Thomas French, of Ipswich

See French Family Associtation Chart #1: Thomas French, 1584, Assington, Suffolk, England and Ipswich, Essex Co., MA http://www.frenchfamilyassoc.com/FFA/CHARTS/Chart001/

Thomas French was born ca Oct 1584 in Assington, Suffolk, England and was baptized in Bures St. Mary, Suffolk, England on 11 Oct 1584. He died in late 1639 in Ipswich, Masachusetts.

Parents: son of Jacob French (1555-11 Nov 1615) & Susan Warren (-1 Aug 1613), in Assington, Suffolk.

Married:

1. On 5 Sep 1608 in Assington, Suffolk, England to Susan (a/k/a Susannah) Riddlesdale (1584 - 1658). She was the daughter of John Riddlesdale and Dorcas.

9 children of Thomas French and Susannah Riddlesdale include:

1. Thomas bp 27 Nov 1608 St. Edmunds Assington Suffolk EN; died 8 Aug 1680 Ipswich MA; married about 1631 Mary (unknown) who died 6 May 1681 Ipswich MA. Thomas emigrated to America by 1631 when he was a member of the Boston MA church. He left will dated 3 Aug 1680.
2. ALICE bp 9 Apr 1610 St. Edmunds Assington Suffolk EN; died 26 June 1666 Topsfield MA; married THOMAS HOWLETT born about 1606; died 22 Dec 1677.
3. Amy/Amee French,[13] born ca 1612; married by about 1638, John Gage.
4. Dorcas bp 31 July 1614 St. Edmunds Assington Suffolk EN; died about 14 Oct 1697 Roxbury MA; married Christopher Peake.
5. Susan bp 22 Apr 1616 St. Edmunds Assington Suffolk EN; was a servant to Gov. John Winthrop.
6. Anne bp 15 Mar 1617 St. Edmunds Assington Suffolk EN.
7. Margaret bp 12 Mar 1619 St. Edmunds Assington Suffolk EN; buried 25 Nov 1635 Assington Suffolk EN.
8. John bp 26 May 1622 St. Edmunds Assington Suffolk EN; died 1 Feb 1697 Northampton MA; married about 1654 Freedom Kingsley who died 16 July 1689 Northampton MA; daughter of John Kingsley and Elizabeth (unknown).
9. Mary bp 6 Jan 1624. Married George Smith.

Alice came to America with her brother Thomas in approximately 1632. Her mother, father, and the rest of her siblings emigrated to America later.

Notes

• Occupation: Tailor.
• Religion: Thomas was admitted to Boston church as member.

Immigration

He and his family, “French, Thomas of Assington, Suffolk; French, Mrs. Susan Riddlesdale; French, Thomas Jr.; French, Alice; French, Dorcas; French, Susan; French, Anne; French, John; French, Mary,” emigrated to New England in 1630.

Linzee attempts to correlate varying arrival dates of Thomas French and his family by their entries in the records of the First Church of Boston.[9] However, the Winthrop Fleet Passenger Lists appear to show the entire family arriving at the same time in 1630.

Anderson's Great Migration Begins: “Thomas French (2nd) and his sister Alice had arrived in New England by 1632, and their two next younger sisters, Dorcas and Susan, came in 1633. Their parents and younger siblings sailed for New England after 1633.”

__________________________

• Thomas French1
• M, #70817, b. 11 October 1584, d. 5 November 1639
• Father Jacob French1 b. c 1555
• Mother Susan Warren1 b. c 1550
• Thomas French was christened on 11 October 1584 at Bures St. Mary, Essex, England.1 He married Susan Riddlesdale, daughter of John Riddlesdale and Dorcas, on 5 September 1608 at Assington, Suffolk, England.1 Thomas French died on 5 November 1639 at Ipswich, Essex, MA, at age 55.1
• Family Susan Riddlesdale b. 20 Apr 1584, d. Aug 1658
• Children
  • Thomas French+2 b. 27 Nov 1608, d. 8 Aug 1680
  • Alice French+ b. 9 Apr 1610, d. 26 Jun 1666
  • Edward French+ b. c 1612, d. 28 Dec 1674
  • Dorcas French+2 b. 31 Jul 1614, d. 30 Dec 1697
  • John French+3 b. 22 May 1622, d. 1 Feb 1697
  • Mary French+ b. 6 Jan 1624, d. 1 Feb 1697
• Citations
• [S11674] Genealogy.com, Ancestors of Stanley Elmer Allen.
• [S61] Unknown author, Family Group Sheets, Family History Archives, SLC.
• [S11597] Ancestry.com, Submitted by BrownR488.
• From: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p2357.htm#... ___________________________
• Thomas French
• Birth: 1584 Assington, Babergh District, Suffolk, England
• Death: Nov. 5, 1639 Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA
• Thomas was the son of Jacob French & Susan Warren.
• Burial location is unknown at this time. Will post as soon as I can find that information.
• Family links:
• Parents:
• Jacob French (1555 - 1615)
• Susan Warren French (1556 - 1613)
• Spouse:
• Susannah Riddlesdale French (1584 - 1658)
• Children:
  • Thomas French (1608 - 1680)*
  • Mary French Smith (1625 - 1697)*
• Burial: Body lost or destroyed
• Specifically: Burial location Unknown
• Find A Grave Memorial# 152005281
• From: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=152005281 ______________
• Specific Ancestral Lines of the Boaz, Paul, Welty & Fishel Families By Adrienne Boaz
• https://books.google.com/books?id=zzjxBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA528&lpg=PA528&d...
• Pg.489
• Thomas French (Jacob, Susan) was born in 1584 TH31 or 1585 TH34 in Assington, Suffolk, England BA11, TH34, TH31 and was baptized on October 11, 1584 in Bures St. Mary, on the border of Suffolk and Essex in England TH34. Thomas married Susan Riddlesdale BA11, BE7, L13, TH31 on September 5, 1608 L13, CA12, BE7 in St. Edmund Parish BE7, Assington, Suffolk L13. He was probably the man named Thomas French who was mentioned in the will of John Gurdon, Esquire, of Assington, Suffolk, which was written on December 6, 1621 and proven on October 10, 1623 WA19. John Gurdon bequeathed several parcels of land to his grandson, also named John Gurdon, and one of these parcels was described as "the messuage or farm house wherein on Thomas French doth now inhabit, called Garland's, and lands belonging &c., which I did lately purchase of Sir William Waldgrave, knight, the elder, situate in Assington...." WA19.
• He, and the remaining members of his family who had not already left for the New World, sailed from England to Boston after 1633 AN3 or circa 1637 TH35, L13, BE6, TH31. The Winthrop Fleet of 1630 did not state the name of the ship which transported the French family, nor did it indicate in which year they traveled, but simply listed their names in "Appendix A; Alphabetical List of Passengers" BA11. He settled in Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts BE7, and owned land at Reedy Marsh in 1638 and 1639 BE6, SC4, which was a planting lot that he owned on or before July 25, 1638 DA12.
• He died in Ipswich in 1639 TH35, L13, BA11, and the administration of his estate was granted to his widow on November 5, 1639 SH17, TH35, DA12. The court record stated that, by the advice of the Ipswich magistrates, his land was to be sold "for the maintenance of his wife & education of his children, wch are not yet able to p[ro]vide for themselues" SH17.
• Susan Riddlesdale (John, Dorcas) was said to have been born in about 1587 TH31 or 1588 in England, but she was allegedly baptized on April 20, 1584 in Boxford, Suffolk TH34. Another baptismal record for a child named Susan Riddlesdale, whose father was John, occurred in Lindsey, Suffolk, less than four miles northeast of Boxford, on September 6, 1584 EN4.
• Susan was mother of Thomas, Alice, Dorcas, Susan, Anne, Margaret, John, and Mary BE7, L13, DA12, although she may have had nine children TH34. Four of her children, Thomas, Alice, Dorcas, and Susan, sailed for the colonies prior to her own immigration AN3, DA12. All of her children baptized in Assington, Suffolk: Thomas on November 27, 1608, Alice on April 9, 1610, Dorcas on July 31, 1614, Susan on April 22, 1616, Anne on March 15, 1617, Margaret on March 12, 1619, John on May 26, 1622, and Mary on January 6, 1624 DA12.
• She was enumerated as "Widdow French" in a list of commoners in Ipswich on "the last day of the last month" in 1641 SC4, which would have been in February 1641. A Dorcas "Ridelsdell" was listed as a witness in a defamation case between Richard Smith and Joseph Fowlar in the Ipswich Court on March 30, 1647 CO12; this Dorcas may have been her niece, the daughter of her brother, Edward TH34. While Edward did not immigrate to
• Pg.490
• New England, his wife, Mary, died in Rowley, Essex County, Massachusetts, in 1683 TH34.
• Susan died in August 1658 in Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts BE7, L13, and her son, John, was granted the administration of her estate on September 28, 1658 DO13. The Ipswich record of her death simply stated, "Susan French, widdow dyed in August, 1658" MA26. A complete list of the items of her estate, which had a value of a mere twelve pounds, was inventoried on March 10, 1658/9 by Robert Lord and Phillip Fowler, and they have been transcribed below TH26:
  • .... etc.
• Pg.528
• John Riddlesdale (Henry, Joan) was baptized on September 26, 1557 in Boxford, Suffolk, England TH34. He married Dorcas circa 1583, probably in Assington, Suffolk TH34. John and Dorcas sold several acres of pasture land to John and Faith Gryme of Assington for 120 pounds on January 3, 1613 or 1614 TH34. He was buried adjacent to Dorcas on June 4, 1629 in Assington, Suffolk, England TH34.
• Dorcas "released her interest in land leased in June 1555 by John and Robert Gurdon for 500 years to John Vigorus the younger" on January 3, 1613 or 1614, and may have been a relative of John Vigorus, who was a clothier of Langham, Essex TH34. Dorcas was the mother of Susan, baptized on April 20, 1584, as well as Richard, Thomas, Joan and Dorcas, who may have been twins, Edward, and John, who were all born in the approximate years of 1586 through 1598, and finally Sarah, who was baptized at Assington on March 2, 1599/1600 TH34. Dorcas was buried on September 24, 1624 in Assington, Suffolk, England TH34. __________________
• RIDDLESDALE, Susan
• b. 20 APR 1584 Assington, Suffolk, England
• d. 28 SEP 1658 Ipswich, Essex, Mass.
• Parents:
• Father: RIDDLESDALE, John
• Mother: Dorcas,
• Family:
• Marriage: 5 SEP 1608 Assington, Suffolk, England
• Spouse: FRENCH, Thomas
• b. 11 OCT 1584 Bury St. Mary, England
• d. 5 NOV 1639 Ipswich, Essex, Mass.
• Children:
  • FRENCH, Thomas
  • FRENCH, Alice
  • FRENCH, Dorcas
  • FRENCH, Susan b. 22 APR 1616 Assington, Suffolk, England
  • FRENCH, Ann b. 1618 Assington, Suffolk, England
  • FRENCH, Margaret b. 1619 England d. 1635 Ipswich, Essex, Mass.
  • FRENCH, John
  • FRENCH, Mary
• From: http://www.genealogyofnewengland.com/f_1b5.htm#30

  ---

References

1. “Thomas French” in the New England, The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635. Page 703 - < AncestryImage >
2. French Family Association: The Official Website of the Surname French. Chart #1, Thomas French, 1584, Assington, Suffolk, England. Ipswich, Essex Co., MA. < link > # “Three French Daughters and Their Husbands: Three Unrecorded Marriages from Early Ipswich, Massachusetts: Amy (French) Gage, Susan (French) Kingsbury, and Anne (French) Hardy.” Melinde Lutz Byrne and John Edward Hardy. NEHGR, Volume 175 (2021) Page 104 - . The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.) < link >; (document attached).
3. Rootsweb: Ancestors of Richard Lee Hannon
4. [111] Joan R. Jones entry, Family Search database, Pedigree Resource File CD 3, submission number 246200-061899160622 (Salt Lake City, UT: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 1999).
5. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/French-103 cites
   1. Threlfell, John Brooks. "John Wyatt of Ipswich, Massachusetts and his wife Mary (_____) Riddlesdale." New England Historical and Genealogical Register. 143:213. Boston: NEHGS, 1989. $subscription
   2. New England Marriages to 1700. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1568/rd/21174/581/426886471
   3. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Winthrop_Fleet
   4. The Winthrop Fleet Passenger List
   5. Charles Edward Banks, The planters of the Commonwealth : a study of the emigrants and emigration in colonial times: to which are added lists of passengers to Boston and to the Bay Colony ; the ships which brought them ; their English homes and the places of their settlement in Massachusetts, 1620-1640 (Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1961), p.73; digital images, InternetArchive.
   6. David W. Hoyt, The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury Massachusetts (Providence, Rhode Island: Snow & Farnum, 1887), p. 166; digital images, InternetArchive.
   7. Nathaniel Shurtleff, Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England (Boston: William White, 1853), pp. 278/9; digital images, InternetArchive'.
   8. Melinde Lutz Byrne and John Edward Hardy, "Three French Daughters and Their Husbands ... Amy (French) Gage, Susan (French) Kingsbury, and Anne (French) Hardy," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 175 (2021):105-119, in particular, p. 118; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
   9. John William Linzee, The History of Peter Parker and Sarah Ruggles of Roxbury, Mass. and Their Ancestors and Descendants (Boston, MA: priv. print, 1918) , p. 416; digital images, InternetArchive. See also:
   10. Find A Grave: Memorial #152005281v https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/152005281/thomas-french
   11. Linzee, John William. The History of Peter Parker and Sarah Ruggles of Roxbury, Mass. and Their Ancestors and Descendants. Boston, MA: priv. print, 1918, also Google Books and Ancestry.com. (Multiple references to Thomas French and his family)
   12. Threlfall, John B., Thomas French of Assington, Suffolk, England and Ipswich, Massachusetts NEHGR Vol 142 (1988) p 250ff NEHGR 142:250