Thomas Little, Tenth Great-Grandfather

September 28, 2016 — Colonial America, history, Plymouth Colony, Thomas Little

His name is on the monument dedicated to the early settlers of Green Harbor at the Winslow Cenetery in Marshfield, Mass.

The first record of Thomas Little in the new world was on the tax list of March 25, 1633. It is not known on which ship he had arrived.  He moved to Marshfield, which is 14 miles from Plymouth.  In the 1600’s 14 miles was a very long distance to travel.  He was the constable in Marshfield, MA, in June of 1662.

Thomas married Anna Warren on April 19, 1633, in Plymouth Colony. They were the parents of about nine children.

Thomas Little, lawyer

Thomas Little was born in England before 1608 based on his marriage (Anderson, Great Migration). The Ancestral file, without documentation, lists his origin as Devon which is also known as Devonshire with Exeter as the county seat. According to many writers, he arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1630, but it is not positively known when, or on what ship he came. The earliest date in the Plymouth records is January 2nd, 1632/3, when he was taxed. He married, April 19th, 1633, Ann, born in England about 1612, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Warren, who were Mayflower passengers (Avery 127, 129; NEHGR XIII, 279). Avery writes that Thomas Little came from England to Plymouth in 1630. He was a lawyer, and his coat of arms is still preserved at the old homestead in the house of Luther Little at Sea View, Massachusetts known as Littletown (Avery 126-127).
Thomas Little and Ann Warren had nine children as listed by Avery, Anderson in the “Great Migration,” and various others. Abigail married Josiah Keene; Patience married Joseph Jones; Ruth apparently unmarried; Hannah married Stephen Tilden; Mercy married John Sawyer; Isaac married Bethia Thomas; Ephraim married at Scituate Mary Sturtevant; Thomas died in King Phillips War; and Samuel married Sarah Gray (Anderson, Great Migration).
Thomas Little bought a shallop in 1633, and was enrolled for military service in August, 1643, at Plymouth, as was every other male in the Colony between 16 and 60 on that date (Avery 129-130).
His first residence was at Plymouth where he was a “Keeper of the Colony of New Plymouth books.” He was assessed 18 shillings in Plymouth tax lists of 1633 and 1634. In 1647, he had five acres of upland meadow on “Indian Brook,” listed as within the limits of the township of Plymouth, retaining that land in 1655. But in 1664, Jonathan Morey expressed an interest in the land that was “sometimes Thomas Little’s. Prior to that, in 1652, Thomas Little and his wife Ann sold a house and land on the Eel river in the township of Plymouth (a former residence). On 3 June 1662, Thomas Little had rights confirmed to a farm at Marshfield, and on 3 October 1665 was granted a hundred acres on which he settled title by 1 May 1666. Back in June 1662, he was a Marshfield Constable (Anderson, Great Migration, quoting Plymouth Records).
In his will, dated 17 May 1671, Thomas Little, Sr. bequeathed to “my loving wife all my housing and all of my land, upland and meadow on that side of the brook I now dwell, except only the meadow I purchased of Thomas Tildin and Morris Trewant.” He left land to sons Isacke and Ephraim land on the other side of the brook; all his land at Namassakett upland and meadow to his younger sons Thomas and Samuel, excepting an identified upland to grandson John Jones; a featherbed and furniture to Ephraim; the whole stock of cattle to be equally divided amongst all his children; and other dispositions. Administration of the estate was granted to Anna Little, his wife, on 14 August, 1662.(Anderson, Great Migration listing sources).
Thomas Little was buried at Marshfield, March 12, 1671. His widow died after February 19, 1675 (Avery 129-130).
There is some confusion from 28 October 1633 when a grant of land to Richard Warren was returned to court for failure to erect a building; the land was to be regranted to a Mr. Ralph Fogg upon his satisfactory payment to Widow Warren for her fence remaining there (PCR 1:18). But on 7 March 1636, “it is agreed upon, by the consent of the whole court, that Elizabeth Warren, widow, the relict of Mr. Richard Warren, deceased, shall be entered, and stand, and be purchaser instead of her said husband, as well because that (he dying before he had performed the said bargain) the said Elizabeth performed the same after his decease, and also for the establishing of the lots of lands givern formerly by her unto her sons-in-law Richard Church, Robert Bartlett, and Thomas Little, in marriage with their wives, her daughters” [PCR 1:54; 2:177]. On 5 May 1640, “Richard Church, Rob(er)te Bartlett, Thomas Little, and Mrs. Elizabeth Warren are granted enlargements at the heads of their lots to the foot of the Pyne Hills, leaving a way betwixt them and the Pyne Hills, for cattle and carts to pass” (PCR: 1:52). Ann Warren born est 1613, m. Thomas Little at Plymouth 19 April 1633 (PCR 1:13)

Thomas Little (1609 – 1675)
10th great-grandfather
William Little (1640 – 1731)
son of Thomas Little
William Little (1660 – 1740)
son of William Little
William Little Jr (1685 – 1756)
son of William Little
Jeanette Little (1713 – 1764)
daughter of William Little Jr
Andrew Armour (1740 – 1801)
son of Jeanette Little
William Armor (1775 – 1852)
son of Andrew Armour
William Armer (1790 – 1837)
son of William Armor
Thomas Armer (1825 – 1900)
son of William Armer
Lucinda Jane Armer (1847 – 1939)
daughter of Thomas Armer
George Harvey Taylor (1884 – 1941)
son of Lucinda Jane Armer
Ruby Lee Taylor (1922 – 2008)
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor