Green, Thomas, Gov. 1

Birth Name Green, Thomas, Gov.
Gender male
Age at Death about 41 years, 29 days

Narrative

http://wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Thomas_Greene_%28governor%29

Notes:
bet 1633 - 1634 came to MD on Ark and Dove
Katherine L. Bowling's Book on Thomas Bowling of Nelson Co, KY.

Thomas received more than 2,000 acres of land for transporting several of his family members into the Province of Maryland. His home town was known as "Green's Rest" and was part of his large grant "Green's Inheritance" in Port Tobacco, MD. He was a member of the Assembly in 1638, appointed to the Governor's Council in 1644, member of the Upper House and acting Governor while his cousin, Gov. Leonard Calvert, was in England. He served as Governor of Maryland from June 1647 to August 1648 and again in 1649.

Archives of Maryland; Volume 4, Court and Testamentary Business, 1643. Page 263;
1643 Aprill 2d Thomas Greene made oath that he knoweth not of any precontract, consanguinity Indenture or covenant of apprenticeship, wardship, nor of any other lawfull impedimt what soever, either on his part or on the part of Millescent Browne, but that he may lawfully solemnize marriage wth the said Millescent, & acknowledged himselfe to owe 2000 l tob to the Lord Proprietary in case any such impediment shalbe here after proved agst him contrary to his said oath. Jurat & recognit coram me John Lewger

Provincial Court Marriage Licenses (1638-1643); Maryland
DATE GROOM BRIDE MISC NOTES
2 April 1643 Thomas Greene Millescent Browne

Thomas Green assigns his estate in trust for his wife and children: Thomas Greene, Leonard Green (2nd son), Robert Green and Francis Green; 18 Nov 1650. (Arch. of MD, Vol . X, p.88).
From Land Office Annapolis, MD.
Green, Thomas, Governor, St Mary's Co., 18th Nov., 1650.
After reserving a livelihood for himself, assigns to his friends Henry Adams and James Langworth entire estate, real and personal, for benefit of wife Winifred and children Thomas, Leonard, Robert and Francis; but desires wife afsd. to have full possession during her life, except that a certain amount of tobacco is to be given to friend Thos. Copley. Wife to give to sons afsd. designated shares in succession. In event of death of wife and of children without issue, 3/4 of estate to be given to charity and balance to Henry Adams and James Langworth afsd.
Test: Richd. Willan, Alice Smith. Pat. Rec. 1, 188.

Early Families of Frederick County, Maryland and Adams County, Pennsylvania by Steve Gilland; Published by FAMILY LINE PUBLICATIONS, Westminster, Maryland 21157; 1997; p. 34.
LINEAGE CHART
SIR JOHN NORTON of Northwood in Milton, England.
THOMAS NORTON alias GREENE.
ROBERT GREENE, of Bobbing, Kent County, England. m FRANCES DARELL, daughter of THOMAS DARELL, of Scotney.
SIR THOMAS GREENE, d 1624, m MARGARET WEBB, daughter of THOMAS WEBB.
THOMAS GREENE, emigrated to Maryland 1634, Governor of Maryland, d 1651, m WINIFRED SEYBOURNE, d 1658.
ROBERT GREENE, 1647-C1707, m MARY BOARMAN, C1660-1716, the daughter of CAPTAIN WILLIAM BOARMAN.
JAMES GREENE I, d 1734, m CHARITY HAGAN, d 1754.
JAMES GREENE II, d 1776, m 1727, ELIZABETH DYER.
CATHERINE GREENE, 1729-1808, m BASIL SPALDING, 1719-1791.
Greene is a common English surname which referred to someone who lived near a village green. It is also associated with the spring festival. During this ceremony the leading figure dressed in greenleaves and was referred to as the green man, personifying the figure of spring and linking the ceremony to ancient fertility cults.
THOMAS GREENE
Thomas Greene was born about 1610 at Bobbing Manor, Kent County, England. He was the son of Sir Thomas Greene and Lady Margaret Webb.
In 1633 Thomas became an investor in a London holding company which promised a profit from the trade of the newly formed colony of Maryland. Thomas was one of the gentlemen adventurers and a passenger on the Ark and the Dove which sailed from Cowels in November 1633 and arrived at Maryland in March of 1634.
Shortly after his arrival, Thomas was married to Ann Gerrard Cox, a passenger on the Ark and the Dove. They were wed in 1634 on the banks of the St. George River in the newly formed settlement of St. Mary's. Their marriage is considered to have been the first Christian marriage performed in Maryland.
see rendering of the Ark and the Dove here -
http://www.mdoe.org/voyagesArkDoveP1.html

Events

Event Date Place Description Sources
Birth about 1610 Bobbing, Kent, England    
Death 1650/1-01-20 (Julian) St Mary’s County, MD    
Immigration about 1634      
Occupation     2nd Provincial Governor of MD  
Research Notes     History of the Greene Family  
General

Notes:
"TO MARYLAND FROM OVERSEES" by Harry Wright Newman
Page 81
Thomas Green, Esq., one of the Gentlemen of Fashion on the Ark and 2nd Governor of Maryland, was the second son of Sir Thomas Green, Knt, whose great-grandfather received the Rectory of Bobbing from Henry VIII upon the dissolution of the monasteries. Robert Green brother to Thomas, the Adventurer, came to Maryland, but returned to England. When Lord Baltimore granted Governor Thomas Green a Manor with court Baron, he named it "Bobbing" after his ancestral Estate. Halsted's Co. Kent, Vol. 2 pp. 534, 635-639: Berry's Kent Pedigrees,p. 302; 1530 Visitation of Kent; The Flowering of the Maryland Palatinate by Harry Wright Newman.

GREENE FAMILY
THOMAS GREENE, one of the "twenty gentlemen of very good fashion " who sailed on the Ark and the second Provincial Governor of Maryland, was one of the most interesting characters of earl Maryland and one whose history has been quite neglected. He had invested in the adventure to a minor extent, so consequently its success was of more than casual interest. He was always styled by Governor Leonard Calvert " my well beloved friend," but the tradition that he was a kinsman of Leonard Calvert has not been proved and he oft repeated statement that he married Helen, a daughter of George, Lord Baltimore, is merely a myth of genealogy, His brother, Robert Greene, Esq., emigrated to Maryland, but being the son and heir to the parental estates in England he returned to the mother country, but before departing he assigned his land rights to his brother Thomas.

Governor Thomas Greene was a member of the Catholic faith, like most of the gentlemen on the Ark, a Royalist in politics, a supporter of the Stuart dynasty, and for his loyalty to the Crown he was castigated figuratively before his death by the radical elements which were then gaining strength in the Province; principally the Puritans who had been outlawed in Virginia and virtually driven out and to whom Lord Baltimore offered a haven in his Province.

The diary of Father White, which is an account of what took place on the trip from England to Maryland shows that Thomas Greene m. Mrs. Ann (Gerrard) Cox. Thomas Greene's marriage to Mistress Ann Cox, a spinster, who was among the few gentlewomen on the initial voyage of the Ark and the Dove, was undoubtedly the first Christian marriage to have been celebrated on Maryland soil. She died within a few years, but was living as late as April, 1638. He married secondly Mistress Winifred Seybourne [Seaborne] who arrived in Maryland some time during 1638. The mother of his children has been the subject of much discussion, but of the two younger sons there is no question of their being the issue of Winifred his last wife. When he applied for land rights on September 15, 1647, among the claims was "100 acres more being the right of his wife Winifred Seyborn for Transporting herself into the Province 1638." It is therefore proved that she emigrated and financed her passage in 1638. At the same time he proved rights for 50 acres each for his children "100 more for transporting 2 children in the year 1644 vizt Thomas and Leonard Green." From the strict construction of the wording, there is no implication that Mistress Seyborne brought them over or was their mother. Mistress Seyborne came in 1638 and the boys came six years later. This point is important. They were less than 18 years of age in 1650 and they came out of England in 1644. There is no record of Thomas Greene returning to England, so the only inference that can be placed on the matter is that two older children were born in England and had been left in or sent to England, presumably for schooling

Before sailing from England, or shortly thereafter, Thomas Greene was granted a large manor of 10,000 acres, for Father Copley writing to Cecilius, Lord Baltimore on April 3, 1638, cautioned him against the excessive taxation imposed on the manor lords "And accordingly Mr. Green one of the Gentlemen that came in the Arke, reflecting that besydes the losse of his halfe share of trucks [crop] he was now to pay tenne barrels of Corne for his 10,000 acres and that only he had three men to raise that and maintaine himself and his wyfe confidently told me that he must necessarily deserte the Colonye" As no further record has been found for this manor, he probably permitted it to return to the Lord Proprietary being in those difficult times more of a burden than an asset

After the manor of Richard Thompson on Popely Island in the Bay was forfeited by treason against the Lord Proprietary, Lord Baltimore granted the manor to Thomas Greene, though the letters patent were apparently among those papers burned by Ingle on his raid into Maryland during 1645. The manor consisted of 500 acres on the tip of Kent Isle not far from Fort Kent Manor of Giles Brent and the entire Isle of Popely on which Thompson was seated and which was the scene of the massacre of his wife and children by Indians during his absence. If Thomas Greene maintained a steward on his manor, no record has come down, but leases were made; for records exist of a Gersom Cromwell being a tenant on the portion on Kent Island. Greene gave the name of of Bobing to his Popely island manor and held it until February 8, 1650/1, when, for 10,000 lbs. tobacco, he sold to Thomas Hawkins, of London, Mariner, "all rights and interests in my whole Manor."

Thomas received other land grants, one of which was a warrant for 2, 500 acres, but he died before the patent was issued. Consequently, in 1665 it was surveyed and granted to his three sons who gave it the name of " Green's Inheritance.'' His seat, however, was on "Green's Rest" within the environs of St. Mary's City and bordering St. Mary's River.

Thomas took a serious interest in all the affairs of the Province and became one of the leading factors in the early political developments. He attended the early General Assemblies to whom all freeholders were summoned. When the legislature became representative and the Upper House or Privy Council developed, he was one of the first to be appointed by the Lord Proprietary to that body which was virtually a counterpart to the British House of Lords. He was also appointed one of the Justices of the Provincial Court at its inception. He retained his seat in the Council until 1647 when he succeeded to the governorship by the death of Leonard Calvert, the first Provincial Governor. His term of office lasted until April 26, 1649, when Lord Baltimore commissioned Captain William Stone, of Virginia, and, for a short period shortly thereafter, acted as governor when Stone was on a business trip to Virginia.

On November 18, 1650, Thomas negotiated a document whereby he assigned his entire estate in trust under certain conditions to his friends, Henry Adams and James Langworth, for the benefit of his wife, Winifred, and sons Thomas, Leonard, Robert, and Francis. He desired his wife to have full possession of the estate during life except for a certain amount of tobacco which vas bequeathed to his friend Thomas Copley. His widow was to grant his sons the designated shares in succession as they came of age, "be Sufficiently maintained and Provided for . . both for Subsistance and Education aswerable to their quality until each of them respectively come to eighteen years of age." Iin the event of his widow's decease and the death of his sons without issue, then three-fourths of his estate were to be distributed to charity and the residue to Henry Adams and James Langworth.

Thomas died before January 20, 1651/2, the day on which Henry Adams appeared in court as the trustee of the estate. His widow married secondly Robert Clarke, Gent., one-time Surveyor-General of the Province, and became the mother of at least two of the Clarke childrenl Robert Clarke born March 1652 and Thomas Clarke born 25 December 1654.

On November 16, 1654, Robert Clarke on behalf of his wife Winifred Clarke "late wife of Thomas Greene deceased and her children by the said Greene" demanded 400 acres of land for the transportation of four servants by Thomas Greene June 10, 165?.

1 March 1658 William Hewes instituted action against Robert Clarke for repairs on "Green's Rest" that were done before Clarke married the widow of Thomas Greene. At that time Madam Clarke was deceased. Hewes claimed that Captain William Stone engaged him for the work and that the overseers of the estate of Thomas Greene should be responsible for the expenditures.

Note: Historians are not kind to Greene's governance of MD and state that Margaret Brent, who was appointed guardian of Leonard Calvert's estate, should have been in Greene's place and a better steward.

Greene family historians do not claim that Thomas Greene's Father married Helen Calvert. Saw your message saying Helen Calvert could not have been married to Thomas Greene because of the age difference. We do not show Thomas being married to a Helen Calvert born 1571 to Alicia Crossland and Leonard Calvert.
She was from Kipling, Bolton Chapelry,Yorkshire, England. She married George Greene 19 July 1659 and has at least one other child (than Thomas Greene); Henry Greene. This Helen was the sister of Sir George Calvert - which makes Gov. Thomas Greene the nephew of Sir George Calvert. We also show George Calvert as having a daughter named Helen who was christened Dec 5,1615 at St Martin's in the Field in London. That Helen would have been a cousin of Gov. Thomas Greene.

"TO MARYLAND FROM OVERSEES" by Harry Wright Newman
page 107
LANGWORTH
James (Johannes) Langworth, one-time Surveyor General of Maryland, who died testate Charles. Co., 1660 was of County Kent, England, and declared himself a cousin of Governor Thomas Green, likewise, of County Kent. "Visitation of Kent 1663-1668 by Howard & Hovenden. pub.1887"
James Langworth was the son of James Langworth and Agatha Greene. He married Agatha Johnson.

James Langworth Sr. married 1st to (?) m/2 Agatha Greene; who gave a deposition in 1665 that she was 50, so she would have been born around 1614 and about 15 years old when her son James Langworth Jr. was born (Archives of Maryland XLIX:482). James Langworth Sr. had a daughter from his 1st wife who married Luke Gardiner who married 2nd Elizabeth Hatton daughter of Richard and Margaret Hatton. James Langworth, Jr. married Agatha Johnson probable sister of William Johnson who had married Emma. (The exact relationship of William Johnson and his wife Emma is unknown. Too many conflicting statements of relationship make it difficult for me to determine how they were related.)

Books that include information on the Greens
History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent by Edward Hasted of Canterbury written in 1782 printed for the author, by Simmons and Kirkby page 543-544) There are two additions, the old one had 12 volumes and the new one was reduced to 6 volumes. The repository for this book is a university (don't remember the name) outside of St. Mary's City, MD.
"Our Ancestors Greens, Wathens, Byrnes, Hoehns, and Others" by Genevieve Hoehn Bellis
2606 South Troy Street Arlington, VA 22206
Raskob-Green Record Book by John Jacob Raskob printed in 1921 by Archmere Claymont, Delaware
Colonial Families of The United States of America, Vol. 6
Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789, Vol. 1
Maryland's Calendar of Wills by Jane Baldwin
The Early Settlers of Maryland by Skordas
History of Maryland; Province and State by Matthew Page Andrews
The Society of The Ark and The Dove http://www.thearkandthedove.com/index.html
Maryland's Historical Magazine, Vol. 2, 5 &7
The Hereditary Register of the United States of America
Proceedings of the Council of Maryland, 1636-1647
History of St. Mary's County, MD
History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent by Edward Hasted of Canterbury written in 1782 printed for the author, by Simmons and Kirkby page 543-544)

Parents

Relation to main person Name Birth date Death date Relation within this family (if not by birth)
Father Green, Thomasabout 1590
Mother Webb, Margaretabout 1590
    Brother     Green, Robert, Esq. about 1608
         Green, Thomas, Gov. about 1610 1650/1-01-20 (Julian)
    Brother     Green, John about 1612
    Brother     Green, Jeremiah about 1614

Families

Family of Green, Thomas, Gov. and Gerard, Anne

Married Wife Gerard, Anne ( * about 1612 + about 1645 )
   
Event Date Place Description Sources
Marriage about 1636 MD    
  Children
Name Birth Date Death Date
Green, Thomasabout 1642before 1665
Green, Leonardabout 1644before 1688-07-04

Family of Green, Thomas, Gov. and Brown, Millicent

Married Wife Brown, Millicent ( * + ... )
   
Event Date Place Description Sources
Marriage 1643-04-02 St Mary’s County, MD    

Family of Green, Thomas, Gov. and (Green), Winifred

Married Wife (Green), Winifred ( * about 1613 + 1656-10-01 )
   
Event Date Place Description Sources
Marriage about 1646 MD   2
  Children
Name Birth Date Death Date
Green, Robertabout 1646before 1716-05-12
Green, Francisabout 1648before 1707-05-07

Attributes

Type Value Notes Sources
_UID 03A4BD27473EAF4F89E5F374830D74987FEC