Thomas
Simmons
Born in Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of
Elizabeth (Nash) Simmons
— married
[date unknown] [location unknown]
Died
at about age 80
in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts
Profile last modified
| Created 27 May 2011
This page has been accessed 5,256 times.
| Thomas Simmons is currently protected by the Puritan Great Migration Project for reasons described in the narrative. Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: PGM |
Research suggests that this person may never have existed. See the text for details.
Disambiguation
Tingley, Raymon Meyers. Some Ancestral Lines, p. 371-2 fraudulently created records to state that Elizabeth was daughter of Thomas Simmons (Symonds) of Plymouth who in turn married Elizabeth Nash and that Thomas Symonds of Plymouth was son of Moses. The supposed family of Thomas Symmonds of Plymouth is a known fraud. See Anderson's Great Migration Begins 1790 and Great Migration Begins 1683 and Great Migration 2:1:411
Thomas Symonds of Plymouth was a real person but has no known family. But there was also another Thomas Symonds of Braintree/Bost that seems be be conflated here.
There were two men in New England before 1640 named Thomas Simmons or Symonds. The first was Thomas Symonds of Plymouth and Scituate. He arrived by 1633 when Samuel Fuller named him in his will "my two servants Thomas Symons & Robert Cowles." See Mayflower Descendants 1:26. The only other records of him includes a court record with Edward Doty in 1641, a right to bear arms in Scituate in 1643 a land transfer in in Scituate on 26 Jan 1649 to Gilbert Brooks. All that is known is he died after that last date, 26 Jan 1649 probably in Scituate with no family. See Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff and David Pulsifer, eds., 12 volumes in 10 (Boston 1855 – 1861) 2:33. 8:191, 12:217-18. This is the man who was the subject of the Tingley-Meyers fraud. His origins are unknown.
There was a second Thomas Simmons/Symonds of Braintree/Boston. He arrived in 1638 and was in Suffolk County when he received a land grant in Braintree see Great Migration Newsletter 10:20. But he is not identical to the man above. Evidence for him can be found in the vital records in see NEHGR 3:248 link: Regarding Thomas Symmonds of Braintree, see [NEHGR 3:248; Lechford 351; BTR 1:49; MBCR 1:282].
- Joan Symons the daughter of Thomas Symons born 8 Nov 1640 died 30 May 1642
- Thomas Symond died on 15 Jun 1642
Possibly he was related to the John Symons who has a daughter Anne who died in Jun of 1640?
All we seem to know about his family based on vital records is that he had a daughter Joan and he (or a son of the same name died in Boston 15 Jun 1642. The name of his wife is not recorded. Thomas Symonds of Braintree/Boston was listed in a mortgage to Richard Parker in 1640 see Letchford 351. Thomas Symonds of Braintree/Boston was listed in a court case in Colony Record p 282 regarding Mr Eaton's house and "the college" see BCR 1:282 Wikipedia reports that Thomas Symonds of Boston/Braintree was a carpenter who had apparently assisted in the building of the college at Cambridge in 1639 and afterwards - was soon found to be in debt to one of the creditors of the college, John Cogan.The college building itself was poorly erected - Thomas Symonds being the responsible party after Nathaniel Eaton left - and eventually Symonds and at least one of his assistants were thrown into debtor's prison. See: Nathaniel Eaton in Wikipedia. If true this may explain the deaths listed in vital records for he may very well be the man who died 15 Jun 1642 in debtors prison.
Disputed Origins
In The Great Migration Begins, Anderson states: "There was a THOMAS SYMONS in Plymouth by 1633, and several authors have attempted to squeeze him into the family of Moses Simonson, but there is no evidence that he belongs. The most egregious attempt in this direction was perpetrated in 1935 by Raymon Meyers Tingley, who fabricated documents, including an alleged deposition made by Thomas, and managed to make Thomas both son and brother of Moses [ Tingley-Meyers 371-72]."[1]
Sources
- ↑ The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010), (Originally Published as: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995).
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- This disputed existence person's profile needs some help Feb 23, 2017.
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Or is it supposed to represent the man who was in Braintree in 1638 and died in 1642?
Regardless, wife Elizabeth Nash is totally a fabrication, as are most of the attached children.
I removed the connection to the parents, as they are impossible. They died a couple of decades before he is supposed to have been born.
Symons-563 represents the same person, with its content restricted to content that is supported by Anderson's "The Great Migration Begins." I created the new profile for Symons-563 instead of cleaning up the existing profile because I can't tell if any (or how much) of the content that others have added to profile Simmons-1037 might be about some other person, with support from valid sources. Based on Anderson's statements, I recommend removing the family connections and dates from Simmons-1037 and merging it with Symons-563.