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Dorothy,
d. 27 FEB 1687 Sandwich, MA
Family:

Spouse: Burge, Thomas
b. 1606
d. 27 FEB 1686 Sandwich, MA (age 82)

Family History:

Thomas Burgess and his family immigrated to Salem, MA, about 1630 and settled in Lynn. On July 3, 1637 a section of land was assigned to him in Duxbury. In 1638 he forfeited his land in Duxbury and moved to Sandwich in the section called Sagamore. In 1640 he served as Grand Juryman. In 1642, 1645, 1648, 1654, 1660, 1662, and 1668 he served as Deputy to Plymouth General Court. In August 1643 he was on the list of men "able to bear arms". In 1645, 1662, 1663, and 1678 he served as Surveyor of Highways. On August 18, 1645 Thomas and 4 other men from Sandwich began 13 days of service in hostilities with the Narrangansett Indians. In 1667 and 1672 he served as Selectman. On March 3, 1654 Thomas received a grant of land in Manomot as reward for his service. He subscribed to repair the meetinghouse & support the minister in 1657. On 10 July, 1663, "Thomas Burge, Senr. of the Towne of Sandwich…planter…inconsideration of a valluable sume; to him already payed by his son in law Named Esra Perry of the towne aforesaid…planter" conveys "one halfe of a certain tract…of land at Manomett in the jurisdiction aforesaid, which said tract was purchased by Captaine Standish by the appointment of the Court of Josias of Nausett an Indian Sachem…as appears by a deed bearing the date the third of March Anno Dom 1654…bounded to the Northwards,…by a tree to the Eastward of the said Perry's house." I, Thomas Burgess, Senr., of Sandwich, being through God's goodness full of years, and waiting for my change, and yet having my understanding remaining with me,--blessed be God,--and also through God's great goodness being possessed of a competent outward estate, do now on serious consideration make this my last Will and Testament, touching the disposal of my estate after my dear wife and myself be decently buried, and all necessary charges defrayed, and all debts paid, the remaining part I give as followeth: Item. I give unto my eldest son, Thomas Burgess, of Rhode Island, five pounds out of my movable estate, to be paid by my executors after our decease. Item. I give unto my son, Jacob Burgess, upon good consideration all my house-lot, dwelling-house, barn and out-houses, all my upland on both sides of the cartway, all that belongs to my homestead dwelling. I also give him all my meadow that I have lying below Michael Blackwell's dwelling-house on both sides of Scussett river, for him my said son Jacob Burgess to enjoy, use and possess during his natural life; and after his decease I give the said dwelling-house, barn and all the forementioned land, both upland and meadow, to his son Thomas Burgess, my grandson to him and his heirs forever. But if my said grandson die without heirs, then my will is that the said house and lands above-mentioned shall return to the next heir of my son, Jacob Burgess. I give also to my said son, Jacob Burgess, all my land lying near and adjacent to Thomas Tupper's lands below the cartway, having Mr. Freeman's land on the western side. These I give to him upon this condition, that he, my said son Jacob Burgess, pay or cause to be paid unto my grandson Thomas Burgess, son of my son John Burgess, ten pounds in good pay, to be made to him my grandson, at twenty-three years of age. Item: I give unto my son, Joseph Burgess, the first and second lots that adjoin his other lands near his house, if my said son accept them so as to pay unto my son, John Burgess, five pounds; but if my son Joseph refuse said lands upon such terms, as to pay said five pounds as aforesaid, then my will is that said land return to my son, Ezra Perry, and that he perform the condition,--I mean by two lots, those lots that were once...then I give them: I give to my said son, Ezra Perry, all my other lands that lie above the said two lots, for him to enjoy forever, the which lands I bought of Mr. Edward Freeman, Jr. Item. I give to my dear wife all my movable estate, to be at her own disposing at her decease. I mean chattels of all sorts that I may have. And I do appoint and ordain my son, Ezra Perry, and my son, Jacob Burgess to be my executors to see this my last Will performed, as I witness under my hand and seal, this fourth day of April, 1684. Thomas Burgess. Witness-- Thomas Tupper, Martha Tupper-- Who made oath in Court before the Governor and Mr. John Thatcher, Assistant, that they saw Thomas Burgess sign, seal and declare this to be his last Will and Testament, and that to the best of their judgment he was of a disposing mind when he so did. March 5, 1685 Attest: Nathaniel Morton, Secretary.
Barry Hovey Burgess in "Burgess Genealogy, Chas. E. Fitchett, New York, NY (1941)" states: "The ancestral property, now intersected by the canal, remained in the Burgess name for over 200 years, and Mr. George Burbank, of the Sandwich Historical Society, informs the author that the house bore scars of British cannon ball inflicted during the war of 1812, in the haphazard bombardment of settlements in that region. Politics, and public service in general, commanded much of Thomas Burgess' attention. As to his standing in the community in which he lived, credentials are not lacking. Dr. James Savage, former president of the Massachusetts Historical Society, says he was "a chief man among them." "He served his town in every office, humble and honorable, from road-surveyor to deputy to the Court of Plymouth."--Rev. Ebenezer Burgess. These statements are confirmed by several publications concerning the earliest settlers of Massachusetts; for instance, Freeman's History of Cape Cod and N. B. Shurtleff's Plymouth Colony Records. For the information of the reader who may not be familiar with the expression deputy to the Court of Plymouth, it may be explained that deputy was the term then used for representative, and that the Court at Plymouth was the legislature for the Colony of Plymouth, the capital of which was the town of Plymouth. In 1691 the Colony (or Province) of Plymouth united with Massachusetts. Thomas Burgess was elected in 1642 to represent Sandwich in the provincial legislature, and he continued to serve his constituency in that capacity for eleven consecutive years, a term of service among the longest periods of representation in the Colony. The length of representative service in those days averaged considerably less than in modern times. The deputies were elected annually, and there were usually eighteen for the entire Colony. His name also appears as a town selectman. There were no mayors in the Colony of Plymouth in those times. The Plymouth legislature is important historically mainly in that it constitutes one of the earliest milestones in the world-wide extension of Anglo-Saxon democracy. Plymouth itself was the second permanent English colony in America, and the first in New England, being founded in 1620 by the Pilgrim Fathers, who arrived in the Mayflower in that year. Its legislature was instituted in 1638, being but a few years antedated by the legislative bodies of Virginia and Massachusetts. These three legislatures were seeds of self-government such as have always been planted wherever English settlements have been made, and they singularize the British form of colonization. Spain, Portugal, France, Holland and Sweden all had at certain periods colonies in the New World, but in none of them was any autonomy, either legislative or executive, ever permitted. So long as we Americans remember our grievances against England during our colonial days, we should not permit ourselves to forget that she is the mother of our democracy. As Theodore Roosevelt declared, England was the best mother we could have had. Were we to assume Britain's imperial responsibilities of today, would our relations with our dominions and with our possessions be as happy as hers? Even from our Virgin Islands rumors reach us that our government there is not satisfactory to the natives. And the writer has just been reading of a "nationalist" movement in our island of Puerto Rico. Thomas Burgess migrated from England as a Puritan, and in America he was a member of the Congregational Church, a denominational product of Puritanism. He was a young man in England during the early part of the reign of Charles I; but he is entitled to the alibi of being in America when his "Roundhead"2 comrades chopped off the head of that sovereign. Thomas' name is mentioned as one of the original eleven male members of the first church in Sandwich. It was organized in about 1638, under the pastorate of the Rev. William Leverich. The church, after passing through evolutionary stages, is today represented by the Federated Church of Sandwich,--a union, confined to that town, of Congregationalists, Unitarians and Methodists. Among his contemporaries, Thomas was known as Goodman Burgess; and there is evidence that he was a generous supporter of the Church. In 1657, or thereabouts, of 14 subscribers to support the minister, he pledged œ2, the largest amount of the subscriptions, and a liberal contribution considering the value of the pound in those days. All of which is more interesting than helpful to his living descendants, who may find, like Rudyard Kipling's Tomlinson, that, when presenting themselves at the Golden Gate, there is no use in trying to dodge one's own record and stand on someone else's. Sandwich, although one of the oldest, has also been one of the slowest growing towns of Massachusetts. It contains today only about 1500 souls, but it is the cradle of many of the oldest American and Canadian families. The first house to be erected (1637) in Sandwich was the Thomas Tupper house, razed by fire in 1921. Thomas Burgess' son, Jacob, married Thomas Tupper's granddaughter, Mary Nye, and through them the Kings County, Nova Scotia, Burgesses are descended. From the same Thomas Tupper are descended many of the Nova Scotia Tuppers; included among them is the late Sir Charles Tupper, Prime Minister of Canada. Sir Charles manifested his interest in the New England genealogy of his family by membership in the Sandwich Tupper Club. A Burgess Club of Sandwich would not be a flourishing institution today, for the reason that the only Burgesses there now are in their graves. Among those so reposing are the first Burgesses to set foot on American soil,--Thomas and his wife, Dorothy. In the beautiful Old Town Cemetery, nestling beside a placid lake and among undulations of woodland and verdure, can be found their tombstones, near the resounding breakers of the same ocean over which these Puritan Pilgrims sailed more than 300 years ago, in their quest not for gold but for religious freedom. The original tombstones, imported from England, have been nearly obliterated by the ravages of time, the fragmentary remains now serving as footstones. The present monumental structures were erected in 1917 "by descendants," and were designed after the originals."

Children:

Burgess, Thomas
Family History:

The first divorce in Plymouth Colony was when Thomas Jr's first wife divorced him on June 10, 1661 after he was brought to court for as act of uncleanness with Lydia Gaunt. He left Plymouth Colony and moved to Newport, RI where he was admitted freeman in the Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. In 1664 he served as Constable.


Burgess, John
Family History:

John was admitted freeman in 1657, and served as Grand Juror in 1661. He moved to Yarmouth, and served as Deputy to Plymouth General Court in 1680.


Burgess, Jacob
Family History:

Jacob inherited the family farm in Sandwich and remained there.


Burgess, Elizabeth

Burgess, Joseph
Family History:

In 1675 Joseph was charged "for his abusing of the watch att Sandwich by entering into the guard and assaying to take away a gun and beating on of the guard which opposed him therin, is fined five pound; viz' six shillings to the Constable for bringing him to the Court and ten shillings to guard which was beaten as aforsaid, and five shillings a peece to the guard and his father for their coming up to and attending on the Court on the said busines, and the remainder of the said five to the country. Memorand: the seven shillings and sixpence is abated of what is due to the country from the said Burge."

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Copyright 2001 Richard Joseph Bucknum