Thomas Bumstead, US 1640

Generation One:

Thomas Bumstead- b. abt. 1610 at Rattlesden, Suffolk, England; m. bef. 1640 Susanna Bumstead Nee Unknown; d. 22 June 1677 at Boston, Suffolk, MA, aged 67 years.

Their Children:

I. Thomas b. bef. 1640 in England; d. 3 May 1661 at Boston, Suffolk, MA, aged 21 years

2. Jeremiah b. abt. 1636-7 in England; m(1) abt. 1664Anna Shaw; m(2) bef. 1676 Sarah Bumstead Nee Unknown; d. 27 February 1709 at Bsoton, Suffolk, MA at aged 72 years.

3. Hannah b. 25 January 1641 at Boston, Suffolk, MA; m. 19 April 1659 Thomas Shearer at Boston, Suffolk, MA by Richard Bellingham, Deputy Governor

4. Mary b. abt. 1642 at Boston, Suffolk, MA; bapt. Apr. 24, 1642 at Roxbury, Suffolk, MA; m. abt. 1662 Ambrose Dawes; d. 22 May 1706 at Boston, Suffolk, MA, aged 64 years.

5. Gerard b. 1643 at Roxbury, Suffolk, MA

6. Joseph b. abt. 1644 at Boston, Suffolk, MA; bapt. 24 November 1644 at Boston Suffolk, MA; d. bef. 1653, aged 9 years.

7. Mercy b. abt. 1649 at Boston, Suffolk, MA; bapt. 20 January 1649-50 m(1) abt. 1668-9 Samuel Bosworth at Boston, Suffolk, MA; m(2) aft. 1677 John Rawlstone.

8. Joseph b. 24 October 1653 at Boston, Suffolk, MA; bapt. 31 October 1653; d. bef, 1677, aged 23 years.

"THOMAS BUMSTEAD born" about 1610 may have come from the vicinity of Rattlesden, co. Suffolk, England, as did several early colonists, for there at that same period were recorded a Thomas and an Edward Bumstead" and by 1640 men of these two names appeared in New England." It is recorded':" that THOMAS "came to this Land in the 5th month of the yeare 1640" bringing with him" two small sons, Thomas and Jeremiah and undoubtedly his wife SUSANNA, born about 161 I, though no passenger list has shown their names. They settled at Roxbury; and promptly joined the church** there, had a daughter" Hannah born January 25, 1641, and on April 24, 1642, had their daughter MARY baptized." THOMAS was a brazier or "peuterer and likely pursued that trade in Roxbury where he early acquired eighteen acres of land adjoining that of EDWARD BRIDGE. Being an artisan rather than an agriculturist, he probably never possessed more than this amount in Roxbury, and it likely was this same eighteen acre tract which he presently sold to JOHN MAY, for by 1644 THOMAS with his family had removed to Boston where he maintained his residence for thirty-three years, during which time his name frequently appeared in the records of Suffolk County as a witness to deeds and wills, executor or administrator of estates and in other capacities showing his interest and activity in town affairs. On August 13, 1644, he purchased property in Boston from Arthur Perry which he presumably lived in for a time but by August, 1658, he was renting a home on the west side of Washington Street next north of the corner of Court Street and on December 30, 1658, he sold the Perry property (or a part of it) consisting of a "house, outhouses, garden and orchard conteyning by estimation one quarter acre of land being in boston, to John Blowar, cooper of Boston, being the land bought from Arthur Perry bearing the date 13 August, 1644." THOMAS signed this document by autograph but SUSANNA' signed by her mark. THOMAS owned property" also from 1665~8." (Dawes, p. 123)

"In the fall of 1644, soon after their arrival in Boston, an alarming accident befell an unamed child in this family, who, being then about eight years old must have been one of the sons brought from England. The report, after recording the remarkable recovery of another injured child, continued." (Dawes, p. 124)

"...One Bumstead, a member of the church, had a child about the same age (eight) that fell from a gallery in the (First) meeting house about eighteen feet high and brake the arm and shoulder (and was also committed to the Lord in prayers of the church with earnest desires that the place where his people assembled to his worship might not be defiled with blood) and it pleased the Lord that this child was soon perfectly recovered." (Dawes, p. 124)

" In 1647 THOMAS became a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston whose records say that he had become a freeman" in 1640, though other evidence of freemanship has not been found. In 1657-8 THOMAS subscribed £1 toward the building of the First Town House** and of a conduit (see p. 30) which was planned signing his name to the list. On August 7, 1658, Lydia, wife of the Rev. John Miller of Yarmouth died in Boston at the home of THOMAS BUMSTEAD. If they were related, no evidence of the fact has been found. New England had been disturbed for a time by the conduct of various members)

of the Friends or Quaker faith coming into the colony from England or the Barbadoes who tried to win, or force, a hearing by threats arid very spectacular conduct which was utterly unlike the action of the Friends who later in that century populated Pennsylvania. Needless to state that the Puritans were as defiant in their actions toward the early misled Quakers as the interlopers could have been, and it is one of the deplorable blemishes on early colonial history that torture and even death were meted out to many Quakers, both men and women, whose only crime was fanaticism regarding their religion. Cotton Mather commented that if the erratic conduct of the overly-zealous Quakers had been ignored, they would probably soon have desisted, but they fed and grew on persecution. In the fall of 1658 twenty-five of the leading men of Boston, including the Rev. John Wilson and our THOMAS1 BUMSTEAD, signed a petition to the General Court against the Quakers as "professed enemies of the Christian Magistrate and seducers of the people" They even went so far as to suggest the penalty of death for such of the Quakers as should defiantly return after being banished and the court on October 19, 1658, voted an enactment whereby"(Dawes. p. 124)

"three men and one woman, all of unsullied life, constant, heroic, resigned, triumphant even in spirit, yet with no declamatory or unseemly boastfulness, were hanged from a gallows on Boston Common. With shame and regret unrelieved and unrelievable, must the historian for all time read, write and comment on that melancholy episode. All recognition of, all admiration for, some of the noble qualities of our Puritans, and all allowance for the exigencies and straits of their position, must pause at this point and refuse to justify or palliate." (Dawes, p. 125)

"May we not hope that in time the mind of THOMAS BUMSTEAD would have reacted more tolerantly as did the minds of our ANDREW ELIOT and HENRY HERRICK who signed a recantation and abject apology in 1692 for having voted for the death of certain so-called witches (Dawes-Gates, II, 332-3, 428--9).

Harvard College in its infancy was largely supported by gifts from the various towns and churches, sometimes as little as a bushel of wheat, and the tuition of students was paid in products from the farm or artisans' handiwork. In other words, it was business by barter, and consultation of its early records show frequent evidence that services rendered to the school were paid for, in turn, by commodities. Presumably the craft of THOMAS BUMSTEAD as brazier or pewterer had been required, for in the Steward's book under date of October 2, 1652, we see" (Dawes, p. 125)

"payd to Goodman BUMSTEAD 128 and by M" powell 308 • • ."

and again on September 6, 1657,

"by m" parker to goodman BUMSTED by Cosser two bush wheat" 8 shillings.

"THOMAS, with others, was appointed'! on August 14, 1667, to take the inventory of the estate of the Rev. John Wilson, a man greatly revered and respected who had been the first pastor of the First Church in Boston. This church had been organized in 1630 under a tree" in Charlestown and moved two years later to Boston with Rev. Wilson serving first as teacher and then as pastor. At the time of its organization, Gov. John Winthrop, whose name stood at the head of the list of members, wrote to friends" in England: '~I do not repent my coming ; I never had more content of mind."

"During the life of THOMAS in Boston he experienced many trying events in- eluding'! reported earthquakes of varying intensity, about the time of his arrival in 1644 and others in 1659, 1663-4 and 1670-; small-pox epidemics in 1666, and 1668; the "Great Fire" in 1653-4 and the "Greater Fire" in 1676 which destroyed forty-six dwellings, a church and other buildings and would have done much more damage but for a heavy rain." The term of his life also covered the period of King Philip's War with all of its anxiety.

The will of THOMAS BUMSTEAD was dated May 25, 1677, and he died in Boston on June 22, 1677, aged sixty-seven. The will, which was probated August 4 of that year, referred to his son "Jeremy" and to the testator's three daughters, Hannah Sherwood (really Shearer}" wife of Thomas, MARY DAWES, wife of AMBROSE, and Mary (really Mercy), wife of Samuel Bosworth.

An item which must pertain to this family is found" in the Journal of the Rev. Peter Thacher of Milton under date of April 30, 1679; it reads "I spoke at Goodwife BUMSTEAD'S this night;" and adds, incidentally, "I paid 5/6 for a pack of nine pins and bowIe." (Dawes, p. 125)

"Widow SUSANNA survived her husband eleven years, dying at Boston on July 12, 1688, aged seventy-seven and they both lie in the Granary Burial Ground opposite their one-time home.

On April 30, I698, Jeremiah" Bumstead, AMBROSEs and MARY (BUMSTEAD) DAWES with John Rowlstone and his wife Mercy sold'" to Alexander Sherrar and Richard Greene for £10-10 all their interest in a house and lands which were once a part of the estate of THOMAS BUMSTEAD. MARY signed with her initials "M. D."." (Dawes, p. 126)