Blodgett - Pierce Family --- Early American Ancestors

Thomas and Susan Blodgett and family

  • Thomas Blodgett
  • - Born: Nov 18, 1604
  • - Died: Aug 7, 1642 (age 38)
  • - Parents: Robert (2nd) and Mary (Whitlock) Blodgett
  • - Married: about 1621
  • Susan ???? (Last Name Unknown)
  • - Born: 1598
  • - Died: Feb 10, 1660/61 (age 62/63)
  • - Parents: Unknown
  • - 2nd Marriage: James Thompson - Feb 15, 1644/45

Thomas Blodgett was born and raised in Stowmarket, Suffolk, England. He married Susan
(whose maiden name is not known) at a young age and initially settled in Stowmarket.
They had four children while living there (two of whom died of plague in early childhood).

In 1635, Thomas (age 30), Susan (age 37) and their children, Daniel (age 4) and Samuel (age 1)
sailed to America. They left London on the ship "Increase" on April 18, 1635 and arrived in
Massachusetts on or around Sunday, June 7, 1635 (a voyage of over seven weeks). They settled
in Cambridge, Mass (then called Newtown). Upon arrival, they joined the congregation of
Reverend Thomas Shepard's church in Cambridge. Thomas and Susan had two more children,
Susanna and Thomas Jr while in Cambridge (Thomas Jr. died in infancy).

Thomas's occupation on the passenger list was listed as glover (glovemaker), but must have
tried his hand at farming, as he is listed as having property both in town and on the edge of the
cow common just north of town. This cow common would later become Harvard University and
and Thomas and Susan's farm would become part of the grounds of the Harvard Observatory
(now known as the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics).

Susan's Second Marriage

Thomas died in 1642, at the young age of 38. His wife Susan remarried two years later to James
Thompson and moved her family to Woburn, Mass. James Thompson had at least one child from
a previous marriage (Jonathan), who later married Susan's daughter Susanna, his step-sister.

James Thompson came to America in 1630 with the first wave of the group of immigrants (led
by Thomas Winthrop) that founded the Mass Bay Colony. He first settled in Charlestown, Mass.
In 1642 James moved again, becoming a founding member of Woburn, Mass. His brothers
Edward, John, Archibald and Benjamin also immigrated to Massacheussetts at different times.
Edward was one of the original immigrants on the Mayflower in 1620.

Susan Blodgett died in Woburn at the age of 62 or 63, having lived to see her children marry and
begin families of ther own. Her second husband, James Thompson died in 1682, at age 89.


Their Children

Thomas and Susan had six children, two of whom died of plague in England during infancy. The
third died in infancy in America. The other three lived to marry and raise families of their own.
All branches of the Blodgett family in America stem from her three remaining children, Daniel,
Samuel and Susanna.

John - Born: 1622 Died: 1623 (age 1) Died of Plague
Nathaniel - Born: Feb 28, 1629 Died: Jun 8, 1633 (age 4) Died of Plague
Daniel - Born: 1631 Died: Jan 28, 1672 (age 40/41) 1st Marriage: Mary Butterfield
2nd Marriage: Sarah Underwood
Samuel 1st - Born: 1633 Died: May 21, 1720 (age 86/87) Married: Ruth Iggleden
Susanna - Born: Jun 1636/37 Died: Feb 6, 1697/98 (age 60/61) Married: Jonathan Thompson
Thomas - Born: 1639 Died: Aug 7, 1639 (age <1) Died in Infancy