Plymouth Co, MA Bios Project

     John Tomson was one of the "First Comers," a name given to those who came over in the "Mayflower," "Fortune," and "Anne." As he was a man of prominence in the community, performed notable military service, was a skilled artisan, helped found one of the towns which sprang from Plymouth, and left a worthy posterity, he becomes a fitting example to take as a type and show how the "First Comers" proceeded to take advantage of the rights and privileges "to which nature and natured God entitled them," under the rules of the colony.
     One of the first sellers of Halifax was John Tomson who arrived at Plymouth in August, 1623, on "The Little James and Anne," with fifty-nine other passengers. Some writers say that a Mr. Sturtevant had already settled in the town and it it possible that there were a few others who were seized with that wanderlust which seems to have inspired many of the "First Comers" in Plymouth to take up land sufficiently far from the meeting-house in Plymouth to make it very inconvenient, to say the least, for them to participate in the services and meetings.
     We of the present day wonder why, when the woods were filled with Indians, from whom all kinds of evil was expected and sometimes received, that the early settlers of Plymouth did not form a community for common defense, with houses near enough together to enable them to act as a body at short notice. But Winslow's home was a dozen miles from Plymouth in Marshfield; John Alden, after his marriage to Priscilla Mullens, lived in Duxbury, some ten miles from Plymouth Rock; Captain Myles Standish, the leader of the Pilgrim Army, in South Duxbury; Elder Brewster, Governor Bradford and Francis Cooke in Kingston, and others were equally scattered. John Tomson (the spelling is the same as he used in signing his will, although he is said to have employed other ways on other occasions) lived two miles from the center of Plymouth. He had married the daughter of Francis Cooke, one of the "Mayflower" passengers.
     Halifax was, in the days of John Tomson, a part of Plymouth, as were most of the towns in Plymouth County now bearing separated names.   It was incorporated as a town July 4, 1734. The previous year a meeting-house had been built. The first settlers were, in most instances, direct descendants of the first Plymouth settlers, and the names of most prominence were Thompson, Waterman, Bosworth, Briggs and Sturtevant.
     As the name Thompson, the most common spelling at present, occurs so many times, it is well to explain that John Thompson was born in the northern part of Wales in 1616. In the southwestern part of England the name was spelled Tompson. Rev. John Tompson, who settled in the ministry at Berwick, on the Piscataqua River, was descended from this family. In Ireland the spelling was Thompson. In the south of Scotland it was Thomson, and of this family was James Thomson, the poet, and Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress in the days of the American Revolution. Since the early settler of Halifax was born in the northern part of Wales, in the vicinity of Scotland, he is usually considered a descendant of the Scottish Family, although in his will he spelled his name differently from any of the branches which have been mentioned. the letter p was not introduced into the spelling by any of his descendants until a century and a half had passed. Rev. John Cotton , the first minister in Halifax, spelled the name Thomson in some of his writings which have been handed down since his ministry in the meeting-house erected when George Washington was one year old. The tombstones of Thompsons of the fourth generation usually have the h and p.

---(skipped paragraph about the ministers)-----

     In the court records it appears that John Tomson and Mary Cooke were married December 26, 1645. He was at one time one of the selectmen of Barnstable, constable and highway surveyor of Barnstable, constable at Plymouth and held civil offices in Barnstable, Plymouth, and Halifax at various times. His name is found with five others who refused to serve on the Grand Enquest June 3, 1657, but there is a record dated June 8, 1664, when he and twenty others were sworn as "the Grand Enquest"
     When the court at Plymouth declared war against the Dutch, among those who bestowed a halberd was Sergeant Tompson. The pay of a sergeant was three shillings per day.
     In an exact list of all names of the Freemen of the jurisdiction of New Plymouth, there were forty-three in Barnstable, including John Tompson, under date of May 29, 1670. Under various dates he appears referred to as one of the selectmen during a part of the time that the Halifax farm was included in the territory of Middleborough.
     John Tomson made a will dated July 8, 1696, which was executed before Judge William Bradford, from which it appears that he was a carpenter and had not only built his own house, half of which he bequeathed to his wife to use "during her widowhood," but he built houses for his sons John and Jacob and bequeathed to the latter the house he built for him. He built, with Richard Church, brother of Colonel Benjamin Church, the Indian fighter, the first framed meeting-house in Plymouth, in 1637. For a few years he lived as a farmer in Sandwich. The land in Halifax he purchased from William Wetispaquin, sachem of the Neponsets, and the purchase was approved by the court at Plymouth. It is recorded in the Registry of Deeds at Plymouth, Book 4, Page 41. His farm consisted of about six thousand acres of land, commencing at the Herring brook in the northern part of Halifax, and extending south into Middleborough nearly five miles. His first house in Halifax was built of logs and was burned by the Indians. It was located near a spring of water on the farm now owned by Jabez P. tompson, on of the Halifax town officials for many years.
     Shortly after building this log house, Tomson and Jabez Soule, who lived about three miles away over the Indian trail, induced Pringle Peter, a young Indian to live with them and learn to work like the English. The Indian divided hs time, two weeks with each one. When the Indians plotted war against the white men this Indian would steal away and join them and when peace was made he would return, so his disappearance was equivalent to a warning, and the Tomsons and Soules would take refuge in the garrison house at Middlebororugh. There is a tradition that one day Tomson said to Pringle Peter: " I wonder the Indians never tried to kill me."
     "Master," said the Indian, "I have cocked my gun many times to shoot you, but I loved you so well I could not."
     One day when Mrs. Tomson was alone some Indians came into the house, pulled a fish which she was cooking from the kettle, and upset the rude furniture. She reprimanded them and one of the Indians brandished a knife in a threatening manner. she drove them out of the house with a splint broom. this occurrence and many others convinced her husband that "There is trouble ahead; we must pack up immediately and go to the garrison."
     A portion of their furniture was loaded on wagons, and valuables secreted in the swamp near at hand. they started about nightfall and had not proceeded more than two miles when they saw the light of their burning house. They passed the house of William Danson in Middlebourough and urged him to accompany them, but he decided to wait until morning. His decision cost him is life as he was shot while watering his horse at a stream, which has since been called Danson's brook.
     John Tomson was chosen to command the garrison. There were sixteen men with him capable of earing arms. He applied to the governor and council for a commission and was given a general commission at Lieutenant Commandant of the garrison and its sixteen men, and in the field and at all posts of danger. this was a sort of roving commission, such as was later given to Colonel Benjamin Church, who was destined to put and end to the King Philip's War by bringing about the death of the sachem.
     Tomson's arms consisted of a long gun, brass pistol, sword and halberd. The length of the gun, including stock and barrel, is seven feet, four and one-half inches. It is of 12 caliber, and weighs twenty pounds and twelve ounces. The sword is also a formidable weapon.
     There were thirty-five families in the old fort at Middleborough at the beginning of King Philip's War.   The Indians would appear on the south side of the Nemasket river, opposite the fort and make insulting gestures and perform antics of defiance. Lieutenant Tomson ordered Isaac Howland to take the old Tomson gun and shoot one of the insulting Indians as a warning to the others. the distance was nearly half a mile away but the bullet from the long gun found it's mark.
     At the close of the war in 1677, John Tomson built a frame house near where the former house of logs was burned by the Indians. In it he lived the remainder of his life and it was occupied by members of the family one hundred and sixty years, until it was taken down in 1838. The land where the house stood has never been out of the Thompson family ownership.

Source: "History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable Counties Massachusetts; Volume I" by Elroy S. Thompson. Pub. 1928. Pages 107-111

Deborah Sampson
aka: Robert Shurtleff

1760 - 1827

    To Plympton, one of the smaller towns in Plymouth County, belongs the proud distinction of having furnished the most distinguished heroine f the Revolutionary War, Deborah Sampson. She was born in Plympton, December 17, 1760, of poor parents. she was a descendant of some of the most illustrious people of the Plymouth Colony, among them being Captain Myles Standish, Governor William Bradford, John Alden and Abraham Sampson.
     Owing to the poverty of the family Deborah was "bound out" to a farmer's family as a domestic servant until she was eighteen years of age. Used to hard work and breathing the atmosphere f freedom, she wished she were a boy, that she might enlist in the service of the colonists in their quest for political liberty. She was ambitious to get an education and accomplish some real service in the world. Borrowing such books as she could she gave her time to learning all she could from them, attended a school for a time and also taught one of the early schools in the neighborhood.
     Her scant earning served to enable her to purchase some futian cloth secretly, and with this material she mad a suit of boy's clothes and hid it in a hay stack, taking no one into her confidence. When her preparations had been made she informed her friends in the neighborhood that it was her purpose to seek employment elsewhere, as she believed she could better herself and obtain a broader education, which, as they knew, she earnestly desired.
     One evening she took the suit of fustian from the hay-stack, sought the privacy of the darkness beneath a low-spreading tree, and, n her excellent disguise, made her way to Worcester, fifty miles away. There she enlisted under the of Robert Shurtleff and was assigned to Captain Webb's company of the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment. She went with the company to West Point. This was in 1778. She was accustomed to hard work, was tall, straight, and hands denoting rough use, and found herself easily accepted as a young man among the other Revolutionary soldiers. There were times, however, when some of the young men poked fun at Robert Shurtleff, because he was never known to shave and had no appearance of a beard, nicknaming him "Molly". This banter was taken in good part and responded to with wit and good nature of similar kind.
     Robert Shurtleff was wounded in an engagement at Tarrytown, New York. She made light of the injury, dressed it herself and refused to go to the hospital, fearing that, in that event, her sex would be discovered and she would be obliged to retire from the service. She discharged the duties of a common soldier with fidelity and had the confidence of the officers, who always found her brave, resourceful and alert, cheerfully bearing her share in the campaigns and inspiring others. At Yorktown she served with a battery which was in active operation but cam out unhurt. she was later detailed as a personal attendant of General Patterson.
     About this time he had an attack of brain fever and was taken to a hospital in Philadelphia but took advantage of an opportunity to undress and get into one of the cots without assistance, where she tossed in great distress, in terror lest her sex should be discovered. One day Dr. Binney, one of the surgeons, inquired of the nurses, "How is Robert?" He was distressed to receive the answer, "Poor Bob is dead."
     The doctor felt the pulse of the young soldier who was unconscious but there was a feeble pulsation. He placed his ear over the heart and was surprised to find a tight bandage around the breast. This bandage he cut away, revived the patient, and said nothing of his discovery that the bed contained a female patient. He gave the young soldier his personal attention during the time "Robert Shurtleff" remained in the hospital and arranged to give further care at his own house during convalescence.
     Deborah Sampson probably was not a handsome girl but tall and straight, with fair skin, and presumably made a good-looking young soldier. While "Robert Shurtleff" was convalescing in the home of the considerate doctor, a young lady of the neighborhood often took the patient to ride and it was easy to see was smitten with him. The doctor saw that the wooing was all on one side and was amused rather than troubled about it. Deborah Sampson has been quoted as saying that she experienced great sympathy for the young lady when, in an outburst of frankness, the soldier was told of the affection with which he was regarded. The situation was saved, however, by the solder reminding his frank confidante that a soldier in the service could not indulge in matrimonial preparations but that possibly he would see her after the war.
     Commendation from George Washington- When Robert Shurtleff was finally discharged from the hospital, the doctor had confided to no one excepting General Patterson the sex of the latter's personal attendant. Deborah Sampson did not know that her secret had been discovered. General Patterson placed in her hand a letter, commanding her to deliver it to General Washington.
     With great embarrassment she made her way to headquarters of the commander-in-chief, although she was tempted to run away, rather than deliver teh communication. The habit and discipline and realizing that not o obey the command was equivalent to desertion nerved her to sufficiently overcome her anticipation of discovery to go into his presence.
     General Washington, noticing the soldier's evident distress, bade and orderly give the young man refreshment while he perused the document. When the general summoned Robert Shurtleff into his presence he in no way gave a sign what the document was about but gave the soldier an honorable discharge from the army and with it a personal letter. Opening the latter, after being dismissed by General Washington, Deborah Sampson, then a young lady no quite twenty-three years of age, found a letter expressing appreciation for her services, giving her friendly advice and in enclosure of sufficient money to enable her to return home or a considerable distance if she chose to take up civil life elsewhere. No greater consideration could have been given a young lady in her circumstances such as her's than was shown by the kindly surgeon at the hospital and by the father of his country.
      She returned to Massachusetts and became the wife of Benjamin Robert Gannett, a Sharon farmer. She lived in that town until her death, April 19, 1827, and reared a family of three children, Earl Bradford, Mary and Patience Gannet of Seth Gay.
     During Washington's administration, Deborah Sampson received from Congress a grant of land. She also received pension from January 1, 1803, of four dollars per month. This was increased in 1816 to $6.40 per month. From 1819 she drew a pension of eight dollars per month for the remainder of her life.
     The Massachusetts Legislature, in 1792, in recognition of her military service, granted her thirty-four pounds. The resolve recites: "that the said Deborah exhibited an extraordinary instance of female heroism by discharging the duties of a faithful, gallant soldier, and at the same time preserving the virtue and chastity of her sex unsuspected and unblemished, and was discharged from the service with a fair and honorable character."
     In 1838, Congress passed a special act directing the secretary of the treasury to pay the heirs of Deborah Sampson the sum of $466.66. The committee which reported the bill stated: "As there cannot be a parallel case in all time to come, the committee do not hesitate to grant relief." The act (Statutes at Large, Vol. 6, page 735) reads as follows:

                Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and is hereby, directed to pay, out of the money in the treasury,
                not otherwise appropriated, to the heirs of Deborah Sampson, a revolutionary soldier, and late the wife of Benjamin Gannett,
                of Sharon, in the State of Massachusetts now deceased, the sum of four hundred and sixty-six dollars and sixty-six cents,
                being an equivalent for a full pension of eighty dollars per annum, from the fourth day of March, eighteen hundred and
                thirty-one, to the decease of Benjamin Gannett in January, eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, as granted in certain cases to
                the widows of revolutionary soldiers by the act passed the fourth day of July, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, entitled: "An
                act granting half pay to widows or orphans where their husbands or fathers have died of wounds received in the military
                service of the United Stated in certain cases, and for other purposes."
                             Approved July 7, 1838

     The home of Benjamin and Deborah Sampson Gannett was on East Street, Sharon, about a mile from the center of town. Her grave is in Rockridge Cemetery, on the same street, and is decorated on Memorial Day each year by Deborah Sampson Chapter, Daughter of the American Revolution, of Brockton, one of the largest chapters of that organization. A tribute to her memory appears on the soldier's monument in Sharon, placed there as directed in the will of her grandson, Goerge Washington Gay, in which document he said: "I further request to have the name of Deborah Sampson Gannett, with proper reference to her service in the war of the revolution, inscribed on the same memorial stone." The testator was the son of Seth and Patience Gay, the latter being the youngest daughter of the heroine.
     At the age of forty-two years, Mrs. Gannett consented to make a lecture tour, telling her story and some of her patriotic convictions. This lecture was given four nights in succession at the Federal Street Theatre in Boston, at the Court House in Albany, New York, and in various other places in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York. The tour was a pleasure to Mrs. Gannett. She spoke before large audiences and received considerable financial profit which she sent to her family in Sharon. Moreover, during her tour she visited Captain George Webb at his home in Holden, Massachusetts. He was the captain of the company to which she was assigned upon her enlistment at Worchester. She also spent several weeks at the home of General John Patterson in Lisle, New York, in whose service she served as personal attendant and to home the discovery of her sex was told by the hospital surgeon which led to her being sent to George Washington and, by him, discharged. General Patterson was a member of Congress the two years following and recalled her lecture tour to his colleagues when the act pensioning her came before the House.
      Mrs. Gannett said in her address that show would narrate "Facts, which, though I once experienced, and of which memory has ever been painfully retentive, I cannot now make you feel, nor paint to the life."
      "I became an actor in that important drama, with an inflexible resolution to persevere thought the last scene; when we might be permitted and acknowleged to enjoy what we had so nobly declared we would possess, or lose with our lives-Freedom and Independence!"
     The young lady so attentive to "Robert Shurtlef" while the latter was convalescing after teh experience in the Philadelphia hospital, was a niece of Dr. Binney, the surgeon who had discovered the sex of his military patient. the family of Deborah Sampson still cherishes a shirt and vest which, with other clothing, was presented to the soldier by the young lady when "Robert Shurtlef" left with the letter to George Washington. Recalling the experience of the generous offer to pay for educational advantages and later a union in marriage from the young niece of Dr. Binney, Deborah Sampson said some years before her death: "The keenest anguish I ever experience was when she told me of her affection. I told her I ardently desired education but could not avail myself of such generosity."
     She also recalled her feelings when she knew George Washington had been informed of her secret, and said: "How thankful was I to that great and good man who so kindly spared my feelings. One word from him at that moment would have crushed me to the earth. But he spoke no work and I blessed him for it."

Source: "History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable Counties Massachusetts; Volume I" by Elroy S. Thompson. Pub. 1928. Pages 113-117