ROBERTS, Governor Thomas

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: Immigrant; The Great Migration; signed the Dover Combination; last Colonial Governor of the Dover Colony before it became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
• Great Migration: Believed to have emigrated in 1623 with Edward Hilton
• Web Address: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Roberts-504
• Name: Governor Thomas Roberts
• Religion: Governor Roberts was a regular member of the orthodox Church (Puritan) for many years, but was inclined to be liberal in his views, so when Quaker missionaries came to Dover he favored giving them a fair hearing instead of whipping them as ordered by the Massachusetts General Court. Later in life, Governor Roberts embraced the Quaker teachings
• Residence: USA
• Birth: 1600, Woolaston, Gloucestershire, England
• Arrival: 1623, New Hampshire, USA
• Residence: Between 1623 and 1923, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA
• Residence: Between 1635 and 1717, New Hampshire, USA
• Residence: 1640, Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA
• Probate: 27 Sep 1673, New Hampshire, USA
• Death: 23 Sep 1674, Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA

Notes:

Thomas Roberts served as the last Colonial Governor of the Dover Colony before it became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

At the March, 1640 elections, Thomas Roberts was chosen Governor or President of the Country in place of Gov. John Underhill. He held that office until Dover (then Northam) came under Massachusetts rule in 1642. I have seen this written everywhere. Thomas was not a Governor in any sense of the word as we know it today. In March or April of 1640 he was elected "President of the Court" of the Bristol Company, the owners of Dover. This position has been described as little more than head of a group of selectmen. When the Dover Combination was signed on 22 Oct. 1640, there were only about 40 men in Dover. So, as the colony grew in size other men stepped up into leadership roles. Thomas held various minor offices, but never again assumed a leadership position. This is not said to belittle him as he was quite successful, but to style him as Governor seems a bit much, not to mention Governor of New Hampshire, which he most certainly was not.

He was said to have come with the Hiltons. Signed the Dover Combination: 1640

Sewell's Hisory of the Quakers says he rebuked his sons for being cruel to the Quakers.

The Great Migration Directory:

Roberts, Thomas: London; 1640; Dover [NHPP 1:128, 10:701, 40:4; Lydia Harmon Anc 25; GDMNH 589; Wentworth 1:503]

NHPP - NH Provincial Papers

Lydia Harmon: The Ancestry of Lydia Harmon, 1755-1836 (Walter Goodwin Davis)

The Wentworth Genealogy: English and American, 3 volumes

GDMNH: Geneaologic Dictionary of Maine and NH

Thomas married HILTON, Rebecca in 1627 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA. Rebecca (daughter of Living) was born in 1602 in Monkwearmouth, Durham, England; died on 27 Sep 1674 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA; was buried in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. ROBERTS, Sergeant Thomas III was born in 1633 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA; died in 1703 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA; was buried in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA.
2. ROBERTS, Ester Hester was born in 1626 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA; died on 6 Dec 1687 in Piscataway, Middlesex, New Jersey, USA.
3. ROBERTS, Anna was born in 1627 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA; died in 1648 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA.
4. ROBERTS, Sarah was born in 1643 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA; died in Oct 1692 in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA.
5. ROBERTS, Elizabeth was born in 1637 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA; died in 1701 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA.
6. ROBERTS, John was born on 25 Mar 1629; died on 21 Jan 1695.

Living + Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]