Capt Thomas WILLETT

Capt Thomas WILLETT

Male 1605 - 1674  (69 years)

Personal Information    |    Media    |    Sources    |    Event Map    |    All    |    PDF

  • 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]
    Prefix Capt 
    Birth Aug 1605  Hertfordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Gender Male 
    Death 4 Aug 1674  Swansea, Bristol County, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Burial Ancient Little Neck Cemetery, East Providence, Providence Co.,Rhode Island Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Person ID I61606  Main Tree
    Last Modified 30 Aug 2022 

    Family 1 Mary BROWNE,   b. 1614, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 08 Jan 1669 (Age 55 years) 
    Marriage 6 Jul 1636  [3
    Children 
    +1. Mary WILLETT,   b. 10 Nov 1637, Plymouth, Plymouth Co., Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 24 Jun 1712, Norwalk, Fairfield Co., Connecticut Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 74 years)  [Birth]
     2. John WILLET,   b. 21 Aug 1641   d. 2 Feb 1663/4 (Age 22 years)  [Birth]
    Family ID F205  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 19 May 2020 

    Family 2 Joanna BOYSE,   b. 1616, Halifax Co., York, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 8 Nov 1681, Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 65 years) 
    Marriage 19 Sep 1671  Milford, New Haven, Connecticut, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2
    Family ID F19877  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 6 Jun 2015 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - Aug 1605 - Hertfordshire, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - - Ancient Little Neck Cemetery, East Providence, Providence Co.,Rhode Island Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Headstones
    Thomas Willett, Sr. Headstone
    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

  • Sources 
    1. [S02329] Find A Grave Website.

    2. [S01785] Donald Lines Jacobus, Ancestry.com: History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, (Name: Name: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.;;).

    3. [S5435] George Tilden Brown, "John Browne, Gentleman, of Plymouth" and one branch of descendants to the 12th generation.

    4. [S13227] James E. Bishop, A BISHOP Family Line in America, Rev. John Bishop to Samuel H. Bishop.