Thomas Gunn

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gunn-14

Thomas Gunn (abt. 1605 - 1681)

Thomas Gunn

Born about 1605 in Devon, England [uncertain]

Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]

[sibling%28s%29 unknown]

Husband of Unknown (UNKNOWN) Gunn — married [date unknown] [location unknown]

Father of Elizabeth Gunn, Deborah (Gunn) Thrall, Mehitable (Gunn) Sheldon, John Gunn and Elizabeth Gunn

Died 26 Feb 1681 in Westfield, Hampden, Massachusetts

Gunn-14 created 13 Sep 2010 | Last modified 31 May 2021

Thomas Gunn migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1620-1640).

Biography

Origins

There were Gunns in the area of South Molton, Devonshire in the late 1500s and early 1600s. There is even a small town named Gunn in that region. Though the precise birthplace of Thomas is not yet known, it is likely that this is his area of origin.
Birth: about 1605, [1] location unknown. [2]
The date and place of Thomas's birth is uncertain, but there are strong clues. We know that Thomas was born about 1605 because on 6 March 1666 John Winthrop Jr. treated Thomas Gunn, 61 years of age, in Windsor. Thomas must, therefore, have been born in 1605.[3]
Name

Name: Thomas GUNN
Given Name: Thomas
Surname: GUNN. Mary and John Clearing House has Thomas on their "C List" of possible passengers aboard that ship in 1630.[4]
Migration to New England - certainly by 1634, possibly in May 1630

It is certain that Thomas Gunn arrived in Dorchester, Massachusetts by 1634, as evidenced by taking the Freeman's Oath 6 May 1635, and prior admission to the Dorchester church, "implied by freemanship". [5] Also, on December 29, 1634 Thomas is named as the owner of a lot in the heart of the Massachusetts Bay Colony of Dorchester. On that December day another man's land grant was made "next unto Thomas Gunn in the late burial place," that is, at the site of the original burying ground near the first meeting house in Dorchester. [6]
Removed to Windsor, CT - 1635

Thomas Gunn was among the founders of Windsor, Connecticut, who left Dorchester to settle the new town in 1635. [7] He was granted four parcels of land in Windsor.[8] Thomas served on the Connecticut Petit Jury on ten occasions between 1664 and 1661. [9]
Removed to Westfield, MA - 1669

Thomas Gunn moved to Westfield after living in Windsor for thirty-four years. [10]
Will

Thomas Gunn's will was dated 5 Nov 1679, and it was proved 29 March 1681. [11] Thomas Gunn gave his son-in-law Timothy Thrall several parcels of land in Windsor by 22 Jan 1674. [12] The real estate in Thomas Gunn's inventory was valued at 254 pounds.[13]
Death and Burial

Died: 26 February 1681, Westfield, Massachusetts.[14]
Buried in the Old Burying Ground, sometimes called the Mechanic Street Cemetery, in Westfield. He died 26 February 1681.[15]
Marriage & Family

Married: by 1638, name of wife unknown. [16]
Their five children were born in Windsor, and three survived to adulthood, and married:[17]
Deborah, b. 21 Feb 1641, m. Timothy Thrall
Mehitable, b. 28 July 1644, m. (1) David Ensign (divorced), m. (2) Isaac Sheldon
John, b. 8 July 1647, m. Mary Williams
The wife of Thomas Gunn, born about 1605, [18] died at Westfield 28 Nov 1678. [19]
Research Notes

The Mary & John 1630

The 1630 journey of the ship Mary & John was a precursor of "some 200 ships [which] transported more than 20,000 settlers to New England" in the great migration of the 1630s.[20] The 400 ton ship Mary & John carried 140 passengers and a crew of between forty and fifty seamen.[21] Memoirs of Roger Clap - 1630, the only primary evidence of the journey, was searched for the names Gunn or Gun and Allen or Allyn: not found.[22]
Not everyone who wanted to immigrate to the new town that became Dorchester, Massachusetts, could go on the initial voyage. Four years later, ships were still bringing family, friends and neighbors to join the original settlers. Among those certain to have been on the Mary & John 1630, we find Aaron Cooke, from Bridport in Dorset, [23] and probably Thomas Hoskins, son of John, possibly from Beaminster, Dorset. [24] Samuel Allen, who first appears on the freeman list of 1635, has not been identified by Anderson as a passenger, and is not found by Thistlethwaite.[25][26] George Phelps and his brother William were of Crewkerne, Somerset, just over the shire line from Dorset, 23 miles from Dorchester, England.[27] Anderson pegs their immigration to 1634,[28] and Thistlethwaite names them in conjunction with Windsor, 1636.
In summary, enough ink has been spilled working to tie various immigrants to Dorchester on the first voyage there, of the Mary & John, that the ink alone could probably float a fleet of ships, but none of it changes the fact that nearly every single one of the 140 passengers have been accounted for, and cannot include all the names that have been proposed. The settling of Windsor was every bit as arduous, if not more so, as that of Dorchester, and all those later settlers are equally covered in the glory of our courageous ancestors.
Speculative Notes on Migration

MIGRATION: May 1630 (but no later than 1634, when we know Thomas held land in Dorchester). He probably arrived on the ship Mary and John. No official passenger list for the Mary and John has ever been found, but the Mary and John Clearing House has Thomas on their "C List" of possible passengers aboard that ship in 1630.[29]
There is circumstantial evidence that he was, indeed, one of the passengers. Thomas migrated to Windsor as one of the “founders” of that town, which included twenty-five men who are listed as passengers aboard the Mary & John. In fact, between the years 1640-54 thirty seven men who were passengers on that ship are listed as heads of households in Windsor. Moreover, listed passengers who were made freemen at General Court on May 6, 1635, along with Thomas, were Aaron Cook, George Phelps, Samuel Allen, and Thomas Hoskins. Two of these, Aaron Cook (b. 1613) and George Phelps (b. 1605), had spent their entire adult lives as neighbors with Thomas, and the three were probably very close friends. They all migrated on to Westfield at the same time and were also founders of that town.
From a young age, then, Thomas moved with this group of former passengers of the Mary and John. Of course he might have been an outsider, but it’s more logical to think he was one of them--one who had shared the dangerous crossing of the ocean, the first harrowing winter and the settlement of Dorchester. And because they were ‘bonded’ by experience, way of thinking, and friendship, they stayed together, and Thomas moved on with them to Windsor and later to Westfield.
Sources

↑ Anderson citing Winthrop, Vol III, p. 171
↑ The Great Migration Directory, by Robert Charles Anderson, (2015), page 143
↑ [WMJ: Medical Journals of John Winthrop Jr., 1657-1669, manuscript, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Massachusetts, 631
↑ Mary and John Clearing House: http://www.maryandjohn1630.com/passengerlist.htm/tree/2300270/perso... Ancestry Family Trees
↑ Anderson Vol III, p. 170
↑ History of the Town of Dorchester, 66; Ferris II:407
↑ Anderson Vol III, p. 170
↑ Anderson Vol III, p. 170
↑ Anderson Vol III, p. 170
↑ Anderson Vol III, p. 170
↑ Anderson Vol III, p. 171
↑ Anderson Vol III, p. 171
↑ Anderson Vol III, p. 171
↑ Anderson Vol III, p. 171
↑ HamCCR 1:112, and National Youth Administration. "A List of gravestones in the Mechanic Street Cemetery, Westfield, Massachusetts, 1939." (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1958).
↑ Anderson Vol III, p. 171
↑ Anderson Vol III, p. 171-172
↑ Anderson citing Winthrop, Vol III, p. 171
↑ Anderson Vol III, p. 171
↑ Thistlethwaite, Frank, Dorset Pilgrims: The story of West country Pilgrims who went to New England in the 17th Century, p. 64
↑ Thistlethwaite, Frank, Dorset Pilgrims: The story of West country Pilgrims who went to New England in the 17th Century, p. 66
↑ Clapp, Roger - searched book, no Gunn/Gun
↑ Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, p. 464
↑ The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, p. 1000-1001
↑ Great Migration Newsletter, V.1-20.(Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2018.) Vol 10, p. 13
↑ Thistlethwaite, Frank, Dorset Pilgrims: The story of West country Pilgrims who went to New England in the 17th Century, searched book: Allen/Allyn not found.
↑ Thistlethwaite, Frank, Dorset Pilgrims: The story of West country Pilgrims who went to New England in the 17th Century, pp 49, 146
↑ The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume V, M-P, p. 445
↑ Mary and John Clearing House: [1]
Anderson, Robert Charles, Great Migration 1634-1635, G-H. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009.) Originally published as: The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume III, G-H, by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2003. Thomas Gunn: Vol III, G--H, pp 170-173
Anderson, Robert Charles, F.A.S.G., The Great Migration Directory, (Boston, Massachusetts, NEHGS, 2015), "Concise entries for all immigrant families for the entirety of the Great Migration, from 1620 to 1640." Includes all entries from The Great Migration Series, the Study Project, The Pilgrim Migration 1620-1633 and the The Winthrop Fleet 1629-1630. Thomas Gunn page 143
Thistlethwaite, Frank, Dorset Pilgrims: The story of West country Pilgrims who went to New England in the 17th Century, (London, Barrie & Jenkins, 1989). Roger Clap: 27, 62, 69, 77, 95, 272. NOTE: a scholarly work with 12 pages of sources, detailing the lives of the founders of Dorchester, Massachusetts and Windsor, Connecticut. pp.64-66
Clapp, Roger, Memoirs of Roger Clap - 1630, at HathiTrust.org, (Boston, David Clapp, Jr. 1844), from the Collections of the Dorchester Antiquarian Society, first published 1731, pp iv-64 NOTE: the only documentary evidence of the 1630 voyage of the ship Mary & John. [not found: Gunn/Gun]
See Also:
For more on Thomas (with both facts and some fanciful guesses about Thomas's circumstances), go to http://thomasgunnfamily.com, the Thomas Gunn Family website.
Thomas Gunn BIRTH 1605 England DEATH 26 Feb 1680 (aged 74–75) Westfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts, USA BURIAL Old Burying Ground Westfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts,

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/34507085/thomas-gunn

Children Deborah Gunn Thrall 1642–1694

Mehitabel Gunn Sheldon 1644–1720

Photo John Gunn 1647–1726

Date of birth has also been erroneously reported to be circa March 6, 1665.

Date of death has also been (erroneously?) reported to be February 26, 1680.

Place of death has also been (erroneously?) reported to be Westfield, Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut.

innkeeper at Dorchester, MA. One of the town's early settlers.

Left much of his land to son-in-law Timothy Thrall.

Thomas Gunn, was an early settler at Dorchester Massachusetts, he received a land grant at Windsor in 1640 and kept a lodging house there as in 1659 an order allowed him to keep Isaac Holt and family for the winter; he was not admitted as an inhabitant and deeded the place to his son when he moved to Westfield, Massachusetts.

He was an old man to brave the hardships of a new settlement. His home lot was the first one west of Little River, opposite the meeting house. He came from Windsor and though nominated as one of the foundation men of the church in 1679, he was then so broken by age, as Mr. Taylor says, that he was excused from the responsibility and from giving a “relation,” as the statement of personal religious experience was then called. His wife died November 26, 1678, and he followed her February 26, 1680.

http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=34507085

Birth: 1605, England Death: Feb. 26, 1680 Westfield Hampden County Massachusetts, USA

Born about 1605 (on 6 March 1665/6, John Winthrop Jr. treated "Gun Tho[mas] 61 years of Winsor").Came to Massachusetts Bay in 1634. First settled in Dorchester MA; moved to Windsor MA in 1635, & Westfield MA in 1669. Died in Westfield 26 February 1680[/1] (from inventory). Married by about 1638 _____ _____. She was born about 1605 (on 19 January 1667/8, John Winthrop Jr. treated "Gun [blank] 63 years wife of [blank] Gun of Winsor") and died at Westfield on 28 November 1678.

There is no proof that his father was George Gunn, originally from Breamore, Scotland, or that he married Elizabeth Brown. Anderson's Great Migration Study Project.

Find A Grave contributor James Gunn adds: Thomas Gunn was probably from Devon, England (where today there are still many Gunns). He died 29 Feb 1681 in Westfield and is buried with his wife, Elizabeth, in the Old Burying Ground off Mechanic Street in Westfield, MA. Thomas was my 7th great grandfather.

Family links:

Spouse:

 Elizabeth Brown Gunn (____ - 1678)*

Children:

 Deborah Gunn Thrall (1642 - 1694)*

 Mehitabel Gunn Sheldon (1644 - 1720)*

 John Gunn (1647 - 1726)*

*Calculated relationship

Burial: Old Burying Ground Westfield Hampden County Massachusetts, USA

Edit Virtual Cemetery info [?]

Created by: Linda Mac Record added: Mar 06, 2009 Find A Grave Memorial# 34507085

sources

• Four American Ancestries: White and Griggs
• Westfield and Its Historic Influences, 1669-1919: The Life of an Early Town, with a Survey of Events in New England and Bordering Regions to which it was Related in Colonial and Revolutionary Times, Volume 1

story

• Thomas Gunn on Three Frontiers, New England 1635-1681

links

• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=34507085

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Thomas Gunn Find A Grave Index Name: Thomas Gunn Event Type: Burial Event Place: Westfield, Hampden, Massachusetts, United States of America Age (Estimated): 75 Photograph Included: N
Birth Date: 1605 Death Date: 26 Feb 1680 Cemetery: Old Burying Ground Note: Contains Biography Affiliate Record Identifier: 34507085 Affiliate Image Identifier: 34507085 Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVKQ-BZQM : 6 March 2021), Thomas Gunn, ; Burial, Westfield, Hampden, Massachusetts, United States of America, Old Burying Ground; citing record ID 34507085, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com. Less