Thomas Bliss (Sr. in UK)

Thomas Bliss

• Birth: circa 1560
• Belstone, Devon, England
• Death: 1639 (79)
• Belstone, Devon, England
• Son of William Blysse and Elizabeth Bliss
• Father of Elizabeth Bliss, Mary Bliss, George Bliss, Jonathan Bliss

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From http://oliveandeliza.com/boyd/bliss/thomasandmargaret.html

Thomas Bliss, despite early genealogies' claims, was not at all likely to have come from Belstone, Devon, England since there is no evidence to support these claims and Belstone is quite a considerable distance from Gloucester. Likewise, claims that he was the son of a Jonathan or Thomas Bliss of Belstone or a member of the Bliss families of Daventry and Preston Capes are unsupported by primary evidence.

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Detached Thomas Bliss, Sr. as son of Thomas Bliss (Sr. in UK) & Margaret Bliss

The relationship can always be reattached.

Discussion: https://www.geni.com/discussions/204518?msg=1345906

Thomas Bliss, Sr. Progenitor of the American Bliss Family

b. abt 1560, Belstone Parish, Devonshire, England - d. abt 1638, Springfield, Hampden Co, MA age 80 m. Margaret LAWRENCE abt 1582, Devonshire, England.

Thomas Bliss, progenitor of the American family, lived at Relstone parish, Devonshire, England. Little is known of him except that he was a wealthy landowner, and was a Puritan, persecuted on account of his faith, by civil and religious authorities, under the direction of the infamous Archbishop Laud, that he was maltreated, impoverished and imprisoned. He was reduced to poverty and his health ruined by the persecution of the Church of England. He is supposed to have been born about 1555-60, and he died about 1635. When the parliament of 1628 assembled, Puritans or Roundheads, as they were called by the Cavaliers or Tories, accompanied the members to London. Two of the sons of Thomas Bliss, Jonathan and Thomas, rode from Devonshire on iron-grey horses, and remained for some time-long enough, anyhow, for the king's officers and spies to mark them, and from that time they, with others who had gone on the same errand to the capital, were marked for destruction. The Bliss brothers were fined a thousand pounds for their non-conformity, and thrown into prison, where they lay for weeks. Even their venerable father was dragged through the streets with the greatest indignities. On another occasion the officers of the high commission seized all their horses and all their sheep, except one poor ewe, that in its fright ran in the house and took refuge under a bed. At another time the three sons of Thomas Bliss, with a dozen Puritans, were led through the market place, in Okehampton, with ropes around their necks and also fined heavily. On another occasion Thomas was arrested and thrown into prison with his son Jonathan, who eventually died from the hardships and abuse of the churchmen. At another time the king's officers seized the cattle of the family and most of their household goods, some of which were highly valued for their age and beauty, and as heirlooms, having been for centuries in the family. In fact, the family being so impoverished, by constant persecution, was unable to pay the fines and secure the release of both father and son from prison, so the young man remained and the father's fine was paid. At Easter the young man received thirty-five lashes.

After the father died, his widow lived with their daughter, whose husband, Sir John Calcliffe, was a communicant of the Church of England, in good standing. The remnant of the estate was divided among the three sons, who were advised to go to America to escape further persecution. Thomas and George feared to wait for Jonathan, who was ill in prison;, and they left England in the fall of 1635 with their families. Thomas, son of Jonathan, and grandson of Thomas Bliss, remained in England until his father died, and then he also came to America, settling near his uncle of the same name. At various times the sister of the immigrants sent to the brothers boxes of shoes, clothing and articles that could not be procured in the colonies, and it is through her letters, long preserved in the original but now lost, that knowledge of the family was handed down from generation to generation.

William Bliss, Sr. is the minimum common great grandfather ot the 3 main branches of the Bliss families in American, that of grandsons Thomas Bliss (Sr. in US and Jr. in UK) of Hartford, Thomas Bliss of Rehoboth and George Bliss of Newport.

Aaron Tyler Bliss, in his "Genealogy of the Bliss Family in America", does not support that Thomas Bliss of Belstone, Devonshire, England is the father of Thomas Bliss of Hartford. Anyway, the use of the title "Sr." applies to England only, because in America Hartford property documents list his son Thomas with "Senior" or "Sen" or "Sr." in modern uses, so the son Thomas is "Jr." only in England. Similarly, the grandson Thomas Bliss would be called Thomas Bliss "III" in England and called Thomas Bliss "Jr." in America according to the Hartford property documents.