Thomas Tupper [7399]

  General Notes:

Son of Thomas Tupper and Anne [ ] ¹

  Noted events in his life were:

• He was buried at the Old Town Cemetery in Sandwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts in 1706. ²

• Document: ² Thomas was born in Sandwich in the house his father built, lived there all his life, and lies buried under a stone still standing by the pond in the beautiful old burying ground. When yet a young man, he became active in the affairs of the town, becoming a freeman at age 20 and in 1658, with his father, was listed as one of the largest landholders. He served on a jury in 1664; was one of two excisemen in 1667 and elected town constable in 1669. He early became one of the most prominent citizens, serving as selectmen for fourteen years, town clerk from 1675 to 1685, deputy to the General Court at Plymouth for eleven years; commissioner ìagainst the abuse of drinkers and liquerî; representative to the court in Boston and in 1680 was appointed lieutenant of the military company in Sandwich, becoming captain in 1690. After the absorption by the Massachusetts Bay Colony he was one of the first representatives sent to Boston. There is abundant evidence that he was one of the most influential men of this generation.

With the turn of the century swiftly changing social and economic conditions caused the surviving heirs of the ten original proprietors of Sandwich to insist their rights of ownership of the lands within the limits of the first grants as against the towns people in general, and the meadow and pasture lands held in common gradually came into their private ownership.

In 1680 Thomas Tupper II was appointed by the General Court at Plymouth to be lieutenant of the military company organized at Sandwich, and 10 years later he was commissioned captain, by which title he was commonly known after 1691.

He had strong religious convictions and for many years was a missionary among the Indians of the Mashpee and Herring Pond tribes.

The first child of Captain Tupper and his wife Martha, a daughter, was named Martha after her mother; the second child, a son, was named Thomas, a given name common for many generations in both the Tupper and Mayhew families. The other six sons received their names directly from the bible, evidence of the Puritan training of their father. Their second daughter was named Jane after her grandmother Mayhew; the third, Anne, after her grandmother Tupper, and the fourth after her motherís sister, Bethiah Mayhew.

Thomas married Martha Mayhew [7121] [MRIN: 3058], daughter of Governor Thomas Paine Mayhew, Sr. [5238] and Jane Gallion [5239], on 27 Dec 1661 in <Martha's Vineyard>.¹ (Martha Mayhew [7121] was born in 1642 in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts ¹.)

  Marriage Notes:

From this marriage was descendant the late Sir Charles Tupper, prime minister of Canada.