Thomas Dungan (1635 - bef. 1688)

Born 13 Feb 1635 in London, Middlesex, England

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Weaver) Dungan — married about 1663 in Newport, Rhode Island

Descendants

Died before 29 Jan 1688 before age 52 in Cold Spring, Fall Township, Bucks, Pennsylvania

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Thomas Dungan migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Thomas Dungan immigrated to New England between 1621 and 1640 and later departed for Cold Spring, Bucks County, Pennsylvania

Rev. Thomas Dungan, soldier, legislator, pioneer, became the first Baptist minister in the Province of Pennsylvania.

Thomas was baptized on 13 Feb 1635 at St. Martin in the Fields in London, England, son of William Dungan and Frances Latham, the youngest child of William and Frances.

His father died while Thomas was still an infant and his mother remarried to Jeremy Clarke. The Clarkes immigrated to America in 1637 to Newport, Rhode Island.

Thomas first appears on record there, in a "Roule of ye ffreemen of ye Colonie for everie Towne of the year 1655." At the court of election held 20 May 1656 at Portsmouth, he was elected a freeman.

He married at Newport about 1663 to Elizabeth, daughter of Sgt. Clement Weaver.She was born in 1647 and died at Cold Spring in 1697.

Rev. Thomas Dungan and Elizabeth Weaver are buried in the graveyard of the Cold Spring Church. They were the parents of five sons and four daughters, all born in Rhode Island:

• William Dungan, married Deborah Wing.
• Elizabeth Dungan, married to Nathaniel West, Jr.
• John Dungan, died without issue.
• Clement Dungan, died without issue.
• Rebecca Dungan, married to Edward Doyle.
• Thomas Dungan, Jr., married Mary Drake
• Jeremiah Dungan, married Deborah Drake.
• Mary Dungan, married to Abraham Richards.
• Sarah Dungan, married to James Carrell.

He acquired 240 acres at Shrewsbury, New Jersey, about the year 1670. Shortly after the English settled in Monmouth Co., New Jersey, he acquired lands there which he sold in 1674 according to Col. Leach. He was Sergeant of the Newport Militia in Newport, Rhode Island in 1676.

In 1677 he was one of the patentees named in the charter of East Greenwich and in 1678 he was elected a deputy to the General Assembly. He was re-elected to this body in 1681, the year in which William Penn's charter was granted, an event which attracted much attention in the other colonies. His half brother Walter Clarke was then Deputy Governor of Rhode Island. Although the majority of the colonists of Penn's settlement were Quakers, there were also many Baptists, and Mr. Dungan decided to remove thither. He conveyed his estate of 100 acres in East Greenwich by deed of gift dated 28 June 1682 to Thomas Weaver whom he called his "cousin," which in those days almost invariably signified nephew or niece, and he sold to John Bailey his Newport homestead of 50 acres by deed dated 25 Sep 1682. Shortly afterward he removed to Pennsylvania and settled in Bucks County at Cold Spring, on the Delaware River, where he founded a Baptist Church, the first in that colony, of which he was the pastor. He continued in this service until his death in 1687.

Will

His will, which was written on 3 Dec 1686 and probated on 29 February 1688, is one of the earliest on record in Bucks County. (Another source shows it probated on 24 Nov 1687 and recorded 1 Feb 1688.^{[citation needed]})

The will of Thomas Dungan, of Coldspring, County of Bucks, mentions wife to whom he left all household goods, as Linnen, wooling, Bedding, brass, pewter; "only my son Clement, his bed, my daughter Maries' Bed and two brass Kettles excepted." Wife Elizabeth, sole extx. Mentions 3 sons: Thomas, Jeremiah & John. Daus. Elizabeth West, Mary, Rebecka, and Sarah Dungan. Sons William & Clement. Wit: Arthur Cooke, John Cook, Wm. Dungan. Appraisal made 12th month, 4th day, 1687 by Edmond Lovet and Abraham Cox.

To my wife, my house and considering her natural life for the bringing up of my children, and after her death, to my three sons: Thomas, Jeremiah, and John, to be divided by honest men chosen by them; or if my wife wishes to sell the house and lands, she to have one third and other two thirds to my sons: Thomas, Jeremiah and John; they paying each to their sisters, Mary, Rebecka and Sarah Dungan £5 each. To sons William and Clement, and daughter Elizabeth West, each five shillings. Wife to be sole executrix.

Signed with his mark. Witnesses: Arthur Cooke, John Cooke, Will. Dungan.

Administration granted to Elizabeth Dungan, widow, 11/13/1687. Inventory made by Edmond Lovet and Abraham Cox 12/4/1687. . Total £67; 1; 0.

ARMS-Azure, six plates, three, two and one; on a chief or, a demi-lion rampant gules.^[1]

CREST- An orb argent banded and surmounted by a cross pattée or.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Burke, "General Armory"

• John S. Wurts, Magna Charta, Brookfield Pub. Co., Philadelphia, 1945, Part III, p. 437, 453-454.

• Wilfred Jordan, Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., New York, 1942, pp. 671; Coat of Arms facing p. 663.

• History of Bucks County, PA, Volume I, Bucks County Genealogies, page 207

• New England Irish Pioneers [database online]. Orem, Utah: Ancestry, Inc., 1997. Original data: O'Brien, Michael J., LL.D. Pioneer Irish in New England. New York, NY: P. J. Kennedy & Sons, 1937.

• "Descendants of East Tennessee Pioneers", written by Olga Jones (Wear)Edwards and Ina Wear Roberts. (2nd edition)

• Will Book A, Vol 1, p. 36

• Find A Grave: Memorial #20707488