Descendants of Thomas Foster

The lineage of our Foster family of Marshfield, Ma. commences with one Thomas Foster who was born ca 154x at Biddenden, Kent, England. He married first, ca 156x at Biddenden, Kent, (–) who died prior to 20 January 1581. We know not the name or ancestry of Thomas’s first wife. We know of her existence from the parish records of Biddenden, Kent wherein we find the entry “Thomas Foster, widower and Dority Austin mayden, i.e. Dorothy Austin maiden, married 20 January 1581". Our Thomas Foster died prior to 31 October 1586; the same parish records tells us “31 October 1586 John Bestbeech (Besbege) and Dorothy Foster, widow were married”. It is to be noted that there was a very long and interwoven relationship between the Foster, Besbege, and Bigg families of Kent, England which has proved to be a real challenge in determining accurate genealogy; the extensive commonality of unique first names of children adds to the confusion.

Dorothy Austin, who first married Thomas Foster and secondly married John Besbege, was the daughter of Henry and Anne (–) Austin of Biddenden, Kent. Henry Austin, per parish records, “householder, was buried 21 February 1571". His will, dated 28 December 1570 and proved 22 May 1592, speaks of all of his children including daughter Dorothy and son Walter. In many later records, Dorothy is spoken of as “Dorothy Austin, sister of Walter Austin”. Our Thomas Foster was married to Dorothy Austin for five years eight months; they had at least two and probably three sons, i.e., Richard born 1585 plus Hopestill and Thomas. The will of Thomas Foster has not been found; however, we do have a copy of the will of Dorothy Austin Foster Besbege which is dated 27 December 1619 and was proved 04 January 1620. Herein we find “to Thomas Foster’s three children a pair of sheets etc”; it is assumed that these are the three sons noted above. She also speaks of “Mary, daughter of my son Richard Foster” and of her Besbege children. She made “her son Richard Foster executor of her will”.

References:NEHGR:V67:33-36; V112:312; PH116:V1:265; FH6:2162; FH18:72-73; FH30:5-7, 10-11; FH137:1

The second generation of this lineage is complicated. Our target is the third generation wherein we are on solid ground, i.e., Thomas and Elizabeth (–) whose first child was born in Weymouth, Ma on 18 August 1640. NEHGR:V26:394 notes “It is not unlikely that he (Thomas) was brother to Hopestill Foster of Dorchester, and son of another Hopestill Foster whose wife Patience came in the ship Elizabeth in 1635 for he (Thomas) gave this unusual name to one of his sons, and other names were common to both families”. We know today that the “wife Patience’s husband was not a Hopestill Foster but was Richard Foster, born 1585 in Biddenden, Kent and died 1630 in England who married Patience Bigg, at Cranbrook, Kent ca 1609 or in 1616. Patience Bigg, bp 05 May 1588 was the daughter of John and Rachel Martin Bigg. On the ship “Elizabeth”, William Stagg, Master, which sailed from London in April 1635 and arrived in Boston in midsummer, we find “Rachel Bigg, age 66, Patience Foster, age 40, and Hopestill Foster, age 14". Rachel Martin Bigg was the wife of John Bigg, born 1561 died 13 August 1605, and the mother of Patience Bigg Foster noted above. Hopestill Foster, ae 14, was the son of Richard and Patience Bigg Foster. Ship manifests often have errors in the details of passengers. Patience Bigg Foster, noted as age 40 is an error. He birth date is 1588 as noted in other sources. Based upon the above information, we can see our Thomas of Weymouth, Ma. was the son of Richard and Patience Bigg Foster vs Hopestill and Patience (–) Foster.

Concerning the marriage date of Richard Foster and Patience Bigg, we find in Torrey’s New England Marriages, a date of ca 1616 which chronologically fits their son Thomas’s marriage of ca 1638 with their first child being born in 1640. However, their marriage could have been as early as 1609. John Besbege, who was born ca 155x at Biddenden, Kent, married, as her second husband, Dorothy Austin Foster. He made his will on 28 June 1609. In this will he speaks of “to Richard Foster and Patience his wife, to Thomas Foster and Elizabeth his wife”.This would indicate that Richard Foster and Patience Bigg would have been married as early as 1609. It is possible that Richard Foster married 1^st a woman whose first name was Patience and that she died and he married, as a second wife, Patience Bigg. As for “Thomas Foster and his wife Elizabeth”, it is believed that this was Thomas, son of Thomas Foster and Dorothy Austin, and brother of Richard Foster and not to be confused with “Thomas and Elizabeth (–) Foster of Weymouth, Ma. A coincidence that there were two Thomas Fosters “who married Elizabeth, surnames unknown”. Richard and Patience Bigg Foster had three and maybe four children. One child was Thomas, to follow. Then there is Hopestill who was born in 1620, died in 1676, and married Mary Bates in 1640. This is the Hopestill who came with his mother and grandmother on the ship Elizabeth in 1635. The third child would be Mary Foster, mentioned, as noted above, in Dorothy Austin Foster Besbege’s will dated 27 December 1619. Finally, other sources note that there was a daughter Patience.

References: NEHGR:V26:394; V29:253; V67:33-36; PH7:278; PH226:V1:266,285-287; FH6:2162; FH7:1stV1:179-181; FH18:72; FH30:5-6; FH137:1; FH138:34

The third generation of this lineage is Thomas Foster, son of Richard and Patience Bigg Foster, who was born at Biddenden, Kent ca 1616 at Biddenden, Kent. Thomas died 20 April 1682 at Billerica, Ma. He married, ca 1638 and probably at Weymouth, Ma., Elizabeth (–) who died 29 January 1695 at Billerica, Ma and whose parentage and ancestry is unknown. The date and arrival of our current Thomas’s arrival in New England is not documented. As previously noted, when relating to the ship Elizabeth which came in 1635 or to any other ship, there were often errors in the ship’s manifest relative to details of the passengers. It is this compiler’s belief that our Thomas was with his mother, Patience Bigg Foster,.his brother Hopestill, and his grandmother Rachel Martin Bigg on the ship Elizabeth in 1635. Our Thomas Foster should not be confused with another Thomas Foster, who was born ca 1600, the son of Rev. Thomas and Abigail Wimes, and who, with his brother William, came to New England on the ship Hercules in 1634. This latter Thomas, with his brother William settled in Boston where his parents were living.

Our Thomas Foster probably initially live in Dorchester, Ma. with his above noted family and then moved to Weymouth ca 1638 where he married Elizabeth (–) and fathered his first four children, i.e., Thomas, John, Increase, and Elizabeth. Prior to 26 March 1638, he moved to Braintree, Ma. where children Hopestill and Joseph were born. Prior to 1659, Thomas with his family moved to Billerica, Ma where Thomas lived until he died. Thomas was a blacksmith by trade and “the progenitor of a long line of blacksmiths”. He became a freeman on 26 May 1647. In Billerica, we find our Thomas being a selectman 1659-1651, 1663-1665, and in 1667-1669. In 1675 , Sargent Thomas Foster’s house is designated as a “garrison house”, i.e., in times of hostile Indian attacks, his neighbors including the “menfolk with their weapons” assembled for the common defense. Thomas’s home lot in Billerica was fifty acres including the house lot which was located on the east end of Bare H bounded by Shawshim road on the west and William Hamlet on the north. In his later years, Thomas was repeatedly called before the Middlesex Court and punished for worshiping the God of his fathers in a way the judges called heresy. He was in court on 14 October 1671, 18 June 1672, and on 15 June 1675 “for not attending the public worship of God on Sabbath days and for frequently attending the meetings of the Anabaptist”.

Thomas and Elizabeth (–) Foster had at least six children and possible a seventh. Thomas, John, Elizabeth, Hopestill, and Joseph are well documented and they married and had families. A son Increase is noted of which “no trace is found of his history; his name is inserted on the authority of Mr. Savage” (Genealogical Dictionary-1st New England Settlers, James Savage 1965) A seventh child named Experience is noted in “Foster Record: Frank M. Hawes:1889:5" wherein “Experience married Joseph French”. Per Torrey’s “New England Marriages prior 1700" pg 40, we find “Joseph French married Experience Foster 04 November 1663-Billerica/Taunton”.

References:NEHGS:V26:395-396; V29:253-259; V67:33-36; PH7:278; PH67:388-389; PH78: 366; PH97:173; PH141:1104-1105; PH228:54; FH18:72; FH134:1; FH137:6-7

John Foster, the fourth generation of this lineage and the second son and child of Thomas and Elizabeth (–) Foster was born at Weymouth, Ma. on 07 October 1642 and died in Marshfield, Ma. on 13 June 1732 at age 90. He married first, at Marshfield in 1663, Mary Chillingsworth who was born ca 1646 and died 25 September 1702 both at Marshfield. Mary was the daughter of Thomas and Joanna (–) Chillingsworth of Marshfield. Thomas married second, in Marshfield on 30 December 1702, Sarah Thomas who died 26 May 1731 and probably was the daughter of John and Sarah Pitney Thomas. Thomas Chillingsworth was the only male bearing this surname in New England in the seventeenth century.

Our John Foster, following the trade of his father, Thomas, was a blacksmith. He, probably in his late teens, maybe about 1660, moved and became a permanent resident of Marshfield, Ma. This move was made about the time his parents were moving from Braintree, Ma. to Billerica, Ma. He was a selectman of Marshfield in March of 1690. He was chosen but declined to serve as being the representative to the General Court. He was nominated on 06 April 1700 and ordained on 02 July 1701 to be a Deacon in the first church. The role of the “deacon” was very important in our colonial times; the deacon was the bridge between the church and the congregation. The deacon served and cared for each and all of the congregation. And the deacon was also the “monitor” who insured the proper religious and sometimes political conduct of each and all the members. Our John Foster was a man of “traditional and conservative religious beliefs” versus his father who, we noted above, was a somewhat “out of step” maverick. John and Mary Chillingsworth Foster had ten children all born in Marshfield, Ma. Three of the children did not marry, i.e., Sarah born 1677 and died unmarried in1702; James was born and died in 1683; and Deborah, who was born in 1691, died unmarried in 1732. The remaining seven children reached adulthood, married, and had many children.

References:NEHGR:V26:395-396; PH7:278; PH17:V2:178; PH67:388-389; PH78:366; PH97: 173; PH141:1105; PH228:54; FH18:72; FH134:1; FH137:6-7

John Foster, the fifth generation of this lineage, and the first son and second child of John and Mary Chillingsworth Foster, was born 12 October 1666 at Marshfield and died 24 December 1741 at Plymouth, Ma. He married, at Scituate, Ma. on 16 November 1692, Hannah Stetson who was born in November 1671 at Scituate, Ma. and died in 1747 at Marshfield. She was the daughter of Thomas and Sarah Dodson Stetson of Scituate, Ma. Our current John Foster, probably in his late teens or early twenties, moved to Plymouth, Ma. Following in the footsteps of his father John and grandfather Thomas, our current John was likewise a blacksmith by trade. Like his father John before him, he also was nominated and elected deacon of his church which acknowledges his leadership both in church and community. Current John also represented the town of Plymouth in the General Court for nine years. His will, dated 09 January 1740, speaks of his wife Hannah and of those children living at the time of his will. John and Hannah Stetson Foster had a total of ten children. Three of the children died at a young age, i.e., John born 1699, Ichabod born 1706, and Gershom born 1708. Child Thomas, born in 1705, married Lois Fuller and was a blacksmith and a deacon; he represented Plymouth in the General Court, was a Justice of the Peace, and a judge in the Court of Common Pleas. This Thomas, unlike most of his peers, adhered to the King and retired to Halifax, Nova Scotia when the British troops evacuated Boston. Finally, is that John Foster’s wife, Hannah Stetson, following the death of her husband, moved to Marshfield to spend her remaining days with perhaps her daughter Sarah who had married Nathan Thomas of Marshfield.

References: NEHGR:V26:397; PH7:278; PH17:V2:190; PH67:389; PH78:366; PH141:1105; FH200:64; FH18:72-73; FH137:7,10-11; FH200:64

Sarah Foster, the second daughter and child of John and Hannah Stetson Foster, was born, at Plymouth, Ma. on 16 April 1696 and died 07 February 1778, age 82 at Marshfield. She first married, prior to 1719, William Bartlett who died prior 17 June 1719 at which time, our Sarah Foster married as her second husband, Nathan Thomas of Marshfield, Nathan Thomas was born 21 November 1688 and died 03 November 1741, both at Marshfield, Ma .and was the son of Samuel and Mercy Ford Thomas of Marshfield. Following the death of Nathan of Nathan in 1741, Sarah Foster Bartlett Thomas married, as her third husband, on 24 October 1743, Jedediah Bourne of Marshfield.

References: NEHGR:V26:397; PH76:140; PH88:90,92,97; PH142:411; PH174:261-262; FH137:10