Born: Abt. 1606 England

"The first New England reference to William Thorne is that of his admittance as a freeman to Lynn, MA on May 2, 1638 having arrived that year in the ship "confidence" from England. He is also shown to have served on a Salem jury on June 29, 1641. Shortly thereafter he was convicted of giving assistance to escaped prisoners and was fined f 6 2/3 for "concealing, hiding & supplying" This display of sympathy toward non-conformists and antipathy toward existing authorities presaged an early departure from the Massachusetts Bay Colony."

He was in Flushing, Long Island, NY by the Spring of 1643. In 1646 he received his planter's allotment and was made a magistrate in 1648.

Hempstead had a large number of Puritans and it was they that controlled the policies and politics of the town. The nearby town of Flushing was much more tolerant. George Fox, an Englishman and the founder of Quakerism, gave many speeches in Flushing converting many to the Society of Friends. However the authorities in New Amsterdam were trying to supress this new sect and passed many cruel laws against the Friends. Some people in Flushing remonstrated against these laws saying, "if any of these said persons come in love unto us wee cannot in Conscience lay violent hands upon them but give them free egresse and regresse into our Towne and howses as god shall perswade our Conscience and in this wee are true subjects both of Church and State for wee are bound by the law of god and man to doe good unto all men and evill to noe man." This was signed in 1675 by William Thorne Sr and his son William Thorne, Junior.

CHILDREN

William Thorne Jr.

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