78
22. ↑ Gloucestershire Archives Reference Number GDR/V1/111 https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/4732/43137_636897_2314-00054/14173121 image 54 of 559 [https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/32021895?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a223062426c456179524264613433687a4b54317139513648504d38737a6a6c5038786761675139574f4b5a453d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d Ancestry share link.}
23. ↑ New England Marriages Prior to 1700 pg. 78
24. ↑ New England Marriages Prior to 1700 pg. 656
25. ↑ New England Marriages Prior to 1700 pg.732
26. ↑ New England Marriages Prior to 1700 pg. 277
27. ↑ New England Marriages Prior to 1700 pg. 518
28. ↑ ^{28.0 28.1} Bliss, John Homer, Genealogy of the Bliss Family in America, (Boston, Massachusetts: the author, 1881)
29. ↑ Bliss, Aaron Tyler. Genealogy of the Bliss Family, (Midland, Michigan 1982) as related by Malcolm Bliss
30. ↑ Bliss, John Homer. Genealogy of the Bliss family in America, from about the year 1550-1880. (Boston, Mass., Printed by the author, 1881)
31. ↑ Hoppin, Charles Arthur. The Bliss book : a romantic history of the Bliss family from the time of its beginning in England, to its advent into America ... (Hartford, Conn. : Priv. print. 1913)
32. ↑ Jacobus, Donald Lines and Edgar Francis Waterman. Hale, House and Related Families Mainly of the Connecticut River Valley. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1978.)

• "Thomas Bliss," Sprague Project Database.
• Torrey, Clarence A., New England Marriages Prior to 1700 Baltimore, Maryland, Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., 2004.
• Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford
• Find A Grave Memorial# 34066224, Ancient Burying Ground, Hartford, Connecticut
• Kelley, Hermon Alfred. A Genealogical History of the Kelley Family (Cleveland, Ohio, 1897) Page 14
• (https://minerdescent.com/2011/03/14/thomas-* New England Marriages Prior to 1700 pg.78