Thomas Hale

THOMAS¹ HALE IN NEWBURY*

[Research note: The Hale Ancestry Chart at woodworthhale.blogspot.com has the descent of the Hale family from Daniel⁵ to Leoine Daisy¹⁰  Hale (1909-1974).]

Thomas¹ Hale

Thomas¹ Hale, the son of Thomas and Joan (Kirby) Hale, was baptized at Watton-on-Stone in Hertfordshire, England, 15 June 1606. He died in Newbury 21 December 1682 at age 78. He married in England, probably close to 1632 (based on birth date of first child), Thomasine Dowcett, born in England probably about 1612, daughter of Gabriel Dowcett.  She died 30 January 1683/4.

Thomas¹ and Thomasine Hale came to Newbury (now Newbury and Newburyport, Massachusetts) where Thomas and another man were appointed “haywards” in August, 1638. Based on a letter recommending Thomas Hale by Francis Kirby to Governor Winthrop dated May 1637, we may consider 1637 a likely arrival date. An earlier date, 1635, lacks documentation, though often given.

They brought to Newbury two young boys, Thomas,² born in 1633, and his brother John, born in 1635. Two other children, Samuel and Apphia, were born in Newbury.

Their motives for making the difficult crossing may have been several: the shortage of land in England, economic conditions, the troubled politics of the mother country, a desire to practice his craft in a place with fewer competitors. He was identified as “Glover of Newbury,” a maker of leather goods such as gloves, hats, and coats. When he lived in Salem, he was in one record, “Thomas Hale, of Salem, leather dresser.” He was appointed to positions of trust in Newbury, and was one of three who laid out the road to Rowley. He moved to Haverhill where he was on the first list of selectmen (1646), appointed to keep a ferry (1648), and Constable (1649). In Chase’s history of Haverhill, Little River is called “Thomas Hale’s River.”  By 1861 he had returned to Newbury where he had earlier received grants of land and was active in land purchases and sales.

Their four children were recorded in his will, sharing a substantial estate.

Children of Thomas¹ and Thomasine Hale:

i. Thomas² Hale, born in England, baptized 18 November 1633

ii. John Hale, born in England, baptized 19 April 1635

iii. Samuel Hale, born in Newbury 2 February 1639/40

iv. Apphia Hale, born in Newbury (--) 1642

Thomas² Hale

Thomas² Hale (Thomas¹), baptized in England 18 November 1633, came to Newbury with his parents when he was probably just four. He died at Newbury 22 October 1688. He married in Salem 26 May 1657 Mary Hutchinson, the daughter of Richard and Alice (Bosworth) Hutchinson. She was baptized in England 28 December 1627. She died 8 December 1715.

Because he was not active in public life, he did not leave many records. He probably managed his father’s lands in Newbury, and those lands were deeded to him 16 May 1682.

His living eight children and Mary were provided for in his will.  She remarried.

Thomas³ Hale

Thomas³ Hale (Thomas,² Thomas¹) was born at Newton 11 Feb 1658/9. He died at Rowley 12 April 1730. He married 16 May 1682 Sarah Northend, She was born at Rowley 3 Dec 1661 and died there 26 April1732.

Prominent in town and church affairs, he was Captain of the Militia and Justice of the Peace and often was addressed as Captain Hale and Justice Hale. He was a large man, by tradition 500 pounds, with a powerful voice.

R. S. Hale says he was “a man of large estate for his day.”  He and Sarah had eleven children, including our ancestor Daniel.⁴   

Daniel⁴ Hale

Daniel⁴ Hale (Thomas,³ Thomas,² Thomas¹) was born at Newbury

22 February 1696/7. He died 21 May 1745 in the expedition against Louisbourg in which he was captain of a company of militia in the Second Massachusetts Regiment. [The French fort defended Louisbourg, a provincial capital. New England colonials, supported by a British fleet, took the fort.  It was returned to France in 1848 at the end of the King George’s War. -- Ed.]

He married 29 December 1720 Judith Emery, born at Newbury 25 February 1703, the daughter of Stephen and Ruth (Jaques) Emery. Judith died 30 May 1775, age 75.

They had six children, including our ancestor, Daniel.⁵

Daniel⁵ Hale

Daniel⁵ Hale (Daniel,⁴ Thomas,³ Thomas,² Thomas¹) was born 15 February 1722/3. He died in 1799. He married, as his second wife, Keziah Plumer, born at Newbury 20 March 1730, daughter of Benjamin and Kezia (Storer) Plumer. He died in 1799.

He was known as Lieut. Daniel and Deacon Daniel, signs of the respect in which he was held. His will provided for his third wife who survived him, and, among others, his two children with Kezia, Amos⁶ and Edna.

Amos⁶ Hale

Amos⁶ Hale (Daniel,⁵ Daniel,⁴ Thomas,³ Thomas,² Thomas¹) was born in Newbury 7 February 1759 (Newbury Vital Records, 203) and died at Campton, Grafton County, New Hampshire 30 August 1839 (U.S. Pensioners, 1818-1872 for New Hampshire, an entry in old script by his name). He married at Newbury 17 October 1786 Elizabeth Plumer, daughter of Mark and Joanna (Willett) Plumer.

At the opening of the Revolutionary War, he enlisted 9 May 1775 at Newbury for service with Captain Benjamin Perkin’s company in Colonel Moses Little’s (17^th) Regiment, claiming to be eighteen, though just past his sixteenth birthday. He served three-month enlistments in four other units recruited from Newbury and nearby towns, the last in 1780 (Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution, Vol. 7, 45).

From 1799, he was executor and residuary legatee of his father’s estate, and the estate was not settled until 1811. By that time, Amos was preparing to purchase from Nathaniel Tupper and his son more than 240 acres of land in Campton, Grafton County, New Hampshire. He moved his family after concluding the purchase on March 1 and 2, 1813.

He received a pension beginning in 1831 for service in the Massachusetts militia in the Revolutionary War (U.S. Pensioners, 1818-1872) which continued until his death in 1839. The same source shows Elizabeth received a widow’s pension until March, 1853. She lived to age 93, but for the last nine years was under the care of a court-appointed guardian as “an insane person” (R. S. Hale, Genealogy of the Descendants of Thoman Hale, 303).

Amos and Elizabeth had eight children, including Thomas J. Hale, Civil War drummer of Laconia, Belknap County, New Hampshire.

* [All information for the first five generations is drawn from Robert S. Hale, Genealogy of Descendants of Thomas Hale of Watton, England and Newbury, Mass., ed. George R. Howell (1889).] Website: http://archive.org/stream/genealogyofdesce00hale/genealogyofdesce00hale_djvu.txt

Don W. Woodworth

Sun City, CA 92586

woodworthdw@yahoo.com