Thomas Marshfield

The following material was taken from TAG 63:161-163, 1988, by Douglas Richardson of Chandler, Arizona: Thomas Marshfield, b.a. 1600-5 was living at Exeter, Devon in 1633. He came to Dorchester, MA by 1635 and moved to Windsor, CT in 1637. NOTE: In 1640, he, along with Henry Wolcott and Samuel Wakeman, chartered two ships the "Charles" and the "Hopewell", to bring passengers and goods from Bristol. [Ref: See Search series Vol. 12, p 150] He later experienced financial difficulties and his remaining holdings were taken by the court to pay his debts. He returned to England, leaving behind his wife, a son and two daughters. In 1645 his widow Mercy was in Springfield, Massachusetts. Thomas Marshfield had at least two children and 23 grandchildren.

  References:  TAG 63: 161-163, Hale, House & Related Families, by Jacobus & Waterman, 1952, pages 710-712.

THE AMERICAN GENEALOGIST #251, Jul 1988 volume 63 #3 pages161-163 by Douglas Richardson, M. A.  Thomas Marshfield first appeared in Dorchester, Massachusetts on 18 Jan 1635/6, when he was granted 12 acres of planting ground on Squantum Neck.  As early as 15 May 1637, he was living at Windsor, CT., where he was a witness.  He had a land grant there and later sold part of it on 10 Aug 1642, to Thomas Newell.  Late the same year, on 14 Oct 1642, the Court stated that Marshfield was "withdrawen and non soluit [i.e., insolvent]," and it took into custody all his estate, goods and chattels to pay his debts, which were substantial.  Since there is no further record of Marshfield in New England, Jacobus and Waterman suppose that he may have "withdrawan to England and died there.  Jacobus and Waterman go on to propose that Marshfield was possibly the father of two Marshfields, Samuel and Sarah, who later surfaced in Springfield, MA.  If Thomas Marshfield was indeed their father, they would have inherited no property in this country from him.  

 He did have a wife with him in New England, for she was mentioned in record dated 1 Dec 1640.  Matthew Grant at Windsor, CT, recorded the death of Priscilla Marshfield at Windsor on 20 Oct 1639, [probably his daughter] for his wife was living in 1640. olume 74, No.2-Whole Number 294-April 1999. Page 127.  By David L. Greene, CG, FASG.  Our knowledge of Thomas Marshfield [Hosea Starr Ballou, “Nathaniel Patten of Dorchester, MA, Early Planter and Boston Merchant”, The New England Historical L& Genealogical Register 87[1933]:270-9, at 270-73; Donald Lines Jacobus and Edgar Francis Waterman. Hale, House & Related Families Mainly of the Connecticut River Valley [Hartford, 1952], 710-12; Douglas Richardson “The English Origin of Thomas Marshfield of Dorchester, MA and Windsor, Conn; New Light on His Wife and Children,” TAG 63 [1988]: 161-63; Richardson, “Thomas Marshfield’s Wife Mercy; Did Their Daughter Mercy Marry John Dumbleton?” TAG 67[1992]: 11-14.] of Windsor, Connecticut, and of his family and tangled finances has been clarified by several writers, as stated above.

 The purpose of the current note is to add another piece to the picture.  On 14 October 1642, the Particular Court of Connecticut noted that many suits had been placed against Thomas Marshfield, and that he was “withdrawn and non soluit,” i.e., insolvent.  All his property in Connecticut was to be sold for the benefit of his creditors. [The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 15 volumes [Hartford 1850-90], 1:76.]  Previous writers were apparently unaware that Marshfield was heavily involved in mercantile dealings with the family of Governor Samuel Wyllys of Connecticut and that significant material on Marshfield’s insolvency appears in the published Wyllys Papers.  On 6 May 1641, George “Willys” [Jr] wrote his father, Governor George Wyllys, from “Bristow” [Bristol, co Gloucester, England] that “M” Marshfield of Windsore hath beene in a great [sic] of trouble here & was inforced to make over his wholl estate to one mr tarrey for the paiment of his debts here and old accounts for the ships th[a]t he & Goodman[n] wakenma[n] were undertakers in the last yeere so th[a]t his coming is as yet somw’ uncertaine and they will not I suppose gayne so much as is supposed....[Wyllys Papers, Connecticut Historical Society Collection 21 [Hartford, 1942]:19]”George Wyllys also mentioned Thomas Marshfield several times in his accounts of his expenses in England, including £1 9s 8d for expenses in 1642 “in going to Bristol when Mr Marshfield deceased us of sending [Wylly Papers, 49, 58].  In what manner the Wyllyses believed that Marshfield had deceived them is not revealed.

 The additional information suggests that more about Thomas Marshfield’s financial collapse and possibly his later history might be found in court records of Bristol and co Gloucester.