III. Thomas TROWBRIDGE - b abt 1598 England; d 3 Feb 1672/73 Buried 7 Feb 1672/73 Taunton, Eng; m 26 Mar 1627 in Eng to Elizabeth MARSHALL - Bapt. 24 Mar 1602/03 Exeter, Eng; d abt 1641; She was dau of John & Alice (BEVYS) MARSHALL. Ch were:

1. Elizabeth TROWBRIDGE - Bapt. 6 Mar 1627/28 Eng

2. John TROWBRIDGE - Bapt. 8 Nov 1629; Buried 16 Feb 1653/54 Taunton, Eng

3. Thomas TROWBRIDGE - Bapt. 11 Dec 1631 Exeter, Devonshire, Eng; d 22 Aug 1702 New Haven, CT; m first 24 Jun 1657 at New Haven, CT to Sarah RUTHERFORD - b 31 Jul 1641 New Haven, CT; d 5 Jan 1686/87 New Haven; dau of Henry & Sarah RUTHERFORD; m second on 2 Apr 1689 New Haven to Hannah NASH - b 24 Jul 1655 New Haven, CT; d 3 Feb 1707/08 New Haven, CT; dau of Maj John NASH & Elizabeth TAPP (other spouse of Elizabeth Tapp was Eliphalet BALL).

Children of Thomas & Sarah RUTHERFORD: (A)Sarah - b 7 Nov 1658; d 20 Mar 1675/76 New Haven, CT; unmarried; (B)John - b 23 Dec 1661; (C)Thomas - b 14 Feb 1663/64; (D) Lydia - b 7 Jun 1666; m 22 Dec 1681 to Richard ROSEWELL; (E) Caleb - b 18 Oct 1670 (F) Daniel - b 5 Jan 1672/73; d 19 Feb 1739/40 New Haven, CT (G) Elizabeth - b 30 Jun 1676; m 5 Apr 1691 to John HODSHON; (H) Sarah - b 24 Sep 1680; d 29 Dec 1690

Children of Thomas & Hannah NASH: (A) Hannah - b 30 Mar 1690; d 9 Aug 1748; m 30 Jan 1709/10 to Joseph WHITING, Esq.

4. William TROWBRIDGE - Bapt 3 Sep 1633

5. Deacon James TROWBRIDGE - Bapt. in Dorchester, MA in 1637 or 1638; d 22 May 1717 Newton, MA; m 30 Dec 1659 at Dorchestor, MA to Margaret ATHERTON - b 30 Apr 1638 Dorchester, MA; d 17 Aug 1672 Newton, MA; dau of Maj.Gen. Humphrey ATHERTON & Mary WALES; Second wife Margaret JACKSON - b 20 Jun 1649 Newton, MA; d 16 Sep 1727 Newton, MA; dau of Deacon John JACKSON & Margaret ???.

Children of James & Margaret ATHERTON: (A) Elizabeth - b 12 Oct 1660; m 9 Feb 1681/82 to John MIRCK; (B) Mindwell - b 20 Jun 1662; m 2 May 1684 to Jonathan FULLER; (C) John - b 22 May 1664; (D) Margaret - b 30 Apr 1666; m 18 Mar 1685/86 to Ebenezer STONE, Esq. (E) Thankful - b 4 Mar 1667/68; m 15 Dec 1690 to Deacon Richard WARD; (F) Mary - b 11 Jun 1670 to Thomas STEDMAN; (G) Hannah - b 15 Jun 1672; m 1695 to John GREENWOOD, Esq.

Children of James & Margaret JACKSON: (A) Experience - b 1 Nov 1675; m 1696 to Samuel WILSON; (B) Thomas - b 9 Dec 1677; d 1724; m to Mary GOFFE; Susanna ???; (C) Deliverance - b 30 Dec 1679; m 1707 to Eleazer WARD; (D) James - b 20 Sep 1682; (E) William - b 19 Nov 1684; (F) Abigail - b 11 Apr 1687; m 5 Jan 1714/15 to James GREENWOOD; Other spouse Joseph CHENEY; (G) Increase - b 1690; d 31 Dec 1690; (H) Caleb - b 7 Nov 1692

In the list of marriage licenses issued for the diocese of Exeter it is recorded that on March 24, 1627, Thomas Trowbridge of the parish of St. Petrock was licensed to marry Elizabeth Marshall of the parish of St. Mary Arches.

In the parish register of St. Mary Arches appears the following entry: "26 March 1627 Mr. Thomas Trobrige and Elizabeth daughter of Mrs. Alice Marshall widoe married, Jeremy Short parson."

FROM: TROWBRIDGE GENEALOGY

Both the Trowbridge and Marshall families were prominent and well to do families in Taunton, England. The Trowbridges were identified with woolen trade and manufacturing.

Thomas Trowbridge left his son John in England and the rest of the family came to Dorchester, Mass. sometime about 1636. It is believed his wife died in New Haven, Conn. about 1641. He returned to England to settle his affairs, leaving his sons with a servant. The Civil War in England it is believed kept him from returning to America.

THOMAS TROWBRIDGE, THE FIRST TO COME TO AMERICA, CIRCA 1636 - written by unknown descendant

"For what reason did Thomas Trowbridge come to America? First let me go over some oral history passed down over the years in our branch of the Trowbridge family. Thomas Trowbridge came to this country to start a trade route, it was a business reason only. He planned to return to England after his business was fully established. The reason he brought his family was he would be here for a few years. Note, he left his oldest son John in England under the care of his father, why? When Thomas Trowbridge's wife died in America, it was believed that the reason he left his sons here under the care of a former servant, was that he planned to return. Our oral history has Thomas returning to England to settle the estate of his late wife. Why did he remain in England, and leave his sons in America? Or why didn't he send for his sons and have them return to England? This was a mystery for our branch of family. Note, on January 19, 1663-4, Thomas Trowbridge executed and sent to his three sons a power of attorney, making over to them jointly and severally his property in New England wherever found, to be retained and equally divided between them."

"In 1991 I wrote to the Somerset County Council, Taunton, England. I was sent a packet of material from which I found the following on Thomas Trowbridge, which gives a clue to his return from America, circa 1641. It states, Thomas Trowbridge served as a Captain in the Parliamentary Army during the English Civil War. This suggests that his reasons for leaving England in 1636 were religious and that he returned to England to take part in the resistance to King Charles I. The document is clear that he served directly under the Roundhead leader, Robert Blake, commander of the besieged garrison of Taunton in 1645, and probably remained in England to enjoy the more liberal regime of Cromwell's Commonwealth. By the time the restoration of Charles II took place in 1660 he would have been at least 60 years of age and probably too old to remove himself to America."

"In the Quarter Sessions records for Somerset (Somerset Record Office) are a number of petitions, mostly undated but of about 1650, addressed to the Justices of the Peace from Parliamentary supporters of King Charles I. Among them is that of Emanuell Butler of Taunton, cordwainer (shoemaker) part of which reads as follows: 'That Emanuell Butler during the several seiges of Taunton was a faithfull souldier in the States service under the command of Captain Thomas Trubbridge in the regiment of Collonel Robert Blake in which service he received a shott from the enemy through the bodie and stood in great hazard of his life. By the meanes he is in a great measure disenabled to gett maintainance for himselfe and his wife and child and he hath lost three sonnes in the States service' - The petition is supported and signed: Thos. Trowbridge."

"There can be little doubt that the Captain under whom Butler served was our ancestor after his return from America and before his death in 1672. There can be little doubt, having this evidence, that it was the oppressive regime of Charles I that decided Thomas Trowbridge to emigrate to the New World circa 1636 and that he returned to England to fight as a 'Roundhead' officer in the Parliamentary army. Robert Blake was one of the most famous Parliamentary leaders and under Cromwell's Commonwealth became Admiral of the English navy. Despite appalling siege conditions he held Taunton against superior forces which destroyed at least a third of its houses, until its relief in 1645. The inference of the above petition is that Thomas Trowbridge was present in Taunton throughout the siege."

TAUNTON DEANE EXTRACTS, RECORDS FROM TAUNTON, ENGLAND

"April 3, 1652, Thomas Trowbridge of Taunton, gent., was admitted to a parcel of land late of the waste of the lord, lying behind the stable of the castle of Taunton and near the west gate of the said castle, containing three daynes of land and one little parcel of land lying near the river of Tone and the pond of the castle called the Mote, extending from the water gate to the said parcel of land behind the stable, containing four daynes of land in the tithing of Hull, sometime the land of William Hill and late of John Trowbridge, deceased, by surrender of John Lane. (the surrender to Lane, made by John Trowbridge in 1649, was a mortgage to secure 43 pounds 4s)"

"This is the only found information that Thomas Trowbridge held land in Taunton after his return from America, and the only information relating to his inheriting land from his father, John Trowbridge."

RECORDS FROM TAUNTON, THOMAS TROWBRIDGE, OUR FOUNDER

"A subsidy roll (taxation list) for Taunton Borough, dated 1581/2, held at the Somerset Record Office, shows Thomas Trobrydge as paying 6 pounds in respect of goods. Only seven others were paying more than this and eleven further men were also assessed at 6 pounds. This shows that Thomas was a man of wealth"

"The Taunton Deane manor records show the gradual build-up of the estate of Thomas Trowbridge, date 1620. The commercial importance of Thomas Trowbridge within the borough is shown by the number of licences which he purchased to prosecute tenants of Taunton Deane (mainly for debe) beyond the jurisdiction of the manor court."

"Extract from the fine books of Taunton Deane manor. Records of absolute and conditional surrenders, 1630-1649. 'January 9, 1632/3. Thomas Trowbridge surrendered a cottage with curtilage of 3 daynes of land in Millane, a cottage in the same tithing, a messuage and 5 acres of bondland in the said tithing, and another messuage and 5 acres of bondland there, late of Thomas Trowbridge his grandfather, to use of Francis Ancketill of Yard, esq.'"