Thomas Trowbridge (1542 - 1619)

Born 1542 in Taunton, Somerset, England

Ancestors

Husband of Joan Lawrence (Hutchins) Trowbridge — married about 1565 in Taunton, Somerset, England

Descendants

Died 20 Feb 1619 at about age 77 in St Mary Magdalen, Taunton, Somerset, England

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Ed Trowbridge [send private message]

Orthographic variations: Troubridge, Trobridge, Trowbridge, Trowbrige, Troobridge Troubridge, Trobridge, Trowbridge, Trowbrige, Troobridge, Trobrige

Biography

Thomas Trowbridge was a fairly wealthy man for his time. He was well known in Taunton for his fairness and generosity to the poor as a panel on the side of St. Mary Magdaline shows. He set up a trust fund for the elderly and poor of this church as well as St. James which was still being distributed 250 years later. His will, made in Jul. 1618-19 and proved May 6 1619-20, divided his estate between, children, grandchildren, friends and dependents, with his only son, John, being residuary legatee and sole executor. Burial February 20, 1619.

Was a leading citizen and charitable founder, a mercer, with a Tudor mansion, extant, in the high street, and had served as constable and portreve of the castle manor. Thomas Trowbridge was mayor of Taunton, Somerset. The identity of the wife, previously unknown, of Thomas Trowbridge (who died 1619) was Joan Lawrence alias Hutchins, daughter of John Lawrence alias Hutchins of St. James Parish, Taunton, presumably by his wife Alice, after whom Joan named her elder daughter Alice Trowbridge. The will of John Lawrence alias Hutchins, dated 7 Sept. [1579?]. proved 12 Sept. 1579, named his son-in-law Thomas Trowbridge, his daughter Joan Trowbridge, his wife Alice, and other relatives. Perhaps John's wife Alice was a Stone, for he made Robert Stone and George Stone overseers of his will. A few years earlier, John Lawrence alias Hutchins surrendered land to Thomas "Strobridge." reserving life use to his own wife Alice, and the Stones figured also in this conveyance.

A John Lawrence alias Hutchins was named as son in the will of Thomas Lawrence alias Hutchins of Holway in St. Mary Magdalen Parish. Taunton. dated 1 July 1576, proved Jan. 1576/7. Considering the fact that our John was a grandfather when he died in 1579, some three years after Thomas died, it is perhaps more likely that Thomas was brother rather than father of our John. He was at one time the Mayor of Taunton.

Thomas was born in 1542 in Taunton, Somerset, England and died there on February 20, 1619. He was a member of St Mary Magdalen Church in Taunton and he is buried in the church cemetery. There is a plaque on the church wall in memory of his generous contributions to the poor of Taunton. Also the six acres of land in West Monkton that he gave to St Mary Magdalen and St James Church in Taunton.

He was a woolen mercer. His woolen shop at no.15 Fore Street is listed as the oldest surviving domestic dwelling in Taunton. He and his wife Joan raised their children in the upper story of the shop. Its main structure has been dated to the 14th century.

Sources

• Trowbridge, Francis Bacon. The Trowbridge Genealogy : History of the Trowbridge Family in America. (1908) Archive.org LINK
• The American Genealogist, vol. 18 no. 3, (January 1942):129-137. The Trowbridge Ancestry in England, by Donald Lines Jacobus. LINK (paid subscription)
• The Genealogist, vol. 9 no. 1 (Spring 1988):3-39. The Trowbridge Ancestry, by Charles Fitch Northen.
• Parish Register - St. Mary Magdalen, Exeter, England.
• www.theancestralsleuth.com Danny Hall - worldtraveller@@dr.com
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mjr6387&id=I115630
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:a356&id=I4712
• https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/thomas-trowbridge_11098604
• http://www.trowbridgemountain.info/thomastrowbridge1.html