My Family arrives in the New World

Thomas Standish is one of my 10X great grandfathers. He was born in Lancashire England in the year 1612. Thomas arrived in America in 1636 (1). I thought he had arrived earlier but recently found proof that he arrived in 1636. This makes him not my first, but second ancestor to arrive since Robert Rose and family arrived in 1634. This would make Thomas my first ancestor to arrive in America. He died on 5 December 1692 in Wethersfield, Hartford County, Connecticut and is buried in the Wethersfield Village Cemetery along with a few other of my ancestors.

But wait…..who is Thomas’ father?

There is no proof, but many people believe that Thomas is the son of Myles Standish who was the commander of the Mayflower. But it is known that Thomas didn’t arrive on the Mayflower. If Thomas is the son of Myles then he was born to Myles’ first wife Rose who died on 29 January 1621 which is only a few months after the Pilgrims arrived in America. He also could have been born to an unknown woman before Myles sailed to America. Myles returned to England in 1625 and then returned to America. I can’t find any information on when he returned but this could have been when he brought Thomas back with him.

Thomas was not named in Myles’ will.

One bit of proof is that during the Pequot War in 1636 – 1637 Thomas claimed to be the son of Myles as mentioned here. Who’s Who of the Pequot War

There is also the possibility that Thomas is a brother, cousin, or nephew, of Myles.

It is not known who Myles Standish’s parents were but in his will he states “I give unto my son & heire apparent Alexander Standish all my lands as heire apparent by lawfull decent in Ormskirke [Ormskirk] Borscouge [Burscough] Wrightington Maudsley [Mawdesley] Newburrow [Newburgh] Crowston [Croston] and in the Isle of man and given to mee as Right heire by lawfull decent but Surruptuously detained from mee My great Grandfather being a 2cond or younger brother from the house of Standish of Standish.” All the locations mentioned in his will are in Lancashire England. The same place that Thomas was born.

Myles was 28 years old when Thomas was born and it’s not know when Myles married Rose. There is quite a bit of mystery about Myles prior to his arrival in America other than he was a military man. Some say he was a mercenary and other say he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the English army.

So if Myles and Thomas are brothers, then their father is one of my 11x great grandfathers. If they are cousins, then their grandfather is one of my 12x great grandfathers. If Thomas is the nephew of Myles then his great grandfather is one of my 13x great grandfathers.

I find it very difficult to believe that Thomas and Myles are not related in some way.

Anyway, since no relationship can be proven that is enough about Myles.

Here is some other information regarding Thomas Standish from The ancestry of William Francis Joseph Boardman, Hartford, Connecticut.

“Thomas Standish, the emigrant ancestor of this family, was an early settler of Wethersfield. It is claimed by some that he is the son of Captain Myles Standish of Plymouth, by his first wife Rose; but there is no evidence from English records of the existence such a son and the will of that redoubtable warrior of the Pilgrims mentions only four sons by his second wife Barbara. Others think he was a kinsman of the Captain, perhaps a nephew or younger brother. It must be admitted that he was very much such a man in Wethersfield as Captain Myles Standish was in Plymouth, and there are some reasons to think that he came from that Colony to Connecticut.

Thomas Standish is numbered among the freemen of Wethersfield in 1669, and had held lands there for many years. In 1641, he had a house and three acres of land on the southeast corner of High Street and the road to the present landing place. This he later sold to his cousin John Deming and bought of Andrew Langdon a house near the junction of Fort (now Prison) Street and Sandy Lane. In 1653-4, the island “lyeing by Whethersfield bounds” and encompassed by a creek on the north, west and south, was recorded to him and he had then been in undisturbed possession for twenty years. His title was challenged in and the question finally was carried to the General Court . [Connecticut Colonial Records, III:165.],

In 1637, Thomas Standish was a soldier in the Pequot War, on which account the General Court granted him fifty acres in 1671. [Ibid, II: 161.] He also kept the Fort in town. As far is known, he had only one son to whom his father conveyed his lands in 1688, on which account there probably there is no record of the settlement of his estate, nor is there extant a complete list of his children. His death is recorded December 5, 1693 (5?), at age 80.”

Here is my lineage.

(1) Connecticut; Year: 1636; Page Number: 225