| Notes |
- Thomas Tracy came to America as a young boy. He traveled on the ship "The Supply". The Supply was the companion ship to the Mayflower. It left 3 weeks late from England and, unlike the Mayflower, it found its way to Virginia. The ship arrived on the 29th of January 1620. His name was enrolled at Salem, Feb. 3, 1637, "Thomas Tracy, ship carpenter, received an inhabitant upon certificate of divers Watermen, and is to have five Acres of land. " He left the Bay for the new colony of Connecticut, USA about 1640, and settled at Wethersfield, where he m. the widow of Edward Mann, 1641. A few years later he removed to Saybrook, from whence to Norwich, with six sons and one daughter, 1660. Mr. Tracy was evidently a man of ability and activity, skillful in the management of various kinds of business, upright and discreet.
The confidence placed in him by his associates is manifested in the great number of appointments he received. His name is on the roll of the Legislature, from Norwich, at twenty-seven sessions. The elections were semi-annual. In Oct., 1666, he was chosen ensign of the first train band organized in Norwich, and in Aug., 1673, lieutenant of the New London Dragoons, enlisted to fight the Dutch and Indians. In 1678 he was appointed justice of the peace.
No record is found of the death of his Wife, but he m. twice afterwards, Martha, widow of John Bradford, in 1676, and Mary, dau. of Nathaniel Foote, also a widow. Lieutenant Thomas Tracy d. Nov. 7, 1685. His estate was appraised at 560 lbs. He had about 5, 000 Acres of land. Late researches into the history of the Tracy family furnish evidence that Thomas Tracy was of honorable descent, and that his immediate ancestors for three generations had been distinguished for fidelity to the Reformed religion.
In 1645 he and Thomas Leffingwell, and probably William Hyde the first of Norwich and some others, relieved Uncas, sachem of the Mohegans, with a boat load of provisions when that Indian chief was besieged at Shattock Point, near Norwich, by Pessachus, sachem of the Narragansetts. For this service, Uncas subsequently gave to Tracy and Leffingwell 400 Acres of land in what is now Preston. RHW
The deed for the town of Norwich (originally ?Mohegan?) reads as follow
Know all men that Onkos, Owaneco, Attawanhood, Sachems of Mohegan have Bargained, sold, and passed over, and doe by these presents sell and pass over unto the town and Inhabitants of Norwich nine miles square of land lying and being at Mohegan and the parts thereunto adjoining, with all ponds, rivers. woods, quarries, mines, with all royalties, privileges, and appurtenances thereunto belonging, to them the said inhabitants of Norwich, their heirs and successors forever--from thence the line run nor north east nine miles, and on the East side the aforesaidd river to the southward the line is to join with New London bounds as it is now laid out and to run east two miles from the aforesaid river, northwest nine miles to meet with the western line.
In consideration where of the Onbkos, Owanexo and Attawanhood do acknowledge to have received of the parties aforesaid the full and just sum of seventy pounds and doe promise and engage ourselves, heirs and successors, to warrant the said bargain and sale to the aforesaid parties, their heirs and successors, and them to defend from all claims and molestations from any whatsoever.
In witness whereof we have hereunto set out to our hands this 6th of June, Anno 1659.
Unkos
Owaneco
Attawanhood
Witness hereunto, John Mason, Thomas Tracy
The Patent of the Town of Norwich, A. D. 1685
Whereas the General Court of Connecticut have forever granted unto the proprietors and Inhabitants of the Towne of Norwich all those lands, both meadows and uplands within these abuttments (viz.) from the mouth of Tradeingcove Brooke the line to run as the Brooke to the head of the Brooke to a white oake marked N: and from thence west nortwesterly to a great pond to a black oake marked N: wich stands neere the mouth of the great Brooke that runs out of the pond to Norwich river, which is about seven miles from the said Tradeing Cove; and from thence the line runns North noreast nine miles to a Black oake standing by the river side on the south of it, a little above maumeagway, and from thence the line runs south southeasterly nine miles to a white oake standing by a brooke marked N: and then the line runs south southwesterly nine miles to a white oake neere Robert ALLYN and Thomas ROSE's Dwelling houses, which tree is marked N: and from thence westerly as New London Bounds runs to Mohegen river, the whole being nine miles square, the said land haveing been by purchase or otherwise lawfully obtayned of the Indian natives proprietors. -- And whereas, the said Inhabitants and proprietors of the sd Norwich in the Colony of Connecticutt have made application to the Governor and Company of the sd Colony of Conecticutt assembled in Court May 2th, 1685, that they may have a patent for the confirmation of the aforesd land, so purchased and granted to them as aforesaid, and which they have stood seized, and quietly possesd of for many years late past without interuption. Now for a more full confirmation of the aforesd unto the present proprietors of the sd Towneship of Norwich in their possession and injoyment of the premises, know yea that the sd Governour and Company assembled in Generall Court according to the Commission Granted to them by his magestie's charter, have given and granted and by therse presents doe give, grant Rattifie and confirme unto Mr. James FITCH senr, Captain James FITCH, Mr. Benjamine BREWSTER, Lieutenant Thomas TRACY, Lieutenant Tho. LEFFINGWELL, Mr. Christopher HUNTINGTON, Mr. Simon HUNTINGTON, Ensign Wm. BACKUS, Mr. Thomas WATERMAN, Mr. John BURCHARD and Mr. John POST, and the rest of the said present proprietors of the township of Norwich, their heirs, suckcessors and assigns forever; the aforesaid parcell of land as it is Butted and Bounded toghether will all the woods, meadows, pastures, ponds, waters, rivers, islands, fishings, huntings, fowleings, mines, mineralls, quarries, and precious stones, upon or within the said tract of land, and all other proffitts and comodities therunto belonging, or in any wayes appertaining; and Doe also grant unto the aforesaid Mr. James FITCH senr, Captain James FITCH, Mr. Benjamine BREWSTER, Lieutenant Thomas TRACY, Lieutenant Tho. LEFFINGWELL, Mr. Christopher HUNTINGTON, Mr. Simon HUNTINGTON, Ensign Wm. BACKUS, Mr. Thomas WATERMAN, Mr. John BURCHARD and Mr. John POST, and the rest of the proprietors, Inhabitants of Norwich, their heirs, successors and assigns forever, that the foresd tract of land shall be forever hereafter deemed, reputed and be an intire towneship of itself -- to have and to hold the said tract of land and premises with all and singuler their appurtenances, together with the priviledges and immunities and franchises herein given and granted unto the sayd Mr. James FITCH senr, Captain James FITCH, Mr. Benjamine BREWSTER, Lieutenant Thomas TRACY, Lieutenant Tho. LEFFINGWELL, Mr. Christopher HUNTINGTON, Mr. Simon HUNTINGTON, Ensign Wm. BACKUS, Mr. Thomas WATERMAN, Mr. John BURCHARD and Mr. John POST, and other the present proprietors, Inhabitants of Norwich, theire heirs successors, and assignes for ever, and to the only proper use and behoofe of the sayd Mr. James FITCH senr, Captain James FITCH, Mr. Benjamine BREWSTER, Lieutenant Thomas TRACY, Lieutenant Tho. LEFFINGWELL, Mr. Christopher HUNTINGTON, Mr. Simon HUNTINGTON, Ensign Wm. BACKUS, Mr. Thomas WATERMAN, Mr. John BURCHARD and Mr. John POST, and other proprietors, inhabitants of Norwich, their heirs, successors, and assigns for ever according to the Tenor of East Greenwich in Kent, in free and common soccage and not in capitto, nor are they capable according to the custom of the country, yielding, rendering and paieing therefore our sovereign Lord the King, his heires and successors, his dues according to Charter. In witness whereof, we have caused the Seale of the Colony to be hereunto affixed this twenty-first of May, 1685, in the year of the reigne of our sovereign lord James the Second, by the grace of God, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the faith.
ROBERT TREAT, Governor.
{SEAL} March 30th, 1687, pr order of the Govr and Compony of the Colony of Connecticut.
Signed pr JOHN ALLYN, Secrety.
Entered in the pub. records, Lib. D: fo. 138, 139, Novr 27th, 1685 pr JOHN ALLYN, Secrety.
Fiction Versus Possibility in the Tracy Genealogy Author: John G. Hunt Publication: American Genealogist; vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 250-25; 1965 Text: Fiction Versus Possibility in the Tracy Genealogy
By John G. Hunt, B. S. C., of Arlington, Va.
Several persistent efforts have been made over the last hundred years to connect Thomas Tracy, ship carpenter in 1637 of Salem, Mass., and in 1659 a Proprietor of Norwich, Conn., with the noble family of the same surname long seated in Gloucestershire. The identifications claimed for him were criticized and in part disproved by Donald Lines Jacobus in The Waterman Family (vol. 1, 1939, pp. 691-94). As he has noted, It would have been unusual for a member of the gentry to be styled "goodman" in early New England, as was our Thomas Tracy of Norwich, Conn.
Unfortunately, Dr. Dwight Tracy did not view the problem of Tracy's origin so dispassionately. In 1908 he published a pamphlet entitled "The Tracys in America--Recently Discovered English Ancestry of Governor William Tracy of Virginia, 1620, and of his only son, Lieutenant Thomas Tracy of Salem, Massachusetts, and Norwich, Connecticut. "
From a mass of documentation Dr. Tracy showed that William Tracy, formerly of Toddington and Hayles, in Gloucestershire, by his Wife Mary Conway, had children Joyce and Thomas, and that the latter about 1621 returned to England, an orphaned lad of slender fortune. On page 24 of his pamphlet, Dr. Tracy asserts: "exhaustive searches in the ancient records of England, in parish books, courts of chancery, English graveyards, and fugitive papers and letters in antiquarian archives, have failed to give one word that even mentions his [Thomas Tracy's] return to England. "
While such records may not have mentioned young Tracy's return, it must be recalled that young Tracy was nephew to lord Conway, president of his majesty's privy council, a powerful nobleman. Further, the Conway papers are extant in the Public Records Office in London, and as might have been guessed they include holograph letters from young Thomas Tracy to his uncle, lord Conway. One, dated in 1625, shows the youth serving as ensign in the Netherlands and hoping for a lieutenancy. The other missive, dated in July 1630 at London, is from Lieutenant Thomas Tracy to lord Conway, asking him "not to forget a poor kinsman and servant of your honours to I James Coote for a compani this voiage. "
Before Conway's death in 1631, he would seem to have obtained for young Lieutenant Thomas Tracy some overseas duty, for under date 23 Oct. 1631 Tracy drew up his will, now preserved at Somerset House, London, ref. 41 Russell. Styling himself Thomas Tracy, gent., of London, he left 50 pds. to Margaret Hudson, widow, of St Sepulchre without Newgate, London, the residue to go to the testator's sister, "Mary, Wife of George Savidge of Walton of the Ole, Leicestershire. " This sister proved the will 29 May 1633, when it was recorded that the testator had died overseas.
Turning to George Francis Armstrong, The Ancient and Noble Family of the Savages of the Ards (London, 1888), we note on page 77 that George Savage, archdeacon of Gloucestershire [who died ca. 1600: see TAG, supra, 39:86] had a son, "George Savage of Walton on the Wold, Leicestershire, who married Mary, daughter of William Tracy, Esq., of Toddington House, Gloucestershire.
In the light of the foregoing, it is clear that Thomas Tracy, erstwhile of Virginia, did return to England, but leaving London around 1631, he went overseas and died before 29 May 1633. So it is not possible for him to have been our New England settler of the same name. It seems hardly necessary to add that the handwriting of Lieutenant Thomas Tracy of London in 1630 is dissimilar to that of Thomas Tracy of Norwich, Conn. Doubt on that score was resolved by looking at the facsimile of the New England Proprietor’s handwriting in Dr. Tracy's pamphlet, at page 31, and then studying the totally different handwriting of Lieutenant Thomas Tracy of London in 1630; ref. State Papers, 16 171-46, in the Public Record Office.
In the Rare Book Room, Library of Congress, are preserved some of the MSS of the late Col. Charles Edward Banks. In them is found mention of one Thomas Tracy of Norwich in England who in 1631 was presented for not attending Church, as of St Clements in that year. The following year, he was likewise cited for failure to attend St Peter Hungate, also in Norwich. The fact [Frances M. Caulkins, History of Norwich] that Thomas Tracy of New England was the sole English witness, aside from the great John Mason, to the deed in 1659 whereby the sachem Uncas granted land to the Norwich proprietors, leads one to believe that both Tracy and Mason may have been natives of Norwich in England. Mason is a Norfolk name, and Norwich is the seat of Norfolk. See Sims' index of the Heralds' Visitations in the British Museum, which reveals that there were Masons in Norfolk whose pedigrees were recorded in the visitations. Tracy was often found in company with Mason. In 1669 he served as Mason's "ensigne" in carrying a letter to Gov. Winthrop of Connecticut [Winthrop Papers quoted in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 4th Series, 7:426-27]. Search of Church records in the area of Norwich, England, seems indicated for both Tracy and Mason.
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1610 - 1685 (75 years)
