Thomas HOLCOMBE ¹

   Another name for Thomas was HOLCOMB.

   Ancestral File Number: 3GLM-8W. User ID: 2308.

   General Notes:

NOTES
Lucy Mayberry BARBER Cole, Dictated by her father Capt Levi BARBER, and copied by her great grand daughter Linda Jean ENGLE Lackore Summer 2000:
"The first settlers of Simsbury Connecticut came from Windsor Connecticut. A very large proportion of the inhabitants as late as 1845 can trace their ancestry to that small flock who under the pastoral charge of the Rev Mr Warham left England in 1630 and after remaining a short time in Dorchester Massachusetts near Boston removed in the fall of 1635 and spring of 1636 to Windsor Connecticut."

BOOKS
A Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New England, John Farmer, Genealogical Publishing Co, Lancaster MA 1829, p147, Massachusetts, freeman 1634.

Descendants of Phineas Holcomb, Seth P Holcombe, 1988, North Granby CT
pv: "To E or not to E
"...Whever there is areference to Thomas Holcombe his name always includes the final E. Those references to his English family consistently use the final E. There is the village of Holcombe in England in the county of Devon between Dawlish and Torquay. The name isderived from the Saxon (a Holcombe carried the flag at the Battle of Hastings in 1066) words: 'hole' meaning wooded, and 'combe' meaning valley...
"The earliest autograph I have seen is that of Phinehas 'Holcomb' on his will. He clarly omits the final E. Exactly which of the five generations between Thomas1 and Phinehas6, or which particular person began to drop the final E we shall probably never know. Apparently the transcribers over the years in copying the public and private records omitted the final E most of the time.
"My grandfather, John M Holcombe, was brought up not to use the final E. However, some time after he was married, he then restored the final E. The reason for this change is that his wife, Emily S Goodwin, delved into her husband's genealogy and then persuaded him to imitate his ancestor Thomas Holcombe and use the final E, just as it always had been used in England. Not only did she get her husband to restore the E but also she was so persuasive that her father-in-law, James Huggins Holcombe, also restored the E...
pvi: "The delineation of the ancestors and descendants of Thomas Holcombe is recounted in Elizabeth Weir McPherson's genealogy entitled 'The Holcombes Nation Builders' and in Jesse Seaver's genealogy entitled 'The Holcomb(e) Genealogy'...
"...For additional and very pertinent information the following should be included for a good reference, 'Search for the Passengers of THE MARY AND JOHN1630' Vol 6 by Burton W Spear, Toledo OH, which delineates the first four generations of the descendants of the passengers of the ship THE MARY AND JOHN that sailed from Plymouth England on 20 Mar 1636.
"Chartered by Captain Squeb, THE MARY AND JOHN, a ship of some 400 tons, left Plymouth, England for America arriving in Massachusetts on 30 May 1630 after a voyage of about 70 days. There is no passenger list though it is believed that Thomas Holcombe was on board this ship on this voyage. The passengers settled in Dorchester, named for the English town of the same name. Maude Pinney Kuhns has written a book entitled THE MARY AND JOHN; she declares that Thomas Holcombe was on board...
"In the spring of 1636, RevJohn Wareham migrated with a group, among which was Thomas Holcombe, from Massachusetts to the present town of Windsor Connecticut. In 1639 Thomas Holcombe moved to the Poquonock section of the Town of Windsor, where he made his livelihood as afarmer. The ability to make things grow seems to be a strong trait in the family, even among today's descendants.
"Thomas Holcombe was born probably about 1610. Along the way he married Elizabeth, whose last name was Ferguson, but it is unknown whether whe was a maiden or a widow. The locations of the two house of Thomas Holcombe are found in Volume I, page 123 of Stiles' 'Ancient Windsor,' one dwelling of Palisado Avenue, the other on Poquonock Avenue. Thomas died in Poquonockin 1657 probably in September; he was buried in the cemetery on Marshall Phelps Road, Poquonock. Elizabeth married second on 6 Aug 1658 James Eno as his second wife. Elizabeth died 7 Oct 1679.
pvii: "Thomas and Elizabeth Holcombe had tenchildren:
Elizabeth b Abt 1634
Mary b Abt 1635
Abigail b or bapt 6 Jan 1638/1639 or 6 Oct 1638
Joshua b 1640
Sarah b 1642, d 1654
Banajah b 23 Jun 1644
Deborah b 1646, d 1649
Nathaniel b 4 Nov 1648
Deborah b Feb 1650/1651
Jonathan b 1652/1653, d 1656"

Dear Whoever p12:
"In the book First Puritan Settlers by R R Hinman there's an exciting statement. Here it is: 'Others arrived at different times until 1639, when the Rev Ephraim Huit came from England and was settled as a colleague with Mr Warham at Windsor. A part of his church came with him, Edward Griswold, John Bissell, Thomas Holcomb, Daniel Clard, and Peter Tilton'..."

Directory of Descendants of Founders of Windsor CT, 350th Anniv Comm, Stephen E Simon, Kent CL Avery, 24 Sep 1983
pv: "Holcombe, Thomas (D = Dorchester MA) * Arrived in 1630 on the 'Mary and John'."
p78: "Earliest date mentioned in Windsor records 1635. Mar Elizabeth ____, Died 7 Sep 1657, Came with the Dorchester Group in 1635. He was one of the first settlers of Poquonock."

The Mary and John The Story of the Founding of Dorchester Massachusetts 1630, Maude Pinney Kuhns, Charles E Tuttle Co, Rutland VT, 1943, (CT Historical Society) p1:
"On the twentieth of March, 1630, a group of men and women, one hundred and forty in number, set sail from Plymouth, England,in the good ship, the 'Mary and John'. The company had been selected and assembled largely through the efforts of the Reverend John White, of Dorchester, England; with whom they spent the day before sailing, 'fasting, preaching, and praying.'These people had come from the western counties of England, mostly from Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and Somerset. They had chosen two ministers to accompany them: 'men who were interested in the idea of bringing the Indians to the knowledge of thegospel.' The Reverend John Maverick was an elderly man from Devon, a minister of the Established church. Reverend John Warham was also an ordained minister of the Church of England, in Exeter, eminent as a preacher. There is some evidence thatboth of these men were in some difficulties with the church on account of their sympathies with the Puritans.
"Edward Rossiter and Roger Ludlow, two men who were members of the government in England, were also chosen; and several gentlemen, middleaged, with adult families were next joined to the association. Among these were Henry Wolcott, Thomas Ford, George Dyer, William Gaylord, William Rockwell, and William Phelps. But a large portion of the company were young men, eager for adventure, such as Israel Stoughton, Roger Clapp, George Minot, Richard Collicott, and Nathaniel Duncan.
"So we came, writes Roger Clapp in his Memoirs, by the good hand of the Lord, through the deep comfortably; having preaching or expounding of the word of God every day for ten weeks together by our ministers. When we came to Nantasket, Capt. Squeb, who was Captain of that great ship of four hundred tons, put us on shore and our goods on Nantasket Point, and left us to shift for ourselves in a forelorn place in this wilderness.
"It had been their original intent to land in the Charles River, but a dispute with Captain Squeb, the commander of the vessel, caused the whole company, on May 30, 1630, to be put ashore at Nantasket. The 'Mary and John' was the first of the Fleet of 1630 to arrive in the bay. At that time there could not have been pilots, or charts of the channel, and it does not seem unreasonable that the captain refused to undertake thepassage, but Roger Clap has sent Captain Squeb down to posterity as a merciless man.
"According to tradition they landed upon the south side of Dorchester Neck, or South Boston, in Old Harbor. Ten of the men, under the command of Captain Southcote, found a small boat, and went up the river to Charlestown Neck, where they found an old planter, probably Thomas Walfourd, who fed them 'a dinner of fish without bread.' Later they continued their journey up the Charles River, as far as what is now Watertown, returning several days later to the company who had found pasture for their cattle at Mattapan. The settlement was later called Dorchester, in honor of the Reverend John White, of Dorchester, England.
"Roger Clap tells of the hardships that followed. They had little food, and were forced to live on clams and fish. The men built small boats, and the Indians came later with baskets of corn. 'The place was a wilderness,' writes Roger Clap. 'Fish was a goodhelp to me and to others. Bread was so scarce that I thought the very crusts from my father's table would have been sweet; and when I could have meal and salt and water boiled together, I asked, 'who could ask for better?'
"Here they livedfor five or six years. Other boats arrived and other towns were settled. But the life at Dorchester was not entirely congenial to the lovers of liberty of the 'Mary and John'. The group of settlements around Massachusetts Bay was dominated byclergymen and officials of aristocratic tendencies. Their Governor, John Winthrop, had little sympathy with the common people. 'The best part (of the people),' he declared, 'is always the least, and of that best part, the wiser is always is always the lesser.' And the Reverend John Cotton put it more bluntly when he said, 'Never did God ordain democracy for the government of the church or the people.'
"These principles were repugnant to the people of the 'Mary and John', who hadcome to America to escape such restraint. They had no wish to interfere with the methods of worship of others, and they did not wish others to interfere with them. Too, they were land-hungry, after centuries of vassalage to the lords of the manors, leading hopeless lives without chance of independence. Perhaps they were influenced also, by the fact that a great smallpox epidemic had raged among the Indians, killing off so many that they wre not the menace that they had been at first. The settlers turned their attention toward the fertile meadows of the Connecticut Valley.
"A group under Roger Ludlow set out and reached the Plymouth Trading house that had been erected by William Holmes near the junction of the Connecticut and the Farmington Rivers, early in the summer of 1635. A little later sixty men, women and children, with their 'cows, heifers and swine', came overland from Dorchester. The winter was severe and the food scarce, and many returned to Massachusetts, but in the spring they came back to Connecticut with their friends, and by April, 1636, most of the members of the Dorchester Church were settled near the Farmington River, along the brow of the hill that overlooks the 'Great Meadow'. This in spite of the fact that the Plymouth people disputed their claim to the land. They built rude shelters, dug out of the rising ground along the edge of the river bank. The rear end and the two sides were simply the earth itself, with afront and a roof of beams. The town was later named Windsor.
"In the following year, 1637, danger from the Pequot Indians forced them to abandon their dugouts and to come together around the area known as the Palisado Green. Their new homes were at once enclosed with a strong palisado.
"In 1639 they began the construction of their first real meeting house. It stood in the center of the palisado, and was topped with a cupola and platform, where the sexton beat a drum to summon the people to attend services or public meetings. About the same time there was built and presented to the pastor, the Reverend John Warham, a corn mill, which is supposed to have been the first grist mill built in Connecticut. For many years it served all the settlements in the river valley, as far south as Middletown.
"All over America today live the descendants of the fathers and mothers of the 'Mary and John.' Their sons and daughters have written their names on the pagesof American History. They have filled the pulpits of famous churches; they have sat on judges' benches, and in the seats of Congress; they have occupied Governors' Mansions, and even the White House. Some fought at Lexington, and wintered withWashington at Valley Forge. They joined in the trek to the West, and one followed Brigham Young into Utah. One marched with Sherman as he burned and pillaged his way through Georgia, and perhaps one fought on the other side with Lee. One is called the 'Hero of Manila Bay,' and one was hanged! They learned strange names like Saint-Mehiel, Chateau-Thierry, the Argonne Forest and Sedan. Perhaps one lies in Flanders Field...
"An effort has been made to show through the ancestry ofpeople living today, or through famous men of history, how this little group lived together, married and intermarried, even beyond the third and fourth generations. The names of descendants of the men and women who came to America on the 'Maryand John' are found in every state of the Union."
p5: "The Passenger List (Compiled from various sources, and not official)
...67. Mathew Grant
68. Priscilla Grant
69. Mathew
70. Priscilla...
...78. ThomasHolcomb
79. Elizabeth Ferguson...
..101. George Phelps
102. Richard Phelps
103. William Phelps
104. Elizabeth Phelps 105. William..."
p42: "Thomas Holcomb was born about 1601, and is believed to have been the son of Gilbert and Ann Holcomb. He married Elizabeth Ferguson probably after arriving in America, though it has been claimed that they married in England before embarking on the 'Mary and John'. The National Society of Founders and Patriots Vol VII p13 published in 1919 gives their marriage date as May 14, 1634. Elizabeth Holcomb's birth date is also given as 1634, but inasmuch as the year at that time began the first of March, instead of the first of January, this is possible.
"Thomas Holcomb went to Windsor in 1636, having sold his property in Dorchester to Richard Jones. Later in 1639 he moved to Poquonock Hartford Co four miles west of Windsor, where he engaged in farming. He was Representative from Windsor in the Convention that framed the famous constitution of the Connecticut Colony. He was also Deputy and a member of the Connecticut Militia. Thomas Holcomb died 7 Sep 1657. His grave is located inan old cemetery near the homestead at Poquonock. His widow married 5 Aug 1658 James Eno. She died 1679.
"Children:
1. Elizabeth 1634-18 Sep 1712 m 16 Nov 1654 Josiah Ellsworth d 20 Aug 1689
2. Mary 1636-1708 m 3 Oct 1655 George Griswold 1633-1704
3. Abigail 1638-17 Aug 1688 m 11 Jun 1658 Samuel Bissell 1636-17 May 1698
4. Joshua 1640-1 Dec 1690 (Simsbury) m 4 Jun 1663 Ruth Sherwood d 10 Sep
1699
5. Sarah 1642-1654
6. Benajah 1644-1736 m 1667 Sarah Eno 1649-1732
7. Deborah 1646-d young
8. Nathaniel b 4 Nov 1648, a farmer at Simsbury, m 27 Feb 1670 Mary b 23
Sep 1651 dau of Nathaniel Bliss
"Children:
Nathaniel 11 Jun 1673-1766 m 1695 Martha Buell 1675-1760
Mary b 17 May 1675
Jonathan b 1678
John b 1680 m 9 Mar 1706 Anna Pettibone
Esther b 1682 m 17 Feb 1708 Bircester Higley
Catherine b 1698 m 22 Jan 1707 Joseph Messenger
Sarah b 1691 m 17 Dec 1712 Samuel Barbour (sic)
Benjamin b 15 Feb 1698 m 12 Oct 1727 Hannah Case
9. Deborah 15 Feb 1650-1686 m 12 Oct 1668 Daniel Birge
10. Jonathan b 1653-d young."

17th Century Colonial Ancestors of Members of the National Society of Colonial DamesXVII Century 1915-1975, Mary Louise Marshall Hutton, Baltimore Genealogical Publishing Company Inc, 1987, p128:
"Thomas Holcomb (1597-1657) CT married Elizabeth Ferguson, Deputy to Court, Landowner."

The Holcombs (Holcombes 1631-1887), Portland Ore, GH Himes Printer, 1887, 33p 22 cm 41-41198 CS71.H725 1887: "Some account of their origin settlement and scatterment as elicited at the first and second family reunions, held at LeRoy PA Oct 1879 and Mount Airy NJ Aug 1886, On Cover:`The Holcombes 1631-1887'"
p5: "...the family Coat of Arms, as given in Burk's Heraldic History of the Commoners of England...traced the genealogy of the Holcombes of America back to Europe, and gave evidences of the existence of the family from the thirteenth century down to the present...
"The fist known of the Holcombes of America was of Thomas Holcombe, whom he claimed came over from England in 1630, in the ship `Mary and John', in company with Rev. John Wareham, and settled first at Dorchester, Massachusetts. From Dorchester he went with his family to Windsor, Connecticut, in 1635, and from Windsor to Pequannock, Connecticut, in 1639. His sons Nathaniel and John resided at Simsbury and Springfield in 1670,and at Salmon Brook in about 1700, where David son of Nathaniel, was born..."
"...the occupations, professions, modes of living and habits of life, of the earlier Holcombe inhabitants of New England. They were farmers and stock-raisers ofcattle and horses, generally thrifty, and fond of hunting...The Holcombes were active participants in the war of the Revolution for establishment of the Republic, and also in the war of the Rebellion for the preservation of the Union. There werdoctors, lawyers, ministers, inventors and ministers...
"...He spoke of the different modes of spelling the name. We are all of kin and the name should be spelled as originally, `Holcombe.' A part of the kindred have dropped the final `e'. The name is composed of `holt' a Saxon word signifying woody, and `combe' a valley between two hills, and is derived from an ancient inheritance in Pembrokeshire, England. The proper mode of spelling it then is `Holcombe.'
"In all the old records of Connecticut, where the early Holcombes signed deeds, wills and recorded papers, they by their own hand wrote their name `Holcombe,' and the name should now be so spelled...He said he had never known nor had he ever found in historyof a Holcombe who was ever charged with the commission of a grave crime..."

p18: "Holcombe Rhymes.
"By Dr. Wm. Frederick Holcombe, of New York

"The Holcombes who by birth or name
Greet each other here this day, Have come from North, South, East, and West,
To Holcombe Clan, respect to pay...

p21: "Now one word, before I retire,
In the name of the Yankee Clan,
Who from Thomas Holcombe, of Devonshire,
Have descended, to a man,

In sixteen hundred and thirty,
Thomas Holcombe, the Pilgrim came;
With his good wife, Elizabeth,
First founded the town of Dorchester

In sixteen hundred and thirty-five
Thomas Holcombe to Windsor went,
Where sons three and daughters five
Are recorded by Matthew Grant.

Then he to Poquonock the next year went,
Four miles from the Windsor Stockade,
Where Indians then in plenty dwelt,
And with Thomas Holcombe did trade.

From this Thomas Holcombe and wife
All New England Holcombes descend;
From them, In resonse to your call,
I come, as Holcombe and friend..."

The Holcomb(e) Genealogy History and Directory, Jesse Seaver, Philadelphia PA, American Historical-Genealogical Society, 1925, vii 286p 27.5cm, CS71.H725 1925 and 1925a, p4: "(M) Thomas H Holcombe: born 1540 (or 1559); married Margaret (or Jane) Trethford (or Trethurfe), of Cornwall, at Ashton.
(M1) Gilbert: born about 1565; married Anne, daughter of Peter Courtenay,
of Vrottonin (?), Cornwall. He sold the estate at Hole to Ellis Bartlett,
and Down Ralph (now Rows Down to Mr. Mallock, about 1600 (wnb), and went
to Pembrokeshire, Wales. Children:
1 Thomas: married Elizabeth. Evidences indicate that it was he who
came to Massachusetts in `The Mary and John," about 1629 (or 1630),
see page 8..."
p8: "Part IV Thomas Holcomb and his Descendants
"Thomas Holcomb was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, or Devonshire, England, in 1601 and is believed to be a son of Ann and Gilbert Holcombe (See page 4). In March, 1630, he was in acompany which assembled at Plymouth, Devonshire, where a large ship of 400 tons, `The Mary and John,' chartered by Captain Squeb, for the voyage to America, was fitted out. She was destined for the Charles River. This `Godly company,' if 140 persons, assembled with their two ministers in the new hospital Bishop John Maverick and Bishop John Wareham to be their officers. There was a dispute with the captain, who refused to attempt the passage without pilot or chart. `The Word of God was preached and expounded every day during the voyage,' of 70 days and the ship arrived at Nantasket, May 30, 1630. There is no evidence that any large ship had ever penetrated further into the harbor previous to this time.
"Ten of the menprocured a boat, left the ship at Nantasket, and went in quest of the `promised land.' Later they were ordered to return to the ship as other members of the company had found a convenient place at Mattapan, where pasture for their famished cattle could be had. Tradition has always fixed upon the south side of Dorchester Neck (South Boston) in Old Harbor, as the place of landing. Here they found the town of Dorchester (named for Dorchester, England), so called to the present day andnow a part of the City of Boston.
"There was a tribe of Indians, of whom Chickatobot was Chief, that dwelt in the vicinity. Whatever may have been their former number and importance before their destruction by a pestilence in 1618, our forefathers found them few in numbers, depressed in spirits and, for the most part, very docile. Much interest was felt for them by the settlers and great efforts were made to civilize and convert them to Christianity, a duty which they felt theyowed, as their charter for ground upon which they located was based upon the `desire to propogate the Christian religion to such as live in darkness, and to bring savages to human civility.' The Indians had but little use for land. They attached but a trifling value to it and parted with it without reluctance. Thomas Holcomb was made Freeman, May 14, 1634.
"In the summer of 1635 some Dorchester people had already reached the river and sat down at a place where William Homes, andothers of Plymouth, had erected a trading house two years before (at Windsor), and made preparations for bringing their families and settling permanently; and in November, 60 persons with a large number of cattle, traveled from Dorchester andarrived in safety at the river, after much tribulation. During the first Winter the sufferings of these persons were intense and they lost nearly all their cattle. Some individuals wandered back to Dorchester and others avoided starvation by dropping down the river and taking refuge in a vessel at anchor at the mouth.
"In the Spring of 1636, Reverend John Wareham left Dorchester and came to Windsor, Connecticut, bringing his flock, including Thomas Holcomb, with him. Before leaving Dorchester Thomas Holcomb sold his estate to Richard Jones (12 Aug 1635). Later, 1639, he moved to Poquonock, Hartford County, four miles west of Windsor, where he engaged in farming. He was a Representative from Windsor and Hartford in theConvention that framed the now famous Constitution of the Connecticut Colony. His wife was Elizabeth Ferguson, whom some authorities state he married before leaving England. Others say he married at Dorchester. She was born in England and wasa fellow passenger on `The Mary and John.' Thomas Holcomb died at Windsor, Connecticut, 7 Sep 1657. His grave is located in an old cemetary near the old homestead at Poquonock, Connecticut. His grave was marked by a brown stone about two by four feet in size. It is reported that the stone having crumbled with age, has been removed. His widow married (2) August 5, 1658, James Eno (Enno) (his second wife). She died October 7, 1679.
"The property of Thomas Holcomb was inventoried October 1 1657, and amounted to L244-9s-8. To Elizabeth, the widow was given L42-18s; to Joshua, age 17, L42-18s, to Benejah, age 13, L33-17s; to Nathaniel, age 9, L28-12s; to Abigail, age 19, L28-12s; to Deborah, 6 yrs 7 mos, L28-12s.
"Following is a record taken from Probate Records, Hartford District: `This 17th day of December 1660 I doe acknowledge to having received of my Father Enno ye full sum of my portion. Witness my hand, Joshua Holcomb.' James Eno, with his three children, came to live at the Holcomb house, after the death of his first wife, and his marriage to Elizabeth.
"Although Thomas Holcomb and most of his descendants usually spell the name `Holcomb', it bears an `e' on Dorchester and Boston records. (wt,xic).
"Some of those who have asserted that Thomas and Elizabeth were married before leaving England believe that the first two of the children were born there, but, the dates given below seem to discredit this supposition. `It is quite certain that all who bear the name of Holcomb(e) in New England are descended from Thomas Holcomb, through his sons Joshua, Benajah, and Nathaniel..."

The Story of the Thirteen Colonies, Clifford Lindsey Alderman, Random House, 1966, New York, Chap 2, Pilgrims and Puritans, p26:
"Meanwhile, other settlements were being started along the coast of vast Massachusetts Bay. The most important was at Boston, settled by Puritans in 1630. About a hundred settlers came first in the ship Arbella.
"The Puritans were English Protestants who wanted to `purify' churches of priestly vestments and elaborate ceremonies. They said that their ideas on church organization and government came from the teachings of the Bible and the practices of early Christians.
"Their leaders were substantial men, some of them wealthy, and they carried a charter from King Charles I. It permitted them to set up their own government and to pass laws, provided the laws did not conflict with those of England. Among the settlers were men who had professions or trades, as well as a number of indentured servants.
"During the first six monts of 1630 some 15 ships loaded with Puritan colonists made their way across theAtlantic. Before the year was out, Boston had about a thousand inhabitants. From the first the town was destined to prosper. Its people were ambitious and hard-working. Most fortunate of all, the settlement had a splendid harbor..."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Micropaedia, Vol VI, p674, Massachusetts Bay Colony:
"One of the original English settlements in present Massachusetts, settled in 1630 by a group of about 1,000 Puritan refugees from England under Gov. Johna Winthrop. TheMassachusetts Bay Company had obtained, from Charles I in 1629, a charter empowering the company to trade and colonize in New England between the Charles and Merrimack rivers. Omitted from the charter was the usual clause requiring the companyto hold its business meetings in England, a circumstance that the Puritan stockholders used to transfer control of the colony to America. The Puritans established a theocratic government with the franchise limited to church members..."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Micropaedia, Vol III, p627, Dorchester:
"District of Boston, Massachusetts, stretching from Boston's south end to the Neponset River. It was founded and named for Dorchester, Dorset, in 1630 by a group of colonists whohad previously been gathered together under the leadership of Rev. John White. In 1633 a town-meeting form of government was set up, reportedly the first in the Colonies..."

The Annals of America, Vol I, 1493-1754, Discovering a New World, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chicago, 1976, p157, Fundamental Orders of Connecticut:
"The Connecticut settlement at Hartford was established in 1636 by settlers from the New Towne (now Cambridge), Massachusetts, congregation of the Reverend Thomas Hooker. This group had been preceded by others which had located at Windsor and Wethersfield. In January 1639, the freemen of these three townships assembled and drew up the so-called Fundamental Orders of Connecticut often hailed as the first written American constitution...It contained a preamble that is essentially a compact, the remainder being a body of laws. Hooker's move was prompted primarily by political considerations. He opposed the dominant figures at Boston, who looked down on democracy- believing it to be `no fit government either for church or commonwealth.' However, despite popular elections, the Connecticut government remained for two centuries in the control of a small aristocratic faction..."

Digestof Early Connecticut Probate Records, Vol I, p129-130, Thomas Holcomb's Will: "Windsor, Invt L294-s09-d08. Taken 1 Oct 1657. Children: Joshua 17 yrs, Benajah 13, Nathaniel In the name of the Yankee Clan,
Who from Thomas Holcombe, of Devonshire,
Have descended, to a man,

In sixteen hundred and thirty,
Thomas Holcombe, the Pilgrim came;
With his good wife, Elizabeth,

INTERNET
http://www.holcombegenealogy.com/
Holcombe Family Genealogy
James and Randal Holcombe
Descendants of Thomas Holcombe
1. Thomas1 Holcombe,(1) son of Gilbert Holcombe and Ann Courtney, was born Devon, England about 1601. Thomas died October 1, 1657 in Windsor, CT, at 56 years of age. His body was interred in Poquonock, Windsor, Connecticut.
He married Elizabeth Ferguson May 14, 1634.(2) Elizabeth was born Devon, England 1617. Elizabeth died October 7, 1679 in Windsor, CT, at 62 years of age. Thomas' history is derived mostly from land and probate records
Ancestry
The sources on Thomas Holcombe differ considerably on Thomas' ancestry. Thomas was born in England, most probably in one of the southwestern counties, Pembrokeshire, Wales, or Devonshire. We do not know the date of his birth even approximately, but his wife seems to have been born about 1617 and their first child born about 1634; McCracken believes this would place his birth somewhere about 1610; Seaver says 1601, but does not give any reasoning for that date.
Jesse Seaver thought that English records indicated that Thomas Holcomb was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales or Devonshire, England to Ann and Gilbert Holcomb. Several of Seaver's contemporary researchers agreed with him. A disagreement appeared recently; George McCraken writing in The American Genealogist, Vol. 26:109 found that Gilbert Holcomb's oral will stated d.s.p. which meant died without issue and that Gilbert left his estate to his brother-in-law, Richard Bonithon. His research is based on J.L. Vivian's, The Visitations of the County Devon, on pages 474 and 533. Quote from Vivian, page 474, "The Holcombe of Hull . . . The portion of this pedigree from the connencement printed in ordinary type is from Pole land Westcote; that printed in italic is from The Visitation of Devon 1564, Harlequin.Mss. 1080, fo. 403, 1091, fo, 42, b, and 5840, fo.52." I have not been able to determine the father of Thomas Holcomb.
Several early authors state he was a member of Reverend Ephraim Huit's church, and Huit was from Kenilworth in Warwickshire. But, no Holcomb births or records were found from the Diocesan Court at Worchester. The Register of Wroxal, 300 @24, for the year 1634 did list the following; Sarah Huit daughter of Ephraim and Isabell his wife was baptized, and Nathaniel Griswold the son of Samuel Griswold and Anne his wife was baptized. Bowman has found clues recently that Thomas may have been from county Somerset, the city of Bridgewater. She has recently discovered that one of the early Holcomb births in Connecticut was recorded as James the eighth. This could be a clue to ancestry of Thomas Holcomb in that the birth occurred in the third generation of American Holcomb's, i.e. not time to have had eight generations.
Bowman lists the ancestry of Gilbert and Ann Courtney Holcomb in her Volume 2 without resolving the question of Thomas' parentage in order that future researchers not duplicate others' efforts in delineating this line.
Most recently (October 25, 1998), Bowman updated her Volume 2 with the comment that Christopher was the most likely ancestor of Thomas. The birth and death dates normally assigned to the son of Christopher are not correct nor the marriage to Joan Prideaux. The birth and death dates are those of Thomas, the actor, of London who married Francis Bartlett.
The MARY AND JOHN
He is usually said, with some reason, to have come on the 1630 voyage of the Mary and John, but there is no proof of it, all passenger lists for that voyage being hypothetical.
Robert Charles Anderson in NEHGR, April 1993, addressed the many different lists of passengers on the MARY AND JOHN. He went about objectively establishing specific criteria for determining the likelihood that a specific individual was on the ship. By the criteria he established, which seem reasonable, Thomas Holcombe is not likely to have come on the MARY AND JOHN in 1630. The information here, whether it describes Thomas' voyage specifically or not, does describe the similar circumstances which brought him to Dorchester.
In March, 1630, Thomas was in a company which assembled at Plymouth, Devonshire, where a large ship of 400 tons, the Mary and John, chartered by Captain Squeb, for the voyage to America, was fitted out. The Mary and John was the first ship of the Winthrop Fleet which brought 1500 Puritans to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
John Hunt (NGSQ 63:1) notes that the early settlers of Dorchester, Mass., like the founders of Plymouth, were in some fear that they might not obtain leave to depart from England. There seems to have been some worry on the part of their organizer, the Reverend Mr. John White, that the group might be considered schismatic by the London authorities headed by the powerful Bishop William Laud. Consider the fact that White's recruiters incuded two unlike clerics, John Warham, a nonconformist, and John Maverick, a conformist.
Robert Charles Anderson states that this group of Puritians was organized by Rev. John White of Dorchester, Dorsetshire, and that he solicited the Rev. John Maverick and Rev. John Warham to lead the group and he orchestrated the entire migration process. Warham had been minister at Crewkerne in Somersetshire and at Exeter in Devonshire; Maverick had been rector at Beaworthy in Devonshire. It is of note that the church was organized BEFORE they left England. Anderson characterizes this period of migration as "The Era of Gentlemen's Companies".
The Mary and John was destined for the Charles River. This "Godly Company," of 140 persons, assembled with their two ministers in the new hospital at Plymouth, kept a solemn day of fasting and prayer, and chose Bishop John Maverick and Bishop John Wareham to be their officers. There was a dispute with the captain, who refused to attempt the passage without pilot or chart. "The Word of God was preached and expounded every day during the voyage," of 70 days and the ship arrived at Nantasket, May 30, 1630. There is no evidence that any large ship had ever penetrated further into the harbor previous to this time.
Massachusetts
Ten of the men procured a boat, left the ship at Nantasket, and went in quest of the "promised land." Later they were ordered to return to the ship as other members of the companyhad found a convenient place at Mattapan, where pasture for famished cattle could be had. Tradition has always fixed upon the south side of Dorchester Neck (South Boston) in Old Harbor, as the place of landing. Here they founded the town of Dorchester (named for Dorchester, England), so called to the present day and now a part of the City of Boston.
There was a tribe of Indians, of whom Chickatobot was Chief, that dwelt in the vicinity. Whatever may have been their former number and importance before their destruction by a pestilence in 1618, our forefathers found them few in numbers, depressed in spirits and, for the most part, very docile. Much interest was felt for them by the settlers and great efforts were made to civilize and convert them to Christianity, and a duty which they felt they owed, as their charter for ground upon which they located was based upon the "desire to propogate the Christian religion to such as live in darkness, and to bring savages to human civility." The Indians had but little use for land. They attached but a trifling value to it and parted with it without reluctance.
On whatever ship they crossed, Thomas Holcmbe was in Massachusetts Bay by 4 May 1634 on which day he became a freeman, and he is recorded as a resident of Dorchester.
His wife was named Elizabeth but the common statement that her maiden name was Ferguson is highly improbable and completely undocumented. It has lately been suggested that the name "Ferguson" results from a misreading of the correct name on a tombstone, but if so, no one has ever found her recorded on a tombstone. She is not mentioned on the tombstone of her first husband which is reported in McCracken's note in TAG 44:58-60. While married to Eno she was attended in 1669 by John Winthroop the Younger and was recorded in his medical journal (TAG 23:124) as then aged 52, which datum gives us a probable birth year of 1617. As this would have made her only 13 when the Mary and John arrived at Boston, it is probable that the marriage of Thomas and Elizabeth tookplace at Dorchester, and if she came on the same ship as Thomas, she was a child at the time. Winthrop's statement that she was aged 52 in 1669 may, however, be too low, in which case the wedding may have occurred in England.
Migration to Windsor
In the Summer of 1635 some Dorchester people had already reached the river and sat down at a place where William Homes, and others of Plymouth, had erected a trading house two years before (at Windsor), and made preparations for bringing their families and settling permanently; and in November, 60 persons with a large number of cattle, travelled from Dorchester and arrived in safety at the river, after much tribulation. During the first Winter the sufferings of these persons were intense and they lost nearly all their cattle. Some individuals wandered back to Drochester and others avoided starvation by dropping down the river and taking refuge in a vessel at anchor at the mouth.
In the Spring of 1636, Reverend John Wareham left Dorchester and came to Windsor, Connecticut, bringing his flock, including Thomas Holcomb, with him. Maverick resisted the move and died late in 1635.
Before leaving Dorchester Thomas Holcomb sold his estate to Richad Jones (8-12-1635). Later, 1639, he moved to Poquonock, Hartford County, four miles west of Windsor, where he engaged in Farming. He was a Representative from Windsor and Hartford in the Convention that framed the now famous Constitution of the Connecticut Colony.
"Although Windsor was located in Connecticut, it and the other new settlements on the river were under the political and legal jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They wee governed by a court of five magistrates who held their authority from Massachusetts. These five persons represented the three different communities in Connecticut and consisted of two members from Windsor, two from Hartford, and one from Wethersfield. The citizens of these three towns elected a committee in May of 1635 for the purpose of assisting the Court in enacting local ordinances. On January 14, 1639, a general meeting was held at Hartford; at which time, a separate constitution was written and adopted, the first constitution in America." (Charles Case) (Note: it seems that Saybrook, at the mouth of the river, was not under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay Colony).
"Thomas acquired a home lot n the first tier of allotments in Windsor paralleling the Connecticut River. His lot lay between that of Thomas Gunn and Philip Randall and extended westward to the foot of Meadow Hill. His meadow lot lay eastward to the river. The fact that he had lots assigned in the first tier is a strong indication that he arrived when the allotments were originallymade in 1636. By 1649, however, Thomas had moved to a section of land on the Farmington river several miles northwest of Windsor known as Poquonnock where his neighbors were the Griswold brothers -- Edward, Frances and George -- and John Bartlett. His property lay near Indian Neck and Stony Brook.
Thomas Holcomb died at Windsor, Connecticut, September 7, 1657. His grave was located in an old cemetary near the old homestead at Poquonock, Connecticut. His grave was marked by a brown stone about two by four feet in size. The stone, having crumbled with age, was removed. It was replaced with a new marker that was inscribed with family information, much of which is wrong.
His widow married, second, August 5, 1658, James Eno (Enno) (his second wife). She died October 7, 1679.
Some of those who have asserted that Thomas and Elizabeth were married before leaving England believe that the first two of the children were born there, but, the birth dates given below seem to discredit this supposition. It is quite certain that all who bear the name of Holcomb(e) in New England are descended from Thomas Holcomb, through his sons Joshua, Benajah and Nathaniel.
Although Thomas Holcomb and most of his descendants usually spell the name `Holcomb', it bears an `e' on Dorchester and Boston records.
The Estate
The property of Thomas Holcomb was inventoried Octover 1, 1657, the inventory came to £294/9/8 (Manwaring 1:129f.). The surviving children are listed with ages as Joshua (17), Benajah (13), Nathaniel (9), Abigail (19), Deborah (5-7), but this overlooks the two eldest daughters Elizabeth and Mary who were already married, and had probably received their portions at marriage. The widow Elizabeth was granted administration, date not stated. The distribution was as follows:
Widow £42/18/00 Nathaniel £28/12/00 Joshua 42/18/00 Abigail 28/12/00 Benajah 38/07/00 Deborah 28/12/00
Just how these sums were computed is not clear, certainly not by the usual third to the widow, a double share to the eldest son and a single share to the other children. In any case, George and Edward Griswold (husband of the daughter Mary and his father) entered a claim for a part of the estate but withdrew it. On 15 Dec. 1660 Samuel Bissell (husband of Abigail) receipted to James Enno, who was by then husband of the widow, for Bissell's wife's portion, and on 17 Dec. 1660 Joshua Holcombe receipted for his.
Following is a record taken from Probate Records, Hartford District: `This 17th day of December 1660 I do acknowledge to having received of my Father Enno ye full sum of my portion. Witness my hand, Joshua Holcomb.' James Eno, with his three children, came to live at the Holcomb house, after the death of his first wife, and his marriage to Elizabeth.
Generally, Thomas Holcombe is credited with ten children of whom three died in childhood, but there is a curious record which suggests there may have been an older son named John. The son Nathaniel had a son Nathaniel recorded at Springfield on 11 June 1673, this because the child's mother, Mary Bliss, came from Springfield, but the same Vital Records attribute the birth of a daughter Sarah on 6 Oct, 1673 to a John Holcum. Nothing more is known of this John, either at Springfield or Windsor, and I am inclined to think that an error was committed by the original town clerk at Springfield and that the surname Holcum is what is wrong. The learned Savage and also Drs. Holcombe and Stiles knew of the same entry, and they thought that John may have gone to Virginia.
Genealogical Vandalism
Thomas Holdombe's Tombstone by George McCracken from The American Genealogist Vol. 44, p. 58, January 1968
The story of the vandalism was reported to me some years ago by the late Mrs. Carrie Marshall Kendrick who lived in a fine mid-victorian house near the intersection of Marshall Phelps Road with Poquonock Avenue in Windsor, Conn. The house had been formerly known as 1297 Poquonock Avenue but more recently has been given a number of Marshall Phelps Road. On the other side of the road but the same side of the avenue, so Mrs. Kendrick informed me, was formerly a small cemetery in which was originally buried Thomas Holcombe in October 1657.
Members of the Holcomb family "later" removed to what is now Granby and took with them Thomas Holcomb's tombstone, if not what was left of his remains also, and inserted the 1657 stone into an obelisk-type monument in the Granby Street Cemetery in Granby where it was read by C. G. Flanders in 1934 when he reported all the stones of that graveyard: "Thomas Holcomb, born in England, died Oct. 1657." Mrs Kendrick further stated, with considerable distress, that some years before she spoke members of the family had demolished the obelisk-type monument and replaced it with a modern granite monument, and the original slab was then thrown into a dump.
On the day when I heard this story I visited the Granby Street Cemetery and verified the presence of the new stone, and on 30 June 1967 I again examined the stone and copied the new inscription, as follows:
THOMAS HOLCOMB, BORN IN ENGLAND, DIED OCT. 1657 THOMAS, HIS SON, DIED 1736 ELIZABETH PETTEBONE, HIS WIFE, DIED 1740 DANIEL, THEIR SON DIED 1760 ESTHER BUEL, HIS WIFE, DIED 1765 DANIEL, THEIR ONLY SON, DIED OCT. 12, 1836 AE 85 SARAH, HIS WIFE, DIED SEPT. 5, 1835 AE 54 HEPZIBAH GRISWOLD, HIS WIFE, DIED JULY 11, 1814 AE 33 GAYLORD G., THEIR 2ND SON, DROWNED, JULY 4, 1844 AE 50
On the reverse side under Masonic emblem:
ALFRED E. HOLCOMB, AUG. 5, 1867 - SEPT. 13, 1956 MABLE METCALF, HIS WIFE, NOV. 26, 1881 - MAY 7, 1956 EDMUND HOLCOMB, DIED DEC. 20, 1874 AE 74 ELIZA M., HIS WIFE, DIED SEPT. 12, 1862 AE 55 EMILY H., HIS WIFE, DIED JULY 21, 1914 AE 82 DANIEL E., ONLY CHILD OF EDUMND AND ELIZA, DIED CAROLINE H. CASE, DIED OCT. 3, 1911 AE 47
No research has been done into the last seven names but presumably Edmund was a younger brother of Gaylord G. Holcomb on the other side, and had, by his first wife Eliza, the son Daniel E.; by his second wife Emily, Caroline who married a Case and Alfred who married Mabel Metcalf. Headstones for all these later graves are in rows on either side of the main stone, except that the grave of Alfred, the last to die, has no headstone. The plot lies on what I take to be the west side of the drive to the south, leading from opposite Granby Town Hall.
The genealogical data on the north side of the stone contain a number of errors. Thomas Holdomb had no son named Thomas, and, though C.G. Flanders must have seen a stone for the son, with the date of death, given as 1736, he shows no first name. Thomas Holcomb did have a son who died in 1736, Benajah, who died 25 Jan. 1736/7, and it was probably he who was buried at Poquonock in 1736 Old Style, as he is known not to have accompanied his relatives from Windsor to Simsbury, out of which Granby was later taken. Benajah, however, married Sarah Eno, not Elizabeth Pettebone, and though there were Holcomb-Pettebone marriages, no Elizabeth Pettebone married any Holcomb in the period.
What has happened is that Benajah's death year has been appropriated for a son who was rather Joshua, Born Windsor, 7 April 1649, died Simsbury, 1 Dec. 1690 who married 4 June 1663 Ruth Sherwood, died 10 Sept. 1699, daughter of Thomas Sherwood of Fairfield. Joshua and his wife belong on that stone in the place of a non-existing Thomas. Joshua, however, had a son Capt. Thomas who was born in Windsor, 30 March 1666, died at Simsbury 5 March 1730/1, and his first wife was Elizabeth Terry; second wife, Rebecca Pettebone. The two views of Capt. Thomas have been condensed into one, Elizageth from the first wife and Pettebone from the second, but the line to these later Holcombs really runs through Elizabeth Terry and the name Pettebone does not belong on the stone. In the next generation Daniel was the 2nd son of Capt. Thomas and Elizabeth (Terry) Holcomb, and was born 30 Sept. 1692, date of death not hitherto known to me. The stone is right in naming his wife Esther Buel, for she was Hester Buel, born Simsbury, 24 Nov. 1705, baptised there by Dudley Woodbridge, 10 March 1705/6, youngest daughter of Peter Buel (William) by his third wife Mary Gillett, and the marriage took place on 1 Jan. 1735/6. Daniel was, indeed, the only son, but as he was born 31 March 1744, his age at death, if he died, 12 Oct. 1836, was 92 and not 85. Likewise, Daniel was aged 65, not 54, if he died as the stone says on 5 Juen 1836, for he was born 18 jan. 1771, baptised 14 Aug. 1774.
This article has been written, not only to call attention to thses errors, but to serve as an excellent example of the wisdom of not accepting sepulchral information at its face value.
Thomas Holcombe and Elizabeth Ferguson had the following children:
+ 2 i. Elizabeth2 Holcombe was born 1634.
+ 3 ii. Mary Holcombe was born 1635.
+ 4 iii. Abigail Holcombe was born January 6, 1638.
+ 5 iv. Joshua Holcombe was born April 7, 1640.
6 v. Sarah Holcombe was born August 14, 1642. Sarah died 1654 at 11 years of age.
+ 7 vi. Sgt. Benajah Holcombe was born June 23, 1644.
8 vii. Deborah Holcombe(3) was born 1646. Deborah died 1648 at 2 years of age.
+ 9 viii. Nathaniel Holcombe was born November 4, 1648.
+ 10 ix. Deborah Holcombe was born February 15, 1649/50.
11 x. Jonathan Holcombe was born March 23, 1652. Jonathan died September 13, 1656 at 4 years of age.

ANCESTRY.COM 30 Jul 2000
Colonial Families of the United States of America: Volume 3
ISSUE
VI. Samuel, b. 28th Feb. 1677-78; d. 12th Oct. 1742; m. 28th June, 1703-4, Anna HOLCOMB, b. 19th Mar. 1675, dau. of Sergeant Benajah and Sarah (ENO) HOLCOMB, and granddau. of Thomas HOLCOMB, of Dorchester, 1634.

A DIGEST OF THE EARLY CONNECTICUT PROBATE RECORDS.
1650 to 1663.
Page 105-106 Name: Thomas Holcomb Location: Windsor
Invt. œ294-09-08. Taken 1st October, 1657, by Benjamin Newbery, Daniel Clark. Children: Joshua age 17 years, Benajah 13, Nathaniel 9, Abigail 19, and Deborah 6 7-12 years of age. Signed, Matthew Grant.
Adms. granted to the Widow Elizabeth Holcomb. Order of Dist:
œ s d
To the Widow, 42-18-00
To Joshua, 42-18-00
To Benajah, 33-07-00
To Nathaniel, 28-12-00
To Abigail, 28-12-00
To Deborah, 28-12-00
George and Edward Griswold enter a Claime to part of the Estate, but remit the Claim.
James Enno and Elizabeth Holcomb, Widow, were married 5 August, 1658. (W. R.)
On this 15th day of December, 1660, I doe acknowledge to have received of my Father Enno of my wive's portion the whole sum.
Samuel Bissell.
On this 17th day of December, 1660, I doe acknowledge to have received of my Father Enno ye full sum of my portion. Witness my Hand:
Joshua Holcomb.
Court Record, Page 109--3 December, 1657: Invt. exhibited.

ANCESTRY.COM 12 Aug 2000
Database: The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33
THOMAS HOLCOMBE
ORIGIN: Unknown
MIGRATION: 1633
FIRST RESIDENCE: Dorchester
REMOVES: Windsor 1635
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admission to Dorchester church prior to 14 May 1634 implied by freemanship.
FREEMAN: 14 May 1634 [MBCR 1:369].
EDUCATION: His inventory included "books, tables, dishes and other things" valued at £2 6s.
OFFICES: Connecticut jury, September 1654 (as "Tho: Hoakam") [RPCC 130].
ESTATE: Granted an eight acre Great Lot at Dorchester, 1 December 1634 [DTR 9]; granted Lot #65, three acres, in the meadow beyond Naponset [DTR 321]; on 12 August 1635 Thomas Holcombe of Dorchester sold to Richard Joanes of Dorchester four parcels of land: four acres "with my houses and all things thereto pertaining"; eight acres in Great Lots; six acres meadow on this side Naponset; and three acres meadow on the other side Naponset [DTR 12].
The Windsor land inventory on 25 December 1640 states that "Thomas Holcom his former grants sold to Josyas Hull, William [illegible] and George Phelps." He had then granted "by virtue of purchase at Paquannick for an homelot with meadow adjoining twenty acres," also adjoining "four acres and half more or less," also on the west side of the brook before his house "twenty-five acres more or less," also by purchase from Henry Clarke "twenty-five acres with upland adjoining sixty-eight acres more or less" [WiLR 1:30]. On 7 February 1655[/6] Thomas Holcombe had twelve acres of woodland bounded out to him [WiLR 1:30]. On 4 March 1655[/6] he had ten acres of woodland bounded out [WiLR 1:30].
The inventory of the estate of "Thomas Holcom of Windsor" was taken 1 October 1657 and totalled £294 10s., of which £95 10s. was real estate: "eleven acres in home lot with housing and orchard," £50; "four acres and a half adjoining to the home lot," £6; "ten acres and a half of meadow," £10 10s.; "in the fourth meadow twelve acres," £15; "twenty-five acres of woodland over the brook against the house," £3; "forty-eight acres of woodland," £7 10s.; "ten acres of woodland," 10s.; and "his part in that called Tinker's Farm, eighty acres and a barn," £3 [Hartford PD Case #2774]. He also owned two swords. To the inventory was appended the following list:
The related that survive the abovesaid deceased are
The relict Elissabeth his widow
Sons
1 Josuay the eldest of age 17 years
2 Benaiah the second of age 13 years 3 months
3 Nathanell the third of age 9 years
Daughters
4 Abigayle the eldest unmarried of age 18 years 3 quarters
5 Debora the youngest of age 6 years 7 months
Elizabeth, the relict and administratrix, was appointed 3 December 1657 and dealt with the cautions issued by George Griswold and his father Edward Griswold regarding division of the estate [Hartford PD Case #2774].
BIRTH: By about 1609 based on estimated age of marriage.
DEATH: Windsor 7 September 1657 [CTVR 43; TAG 57:66].
MARRIAGE: By about 1634 Elizabeth _____ (assuming she was the mother of all his children), born about 1617 (John Winthrop attended her in 1669 and called her 52 years old [TAG 23:124, citing WMJ 906]). She m. (2) Windsor 5 August 1658 as his third wife James Eno [WiLR 1:56]. She died Windsor or Simsbury 7 October 1679 [Grant 35]. (Several sources claim that Thomas Holcombe married at Dorchester on 14 May 1634 Elizabeth Ferguson. Such a marriage is not on record, and the date is that on which Holcombe was admitted to freemanship. In 1964 Jacobus noted that "[h]er maiden name has been stated as Ferguson, without proof or probability" [McArthur-Barnes 169].)
CHILDREN:
i ELIZABETH, b. say 1634; m. Windsor 16 November 1654 Josiah Ellsworth [CTVR 42; Grant 35].
ii MARY, b. say 1636; m. Windsor 3 October 1655 George Griswold [CTVR 35].
iii ABIGAIL, b. (or bp.) Windsor 6 January 1638/9 [CTVR 35; Grant 44]; m. Windsor 11 June 1658 Samuel Bissell [Grant 24].
iv JOSHUA, bp. Windsor 27 September 1640 [CTVR 35; Grant 44]; m. Windsor 4 June 1663 Ruth Sherwood [Grant 44].
v SARAH, b. (or bp.) Windsor 14 August 1642 [CTVR 35; Grant 44 (annotated "dead")]; d. 1654 [Grant 82].
vi BENAJAH, b. Windsor 23 June 1644 [CTVR 35; Grant 44]; m. Windsor 11 April 1667 Sarah Eno (his stepsister) [Grant 44].
vii DEBORAH, b. Windsor 15 October 1646 [Grant 44 (annotated "dead")]; d. 1648 [Grant 81].
viii NATHANIEL, b. Windsor 4 November 1648 [CTVR 35; Grant 44]; m. (1) Springfield 27 February 1670[/1] Mary Bliss [Pynchon VR 58]; m. (2) Simsbury 17 January 1722/3 Sarah (_____) Owen, widow of Josias Owen [SimsVR Barbour 83].
ix DEBORAH, b. Windsor 15 February 1650/1 [CTVR 35; Grant 44]; m. Hartford (but recorded Windsor) 5 November 1668 Daniel Birge [Grant 26; CTVR 11].
x JONATHAN, b. Windsor 23 March 1652/3 [CTVR 35; Grant 44 (annotated "dead")]; d. there 13 September 1656 [Grant 81 (giving only the year); CTVR 43].
COMMENTS: In his list of "what children has been born in Windsor from our beginning hither" Matthew Grant credits "Thomas Holcom" with eight children [Grant 91], which is consistent with the above list of children and implies that the first two were born in Dorchester.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: In 1981 George E. McCracken published "Thomas Holcombe's Earlier Posterity," a definitive account of the immigrant and the first few generations of descent from him [TAG 57:65-76, 160-69, 225-29]. In his usual style, he opened the article with an exhaustive discussion of previous writings on this family. The same author has also written two brief articles on the fraudulent claim of ancestry for Thomas Holcombe and on the inaccurate tombstone erected in his memory [TAG 26:109-10, 44:58-60].

ANCESTRY.COM 13 Aug 2000
Database: THE PIONEERS OF MASSACHUSETTS
Thomas, Dorchester, propr, frm. May 14, 1634. He sold his property Aug. 12, 1635, and rem. to Windsor, Conn.

Database: American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI)
HOLCOMB Thomas 1597 Eng, Massachusetts Gen. Column of the " Boston Transcript". 1906-1941.( The greatest single source of material for gen. Data for the N.E. area and for the period 1600-1800. Completely indexed in the Index.): 25 Apr 1921, 8811; 11 Oct 1922, 153; 13 Nov 1922, 153; 11 Dec 1922, 153; 3 Aug 1925, 3263; 12 Aug 1925, 3286
HOLCOMB Thomas 159? Massachusetts, Connecticut Directory of the anc. heads of New England fams. Comp. By Frank R. Holmes. NewYork, 1923. (274p.):120

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.10 3GLM-8W HOLCOMB or HOLCOMBE Mar 14May 1634 Dorchester Suffolk Massachusetts, Bur 7 Sep 1657, 17CCA Born 1597.

INTERNATIONAL GENEALOGICAL INDEX
IGI Marriage British Isles 7733401-89-1126166 HOLCOMBE 15 Aug 1632 Pembroke Pembroke Wales, 7709117-60-1059070 HOLCOMB 14 May 1634 New Windsor Berkshire England, 8381407-44-1395650 HOLCOMB Mar Elizabeth FERGUSON 14 May 1634 Windsor London England.

IGI Marriage United States 7734206-35-1126176, 8612605-51-1396192 Windsor Hartford Connecticut, A184749-184749-184751, T990439-186-1395539 Mar Elizabeth FERGUSON14 May 1634 Dorchester Suffolk Massachusetts.

   Events:

1. Immigration; 1633, Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA. from England

2. Freeman; 14 May 1634, Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA. ²

3. Removed; 12 Aug 1635, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA.

   Marriage Information:

Thomas married Elizabeth FERGUSON, daughter of Thomas FERGUSON and Elizabeth, on 14 May 1632-1634 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA. (Elizabeth FERGUSON was born on 2 Oct 1610-1612 in Kingston On Hull, Yorkshire, England, died on 7 Oct 1679 in Simsbury, Hartford, Connecticut, USA and was buried on 8 Oct 1679 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA.)