Thomas Miner - Grace Palmer

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Married 23 April 1634 at Charlestown, Massachusetts colony

Thomas Miner

Born: 23 April 1608 in Chew Magna, Somerset, England
Died: 23 October, 1690 at Stonington, CT
Buried: Wequetequock Cemetery, Stonington, CT

(Map to Cemetery)

See Wikipedia entry for Thomas Miner
Parents: Clement Miner and Sarah Pope

See The Thomas Minor Society web page.

Immigrated to Massachusetts in 1630, arriving June 4th at Salem Bay on the Arabella.
Or, alternatively, "He sailed from Gravesend, England on 25 Apr 1629 aboard the Lyon's Whelp, arriving at Salem, MA in mid-July 1629."

In 1683/84 he received a essay on geneaolgy of his family that suggested the original spelling was "Minor" and thus some decendants adopted that manner.

Thomas kept a diary for 30 years which was printed as a book in 1899, and is the subject of a paper History in a Minor Key, or, the Life of a Seventeenth-Century New England Farmer, Virginia DeJohn Anderson, 2006: "Fortunately, a remarkable document can help us reconstruct, at least in broad outlines, the life of one seventeenth-century New England farmer and in the process explore key features of agrarian experience. Beginning in 1653, and continuing for the next 31 years, Thomas Minor kept a diary of his activities as a farmer in Stonington, Connecticut. This is the only extant New England farmer’s diary from that era and, as such, it provides a rare glimpse at a world gone by." See a history of the Stonington area's first settlers -- including Thomas Minor and Walter Palmer.

Grace Palmer

Born: 1612 in England
Died: 31 December 1690, Stonington, CT
Buried: Wequetequock Cemetery, Stonington, CT
Parents: Walter Palmer, probably the son of Walter and Elizabeth (Carter) Palmer was likely born in the village of Yetminster, Dorsetshire, England sometime around 1585. Although he was married in England and fathered five children, the name of his first wife is unknown.
As a Separatist Puritan, in an effort to seek religious freedom, on April 5, 1629 he sailed from Gravesend England on a boat called "Four Sisters" - one of six ships; the others being the Talbot, Lyons Whelp, George Bonaventure, Lyon, and The Mayflower.

Map of early Stonington area showing Miner and Palmer properties

Children:

Their first child, John, was born in Charlestown, and then in 1636 they moved to Hingham, MA where more children were born. In 1645, they joined John Winthrop Jr. and company in the settlement of New London, CT.
  1. John Minor bapt. 30 Aug 1635; died 17 Sep 1719; married Elizabeth Booth ; Baptized in Hingham, MA by Rev. Peter Hobart: Their great-great-great-great grandson turns out to Ulysses S. Grant...
  2. CLEMENT MINER bapt. 4 Mar 1637/8; died 8 Oct 1700;three wives
  3. Thomas Miner bapt. 10 May 1640; died 19 April 1662 at Narragansett, RI
  4. Ephraim Miner bapt. 3 May 1642; died 16 May 1724; married Hannah Avery
  5. Joseph Miner bapt. 25 Aug 1644; died 1 Feb 1711/2; married Mary Avery
  6. Judah Miner Listed in books and the essay but unconfirmed in records Born and recorded in New London, CT (TR v1 p1):
  7. Manassah Miner born 28 Apr 1647; died 22 Aug 1728; married two wives
  8. Ann Miner born 28 Apr 1649; died 13 Aug 1652
  9. Mary Miner born 5 May 1651; died 24 Jan 1661; (The Anderson paper described above includes, "In his entry for 24 January 1661, for instance, Minor tersely recorded that his young daughter Mary 'died aboute six oclocke' " Born in Stonington, CT and recorded in New London
  10. Samuel Miner born 4 Mar 1652/3; died Jul 1682; married Marie LORD on 15 Dec 1681 Marie, m2 Joseph Pemberton 19 Mar 1683
  11. Hannah Miner born 15 Sep 1655; died about 1692; married Thomas Avery

Links

Thomas Miner, the Immigrant