WIFE

Jane

CHILDREN

1. Annah Gregson b. 1632 Sherrow Hall, Thurvaston, Derby, England

2. Rebecca Gregson b. 1633

3. Susannah Gregson b. 1635

4. Richard Gregson b. 1637

5. Mary Gregson b. 26 Jan 1638-39 New Haven, CT

6. Phoebe Gregson b. 15 Oct 1643 New Haven, CT

7. Abigail Gregson b. 23 Feb 1643/44

Source: Carol R. Austin [email protected]            Source: Ancestry and Descendants of Amaziah Hall.
NEHGR Vol. 127, pp. 260-267.
Thomas Gregson arrived in Boston, MA, from London, 26 June 1637, in company with Mr. Theophilus Eaton and Rev. John Davenport, going with their party to settle New Haven Colony. He came of an old and gentle Derbyshire family, and was one of the most active and useful settlers of the New Haven Colony. Winthrop wrote that "he was probably the chief man in the Colony after Governor Eaton." His home was on the east side of the harbor, and "was one of the four which excelled in stateliness all other houses erected in New Haven by the first generation of its inhabitants."

He was an active and successful merchant. He was made freeman in 1640 and a member of the Congregational Church. He served as deputy to the General Court at Boston. From 1640 to 1643 he was judge of New Haven jurisdiction. He took the oath of fidelity in 1644, with Gov. Eaton and the other planters in New Haven, and was appointed the first treasurer of the colony. The same year he and three other merchants had an ocean-going vessel built. In 1645/6 it sailed for London with a cargo of grain, hides, etc., and Thomas Gregson aboard. He had been appointed colonial agent to Parliament. He was given 200 pounds in good merchantable beaver to defray expenses. The vessel was never heard from. The following June in New Haven, many persons saw in the air an apparition of a ship, which was taken to be the lost one, and this incident was the inspiration of Longfellow's poem, The Phantom Ship.