♂Thomas Newell

Thomas Newell (died 1689) was a settler and landowner of Farmington in the Connecticut Colony^W, who died without a will in 1689 and whose estate was shared out by agreement between his widow and their children. A granddaughter who had lived several years in his household was given a share of his estate before his children divided it. He was the eighth great-grandfather of Frederic Roger Curtis (1928–2007), through his daughter Rebecca Newell (born about 1643).

Farmington

His parents are not known. A 1909 family history of Maine says he “settled at Farmington, Connecticut, soon after 1640, coming there from Hartford”; no record of the move is known. James Savage’s genealogical dictionary places him at Farmington in 1652. Charles William Manwaring’s digest of the early Connecticut probate records lists him among the owners of land at Farmington between 1648 and 1657. On 6 September 1655 he was one of the men who took the inventories of two Farmington estates, those of William Addams and Thomas Upson. In 1683 he witnessed the will of the aged William Lewis of Farmington, his name written with a mark as “Thomas X Newell sen.”

Death and estate

Thomas Newell of Farmington died “without any Will” in 1689. On 6 November 1689 the county court granted administration of his estate to his widow and their son Samuel, and the inventory, taken the next day by John Stanly and Samuel Cowles, came to £449 17s 6d. The probate record names eight children with their ages: John Newell 42, Thomas 39, Samuel 28, Rebeckah Woodford 46, Mary Bascom 44, Hester Stanly 37, Sarah Smith 34 and Hannah North 31. A ninth child, Joseph, made his will at Farmington on 2 November 1689 and died before his own inventory was taken on 14 November; he left the rest of his estate to “my dear Mother”.

In the heirs’ agreement of 8 November 1689, the widow kept “the full dispose of her thirds of all the Moveable Estate for her maintenance”, and the widow and children agreed that a granddaughter, Rebeckah Woodford, who “hath lived several years with her gr. Father & Mother”, should have a share of the movable estate before any other division was made. The family also set down what each child had already received from their father before his death: a deed of gift to Samuel, and sums from £28 to £65 to the others.

Family

His wife was Rebecca, who survived him. Her maiden name is not settled: James Savage’s genealogical dictionary gives her as Rebecca Adgate and a 1909 family history of Maine as Rebecca Olmstead, and neither name has been found in a record. Their daughter Rebecca, through whom the line runs, married Joseph Woodford of Farmington.