“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists."
― Franklin D. Roosevelt
New Hampshire was first settled by Europeans in 1623. It was separated from Massachusetts in 1679.
Alcohol played a significant role in the daily lives of colonists; even children. They feared polluted water and believed in alcohol's nourishing and medicinal properties.
Thomas Kimball was born in 1633 in Rattlesden, Suffolk County, England. His parents were Richard Kimball and Ursula Scott. He came to America with his family in 1634 and settled in Wenham at first. He was a mechanic and a farmer.
He married Mary Smith. Mary was born in 1637 in Ipswich. Her parents were Thomas and Joanna Smith.
In 1653, he became the owner of a mill on Oyster river in Hampton, New Hampshire.
Thomas and Mary's children were:
Elizabeth Kimball (born and died in 1658),
Richard Kimball (1659, married Sarah Spofford),
Joanna Kimball Morse (1660/61, married Joshua Morse),
Joseph Kimball (1662),
Mary Kimball Redington (1663, married Thomas Redington),
Hannah Kimball (1664),
Thomas Kimball (1665-1732),
Ebenezer Kimball (1668), and
John Kimball (1675).
They moved to Bradford, Massachusetts and on February 20, 1669, he was chosen constable. His house was one of the legal places for posting and was on the Boxford Road.
When his father died in 1675 he received:
Twenty five pounds to bee payd two years and a halfe after my decease, and to his children I give seaven pounds to be divided equally among them and paid as they come of age or at day of marriage provided if any dye before then their share to be distributed equally amongst the rest.
On May 2, 1676, in a night attack on the settlement by indigenous warriors, Thomas Kimball was killed, and part of his family (his wife and Joanna, Thomas, Joseph, Priscilla and John) were taken prisoners. After forty-one days of captivity in the wilderness, they were released.
Rattlesden is a village in Suffolk in eastern England. St. Nicholas church dates from the 13th century. The village was a center of Puritanism in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Mary White Rowlandson,Talcot
was captured by Native Americans
during King Philip's War
(1675-1676).
Old Style Calendar
Before 1752 the year began on Lady Day, March 25th,. Dates between January 1st and March 24th were at the end of the year. Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) are used to indicate whether the year has been adjusted. Often both dates are used.
Various spellings of Kimball:
Kemball, Kembolde, Kembold
The town of Ipswich was established on August 5, 1634, from common land called Agawam. On October 18, 1648, that portion called the "Village" at the New Meadows was set off as Topsfield. The boundary line between Ipswich and Topsfield was established, February 28, 1694.
