Thomas Hinckley, Governor of Plymouth Colony

The well-known governor of Plymouth Colony

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Governor of Massachusetts

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3rd Royal Governor of Plymouth Colony 1681-1692, last governor of the MA Bay Colony

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Direct ancestor of President George W. Bush and presidential candidate Barack Obama, as well as an ancestor of the former president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gordon B. Hinckley.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hinckley

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Thomas Hinckley (1618 - April 25, 1706) was the governor of the Plymouth Colony and held several other governmental positions during his lifetime, including that of a representative, a deputy, magistrate, and assistant, among others. A monument, created in 1829 at the Lothrop Hill cemetery in Barnstable, Massachusetts, attests to his "piety, usefulness and agency in the public transactions of his time."

Hinckley was born in England and migrated to Scituate with his parents, Samuel and Sarah Hinckley, in 1635. In 1639, he moved from Scituate to Barnstable, where he assumed multiple positions in the government of Plymouth colony. The following is a list of his roles in government and the time he occupied each:

Deputy (1645)

Representative (1647)

Magistrate and assistant (1658 - 1680)

Deputy governor (1680)

Governor (1681 - 1692)

Commissioner on the central board of Plymouth and Massachusetts colonies (1673 - 1692)

Councilor (1692 - ?)

Hinckley married twice; first on December 6, 1641 to Mary Richards, and again to Mary Glover (nee Smith) on March 15, 1659. He may have had as many as 17 children; different sources disagree on the exact number. One of his children, Samuel Hinckley (whose mother was Mary Richards), was a direct ancestor of President George W. Bush and presidential candidate Barack Obama, as well as an ancestor of the former president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gordon B. Hinckley.

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Children with Mary Richards, all born in Barnstable.

1. Mary (b. 1644)
2. Sarah (b. 1646)
3. Melatiah (b. 1648)
4. Hannah (b. 1650)
5. Samuel (1653-1698)
6. Thomas (1654-1688)
7. Bathshua/Bathsheba (b. 1657)
8. Mehitable (b. 1658)

Children with second wife, Mary (Smith) Glover, who he married in 1659, all probably born in Barnstable.

1. Admire (b. & d. 1661)
2. Ebenezer (b. & d. 1662),
3. Mercy (b. 1663)
4. Experience (b. 1664)
5. John (1667-1706)
6. Abigail (b.1669)
7. Thankful (b. 1671)
8. Ebenezer (b. 1673)
9. Reliance (1675-1759)

Descent from Colonial Gov. Thomas Hinckley

Plymouth Colony Leader Served Until Union with Massachusetts Colony

Share Article | Jul 15, 2009 Rosemary E. Bachelor

Plymouth Colony Gov. Thomas Hinckley had leadership roles for more than 45 years, culminating with his governorship until the 1692 union with Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Hinckley was born ca. 1618 in England to Samuel Hinckley (1595-1662) of Tenterden, Kent, and the former Sarah Soule. The family came to Plymouth Colony in 1635, settling first at Scituate and moving to Barnstable four years later.

Thomas Hinckley as Plymouth Colony Leader

Young Thomas, not yet 30, became a Plymouth Colony deputy in 1645 and a representative in 1647. As Hinckley matured, more responsibility was added. A decade later, Hinckley became a magistrate and an assistant to the governor. Thomas Hinckley was only deputy governor for a year before becoming governor in 1681. Hinckley’s governing experience reached beyond the Plymouth Colony and included becoming a commissioner on the central board of the two colonies (Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth) from 1673 until they merged in 1692. Then Hinckley became a councilor. Three volumes of Thomas Hinckley papers were among manuscripts of the Old South Church Library that in 1866 were deposited in the Boston Public Library.

Thomas Hinckley’s Family

Thomas Hinckley married, first, Mary Richards in 1641, and second, in 1659, Mary (Smith) Glover. Children to the first wife are believed to be Mary (b. 1644), Sarah (b. 1646), Melatiah (b. 1648), Hannah (b. 1650), Samuel (1653-1698), Thomas (1654-1688), Bathshua/Bathsheba (b. 1657) and Mehitable (b. 1658), all born in Barnstable. Children to the second wife are thought to be Admire (b. & d. 1661), Ebenezer (b. & d. 1662), Mercy (b. 1663), Experience (b. 1664), John (1667-1706), Abigail (b.1669), Thankful (b. 1671), Ebenezer (b. 1673), and Reliance (1675-1759), all probably born in Barnstable. Gov. Hinckley died in 1706.

Hinckley Line of Descent

The following line of descent from Plymouth Colony Gov. Thomas Hinckley was submitted to this writer in 1989 by Blanche (Riplett) Rutz of Great Falls, MT, who had also worked on her Gilman family genealogy.

•Gov. Thomas Hinckley and second wife Mary (Smith) Glover of Barnstable, MA

•Mercy Hinckley (1662/3-1736) and Samuel Prince; lived at Boston, Sandwich and Middleborough, MA

•Moses Prince (1696-1745) of Boston and Newburyport, MA, who married Jane Bethune

•Jane Prince (1740-1800) married Rev. Chandler Robbins; lived at Branford, CT and Plymouth, MA

•Hannah Robbins (1768-1837) married Benjamin Ives Gilman of Exeter, NH; they lived at Plymouth, MA, and Marietta, OH

•Ichabod W. Gilman (1793-1879) married Lydia Mattox; lived at Marietta, OH, and Terre Haute and Hymera, IN

•William M. Gilman (1823-1863) married Minerva Helton and lived at Hymera, IN

•James Henry Gilman (1858-1941) married Melissa Craft; lived at Terre Haute and Hymera, IN

•Hallie Minerva Gilman (1887-1944) of Hymera, IN, married Carl Leslie Riplett; lived at Sheridan, WY, and Wyola, MT; parents of Blanche Riplett, born in 1919 and wed Ruben Rutz

Famous Hinckley Descendants

There are both famous and infamous descendants of Gov. Thomas Hinckley. The two Bush presidents descend from Thomas, and President Obama and Sarah Palin descend from his sister, Susannah. Other descendants of Gov. Hinckley include banker John Pierpont Morgan Jr. (1867-1943); Gordon Bitner Hinckley (1910-2008), former president of the Mormon Church; and, Mary Leiter, daughter of Chicago’s co-founder of Marshall Field Department stores and wife of British Lord Curzon, foreign secretary and viceroy of India. The most infamous descendant is John W. Hinckley Jr., who plotted to assassinate President Jimmy Carter and made a failed attempt to kill President Ronald Reagan. (Story concluded below)

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http://www.tracycrocker.com/p18.htm#i573

Gov. Thomas Hinckley

M, b. 19 March 1618/19, d. 25 April 1705

    Thomas was born on 19 March 1618/19 at England.1 He was the son of Samuel Hinckley and Sarah Soole. Thomas immigrated to (an unknown value) in 1635. 

"Gov. Thomas Hinckley, son of Samuel, married for his first wife, Mary Richards, daughter of Thomas of Weymouth. He married second Mary Glover widow of Nathaniel Glover (Mrs. Glover's friends were opposed to the marriage. She had two children and Hinckley eight and they urged this as a reason against the marriage. About the time of his marriage Mr. Hinckley carried with him some apple tree grafts from his own orchard. These he set in a tree which is said to yet in bearing Quincy and known as the Hinckley apple tree).
Mrs. Mary Hinckley is represented to have been beautiful in person and the most accomplished and intelligent woman in the Colony. Her daughters bore a striking resemblance to the mother and in her grandsons seems to have been concentrated the intellectual vigor of the grandfather and the accomplishments of the grandmother. This is remarkable but perhaps not more so than the other facts named, that the distinguished traits in the character of the ancestor of this family have been transmitted from father to son to the present generation.
Mrs. Hinckley died in the 73rd year of her age. To her may truly be applied the words frequently occurring in ancient eulogies, "She lived greatly beloved and died greatly lamented". Governor Hinckley, then 85 years of age wrote some verses to her memory which have been printed. She was buried in the ancient burying ground in Barnstable and a monument was erected to her memory, which has now crumbled to pieces. The inscription has however been reserved.
HERE LYETH YE

     BODY OF YE TRULY 

VIRTUOUS AND PRAISE-
WORTHY MRS. MARY
HINCKLEY, WIFE TO
MR. THOMAS HINCKLEY,
DIED JULY YE 29, 1703,
IN YE 73D YEAR OF
HER AGE
Governor Thomas Hinckley died aged 87, not 85 as stated on the monument recently erected to his memory.
During half a century he held offices of trust and power in the Old Colony and had a controlling influence over the popular mind. He was the architect of his own fortune in life; the builder of his own reputation. He was a man of good common sense and of sound judgment; honest and honorable in all his dealing; industrious, persevering and self-reliant; and if it be any praise, it may be added, he was the best read lawyer in the Colony. He had some enemies-it would have been a miracle if so prominent and so independent a man had had none. Barren trees are not pelted. The Quaker influence was arrayed in hostility to him. He examined every question presented to him in its legal aspects and viewing his acts from that stand-point, he was very rarely in the wrong. He was rigid independent in religion and his tolerant opinions, though in advance of his times, did not come up to the standard of the present. Some of his acts I shall leave for others to defend; but that he was the intolerant and cruel man that some of the infatuated bigots of his time represented him to be, the facts will not sustain. He was a living man, never allowed his faculties to rust by inaction and to the last could draft an instrument with as much clearness and precision as in his early manhood."
2 He married Mary Richards on 7 December 1641 at Barnstable, Barnstable, Massachusetts.3,4 He married Mary Smith (Glover?) on 16 March 1660/61 at Barnstable, Barnstable, Massachusetts.3,4 Thomas died on 25 April 1705 at Barnstable, Barnstable, Massachusetts, at age 86.5

Children of Gov. Thomas Hinckley and Mary Richards

?Mary Hinckley b. 3 Aug 1644

?Sarah Hinckley b. 4 Nov 1646, d. 16 Feb 1686/87

?Melatiah Hinckley+ b. 25 Nov 1648, d. 2 Feb 1714/15

?Hannah Hinckley b. 15 Apr 1651, d. 20 Aug 1730

?Samuel Hinckley b. 14 Feb 1652/53

?Thomas Hinckley b. 5 Dec 1654, d. 1688

?Bathshua Hinckley b. 15 May 1657

?Mehetable Hinckley b. 24 Mar 1659/60

Children of Gov. Thomas Hinckley and Mary Smith (Glover?)

?Admire Hinckley b. 28 Jan 1660/61, d. 16 Feb 1660/61

?Ebenezer Hinckley b. 22 Feb 1661/62, d. Mar 1661/62

?Mary Hinckley b. 31 Jul 1662

?Experience Hinckley b. 28 Feb 1664/65, d. c 1688

?John Hinckley b. 9 Jun 1667

?Abigail Hinckley b. 8 Apr 1669, d. 14 Dec 1725

?Thankful Hinckley b. 20 Aug 1671

?Ebenezer Hinckley b. 23 Sep 1673

?Reliance Hinckley b. 15 Dec 1675

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1. Occupation: BET 7 JUN 1681 AND JUN 1692 Governor of Barnstable 2
2. Occupation: BET 1658 AND 1679 Governor's Assistant in Barnstable 3
3. Occupation: BET 1 JUN 1680 AND 1681 Deputy Governor of Barnstable 2
4. Note:

   1619/20

Was the sixth and last governor of Plymouth Colony (1681-1692). Was the King's councilor during Andros, from 1692 to 1706.Thomas Hinkley was the sixth and last governor of Plymouth Colony (1681-1692). He was a man when he came to this country with his parents and entered into an active part of the conduct of the colonial affairs. He was a man of much energy, of fine character and distinguished reputation. His life covered the history of the Plymouth Colony and his grave at Great Marsh, where a memorial stone has been erected, attracts many visitors each year. He participated in the Narraganset fight of 1665 and was a representative to the general court. He was the King's councilor during Andros, from 1692 to 1706. He had sixteen living children, twelve of them daughters. Of his wife Mary (Smith) Glover, it is written: "She was adored by her husband and all that knew her, beautiful of face and figure." Inventory of ye Goods and Estate of Mrs. Mary Glover, ye wife of Mr. Nath. Glover, deceased, taken by Roger Clap and John Gurnell the 13:12 mo 1659 by ye request of the said Mrs. Glover. Amount in pounds, 478.01.06. This inventory was presented to ye County Court, by Mr. Thos. Hinckley, on his marriage to Mary, ye relict of said Nath. Glover. Debts due to Quartermaster Smith, Thomas Danford, Samuel Chandler. On 31 Aug 1660 the Court made a division of the estate of "said Nath. Glover and the said Thos. Hinckley in the right of Mary, ye relict of said Nath. Glover, now his wife, to have one third of the 478.01.06 pounds, the other two thirds to the children of said Nath. When Mary's will was probated 27 April 1705, Samuel Prince of Sandwich, the husband of her daughter, Mercy Hinkley, was appointed administrator. (N.E.H.G.R., Vol 13. Hinckley, E. Charles, Hinckley History and Heritage, Third Edition, 1982, p. 40. Caroline Jurczak's hand written Hinkley genealogy, p. 6-7, 165-166, 168-169.)
He was not among the children who travelled with his father on the "Hercules"
(Series 1, Volume 3, Notes excerpted from "Two Early Passenger Lists, 1635-1637", page 754)
THOMAS HINKLEY was born in England in 1618: came with his father, Samuel Hinkley, to America, and was at Scituate as early as 1635; at Barnstable in 1639; admitted as freeman in Plymouth Colony in 1645. In 1646 he was elected a Deputy or Representative from the town of Barnstable to the Colonial Court, and was repeatedly chosen until 1658, when he was made Governor's Assistant. Promoted to Deputy Governor in 1680, he was next year chosen Governor, and except during the interruption to the government caused by Sir Edmund Andros, Gov. Hinkley held that office until 1692.
(Peirce's Colonial Lists, page 6)
He was on the list names of all male persons residing in Plymouth Colony, between the ages of sixteen and sixty years, who were able to perform military duty, in August, 1643, as shown by the official returns of an actual examination and inspection made at that time.
Barnstable Company, non-commissioned officers and Privates.
(Peirce's Colonial Lists, page 73)
In 1652, the General Court of Plymouth appointed a committee to lay out a road from Sandwich to Plymouth, composed of Anthony Thatcher, William Basset, Jonathan Hatch, John Phinney, James Skiff, Henry Dillingham, John Ellis, John Wing. Joseph Rogers, Edward Bangs, William Hedge, Thomas Hinckley and Thomas Dexter.
(The Hamlin Family, page 167)

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Hinckley married twice; first on December 6, 1641 to Mary Richards, and again to Mary Glover (nee Smith) on March 15, 1659. He may have had as many as 17 children; different sources disagree on the exact number. One of his children, Samuel Hinckley (whose mother was Mary Richards), was a direct ancestor of President George W. Bush and presidential candidate Barack Obama, as well as an ancestor of the former president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gordon B. Hinckley.

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Reference: ancestry.com:

'Thomas Hinckley

Born in Kent, England on Mar 1618

to Samuel Hinckley and Sarah Soole.

Thomas married Mary Richards and had 8 children.

Thomas married Mary Smith and had 8 children.

He passed away on 1705 in Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA.

Family Members

Parents

Samuel Hinckley
1587-1662

Sarah Soole 1600-1656

Spouse(s)

Mary Richards 1629-1659

Mary Smith 1640-1703

Children

Mary Hinckley 1644-1698

Sarah Hinckley 1646-1686

Meletiah Hinckley 1648-1714

Hannah Hinckley 1652-1730

Samuel Hinckley 1651-1697

Thomas Hinckley 1654-1688

Bathshua Hinckley 1657-1718

Mehitable Hinckley 1658-1704

Mercy Hinckley 1662-1698

Admire Hinckley 1660-1660

Ebenezer Hinckley 1659-1662

John Hinckley 1667-1706

John Hinckley 1667-1706

Abigail Hinckley 1669-1725

Thankful Hinckley 1671-1706

Reliance Hinckley 1667-1737 '

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Colonial Governor-1680-1686 and then 1689-1692. He was the 14th and last elected Governor of the Plymouth Colony. In 1692, during the English reign of William and Mary, Plymouth ceased to exist as an independent English colony and became of Massachusetts Bay.

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GEDCOM Source

Public Member Trees Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Family trees submitted by Ancestry members.

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry Family Tree http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=162376321&pi...

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GEDCOM Source

@R-1697784381@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. This information comes from 1 or more individual Ancestry Family Tree files. This source citation points you to a current version of those files. Note: The owners of these tree files may have removed or changed information since this source citation was created.

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry Family Tree http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=29622281&pid...

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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STONINGTON, County of New London, Connecticut, from its first settlement in 1649 to 1900, by Richard Anson Wheeler, New London, CT, 1900, p. 429

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• residence: Hawkhurst, Kent, England
  • Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: May 12 2021, 21:11:09 UTC
• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: May 12 2021, 21:19:09 UTC

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GEDCOM Note

Listed as one of those able to bear arms in the Colony of New Plymouth, Barnstable, Yarmouth & Taunton in 1643.

Thomas Hinckley of Barnstable—oldest son of Samuel Hinckley, who brought his family on the Hercules In 1635 and first settled in Scituate and then Barnstable—was the last governor of Plymouth Colony before it merged with Massachusetts Bay in 1692. A substantial landholder in Plymouth Colony, Thomas was also a political leader who served as a deputy, magistrate, assistant, deputy governor, and governor
Source Link: https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000175876065835label=@S374@ Source Link: https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000175876065836label=@S1697@

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https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hinckley-53

Thomas Hinckley (bef. 1620 - 1706) ID/Link/URL/Cite

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Governor Thomas Hinckley
Born before 19 Mar 1620 in Hawkhurst, Kent, Englandmap
ANCESTORS ancestors
Son of Samuel Hinckley Sr and Sarah (Soole) Hinckley
Brother of John Hinckley, Susannah (Hinckley) Smith, Marie Hinckley, Sarah (Hinckley) Cobb, Mary (Hinckley) Robbins, Elizabeth Hinckley, John Hinckley, Elizabeth (Hinckley) Parker, Samuel Hinckley, Samuel Hinckley, Unknown Hinckley, Unnamed Infant Hinckley, Unnamed Infant Hinckley, Samuel Hinckley and John Hinckley
Husband of Marie (Richards) Hinckley — married 4 Dec 1641 in Barnstable, Barnstable, Massachusettsmap
Husband of Mary (Smith) Hinckley — married 16 Mar 1660 in Barnstable, Barnstable County, Plymouth Colonymap
DESCENDANTS descendants
Father of Mary (Hinckley) Wyborn, Sarah (Hinckley) Bacon, Melatiah (Hinckley) Crocker, Hannah (Hinckley) Glover, Samuel Hinckley I, Thomas Hinckley, Bathsheba (Hinckley) Hall, Mehitable (Hinckley) Worden, Admire Hinckley, Ebenezer Hinckley, Mercy (Hinckley) Prince, Experience (Hinckley) Whippo, John Hinckley, Abigail (Hinckley) Lord, Thankful (Hinckley) Mayhew, Ebenezer Hinckley and Reliance (Hinckley) Stone
Died 25 Apr 1706 after age 86 in Barnstable, Barnstable, Province of Massachusetts Baymap
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Hinckley-53 created 21 Sep 2010 | Last modified 18 Mar 2021
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The Puritan Great Migration.
Thomas Hinckley migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1620-1640). (See Great Migration Begins, by R. C. Anderson, Vol. 3, p. 333)