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1605 - 1674 (69 years)
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Name |
Thomas WILLETT [2, 3, 4] |
- Colonial Mayor. First Mayor of New York City. Arriving in 1632 on "The Lion" (with a religious separatist movement that called themselves "The Saints", that fled England to Leydon, Holland then went back to England to follow the Mayflower voyage), Thomas Willett was a merchant that traded from Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts. He succeeded Captain Miles Standish as head of the Colonial Militia and negotiated what is now known as the "Rehoboth North Purchase" which acquired land (now known as Attleboro and North Attleboro, Massachusetts) from Wampanoag leader Sachem Wamsutta who was the son of famed chief Massasoit. He later conducted sea trade from the Colonies and was a navigator from 1651 to 1654. When the charter of "New Amsterdam" was changed to British possession, Governor Richard Nicholls granted the city charter on June 12, 1665 and the city, population 1,500 at the time, got Thomas Willett as its English representative/mayor, making him the first mayor of "New York". He served two concurrent one-year terms from 1665 to 1667. His property in that colony was confiscated when the Dutch reclaimed the area and he settled in the locale of Barrington, Rhode Island (while some accounts have his retirement in Sewansea or Seekoknk, Massachusetts, these towns are all close and at the time the town lines that currently exist were not the same.) He was married to Mary Brown and together they had fourteen children. There is a large memorial marker placed for him, and near it is the original weathered stone which, now unreadable is documented as having the following inscription "1674 Here lyeth the body of the worthy Thomas Willett, Esq. who dies August 4 in the 64th year of his age, and who was the first mayor of New York and twice did sustain the place." (bio by: R. Digati)
[1]
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Prefix |
Capt |
Birth |
Aug 1605 |
Hertfordshire, England [1] |
Gender |
Male |
Death |
4 Aug 1674 |
Swansea, Bristol County, Massachusetts [1] |
Burial |
Ancient Little Neck Cemetery, East Providence, Providence Co.,Rhode Island [1] |
Person ID |
I61606 |
Main Tree |
Last Modified |
30 Aug 2022 |
Family 1 |
Mary BROWNE, b. 1614, England d. 08 Jan 1669 (Age 55 years) |
Marriage |
6 Jul 1636 [3] |
Children |
+ | 1. Mary WILLETT, b. 10 Nov 1637, Plymouth, Plymouth Co., Massachusetts d. 24 Jun 1712, Norwalk, Fairfield Co., Connecticut (Age 74 years) [Birth] |
| 2. John WILLET, b. 21 Aug 1641 d. 2 Feb 1663/4 (Age 22 years) [Birth] |
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Family ID |
F205 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
Last Modified |
19 May 2020 |
Family 2 |
Joanna BOYSE, b. 1616, Halifax Co., York, England d. 8 Nov 1681, Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut (Age 65 years) |
Marriage |
19 Sep 1671 |
Milford, New Haven, Connecticut, USA [1, 2] |
Family ID |
F19877 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
Last Modified |
6 Jun 2015 |
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Headstones |
| Thomas Willett, Sr. Headstone Thomas Willett, Sr. is the husband of (1) Mary Brown and (2) Joanna Boyse. He is buried in the Ancient Little Neck Cemetery in East Providence, Providence Co., Rhode Island.
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Originally Created by: R. Digati
Photo Added by: R. Digati |
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Sources |
- [S02329] Find A Grave Website.
- [S01785] Donald Lines Jacobus, Ancestry.com: History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, (Name: Name: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.;;).
- [S5435] George Tilden Brown, "John Browne, Gentleman, of Plymouth" and one branch of descendants to the 12th generation.
- [S13227] James E. Bishop, A BISHOP Family Line in America, Rev. John Bishop to Samuel H. Bishop.
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