Thank you in advance for any information on the above subject. Thomas supposedly born 1615, in Amwell, England.
We are trying to connect to our British heritage.

I have a Thomas Stevenson in my tree, 1615 to 1668. He was married to Mary Bullock. His father was Edward Stevenson, and his mother was Elizabeth Neville.

Thank you for replying to an old posting. Would love to explore further Edward Stevenson and Elizabeth Neville.
We've suspected his father was Edward but are unaware of his mother Elizabeth Neville. Do you have any information regarding Thomas? He actually died c1662. It wasn't until 1668 that his will was probated. Did Thomas have a brother or cousin named Edward? We strongly suspect two Thomas'who were born in Newtown, Long Island, New York c1645-1650.

Hi there

I have Thomas Stevenson as being born 4 March 1616 in London. He died 7 July 1668 in Long Island NY. He had a son also named Thomas, who was born 1648 in Long Island. Here is some of the info I have:

Name: Thomas Stevenson

Given Name: Thomas
Surname: Stevenson
Sex: M
Birth: 4 Mar 1616 in , London, Middlesex, England 1 2
Death: 7 Jul 1668 in Newtown, Queens, Long Island, New York 3 2
Burial: 7 Jul 1668 Newtown, Queens, Long Island, New York 3 2
Event: Alt. Birth Unknown 1615 , Amwell, Hertsford, England 4 2
Event: Alt. Birth Unknown 1615 , London, Middlesex, England 3 2
Event: Alt. Birth Unknown 4 Mar 1606 , London, Middlesex, England 1 2
LDS Baptism: Done

Endowment: Done

Sealing Child: Done

Change Date: 28 Jan 2002

Note: REFN: HWS98843
Ancestral File Number: FSNM-HC

Thomas came from London, England, and is supposed to have landed in Virginia, between 1640 and 1645, as in 1645 he had a suit in New Haven, Connecticut, against the goods of a Mr. Lewis, then in London, to whom he had sold a boat in Virginia, taking in pay a mare to be delivered to him in Massachussetts, which he failed to obtain. He next appears in the Indian wars in Connecticut. In January 1643-4, Captain Patrick was shot by a Dutchman in the house of Captain John Underhill, in Stamford. The Dutchman was placed as a prisoner in an upper room and, in turn, Thomas Stevenson and George Slowson were set to watch him, but they both fell asleep and the prisoner escaped.

The same year [1644], Thomas Stevenson was one of the colonists with Capt. John Underhill, who emigrated from Stamford to Southold, Long Island. This was the first English colony to locate permanently among the Dutch. The reason for making this grant is believed to have been the desire of the authorities of New Amsterdam to secure the services of Capt. Underhill and his men in the war against the Indians.

Thomas Stevenson located a lot of land along side of Capt. Underhill, in Southold, which remained in his possession for many years. He seems to have served with Capt. Underhill in the campaign in Westchester County, New York, where, with his Englishmen and the Dutch troops placed under his command by the Director General, he annihilated the Indians.

Note: Thomas settled in Long Island the year before his marriage to widow Bernard.
Note: Capt. John Underhill and Thomas Hall, a prominent Englishman in the Dutch service, were witnesses to his marriage.

Thomas Stevenson appears to have spent part of his time in New Amsterdam; in Hempstead, Long Island, where he was a freeholder in 1647; in Brooklyn, where he and Thomas Hall were appointed, in 1652, by the Director General, arbitrators in a land suit between two Hollanders; and in Flushing, until he permanently located on his bowery, [plantation], on Flushing Bay in Newtown, L. I., about 1654. He had obtained a patent for this in 1651, from the Dutch Government. This made him one of the oldest settlers there, as the place was not permanently settled until the succeeding year, 1652. This is shown in a dispute between Thomas Stevenson and the magistrates of Newtown in 1656, about the opening of a road and the fencing in of some meadow land. The difference having been referred to arbitrators, they made a report to Stuyvesant, the Dutch Governor, on September 22, 1656, and say in regard to the fourth and last complaint, The magistrates at New Middleburgh, [Newtown], complained that the said Stevenson has, against the general rule of the said village, fenced in all his meadow with an enclosure which they maintained should have been divided into three equal parts, of which one was to remain in his possession, while the two others were to be used by the community generally, and he should recceive for the two, equally large shares in the large meadows.

Then Stevenson answered that he owned and claimed the said meadow by virtue of his patent, which being produced, it was found that the Honorable Director General of the New Netherlands had granted it to Stevenson in question, containing 20 morgans. The said magistrates replied that Stevenson had obtained the said patent by trickery, as he had not stated that the meadow belonged to Middleburgh territory, which seems reasonable as the Director General had promised that no patents should predjudice their rules, and as we could find no decision on the controversy we were inclined to submit to his honor, the Directer General, as being the best exponent of his promises. The Director General decided "On the 4th and last it is understood that the above mentioned patent has been obtained by misrepresentation and false report; that the proper intentions and promise of the Director General in every respect was and shall remain in force to the effect that no private property shall predjudice a village community; it is further notoriously evident that a mistake has been made either by the clerk or the surveyor in measuring or reporting the same and bounderies of meadow land, and that further dispute may result therefrom.

The Director General and the Council order that the patent of Thomas Stevenson shall be amended, but so that in place of a third part of the meadow allowed by the magistrates to him as to others, he shall keep one half of it near his fields, because he has been hitherto the oldest and first owner of it, and in regard to the other half it shall be considered in the allotment with the other inhabitants of Middleburgh."

Note: Page 25--Robert Coe and Daniel Denton, of Jamaica, Long Island, are appointed Administrators of the estate of THOMAS Stevenson, and guardians of his children. July 9, 1668.
Note: Page 26.--Robert Coe resigns his appointment as Administrator of estate of THOMAS Stevenson July 9,
Note: 1668, and Anthony Waters, of Jamaica, is appointed in his place. August 15, 1668.
Note: 1 1 1 1 2 3
Change Date: 27 AUG 2002

Married: 15 AUG 1645 in Reformed Dutch Church, Long Island, New York
Children

John Stevenson b: ABT 1646 in Newtown, Queens, Long Island, New York
Thomas Stevenson b: 1648 in Long Island, New York
Sarah Stevenson b: ABT 1649 in Flushing, Queens, Long Island, New York
Edward Stevenson b: 1650 in Newtown, Long Island, New York

Sources:

Name: Our Family Ancestors
Name: Author: Thomas Maxwell Potts
Name: Call Number: R929.2 P871.1
Name: Canonsburg, PA
Name: 1895
Name: New York City Wills, 1665-1707
Name: New York City Wills, 1708-28
Name: New York City Wills, 1730-44
Name: New York City Wills, 1744-58
Name: New York City Wills, 1754-60
Name: New York City Wills, 1771-76
Name: Colonial Families in Philadelphia
Name: edited by John W. Jordan
Name: published by Lewis Publishers
Name: New York, 1911

Here is a similiar story, with a few extra tidbits tossed in for good measure:

Thomas Stevenson
Added by cnynhiker2 on 5 Aug 2007

Thomas Stevenson came from London, England, and probably landed in Virginia about 1643. On 5 February 1645, then of Yennycott (Southold), he brought suit in the New Haven Court, by attachment against the goods of Mr. Lewis of London, in the hands of William Andrews. Mr. Priden appeared as Stevenson's attorney. Stevenson had sold and delivered to Mr. Lewis "a boat at Virginia, valued at L8", who had agreed to give him for it a mare of his then in the hands of Mr. Russell of Charlestown, MA. The mare was demanded of Russell, who said he had sold her for L4.
In 1644, he was at Stamford and New Haven; in 1647 he was on the List of Proprietors of Hempstead; at Flushing about 1650; in 1653, he was in a law suit in New York; in 1654-1655 at was at Newtown, at a place afterwards called Steven's Point. His grandchildren were among the earlier settlers of Hunterdon and Burlington Counties NJ.


In 1643 the Indian tribes around New Amsterdam united against the Dutch settled there, who had only three companies of soldiers to defend the fort in which they sought shelter. Direct-General Kieft asked the English for aid, and Capt. John Underhill, a soldier experienced in the Pequot war, was appointed to command the combined Dutch and English forces (drawn from Connecticut and Long Island). The campaign began in the fall, and by early winter an overwhelming victory had been achieved in Westchester County, NY. Capt. Underhill then returned to his residence in Stamford, CT. Thomas Stevenson, a young unmarried man, served under Underhill in this campaign. On 2 January, 1644, Capt. Daniel Patrick was shot by a Dutchman in the house of Capt. John Underhill in Stamford. The assassin was arrested and imprisoned in Underhill's house, with Thomas Stevenson and George Slowson appointed to guard him. They locked him in an upstairs chamber, and, thinking him secure, sat by the fire in the lower room. Their prisoner escaped out the window, and Stevenson and Slowson were arraigned before the New Haven magistrates for negligence. Soon afterward, Thomas Stevenson joined the group of settlers from Connecticut who, with Capt. Underhill, settled at Southhold, Long Island; Stevenson and Underhill having adjoining lots. Although he did not remain long at Southold, in 1658 the land was still called "Stevenson's meadow".


According to the Stevenson genealogy, Capt. John Underhill was a witness to Thomas' marriage to Maria. On 23 August 1646, Thomas Stevenson was a plaintiff in the New Amsterdam Courts in a suit against Elias Perchman for 2/3 of a ship. In 1647, Thomas Stevenson received a share in the division of land at Southhold. In 1651-1653 he appears in Brooklyn, among the Dutch, where he was involved in several lawsuits. He secured from the Dutch government a patent for a plantation adjoining Middleburgh (Newtown), Long Island, on Flushing Bay, to which he removed in 1654; the area was afterwards called Stevens' Point. Soon the lawsuits with his neighbors began. Complaints made against him included: 1) that he had closed the wagon road from New Middleburg to the East river near his house and turned it farther down to a deep run, over which he had built a wooden dam, and the right-angle turn made it difficult to use with wagons. He countered that the original route of the road separated his house and his barn and kept him from fencing them together, or defending his property. Common interests prevailed over private interests, but accommodation was made to Stevenson for a portion of the road by his house. 2) Neighbors complained that he had dammed a run (kill) of water so it no longer ran down the hill for their cattle's use. Stevenson countered there was no spring involved, that the water came entirely from rainfall. The court ruled the neighbors could build their own dams to contain rainwater. 3) Neighbors complained that he had run his fences into the river, obstructing the passage of their cattle coming from the woods. Stevenson countered he had placed the fences in the water to save further labor and expense and there was room for the cattle; the court ruled that Stevenson's boundaries lay along the river and not into it, and he should leave the shore unfenced. 4)

The magistrates of New Middleburgh complained that he had fenced his entire meadow, violating a rule of the village that 1/3 was private property and 2/3 to be left open for community use. Stevenson countered that he owned a patent to the entire property from the Director-General of New Netherlands. The magistrates claimed Stevenson had obtained the patent under false pretenses, as he had not stated that the meadow belonged to Middleburgh territory, and submitted it to the Director General for arbitration. The Director General ruled that village property should take precedence to private property rights, but that the boundaries of the meadow land were poorly drawn and could cause further disputes. Stevenson's patent was amended to give him the half nearest his fields, rather than the 1/3 the magistrates had ordered, since he was the first owner of it. Apparently the dispute continued for some time, for on 9 July 1658 Thomas Stevenson sued John Gray and Sales for cutting down his post and rails, which the defendants claimed obstructed the road. They were ordered to move the road. On 31 August of the same year, Stevenson complained that the Magistrates of Middleburgh had opened another road through his fences, for which the Director-General ordered them to appear before the Council and show cause for the action, and to conform to the decision of 9 July. In general, Stevenson seems to have had the favor of the Dutch Governor, Peter Stuyvesant.


In 1655, Thomas Stevenson Sr. was one of the sureties to the carpenter who erected the Congregational Church in Newtown, Long Island.

In 1658 Thomas Stevenson sold meadow at Southold formerly belonging to Edward Stevenson: "Ten acres bounded n. by Ralph Hunt, e. by Flushing creek, s. by Thomas Robinson."


The last mention of Thomas Stevenson was on 4 November 1662, when he and Thomas Hall served as arbitrators in a dispute.


He died before 9 July 1668, when Robert Coe and Daniel Denton, of Jamaica, Long Island, were appointed Administrators of the estate of Thomas Stevenson, and guardians of his children by order of Richard Nicholls.

Thomas died intestate, leaving property in England.


Sources:
Title: Thomas Stevenson of London, England and His Descendants
Author: John R. Stevenson
Abbrev: John Stevenson
Publication: Flemington, Hunterdon County, NJ: Hiram Edmund Deats, 1902
Abbrev: Stevenson Genealogy
Page: pp. 7-19
Title: The New York Genealogical & Biographical Record
Publication: New York: New York Genealogical & Biographical Society, 1870-
Abbrev: NYGBR
Page: 34:70
Text: Book Review of John Stevenson's Thomas Stevenson of London England
Title: Founders of Early American Families - Emigrants from Europe 1607-1687
Author: Meredith Colket
Abbrev: Meredith Colket
Publication: Cleveland OH: The General Court of the Order of Founders and Patriots of America, 1985
Abbrev: Founders of Early American Families
Title: Bartow Genealogy. Every one of the name of Bartow descended from Doctor Thomas Bartow who was living at Crediton, in England, A. D. 1672
Author: Evelyn Bartow
Abbrev: Evelyn Bartow
Publication: 1878-1879
Abbrev: Bartow Genealogy
Page: p. 187
Title: Long Island Source Records, taken from the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record
Author: Henry B. Hoff
Abbrev: Hoff
Publication: Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987
Abbrev: Long Island Source Records
Page: p. 123 - from Town Records of Newtown Long Island p. 179
Title: Collections of the New York Historical Society for the year 1892
Publication: New York: 1893
Abbrev: New York Collections - 1892
Page: p. 8. Abstracts of Wills -- Liber 1-2. Page 25
Title: New England Marriages Prior to 1700
Author: Clarence Almon Torrey
Abbrev: Torrey
Publication: Baltimore MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985 & 1992
Abbrev: New England Marriages
Page: p. 709
Text: Thomas Stevenson (1615-) & Maria/Mary (Bullock) Bernard, w William; 15 August 1645; New York/Flushing, LI/Newtown, LI/Southold, LI

Notice how the story says he landed in Virginia about 1644. I have immigration records stating that a Thomas Stevenson landed in Connecticut in 1644. The only Virginia landings for a Thomas Stevenson are for 1619 or 1665, neither of which work out mathmatically. I'm just a rookie at this, so if anyone else has info, please share.

I found some slightly different information about the prisoner escaping under the watch of Thomas Stevenson and George Slowson. It's from "Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33" and it goes like this:

In late 1643, the Dutchman who murdered Captain DANIEL PATRICK at Underhill's house was held by Underhill overnight, before being sent to New Haven, but the assassin escaped Underhill's custody, never to be found [WP 4:420, 428, WJ 2:182]. The investigation at New Haven into this escape revealed that Thomas Stevenson and George Slowson, being appointed to watch the Dutchman, were persuaded by Capt. Underhill to
let him go to bed in a chamber and told them that if they did but lock the door of the chamber wherein the prisoner lay, they might sit by the fire in the lower room at the foot of the stairs, which they did and had no company but the captain and his wife, who stayed not long with them before they departed to their lodging, and about two or three hours after, they missed the prisoner, and then they called up the magistrate. George Slowson saith that he, questioning about the safety of the window of the chamber where the prisoner lay, the captain's wife showed some dislike of it, and said what ado is here, yet the said Geo: rested not there, but spake to the Captain himself, who said that he had spoken with the prisoner to know if he had no temptation to escape, who answered yea, but alas, said he, whither can I go, I had rather die under the hands of a Christian magistrate then under the hands of the Indians, and thereupon the said George rested more secure [NHCR 1:127-28].
The implication has been that Underhill had some motivation to allow this prisoner to escape, possibly because his wife was Dutch or that he had Dutch sympathies. Certainly he had known Patrick for many years, but his opinion of Patrick was not overtly evident. It is possible that Underhill felt that the Dutchman's response was the only honorable way to deal with Patrick. In any event, this curious lapse in Underhill's defenses has not been satisfactorily explained.

The actual article was much larger about Underhill. I found it on Ancestry. I have a total of 15 records for Thomas.

dm

Good Morning Cnynhiker 2,
Thank you so much for the effort and the time to provide such a wealth of information on Thomas Stevenson.
I would be extremely interested in your source of information regarding Thomas arriving in Connecticut. I can't remember the source of information but during the 1600's the area referred to as Virginia extended much further north than it's present boundaries.
I do agree with much of the information you provided but I see there are some areas of differences. I do have one article that disputes John Stevenson's book and earlier articles.
My connection to Thomas Stevenson is basically based on
Newtown Town Records, Volume 1, page 60.
Presently my interest is Thomas Stevenson's involvements in the earlier Indian Wars and his connection to Underhill.
Several years ago I did have a DNA test completed hoping to connect to another Thomas Stevenson relative. To date I've made no connections.
Do you have any information regarding his possible brother or cousin Edward Stevenson?
I would be happy to explore further and send you what materials I have available outside of this forumn.
Thanks again, cstev23

Your welcome

It appears that the following person is after the same information as you are. Check this out:

S.R. Durand:
"Thomas Stevenson and his relative [our ancestor] Edward Stevenson [the father-in-law of Daniel Whitehead] were early settlers on Long Island. It has not been proven if they were brothers or cousins, but Edward Stevenson's widow, who had remarried William Graves, in her will dated December 31, 1670, left her Bible to her "cousin" Thomas Stevenson.
Thomas Stevenson settled on Long Island before 1642. He probably came from the Parish of Ainwell, Hertfordshire, England, as several of his associates came from there, and a monument was erected in this town to a John Stevenson in 1626. In writing about [our ancestors] Captain John and Elizabeth (Feake) Underhill, I mentioned the murder of Captain Daniel Patrick in 1642. Thomas Stevenson was set to guard the Dutch murderer, who was locked in an upper room of Captain Underhill's house, but the prisoner jumped out of a window and escaped. In 1644, Thomas Stevenson was one of the Colony under [our ancestor] Reverend John Moore, who settled Southold, Long Island. He built a house there adjacent to that built by Captain John Underhill.
Thomas Stevenson married on August 15, 1645 in the Reformed Dutch Church in New Amsterdam, Maria Bernard, the widow of William Bernard. Her maiden name was Maria (or Martha) Bullock. In about 1647, they removed from Southold to Flushing, and in 1651 to Newtown, where they purchased the Van der Douck farm on Flushing Bay. In 1655, Thomas Stevenson was one of the secretaries for the building of a church and parsonage at Newtown for the Reverend John Moore, who was an independent minister. It is not known when Stevenson died; the last public record of his name was in 1658."

Sources:
1.Abbrev: S.R. Durand Ancestry
Title: Ancestry of Samuel Relf Durand
Author: Durand, Samuel Relf (1904-1996)
Publication: Palo Alto, CA: Handwritten, circa 1991
Repository:
Name: Derek Doran-Wood
# 104
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423 USA

Page: 315
Quality: 3

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op...

My source on his immigration from Ancestry is:

Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s
about Thomas Stevenson
Name: Thomas Stevenson
Year: 1644
Place: Connecticut
Source Publication Code: 1262
Primary Immigrant: Stevenson, Thomas
Annotation: Date and place of settlement or date and place of arrival. Names not restricted to the Order of Founders and Patriots of America.
Source Bibliography: COLKET, MEREDITH B., JR. Founders of Early American Families: Emigrants from Europe, 1607-1657. Cleveland: General Court of the Order of Founders and Patriots of America, 1975. 366p.
Page: 276



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Source Citation: Place: Connecticut; Year: 1644; Page Number: 276.

Source Information:

Gale Research. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006. Original data: Filby, P. William, ed.. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2006.

Description:
Updated annually, this database is an index to passengers who arrived in United States and Canadian ports from the 1500s through the 1900s. It contains listings of approximately 4,588,000 individuals and references thousands of different records compiled from everything from original passenger lists to personal diaries. For each individual listed, you may find the following information: name, age, year and place of arrival, and the source of the record. Learn more...


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