Thomas Blodgett, of Cambridge

He was (probably) the son of Robert Blowgatt II and Mary Whitlock.

Thomas Blodgett, christened Nov. 18, 1604 in Haughley, Suffolk Co., England. Sailed to America on the ship "Increase" April 8, 1635 from Suffolk, England to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Sailed during the "Great Migration." Took freeman's oath 3 March 1635/6 (as "Thomas Bloyett," twelfth in a sequence of fourteen Cambridge men) (Puritan).

"THEIS underwritten names are to be transported to New England, imbarqued in the INCREASE, of London, ROBERT LEA, Master; the said pties. having brought certificates from the Ministers and Justices of the Peace of his conformity to the Church of England.

• glover, THOMAS BLOGGETT.............30 years.
• Uxor SUZAN BLOGGETT ............. 37 "
• DANIEL BLOGGETT ............ .4 years. 2 children.
• SAMUEL BLOGGETT ......... 1-1/2 "

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Family

Extracted from https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Blodgett-23

Thomas Blodgett, who immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635, was born on 18 November 1604, a year after the death of Queen Elizabeth I of England. He was born at Haughley, in the parish of Stowmarket, Suffolk, England the son of Robert Bloggatt and Mary Whitlock/ Witlock/ Whetlock.

He married Susannah [later] Thompson in 1628 at Stowmarket, Suffolk. Their children were:

The children of Thomas and Susanna (______) Blodgett:

1. JOHN, born say 1627; buried Stowmarket, Suffolk, 4 May 1632[11]
2. NATHANIEL, bp. Stowmarket 28 February 1628/9[12]; bur. there 8 May 1630[13]
3. DANIEL, bp. Stowmarket 14 May 1631[14] (aged four in 1635[15]; m. (1) Chelmsford 15 September 1653 Mary Butterfield; m. (2) Chelmsford 10 March 1669[/70] Sarah Underwood.[16]
4. SAMUEL, bp. Stowmarket 12 July 1633[17] (aged 1" on 8 April 1635[18]); m. Woburn 13 December 1655 Ruth Eggleton.[19]
5. SUSANNA, d/o Thomas and Susan b. Cambridge [blank] June 1637[20]; m. Woburn 28 November 1655 Jonathan Thomson (her stepbrother),[21] son of JAMES THOMSON.[22]
6. THOMAS Bloggett dyed 7 (6) 1639., Cambridge 7 August 1639.[23] Note: There is no indication that this death is for a son of Thomas. If there wasn't a will dated in 1641, It could be assumed to belong to the father.

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According to Savage, Vol 1, Page 203:

BLODGET, or BLOGGET

THOMAS, Cambridge, came in the Increase from London, 1635, aged 30, with w. Susanna, 37, if custom ho. rec. be true; ch. Daniel, 4; and Samuel, 1 and 1/2; was adm. freem. 3 Mar. 1636; had here Susanna, bo. June 1637; and Thomas, wh. d. 7 Aug. 1639. He made his will, as giv. in Geneal. Reg. II. 185, 10 Aug. 1641, pro. 8 July foll. in wh. the w. and three ch. are prov. for. His wid. m. 15 Feb. 1644, James Thompson of Woburn; and his d. of the same name m. 28 Nov. 1655, Jonathan Thompson.

Helen S. Ullmann, CG, <i>Our Blodgett Line: Especially Descendants of Levi 6 Blodgett</i> (Acton, 1999), 4-6 Family History Library :

Came to america abouard the INCREASE left England 4/18/1635. arrived Boston late July 1635. with wife and 2 small sons. Daniel, and Samuel. @ earlier sons died in England from the plague. THOMAS THE IMMIGRANT

Our information about the Blodgett family line comes primarily from the Blodget-Blodgett Genealogy, a seven volume history on the descendents of Thomas Blodgett of Cambridge. The work was compiled by Rev. Franklin C. Thompson, a retired Congregational minister. (11)

Thomas, the immigrant, and his ancestors, at least those of the preceding three or more generations, lived in Suffolk County, England, in the area of Haughly and then Stowmarket, towns about two miles apart, and about ten to twelve miles northwest of Ipswich on the west coast of England. Thompson reported that Thomas was baptized at Stowmarket 18 November 1604.

Thomas emigrated to New England in 1635, setting sail from England aboard the "Increase" on the 18th of April with his wife, Susan, and two small sons, and arriving at Boston the end of July. His permit to emigrate read as follows:

xviij Aprillis 1635. Theis underwritten names are to be transported to New England imbarqued in the Increase de Lo (i.e. the Increase of London) Robert Lea Mr. Thep'te pred having brought certificates from the minister and justices of ye peace of his conformities to the Church of England.

Thomas Bloggett Glover 30 yeres Susan Bloggett xvor (Latin for wife) 37 yeres Daniell Blogett 4 Samvell Blogett 1 and 1/2 (Thompson added this was taken from Hotten: Original Lists, 1875, NY. He also added that Susan's age was probably 27, not 37.)

One always speculates as to the reasons an immigrant had to gamble on a life in the New World. Thompson suggested that perhaps one strong motivating influence was the hope of escaping the scourge of the Black Plague that struck London, Suffolk and other areas with devastating regularity. The years 1593, 1599, 1603 and 1608 were all plague years. In

1625, so many died that it was known as the year of the Great Plague. In 1631 Thomas' Uncle John died. About the same time Thomas himself lost two small sons to this killer.

Religious differences, as well as plague, agitated Stowmarket, as they did all England. Dr. Thomas Young became vicar in 1623. He was a man of strong Presbyterian leanings, best known as a tutor of John Milton, the Puritan poet. Contrary to the policies of King Charles I and of Archbishop Laud, who sought to enforce strict conformity to high Anglicanism, Dr. Young brought to Stowmarket, in 1634, lecturers who expounded Presbyterianism. At the same time there was an active Catholic party headed by the powerful Tyrell family, which helped to keep the people aroused. (11)

Newtown (Newetowne), where Thomas Blodgett settled, was one of several small towns established in the Bay Colony following the arrival of Winthrop's Company of settlers in June 1630 and Newtown was on its way to becoming settled by the spring of 1631.

As the different areas were being settled it became evident that groups of English families moved from some English town along with their minister and settled down together in the New World. Thomas Hooker was one such minister who arrived in 1633 to join some of his followers who were already in the Boston area. On 11 October 1633, Mr. Hooker was chosen as pastor at Newtown and he and his followers joined the settlers there. His liberal beliefs, however, clashed with the conservatism of the Massachusetts authorities and he asked permission to remove to Connecticut with his flock. Permission was finally granted in 1635 providing they agreed to remain under the jurisdiction of the Bay. (3)

The Rev. Thomas Shepard and his friends happened to arrive at the moment Hooker and the church at Newtown were preparing their migration to Connecticut. Rev. Hooker's group were eager to sell their houses and lands, and the newcomers were glad to purchase a settlement already made. After having made these arrangements, Rev. Shepard formed a church and those who came over on the ship, the "Defense", which arrived 3 October 1635, formed the nucleus. Thomas Shepard, in contrast to Hooker, took a
very decided and emphatic stand against religious toleration. He felt it was essential to settle and secure religion according to the way the Puritan believed was of God. (5)

It was into this scene that Thomas Blodgett made his entrance -- into Newtown and into the congregation of Thomas Shepard. The church, known as the First Church at Cambridge, was established 1 February 1636. About a
month later on 3 March 1636 (7,9) Thomas Blodgett was allotted land in Newtown and on the same day was made a freeman. To have become a freeman he would have had to belong to the church, and to the right church.

Newtown in 1638 "was but a little village, scarcely 300 yards from north to south and 400 yards from east to west, on the northerly bank of the Charles River, three miles west of Boston. Its area was divided by four short streets parallel to the river, crossed from north to south by four others .... Within this area were forty or fifty unpainted wooden houses with shingled roofs. A little church, of hand-hewn logs, stood near the center of the village. Extending eastward from Harvard Square in what is now Massachusetts Avenue was a row of houses, which formed the northerly limit of the town .... These houses fronted south. Each was provided with a lot, which extended back of the houses, some 500 feet into the present College Yard. Other lots occupied the remaining area of the Yard; to the north of these was the Charlestown Path (now Kirkland Street) extending eastward three miles to Charlestown. From Charlestown one took the ferry for the few hundred yards across the mouth of the Charles River to Boston." (3, pgs. 345-346)

Thomas Blodgett evidently prospered in his new environment for in 1638 he conveyed a house and land in Garden Street and the following year an estate in Dunstain Street. (4) He did not, however, live long to enjoy the success of his labors, for he died at the early age of thirty-seven. His will, dated 10 August 1641, was probated in 1643.

Thomas Blodgget. Cambridge in America. (24 (5) 1643 in Margin.)

I Thomas Bloggett being at this time in my right mind, give to wife Susan my whole estate after my decease, as well within doors as without. She to bring vp my children in such learning & other things as is meete for them, & pay oldest son Daniel 15 pounds when one & twenty or in one month after her decease. To my 2d son Samuel 15 pounds, as above. To daughter Susanna 15 pounds. Should they have a father-in-law who does not treat them well

my will is that the Deacons & our brother ffessington & our brother Edward Winchship, they or either of them should have power to see unto it & reforme it by one meanes or other. Written this 10th day of the 6th month 1641.

In presence of us Hereunto I set my hand

Thos: Harris Thomas Blogget

John Mena

Deposed by Tho: Harris & John Mena the 8 (5) 1642 before

Increase Nowell Sec. (7a)

After Thomas' widow, Susan, married James Thompson on the 15th February 1643/4, the family lived at Woburn, the domicile of her second husband. James Thompson was born about 1593 in England. He was admitted as a freeman in December 1633, being then of Charlestown. He settled in Woburn in 1642 where he died in 1682, age 89. His first wife, Elizabeth, had died in Woburn 13 November 1642.

Helen S. Ullmann, CG,Our Blodgett Line: Especially Descendants of Levi 6 Blodgett (Acton, 1999), 4-6 Family History Library :

Came to america abouard the INCREASE left England 4/18/1635. arrived Boston late July 1635. with wife and 2 small sons. Daniel, and Samuel. 2 earlier sons died in England from the plague. THOMAS THE IMMIGRANT Our information about the Blodgett family line comes primarily from the Blodget-Blodgett Genealogy, a seven volume history on the descendents of Thomas Blodgett of Cambridge. The work was compiled by Rev. Franklin C. Thompson, a retired Congregational minister. (11)

Thomas, the immigrant, and his ancestors, at least those of the preceding three or more generations, lived in Suffolk County, England, in the area of Haughly and then Stowmarket, towns about two miles apart, and about ten to twelve miles northwest of Ipswich on the west coast of England. Thompson reported that Thomas was baptized at Stowmarket 18 November 1604. Thomas emigrated to New England in 1635, setting sail from England aboard the "Increase" on the 18th of April with his wife, Susan, and two small sons, and arriving at Boston the end of July. His permit to emigrate read as follows: xviij Aprillis 1635. Theis underwritten names are to be transported to New England imbarqued in the Increase de Lo (i.e. the Increase of London) Robert Lea Mr. Thep'te pred having brought certificates from the minister and justices of ye peace of his conformities to the Church of England.

Thomas Bloggett Glover 30 yeres Susan Bloggett xvor (Latin for wife) 37 yeres Daniell Blogett 4 Samvell Blogett 1 and 1/2 (Thompson added this was taken from Hotten: Original Lists, 1875, NY.

He also added that Susan's age was probably 27, not 37.)

One always speculates as to the reasons an immigrant had to gamble on a life in the New World. Thompson suggested that perhaps one strong motivating influence was the hope of escaping the scourge of the Black Plague that struck London, Suffolk and other areas with devastating regularity. The years 1593, 1599, 1603 and 1608 were all plague years. In 1625, so many died that it was known as the year of the Great Plague. In 1631 Thomas' Uncle John died. About the same time Thomas himself lost two small sons to this killer.

Religious differences, as well as plague, agitated Stowmarket, as they did all England. Dr. Thomas Young became vicar in 1623. He was a man of strong Presbyterian leanings, best known as a tutor of John Milton, the Puritan poet. Contrary to the policies of King Charles I and of Archbishop Laud, who sought to enforce strict conformity to high Anglicanism, Dr. Young brought to Stowmarket, in 1634, lecturers who expounded Presbyterianism. At the same time there was an active Catholic party headed by the powerful Tyrell family, which helped to keep the people aroused. (11)

Newtown (Newetowne), where Thomas Blodgett settled, was one of several small towns established in the Bay Colony following the arrival of Winthrop's Company of settlers in June 1630 and Newtown was on its way to becoming settled by the spring of 1631.

As the different areas were being settled it became evident that groups of English families moved from some English town along with their minister and settled down together in the New World. Thomas Hooker was one such minister who arrived in 1633 to join some of his followers who were already in the Boston area. On 11 October 1633, Mr. Hooker was chosen as pastor at Newtown and he and his followers joined the settlers there. His liberal beliefs, however, clashed with the conservatism of the Massachusetts authorities and he asked permission to remove to Connecticut with his flock. Permission was finally granted in 1635 providing they agreed to remain under the jurisdiction of the Bay. (3) The Rev. Thomas Shepard and his friends happened to arrive at the moment Hooker and the church at Newtown were preparing their migration to Connecticut. Rev. Hooker's group were eager to sell their houses and lands, and the newcomers were glad to purchase a settlement already made. After having made these arrangements, Rev. Shepard formed a church and those who came over on the ship, the "Defense", which arrived 3 October 1635, formed the nucleus. Thomas Shepard, in contrast to Hooker, took a very decided and emphatic stand against religious toleration. He felt it was essential to settle and secure religion according to the way the Puritan believed was of God. (5)

It was into this scene that Thomas Blodgett made his entrance -- into Newtown and into the congregation of Thomas Shepard. The church, known as the First Church at Cambridge, was established 1 February 1636. About a month later on 3 March 1636 (7,9) Thomas Blodgett was allotted land in Newtown and on the same day was made a freeman. To have become a freeman he would have had to belong to the church, and to the right church. Newtown in 1638 "was but a little village, scarcely 300 yards from north to south and 400 yards from east to west, on the northerly bank of the Charles River, three miles west of Boston. Its area was divided by four short streets parallel to the river, crossed from north to south by four others .... Within this area were forty or fifty unpainted wooden houses with shingled roofs. A little church, of hand-hewn logs, stood near the center of the village. Extending eastward from Harvard Square in what is now Massachusetts Avenue was a row of houses, which formed the northerly limit of the town .... These houses fronted south. Each was provided with a lot, which extended back of the houses, some 500 feet into the present College Yard. Other lots occupied the remaining area of the Yard; to the north of these was the Charlestown Path (now Kirkland Street) extending eastward three miles to Charlestown. From Charlestown one took the ferry for the few hundred yards across the mouth of the Charles River to Boston." (3, pgs. 345-346)

Thomas Blodgett evidently prospered in his new environment for in 1638 he conveyed a house and land in Garden Street and the following year an estate in Dunstain Street. (4) He did not, however, live long to enjoy the success of his labors, for he died at the early age of thirty-seven. His will, dated 10 August 1641, was probated in 1643.

Thomas Blodgget. Cambridge in America. (24 (5) 1643 in Margin.)

I Thomas Bloggett being at this time in my right mind, give to wife Susan my whole estate after my decease, as well within doors as without. She to bring vp my children in such learning & other things as is meete for them, & pay oldest son Daniel 15 pounds when one & twenty or in one month after her decease. To my 2d son Samuel 15 pounds, as above. To daughter Susanna 15 pounds. Should they have a father-in-law who does not treat them well my will is that the Deacons & our brother ffessington & our brother Edward Winchship, they or either of them should have power to see unto it & reforme it by one meanes or other. Written this 10th day of the 6th month 1641. In presence of us Hereunto I set my hand Thos: Harris Thomas Blogget John Mena Deposed by Tho: Harris & John Mena the 8 (5) 1642 before Increase Nowell Sec. (7a)

After Thomas' widow, Susan, married James Thompson on the 15th February 1643/4, the family lived at Woburn, the domicile of her second husband. James Thompson was born about 1593 in England. He was admitted as a freeman in December 1633, being then of Charlestown. He settled in Woburn in 1642 where he died in 1682, age 89. His first wife, Elizabeth, had died in Woburn 13 November 1642.

References

1. Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, (Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995) Volume 1, A-B, by Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn, Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1999. v. 1, p. 325 < AmericanAncestors >
2. Alternate Data, omitted during merge of 11/30/09: Birth Date(s): 8/10/1641, 8/7/1639, 8/19/1642
3. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~genepool/blodgett-4.htm
4. https://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=blodgback&id=I188...
5. https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/12/surname-saturday-blo... His wife remarried to James Thompson on 15 February 1643/4 and resettled in Woburn with her children. Thomas had six children, one daughter, Susanna, married her stepbrother, Jonathan Thomson, and one of their descendants was Count Rumford (Benjamin Thompson (1753 – 1814). Another Blodgett descendant is President Calvin Coolidge.
6. sketch of Thomas Blodgett in The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634 – 1635, by Robert Charles Anderson, George Sanborn and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, Volume 1, pages 324 – 325, 2001.
7. There is also a six volume set of books with an index called Blodget-Blodgett Descendants of Thomas of Cambridge, by Bradley DeForest Thompson and Franklin Condit Thompson, 1954. I
8. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36940960/thomas-blodgett cites
   1. BLODGETT Thomas Family – From Haughley to Haldimand Source: "From Haughley to Haldimand: The Blodgett Family History, 1455 to 2002" by Rosemary McConkey. Available at Allen County Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana; Call GC 929.2 B621mc Page 27 Chapter 3 Generation 13 Thomas Blodgett
9. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/UNKNOWN-25791
10. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Blodgett-23 In the Great Migration article about Thomas Blodgett, the authors referred to two works in the bibliographic notes. These materials are
    1. Mary Walton Ferris, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines: A memorial volume containing the American Ancestry of Rufus R. Dawes, 2 vols, 1:91-92. [This materials may be accessible to some in the U.S. via a local library with access to Heritage Quest.]
    2. Bradley DeForest Thompson and Franklin Condit Thompson, Blodget--Blodgett descendants of Thomas of Cambridge, 6 vols. (1955). [These material may be accessible via the Family History Library Catalog.] Anderson wrote, "the first volume of which contains the information on the English origin of the immigrant."
11. "Topographical Dictionary of 2885 English Emigrants to New England 1620 - 1650" by Charles Edwards Banks, Edited and Indexed by Elijah Ellsworth Brownell, Southern Book Company, Baltimore, 1957 (Lady Anne's Library) < link > lived on westerly side of garden street.
12. Hotten’s list of immigrants. < Archive.org >
13. GLOVER Someone who makes or sells gloves.
14. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/MS6V-2RJ
15. Submitted 3/31/2015 by William Conway "Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:3W23-6YG : accessed 19 December 2018), entry for Thomas /Blodgett/, cites sources; file (2:2:2:MMDX-L5C), submitted 31 March 2015 by williamconway1 [identity withheld for privacy].
16. http://sites.rootsweb.com/~genepool/blodgett-4.htm
17. Vincent Redstone letters regarding Blogget origin in Stowmarket < PDF > posted at https://www.wikitree.com/photo/pdf/Blodgett-23