History of Thomas Applegate, Great Migration Immigrant

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: Applegate Thomas1_Applegate

Compiled by Paul Eldredge Smith, RootsWeb:

The founder of the Applegate Family in America was Thomas Applegate who left Norfolkshire, England and settled in Holland with a group of fellow Englishman during the Puritan disorders. About 1635, he came to Massachusetts Bay Colony and on Mar. 31, 1635, he was licensed for a year by the General Court to run a ferry between Weymouth and Braintree. However, he lost the license when the canoe he was using as a ferry overturned and several persons were drowned.

The following was taken from the official records of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Thomas Aplegate was "licensed on Sept. 2, 1635 to 'keepe a fferry between Wessagascus and Wolliston for which he is to have jd for any persons iijf a horse'". Thomas Aplegate was discharged of "keepein a fferry of Waymothe and Henry Kingman lycensed to keep said fferry at the pleasure of the Court".

At the Quarter Court held Oct. 14, 1638, it was decided that, "Aplegate wch owned the canooe out of wch the 3 psons were drowned/& it was ordered that no canooe to be used at any fferry upon paine of 5' nor no canooe be mad in or iurisdiction before the next General Court upon paine of 10'." Also an order was appointed to be given to Richard Wright to, "have that canooe out of wch these persons were drowned". At the next Court held on March 5, 1639, Willi Blanton, Willi Potter, Robert Thorpe, Henry Neal, John Fitch, and Thomas Aplegate, appearing, were discharged with the admonition not to adventure too many in any boat.

However, the record is confusing as Thomas Aplegate's canoe was ordered to be staved in by the court orders making it unusable; then the Court ordered that Thomas be given 29 shillings for his canoe, provided that he returned the arms he had borrowed and that they were in good condition.

Stillwell* cites trouble that Elizabeth Applegate, Thomas' wife had in the Massachusetts Bay Colony as follows: "She appears to have been one of the unfortunate persons who suffered from the ecclesiastical tyranny of that Puritanical age, for she was 'censured to stand with her tongue in a cleft stick for swearing, reviling, and railing'" (Boston Court Sept. 6, 1636). These experiences were obviously too much for the Applegates and they left the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1640 and went to Rhode Island.

There, Thomas appears to have engaged in several real estate endeavors and was identified as a weaver. Thomas was also involved in several Court suits. He sold his 15 acre farm on May 5, 1644 and probably left Rhode Island and came to New Amsterdam where he settled briefly at Flushing, Long Island. He was one of the original patentees there receiving a patent on Oct. 10, 1645. Thomas sold this patent and secured a patent of land on Nassau Island at Gravesend, New Jersey on Nov. 12, 1646 where he apparently remained the rest of his life.

Only 26 settlers were listed in Gravesend by 1646 [the time of Thomas Applegate 's arrival at Gravesend], and the remaining lots were reserved for subsequent arrivals. (It is also possible that there were originally 40 settlers, but several had died or left the colony.) The centers of each of the four squares were devoted to public use. At dusk, livestock was brought in from the outside and secured during the night in the common yards. Many of the original farms' property lines are still extant, and the original roads have been in continuous use for over 350 years. The land referred to in the confirmatory patent had been previously obtained by Kieft for the Dutch West India Company on September 10, 1645 from "Seysey, Chief Sepinto, Ponitarchgyne, Chiefs and Owners." The land included all of Flatlands, Gravesend, and part of western Flatbush. This transaction occurred after the van Salee and Op-Dyck patents for Gravesend lands, and nearly a decade after the Hudde and van Kouwenhoven deeds for sections of Niew Amersfoort (Flatlands). Those lands had previously been purchased as well. Unclear land titles were the rule rather than the exception during the Dutch administration, and this was especially true in Kings County. In fact, it was common for the same lands to be purchased several times from different groups of Indians. Certain tribes were overlords to other tribes, and tribute had to be paid by subordinate groups. This quasi-feudal system of land proprietorship frustrated efforts of the Dutch West India Company and other authorities to legitimately obtain and safely occupy land in Kings County.

At Gravesend, both Thomas and Elizabeth were caught up in court cases as they were apparently strong minded and believers in free speech. According to Stillwell, "this brought them (the Applegates) oppressive punishment from their neighbors. But such was the habit of the times. Few or none escaped from conflict of this sort. Their isolated life gave small opportunity on mental development on wholesome and broad lines, and their talk degenerated into gossip of a dangerous, personal nature, readily embellished and circulated over the convivial cup at the tavern. The habit grew in the community till it became customary to air the most petty grievances in court, and the contest savored much of a pastime. So great a nuisance did it became, that the court finally for its own protection, passed a rule laying the expenses of a suit upon the plaintiff in the event of his failure to successfully prosecute his case." (Additional text missing.)