Thomas GILBERT
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 16 Feb 1611-16 Feb 1612 - Berry, Pomeroy, Devonshire, England
Christening: 16 Feb 1612 - Yardley, Worcestershire, England
Death: 5 Jun 1662 - Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts
Burial: 5 Jun 1662 - Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts
Cause of Death:
AFN #: 2ND4-07
Parents
Father: Thomas Gilbert (1589-Bef 1659)
Mother: Elizabeth Bennett ( -1659)
Spouses and Children
1. *Catherine Chapin (Bef 6 Apr 1630 - 4 Feb 1712) 1
Marriage: 31 Jul 1655 - prob Springfield, Massachusetts
Status:
Children:
1. Henry GILBERT (1661-1740) 1
2. Sarah GILBERT (1656-1712) 1
3. John GILBERT (1657-1709) 1
4. Thomas GILBERT (1659-1698) 1
2. Mary James ( - )
Marriage: 17 Sep 1639 - St. James, Bromwich, Staffordshire, England
Status:
Children:
1. Mary GILBERT (1641- )
3. Lydia ( - After 28 Nov 1654)
Marriage:
Status:
Notes
General:
He is suppsed by The Gilbert Family to have married Lydia who was executed for witchcraft; no record is found of this marriage and she is more likeley to have married his son, Thomas Jr. See Lydia wife of Thomas Jr.Marriage Notes (Mary James)
Lydia _____ (no record of this marriage has been found, see details in the text below; The Gilbert Family ... has her as this Thomas's mother, not his wife).
Who Was Lydia Gilbert?
The Gilbert Family ... maintains that Lydia Gilbert was the wife of Thomas [Sr.], the father of this family, based largely on circumstancial evidence. In contrast, The English Origin of Thomas Gilbert ... maintains that Lydia was most likely the second wife of his son, Thomas [Jr.], based of the following items.
Thomas [Sr.] was granted land in 1639/40 in "Mount Wollystone" Massachusetts
Thomas [Jr.] married in England and their first child, Mary, was christened there on December 12, 1641. Therefore, he did not accompany his father and the rest of the family to America in or before 1638. (This information was not known to the authors of The Gilbert Family ....)
Court records show that Thomas [Sr.] was in Braintree, Mass., in 1646.
Therefore, the Thomas Gilbert who arrived in Windsor, Connecticut, and bought land in 1644/45 was not Thomas [Sr.], it was Thomas [Jr.]. There is no evidence that Thomas [Sr.] ever lived in Windsor.
Lydia Gilbert was convicted of witchcraft on November 28, 1654, in Windsor. While there is no record of her hanging, which would have been prompt, there is also no record of anyone at that time escaping the sentence "thou Deservest to Dye", either.
Less than a year later, in 1655, Thomas [Jr.] married Katherine (Chapin) in Windsor.
The wife of Thomas [Sr.] and the mother of his children is known to be Elizabeth Bennett.
Among the debts paid from the estate of Thomas [Sr.], who died on September 5, 1659, in Wethersfield, is "charges of funeralls for him and wife—£9:17:06". Therefore, we can presume that his wife died shortly before him, also in Wethersfield.
Therefore, this author believes that Lydia Gilbert was the second wife of Thomas [Jr.] of Windsor, not the wife of Thomas [Sr.] of Wethersfield. However, convictions for witchcraft were such a shocking and memorable part of America's early history that some of the details of Lydia's fate will be presented here.
Sources:
Brainard, Homer Worthing; Gilbert, Harold Simeon; and Torrey, Clarence Almon; The Gilbert Family—Descendants of Thomas Gilbert, 1582(?)–1659 of Mt. Wollastin (Braintree), Windsor, and Wethersfield, 1953
Richardson, Douglas, English Origin of Thomas Gilbert of Braintree, Massachusetts, and Wethersfield, Connecticut, The American Genealogist, July 1992
Jacobus, Donald Lines, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield (reprinted with corrections), Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1991 (1930); vol. 1, pp. 216–223
Roberts, Gary Boyd, Ancestors of American Presidents, 1989, p. 221
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Walter Gilbert:
Thomas Gilbert, previously at Windsor, had a grant of land in Springfield Jan 30, 1655, and at Fresh WAter Brook, Enfield, Feb 12 1660. He m in 1655 CAtherine Bliss, widow of Nathaniel Bliss of Springfield. His widow remarried and had four more children.
Church was located about 8 miles from Yarley.