The Planters                                                    sketch of Thomas Wilson house                                                                   

Meet Thomas Wilson

The ancestry of Thomas Wilson can be traced back with certainty only to his father Theophilus and mother Elizabeth (Knowlton) Wilson who were born in England and probably came to America in 1635. Thomas, aged 18, was listed as a passenger on the ship "Expectacon" bound for the Island of Providence in the West Indies on April 24, 1635. Whether his parents had preceded him or followed him later on anther ship cannot be determined for certain, but Theophilus was of Ipswich in 1636. He received a grant of land there in 1638. In 1639, he bought a home lot from John Saunders which bordered on the meeting house green. He bought and sold several other lots in Ipswich during the next 15 years, but on August 30, 1655, he purchased a meadow of approximately six acres for his son Thomas. In 1644, he owned a share and a half on Plum Island.

Theophilus was a commoner in 1641, and later in 1679 a voter in town affairs. He served variously as a tithing man, constable and prison keeper and appears to have maintained the meeting house at Ipswich for several years. He married, in England, Elizabeth Knowlton, sister of John and Thomas Knowlton, both later of Ipswich and had by her three children; Elizabeth, Seaborn, and Thomas. Mrs. Theophilus Wilson, died January 10,1679/80 at Ipswich. Theophilus died at Ipswich in 1690, and in his will dated October 3 of that year, he left his farm to his son Thomas.

The first notice of Thomas which we find is the listing of his name on the passenger roster of the ship Expectation on April 24, 1635, as previously mentioned. he was then 18, so must have been born in 1617. It would appear that Thomas left England with intentions of settling in the West Indies. He probably stayed there only a short time and continued on to Ipswich where his family probably had settled.

We never find him in that place in 1647 when he is censured for sleeping in a barn while on watch. This was a mild preview of what was to come during his later life at Quaboag. There is no record of his having a grant of land at Ipswich, but in 1655, as noted above , his father purchased a meadow lot for him and in 1664 he was a share owner on Plum Island.

In 1665, Thomas uprooted himself from his home at Ipswich and with his wife and daughters Mary and Hannah, removed to Quaboag Plantation to begin a new life. His sons William, John, and Shoreborn were likely married and settled at Ipswich where they remained.

The first positive evidence of the presence of Goodman Wilson at Quaboag is found in an entry dated November 16, 1667 on the Account Book of John Pynchon. This indicates that Thomas had been living at Quaboag prior to this date and had incurred a substantial debt of six pounds which his father was to repay. On February 18, 1668/9, he paid one pound, six shillings and six pence for his lot at Quaboag, indicating a home lot grant of slightly more than 20 acres with accompanying meadow land and planting ground. His plot was located next to that of John Younglove on Prichard's Hill near the center of the village site.

Whether the proximity to his neighbor had any influence on subsequent events cannot be known for certain, but in the court records for June 19, 1672 appears the following:  "It being certified to this court to have answered for his evil demeanor toward Mr. Younglove, this court doth order that the said Wilson, within one month on a Sabbath assembly, after evening exercises, before the assembly, acknowledge that he hath carried himself vilely and  un-neighborly toward Mr. Younglove, and that he promises to carry himself better toward him for time to come, and that if he refuses to do accordingly, order that then he is to be warned to appear at the County Court at Springfield in September next to answer for his offense".

This was at the same court session in which the case of the people of Quaboag versus John Younglove was aired and settled.

Thomas Wilson must have complied with the court order as to public confession and promise to reform because he did not appear in court in September next.

There is no hint in the records as to what trade or craft, if any, Thomas pursued other than farming. Since he was but 18 when he settled at Quaboag, he certainly must have been able to do some sort of work. Perhaps, like his father in Ipswich, he was a carpenter. He does not appear to have been prominent in the affairs of the Plantation, but was one of the signers of the Petition for Incorporation on October 10, 1673.

However, he seems to have found his way easily into the county court, but never as a juror. On March 30, 1675, the following:  "Thomas Wilson of Brookfield, presented by the jury for reviling the curfew, speaking and obscene words made against Samuel Warner of Brookfield, wishing several times the devil to take him. Saying, you are a church member, but the devil will have you for all that. Also saying, lest he have that which is in those breeches, speaking of his wife, with other reviling speeches to Samuel Kent. To that relation to Samuel Warner, attested Samuel Warner and John Peirce. To his reviling speeches to Kent, attest Richard Coy, Sr. and William Pritchard, Sr."  Finding of the court, unfortunately, are not part of the records so that we are left wondering about the outcome of the case.

During the siege of Brookfield, on August 3, 1675, Captain Wheeler in his narrative says as follows:  "But abroad in the yard, one Thomas Wilson of that town being sent to fetch water for our help in further need, (that which we had being spent in putting out the fire.) was shot by the enemy in the upper jaw and in the neck, the anguish of which wound was such at the first that he cried out with a great noise, by reason where of the Indians hearing him rejoiced, and triumphed at it; but his wound was healed in a short time, praise be God".

Prior to this, during times of peace, the Indians had bestowed upon Wilson the honorary title of "Major", by which he was referred to in later records. The well at which "Major" Wilson received his wound is still in existence and has been appropriately marked for posterity. The historian Felt says that Thomas Wilson was allowed one pound by the General Court on October 7, 1675 for his losses at Quaboag.

Soon after the loss of his home and most of his possessions, he and his family returned to Ipswich where he is found employed as a herdsman in 1676. After the death of his father in 1690, he inherited the family farm and homestead where he presumably spent the remainder of his life. His date of death and that of his wife have not been found.