1608 - 1690

Home    Search    Print    Login    Add Bookmark

• Birth	23 Apr 1608	Chew Magna, Somerset, England   [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Died	23 Oct 1690	Stonington, New London, Connecticut   [1, 2]
  Buried	Wequetequod Cemetery, Stonington, New London, Connecticut
  Person ID	I52464	Brainard (Brainerd) / Foster / Fish
  Last Modified	24 Apr 2005 00:00:00
  Father	Clement MINOR, b. Abt 1560, Chew Magna, Somerset, England
  Mother	Unknown UNKNOWN
  Family ID	F22796	Group Sheet
  Family	Grace PALMER, b. 1608, England
  Married	23 Apr 1634	Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts   [1, 2]
  Children	> 1. John MINOR, b. 3 Aug 1635, Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts > 2. Clement MINOR, b. 1638, Hingham, Ma   3. Thomas MINOR, b. ABT. 10 May 1640, Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts > 4. Ephraim MINOR, b. ABT. 1 May 1642, Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts   5. Thomas MINOR, b. Abt 1642, Hingham,Ma > 6. Joseph MINOR, b. 25 Aug 1644, Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts > 7. Manassah MINOR, b. 28 Apr 1647, New London, Connecticut.   8. Judah MINOR, b. ABT. 1646, hingham, Ma   9. Ann MINOR, b. 28 Apr 1649, New London, Connecticut.   10. Marie MINOR, b. 4 May 1651   11. Samuel MINOR, b. 4 May 1653, New London, Connecticut. > 12. Hannah MINOR, b. 15 Sep 1655, Stonington, New London, Connecticut   13. Eunice MINOR, b. Abt 1651, New London, Connecticut.   14. Mary MINOR, b. 5 May 1651, New London, Connecticut.
  Family ID	F17666	Group Sheet

• Notes

  Thomas Minor said on Lyons Whelp from Gravesend 23 April 1629. hearrived in Salem July 1629. Then he moved to Watertown, then Charlestown.He became a freeman 4 Mar 1633/4. In 1636 he settled in Hingham,Massachusetts. In 1645 he went with John Winthrop to new London,Connecticut. in 1649 he was listed as the Sargeant in the town of Pequot. immigrated in 1629 Thomas Miner/Minor was born in Chew Magna Somersett County,Engl and on 23 April 1608, son of Clement Miner. He emigrated aboar d the Lyon's Whelp (and not the Arabella as often said) which sa iled from Gravesend,England on 25 April 1629, passed Land End o n 13 May, and arrived at NaumkeagHarbor (Salem, Massachusetts ) on 29 June 1629. He stayed briefly on Salemand Satertown before moving on to Cha rlestown, Massachusetts where in 1632 hebecame a founder of th e First Church. He married Grace Palmer on 23 April 1634 in Cha rlestown, M.A. She was born in 1614, the daughter of Walter Pal mer of Charlestown and their first child, John, was born in Char lestown, and then in 1636 they moved to Hingham, MA where more c hildren were born in 1645,they joined John Winthrop Jr. and com pany in the settlement of New London, Ct. On 15 Oct 1652 Thoma s sold his home lot in New London located at the headof Close C ove and was settling in Stonington, Ct. with William Chesebrough .Thomas Stanton, and his father-in-law, Walter Palmer. There is a monument tothese founders (dedicated 31 August 1899 ) located in the Wequetequock Cemetery with one side dedicated t o Thomas. In 1653 he bought some land from CaryLatham and move d from the Wequetequock area to the west side of the mouth ofQu iambaug Cove near Mystic, CT and began one of the feeeew (abou t 17) diaries to survive from this period. This diary covers t he period from 1653 through 1684 and was published as a book i n 1899. He is the Thomas Miner who wrote back to England about 1683/4 an d received a document which explores the Miner versus Minor spel ling of the name and traces the Miner ancestry back to the 1300s . The information in this document including the coat of arms i t presents are believed to be false. After receiving this docum ent, Thomas andhis descendants generally used the Miner spellin g of the name although some retained the Minor spelling especial ly his son John of Woodbury, CT. He diedin Stonington, CT on 23 October 1690, and his wife die d there on 31 Dec 1690.Both are buried at Stonington in the We quetequock Cemetery under a prone inscribed granite slab which r eads "HERE LYES THE BODY OF LIUTENANT THOMAS MINOR AGED 83 -- D eparted 1690" One Year in the Life of Thomas Minor, Connecticut Farmer, 1668. Thomas Minor was born in England and came to New England in 1630 . By 1668, when this selection from his journal was written, Min or, hiswife Grace, and their children were living in what is no w Stonington, a townon the Connecticut coast. Indians lived nea rby, and the journal shows Minor and his family interacting wit h them. Minor was a farmer, and he also had a number of public r esponsibilities. These included town treasurer, leader of themi litia, selectman, and brander of horses. He also participated i n churchand in town meetings. This selection records one year i n Minor's life. He began the year in March, as people in Englan d and New England did until the mid-eighteenth century. While hi s spelling is idiosyncratic and therefore difficult to read, th e journal is a valuable record of how written English looked a t that time-and probably also of how Minor pronounced his words . ---------------------------------------------------------------- -------- 1668 The ffirst month is march & hath .31. d: sabath day the first an d in the first year after the leap yeare and from the Creation . 5617. and the yeare. 1668. andthe 20th yeare of the reinge of o ur lord Kind Charels the second the .6. dayThomas Tracie and le affingwell was heare the .7. dai I branded .2. Coults [colts ] I sowed hemp & pease in the orchard sabath day the .8. day: sa bath daythe 15. The 13. I was at mr palmes I had A barell of ma llases [molasses] wensday the 18. we made an End between Jossept h & Marie Averie monday the 30 dayI ffecthed [fetched] my wife s mare and 26. day

• Sources

  [S495] Thomas Minor Descendants 1608-1981, John Augustus Miner, (Trevett, Maine 1981), CS 71 M6645 1981., pp 15-17. [S125] New England Marriages before 1700, Torrey, Clarence A.. MINER, Thomas (1608-1690) & Grace PALMER (1614-1690, Stonington, Connecticut); 23 Apr 1634; Charlestown/Stonington/Hingham/ New London {TAG 24:43; Reg. 13:23, 163; Booth (1952) 3; LBDF&P #363, 1911:28, 4:104; Granberry 280, 285; Blake-Glidden 187; Dixon-Williams 10, 20; NYGBR 88:187; Chesbrough 303, 523, 527; Brown (#4) 11; Williams (#16) 138, 197, 237, 241; New London Hist. 326; Dunham-Boyd 94, 96, 103; Charlestown 675, 725; Stonington Hist. 466; Snow-Estes 1:417; Miner Anc. 4, 10, 140; Porter 23; Fairfield Fam. 1:412; Gen Mag. 2:282; Avery 1:79; Palmer (#2) 19?, (#3) 9; Cross Anc. 151; Winthrop-Babcock 352, 375}