Some of The Descendants of
William Thomas
of Marshfield, Plymouth Colony
by 1636

Seventh Generation


CALVIN7 THOMAS (Nathaniel6, Edward5, Isaac4, Nathaniel3-2, William1) was born at Pembroke, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, on 16 September 1791 a son of Nathaniel Thomas and his wife Betty House,[1] and died at Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts, on 10 August 1864.[2] He married at Freetown on 10 October 1822 LOIS MARIA WASHBURN.[3] She was born at Middleboro, Plymouth County, on 15 July 1797, a daughter of Salmon Washburn and his wife Ruth White. She died at Freetown on 8 August 1866.[4]

Calvin Thomas grew up in Pembroke the ninth of eleven chilcren; the seventh of nine that survived infancy. Lois Washburn's roots are more difficult to trace. The identity of her parents and her birthplace are given on her death record. According to the 1800 Census the Salmon Washburn family of Middleboro consisted of a man ands a woman between 26 and 44 (Lois' parents), a boy and a girl between 10 and 15, and three girls under ten.[5] Lois would have been one of the girls under ten. No birth records for any of the children of this family appear in the Vital Records of Middleboro. Lois' father died without a will, and his estate was insolvent,[6] so there is no listing of children there. Her father died when Lois was thirteen years old. When Calvin Thomas and Lois Washburn published their intentions of marriage, they were both residents of Freetown.

Calvin Thomas was a farmer in the East Freetown section of Freetown. The 1840 Census reported the family consisting of a male and a female in their 40s (Calvin, 48, Lois 42), a male and a female between 15 and 19 (Jane, 17, Calvin, Jr., 15), a female between 10 and 14 (Amelia, 12), and a male between 5 and 9 (Charles, 5).[7]

Daughter Jane Thomas married in 1843; about three years later her husband, Noah Edminster, died from typhoid fever.[8] Son Calvin, Junior, married in 1848. The 1850 Census reported Calvin, Junior, his wife and daughter, immediately before Calvin, Senior's, household, which was listed as follows:[9]

Line Name Age Sex Occupation R.E. Birthplace Other
17. Calvin Thomas 61 M farmer $ 4350 MA
18. Lois Thomas 40 F MA
19. Jane Thomas 30 F MA
20. Frances Thomas 21 F MA
21. Charles H. Thomas 16 M mariner MA
22. Henry Snow 24 M carpenter MA

This record contains several inaccuracies. Calvin was 58, Lois 52. Daughter Jane, the widow of Noah Edminster, was about 27. Frances is in other records called Amelia Frances.

The 1855 State Census reported a household consisting of Calvin and Lois, daughter Jane Edminster, son Charles, and granddaughter Ellen, 6, the daughter of Calvin, Junior.[10] Jane died in 1856 from Typhoid Fever. Charles married in 1859. The 1860 Census reported the household as follows:[11]

Line Name Age Sex Occupation R.E. P.E. Birthplace
28. Calvin Thomas 69 M farmer $5000 $1000 MA
29. Lois W. Thomas 63 F MA
30. Charles W. Thomas 26 M farmer MA
31. Marie E. Thomas 21 F MA
32. Mary E. Thomas 7/12 F MA
33. Ellen M. Thomas 11 F MA
34. Calvin Thomas 36 M stone cutter MA

This record describes a three-generation household. Calvin and Lois have with them their two surviving sons, the wife and daughter of one, and the daughter of the other. I have not found Hope (Richardson) Thomas in this census; I have not found daughter Amelia Frances in any record after the 1850 Census.

Calvin Thomas, Junior, fought in the Union Army in the Civil War. He was mustered out on 1 September 1863, and died at Freetown from chronic diarrhea on 28 November of that year. Calvin Thomas, Senior died within a year, on 10 August 1864. Lois Thomas was reported as the head of this shattered family in the 1865 Massachusetts Census:[12]

Line Name Age Sex Birth MS Occupation
37. Lois M. Thomas 67 F Middleboro Mass. W
38. Charles H. Thomas 30 M Freetown Mass. M farmer
39. Mary E. Thomas 26 F New Bedford Mass. M
40. Mary I. Thomas 5 F Freetown Mass.
41. Calvin L. Thomas 2 mo. M Freetown Mass.
42. Ellen Thomas 16 F Freetown Mass. S

The family consisted of Lois, her surviving son, his wife and two children, and her granddaughter by her other son. I have not found her other daughter-in-law, Hope, in this census; she remarried four months after the census. Lois (Washburn) Thomas died in 1866 with a fever.[13]

Calvin Thomas and his wife Lois Washburn had the following children:

  1. JANE8 THOMAS b. at Freetown about 1822-3; d. there on 9 November 1856; m. there on 1 January 1843 NOAH EDMINSTER, b. at Freetown on 24 July 1805, d. there on 18 December 1845.[14]
  2. CALVIN8 THOMAS, Jr. b. at Freetown on 1 February 1825.
  3. AMELIA FRANCES SNOW8 THOMAS b. at Freetown about 1828-9.[15]
  4. CORNELIUS8 THOMAS b. about 30 September 1832; d. at Freetown on 31 May 1833.[16]
  5. CHARLES HOUSE8 THOMAS b. at Freetown on 12 July 1834; d. there on 8 August 1905; m (int. at Freetown on 25 January 1859) MARY E. HARPER, b. at New Bedford, Bristol County, about September 1838, d. at Freetown on 24 June 1895, child of James I. Harper and Nancy Fuller.[17] Charles and Mary had the following children:
    1. Mary J. Thomas b. at Freetown on 8 February 1860; m. there on 18 March 1881 Edward K. Cowen b. at New Bedford abou t 1856-7.[18]
    2. Calvin L. Thomas b. at Freetown on 20 March 1865; m(1) at Freetown on 25 March 1891 Alice F. Spaulding; div.; b. at Kittery Point, Kittery, York County, Maine, about 1870-1, d. at Chelsea, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, on 23 March 1898; m(2) at Assonet, Freetown, on 22 June 1906 Lottie B. Reynolds b. at Freetown on 23 October 1880.[19]
    3. Charles A. Thomas b. at Freetown on 11 June 1871; m. at New Bedford on 4 February 1897 Annie J. Hoar b. at Freetown on March 1870.[20]


NOTES

1Vital Records of Pembroke, Massachusetts: to the Year 1850 (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1911), p. 201.
2Massachusetts Archives, "Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 16 September 2017), vol. 174, p. 108, e. 15, Freetown Deaths, 1864, Calvin Thomas.
3Jordan Dodd (Liahona Research), "Massachusetts, Compiled Marriages, 1633-1850," database on line, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 27 May 2020), Thomas-Washburn; Freetown 1822. Intentions published at Freetown 22 September 1822 - Freetown, Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook), "Massachusetts Vital and Town Records,", Records, 1795-1847 Number 3, p. 72, e. 16, Marriage Intentions: Thomas-Washburn, 1822; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 12 May 2018).
4"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 192, p. 94, e. 16, Freetown Deaths, 1866, Lous M. Thomas. East Freetown Cemetery, East Freetown, Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts. Lois Thomas.
5Second Census of the United States: 1800, population, Middleboro, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, roll 16, p. 71, Solmon Washburn; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 21 May 2020); NARA microfilm publication M32; Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C..
6Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Probate Records, file 22081: Salmon Washburn; American Ancestors, americanancestors.org.
7Sixth Census of the United States: 1840, population, Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 177, p. 224, Calvin Thomas; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 12 May 2020); NARA microfilm publication M704, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
8"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 20, p. 51, e. 14, Freetown Deaths, 1845-6, Noah Edminster.
9Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population, Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 308, p. 156B, household 298, Calvin Thomas family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 12 January 2016); NARA Microfilm Publication M432; Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
10Massachusetts, Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1855 Massachusetts State Census, , population, Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts, v. 6, p. 13, household 4, Calvin Thomas family; digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 5 April 2018); Massachusetts State Archives, Boston, Massachusetts.
11Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population, Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 492, p. 659, household 1661, Calvin Thomas family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 22 November 2014); NARA microfilm publication M653; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
12Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1865 Massachusetts State Census, , population, Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 5, p. 524, household 8, Lois M. Thomas family; digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 9 April 2018); Massachusetts State Archives, Boston, Massachusetts.
13"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 192, p. 94, e. 16, Freetown Deaths, 1866, Lous M. Thomas.
14"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 102, p. 76, e. 15, Freetown Deaths, 1856, Jane Edminster; vol. 20, p. 51, e. 14, Freetown Deaths, 1845-6, Noah Edminster. Freetown Town Clerk, Holbrook Research Institute Records, 1836-1871, Book 5, p. 183, Marriage: Edminster-Thomas, 1843.
151850 Census, Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 308, p. 156B, household 298, Calvin Thomas family. Name given as Frances in census and : John Marshall Raymond, Thomas Families of Plymouth County, Massachusetts: genealogies of the families of David Thomas of Middleboro (1620-1689), John Thomas of Marshfield (1621-1691), and William Thomas of Marshfield (1573-1651) (Itasca, Illinois: Thomas Family Publications, 1980), p. 260. Name given as Amelia Frances Snow Thomas in: Bertha Harriet (Tirrell) Maxfield, Family Record of Charles Pope and Ellen (Nelly) Thomas Maxfiield. Notes compiled before 1938; privately held by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Pennsylvania.
16East Freetown Cemetery, East Freetown, Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts. Cornelius Thomas.
17"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 44, certificate no. 398, Freetown Deaths, 1905, Charles H. Thomas; vol. 454, p. 269, e. 25, Freetown Deaths, 1895, Mary E. Thomas. East Freetown Cemetery, East Freetown, Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts. Charles H. Thomas. Freetown, Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Holbrook Research Institute Records, 1836-1871, Book 5, p. 261, Marriage Intentions: Thomas-Harper, 1859.
18"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 132, p. 119, e. 18, Freetown Births, 1860, Mary C. Thomas; v. 325, p. 130, e. 1; Marriages Freetown 1881; Cowen-Thomas.
19"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 177, p. 101, e. 14, Freetown Births, 1865, Calvin L. Thomas; v. 415, p. 189, e. 3; Marriages Freetown 1891; Thomas-Spalding; v. 483, p. 582, e. 129; Deaths Chelsea 1898; Alice Thomas; v. 562, p. 249, e. 5; Marriages Freetown 1906; Thomas-Reynolds; v. 385, p. 151; Births Freetown 1888; Lottie Reynolds. Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population, Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts, enumeration district (ED) 166, p. 9, household 239, Calvin Thomas; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 26 May 2020); NARA microfilm group T623; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
20"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," v. 232, p. 123, e. 8; Births Freetown 1871; Charles A. Thomas; v. 469, p. 211, e. 3; Marriages Freetown 1897; Thomas-Horr. 1900 Census, Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts, ED 166, p. 9, household 215, Charles Thomas family.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dodd, Jordan (Liahona Research). "Massachusetts, Compiled Marriages, 1633-1850." Database on line. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2020.

East Freetown Cemetery (East Freetown, Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts). Grave marker data.

Freetown Town Clerk, Massachusetts. Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook), "Massachusetts Vital and Town Records,". Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2018.

Massachusetts Archives. "Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910." Digital images. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2017.

Massachusetts, Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1855 Massachusetts State Census, population. Digital images. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2018.

________, 1865 Massachusetts State Census, population. Digital images. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2018.

Maxfield, Bertha Harriet (Tirrell). Family Record of Charles Pope and Ellen (Nelly) Thomas Maxfiield. Notes compiled before 1938 by Bertha Harriet (Tirrell) Maxfield. Genealogical Collection of Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Pennsylvania.

Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Probate Records. American Ancestors, americanancestors.org.

Raymond, John Marshall. Thomas Families of Plymouth County, Massachusetts: genealogies of the families of David Thomas of Middleboro (1620-1689), John Thomas of Marshfield (1621-1691), and William Thomas of Marshfield (1573-1651). Itasca, Illinois: Thomas Family Publications, 1980.

United States Department of the Census. Second Census of the United States: 1800, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2020.

________. Sixth Census of the United States: 1840, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2020.

________. Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2016.

________. Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2014.

________. Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2020.

Vital Records of Pembroke, Massachusetts: to the Year 1850. Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1911.


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