B. 6 Jan 1570 in (probably) Lincolnshire, England1
M. (1) before 4 Sep 1589 in (probably) Great Waldington, Suffolk, England2
Wife: Alice Coleman
M. (2) 9 Feb 1633 in Greenfield, Lincolnshire, England2
Wife: Elizabeth _______
D. before 10 Mar 1645 in (probably) Scamblesby, Lincolnshire, England2
Just one generation before the Puritan Great Migration to New England was a man in England named Francis Thorndike, who was of enough wealth and status to register for a coat of arms.
Francis was from Great Carlton, Lincolnshire, and he was born on January 6, 1570 to Nicholas Thorndike and Margaret Sotheby.1 This was after a period of turmoil in England with the children of Henry VIII taking turns on the throne, and now Elizabeth presided over a time of peace. Nicholas Thorndike was a yeoman, and had gentry status in his community of Aby.2 He was able to put Francis into Trinity College at Cambridge in 1581.2
On November 16, 1586, Francis was admitted to Gray’s Inn, a professional association for lawyers based in London.2 In order to practice law in England, a man had to be a member of Gray’s Inn or one the three other “Inns.”3 Gray’s Inn was fairly prestigious in Francis’ day, with Francis Bacon as one of its members.3 Its hall was said to have introduced one of Shakespeare’s first plays, A Comedy of Errors.3
Another indicator of the family’s wealth was Francis’ father’s will.2 As a second son, strict protocol dictated that his older brother would inherit the all of the land. But Francis was bequeathed by his father “my best silver cup, my best silver goblet, three of my best silver spoons, three of my second silver spoons, and in money forty pounds.”2 These were not the possessions of peasants.
Francis married got married in the late 1580s, sometime before the baptism of his oldest son on September 4, 1589.2 His wife was Alice Coleman, and they were known to have four sons born between 1589 and 1603. One son went on to become a noted theologian and prebendary at Westminster Abbey,2 and another son was a Puritan who settled in Massachusetts.2 Alice passed away at the end of 1622, and Francis didn’t take another wife until February 9, 1633, when he married a widow, Elizabeth Prigion.
When Francis was in his old age, he and his brother Herbert “signed the pedigree for the first visitation of Heralds recorded in the family in the year 1634.”4 The visitation was a process of authenticating a coat of arms. This English ritual began during the reign of Henry VIII in order to verify claims of nobility or gentry class status. The Thorndike coat of arms was a design that included a rose at the top and a shield with six thorns in a triangle. The family motto was, Rosae inter spinas nascumtur. Translation: A rose among thorns.5
Francis died in 1645, and was buried on March 10th at the village of Scamblesby in Lincolnshire.2 Because of his son John’s migration to America, Francis is the ancestor of John Kerry and John Lithgow.6
Children:
1. Francis Thorndike — B. before 4 Sep 1589, (probably) Great Waldington, Suffolk, England;2 D. (probably) Nov 1656, (probably) Lincolnshire, England;2 M. (1) Margaret Copinger (1592-1629), before 25 Mar 1620, (probably) Lincolnshire, England;2 (2) Anne2
2. Herbert Thorndike — B. about 1598, (probably) Lincolnshire, England;7 D. 11 Jul 1672, Chiswick, Middlesex, England2
3. Paul Thorndike — D. before 12 Dec 1639, (probably) Lincolnshire, England;2 M. Elizabeth Brooke2
4. John Thorndike — B. before 23 Feb 1611, Great Carlton, Lincolnshire, England;8 D. Nov 1668, London, England;2 M. Elizabeth Stratton (~1614-1668), before 25 Dec 1637, Salem Massachusetts2
Sources:
1 Find-a-Grave listing of Francis Thorndike
2 “The Thorndikes of Aby in Greenfield, Lincolnshire and Essex County, Massachusetts,” Scott C. Steward, New England Historical and Genealogical Register, V. 154, Oct 2000
3 Gray’s Inn (Wikipedia article)
4 The Founders of Massachusetts Bay Colony, Sarah Sprague Saunders Smith, 1897, p. 165
5 House of Names (website)
6 FamousKin.com listing of Francis Thorndike
7 Find-a-Grave listing of Herbert Thorndike
8 Find-a-Grave listing of John Thorndike
