Thomas BOREMAN

Notes:

Name:
Thomas Boreman "the elder" of Claydon, near Banbury, the first of the name found in that town, was the great grandfather of Thomas and Samuel Boreman, the emigrants to New England. He appears first in 1546 in a Lay Subsidy list for Banbury Hundred, where Thomas Boreman, Cleidon, is taxed L3-00s-3d on goods. The Parish register of Claydon begins in 1569, then years only before the death of Thomas; the baptisms of his children are therefore not to be found in it, and their names can only be gathered from his will. As nearly as can be computed, he was at the time of his death, in 1579, somewhere between 50 and 60 years of age. "The Elder", affixed to his name does not signify that he was an old man, but is added to distinguish him from a younger brother Thomas, probably of Cropredy. His will is dated Apr. 3, 1576, and was proved May 2, 1580. His burial record in the Parish Register is, "Thomas Boreman, the elder, Dec. 9, 1580," but the year is evidently a mistake, as shown by the Probate records. This entry in the Register follows others of later date, showing that it was not made till several years after his death, when there might naturally be confusion between the last part of 1579 and the year following. The inventory of his property, taken jan. 4, 1579/80, together with his will, show him to have been the cultivator of a farm with considerable live stock, including a horse, two cows, three heifers, and sixty pig. He had good store of hay and grain in his barn, and a good supply of farming implements, household furniture, bedding, etc., the whole not greatly differing from the average inventory of the first New England settlers some four generations later, and making mention of the same rooms in the dwelling house, viz.: the Hall, or living room, Kitchen, and Chambers. His various tools - augrs, saws, adze- and "the bedstede I made myself," imply that he may have also resembled the Puritan emigrants of a later day, in having, in addition to his occupation as a farmer, skill in a trade, evidently in his case that of some worker in wood, possibly, like a number of his descendants, that of a cooper, whose distinguishing implement, as shown by the coat of arms of their corporation in the city of London, was the adze. Thomas Boreman's wife, who survived him, was named Isabel; no record of her death has been found, and it does not appear whether she as the mother of all his children.

Family/Spouse: Isabel ?. Isabel died after 1579. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. William BOREMAN was born about 1553 in Claydon, England; was buried on 10 Jan 1612/3.
2. Thomas BOREMAN was born about 1560 in Claydon, England; died on 13 Jun 1587.

Notes:

Name:
William Boreman, of Banbury, Oxfordshire, in 1525, was in all probability the father of Thomas Boreman of Claydon, from whom the American family can be clearly traced. His name is found in a Lay Subsidy list for Banbury Hundred in the 16th year of Henry VIII(1525); Will, Boreman, Banbury, in Bonis 40 s. 7 . (his tax on goods). He is the only Boreman in all the towns included in Banbury Hundred in this Subsidy list of 1525. Twenty-one years later, in 1546, another Subsidy was called for, when five other Boremans appear in the lists of various towns near Banbury, some of whom, at least, may be concluded to be William's sons, especially as one of the five, Thomas of Claydon, is known to have called his eldest son William, the succession thus begun being kept up in his family through five generations - William, Thomas, William, Thomas, William - the last William dying in childhood, and thus ending the series.

The names of these five Boremans found in 1546 are variously spelt, as person of the same family felt free to do in those days, and the same Christian name is repeated in two instances. This was a common custom at that time, the first Thomas of Claydon having two sons named Thomas, and there is good reason to think he himself was one of two brothers of that name, since his death is recorded as that of "Thomas Boreman the elder", to whom Thomas Boreman of Cropredy, below, would correspond as Thomas the younger.

William married Unknown ?. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]