Thomas Stanley

  Noted events in his life were:

• Biography. THOMAS of more consequence, br. of the first John and Timothy, is found on the rec. of London custom ho. aged 16, as Mr. Drake cop. the fig. in Geneal. Reg. XIV. 307, precisely like mine in 3 Mass. Hist. Coll. VIII. 257; and the spell. of the surname is Stansley, as shown in the Index of that series of the Mass. Hist. Coll. but in the Index of Geneal. Reg. vol. it is alter. to Stanley, and so justifies the construct. I had many yrs. since giv. He emb. in the Planter 1635, for N. E. from that port, and was among the first sett. of Hartford 1636, had Nathaniel, b. 1638, and three ds. rem. 1659 to Hadley, d. 30 Jan.1 663. Of his ds. Hannah m. Samuel Porter; Mary m. John Porter; and Sarah m. John Wadsworth. His wid. Bennet m. Gregory Wilterton as his sec. w. the same, yr. and d. the next, aged 55.

• Biography. ⁵⁴³ Thomas came with his brothers Timothy and John to Cambridge in 1634. He was appointed the guardian of John, the son of his brother John who died at sea. Thomas was made a freeman in March 1635 and settled first in Lynn, where he was chosen a member of the General Court and constable and removed to Hartford in June 1636. In the division of lands there he was assigned two parcels fo forty-two acres each, and a house lot thus described on the record: 1 acre, 1 rood, abutting on the highway lying on the north side of the Little River on the south and on the highway lading from the palisado to the Centinell hill on the East and on Rich: Olsteds land on the North, and Thomas Lords land on the West. This was on the west side of the present Main street, running from the bridge over the Little River to the Center church,a most valuable location, generally known since as Stanley's Corner.

Though a young man at this time, Mr. Stanley soon took an important position in the affiars of the town. he was a juryman in 1639 and 1643 and a constable in 1644, 1647, 1648 and 1653. This office was then one of the most responsible in the settlement, combineing the duties of the modern sheriiff and policeman, and being charged in general with preserving the order and decorumof the place. it devolved on him to summon the courts, General and Particular, to their sessions, and the freemen to their elections, to execute the decrees of the courts and the laws, to enforce order in public worship, to arrest and confine offenders, to administer the frequent whippings which were order in punishment of petty crimes, inflicting so many lashes, well laid on a duty requireing a steady nerve and a strong arm.

In the year 1659, Thomas Stanley and his family, with some others, removed from Hartford and commenced a new settlement at Hadley, Massachusetts. They moved over a controversy in the church regarding who would be the next minister following the death of their first minister.
While Timothy and his family removed from Hartford, he didn't sell his property.

Thomas married Bennet Tritton on 3 Aug 1630 in Ashford, Kent, England. (Bennet Tritton was born in 1609 in Ashford, Kent, England, christened on 30 Jul 1609 and died in Jan 1664 in Hartford, Connecticut.)