Birth:  ABT 1581  Fordwich, Ashford Borough, Kent, England

Marriage:  21 DEC 1607  to Elizabeth Rouse  in Matlock, Derby, England

Birth of Daughter:  Margaret Bourne

Birth of Son:  John Bourne

Birth of Daughter:  1607
Name:  Ann Bourne

Birth of Daughter:  1614
Name:  Martha Bourne

Birth of Daughter:  18 JAN 1615  
Name:  Sarah Ann Bourne
Place:  Kempsey, Worcester, England

Birth of Daughter:  1618
Name:  Elizabeth Bourne

Immigration:  sometime near 1630 from England to Plymouth, Massachusetts
Details:   He was a resident of Plymouth long enough to be well known there, and was so desirable a citizen that in 1637 the Court of Plymouth Colony granted him and others called special persons, “that would promise to live at Plymouth on some good farms, and so tie the lands of Plymouth as farms for the same; and these they might keep their cattle, tilling by some servants, and retain their dwellings in Plymouth.”

Land Rec:  04 DEC 1637
Details:  A grant of 100 acres was given to Thomas Bourne, and it was the second grant recorded of land in Marshfield. The same day 100 acres was granted to Josiah Winslow.

Office Held:  1640
Details:  The town was incorporated in 1640, and the same year Thomas Bourne was one of two that were chosen deputies to represent the town in the October General Court, and he was elected three times afterward.

Community Activity:  AUG 1645
Details:  “Under date of Aug., 1645, the following entry is found: ‘On a motion being made for one to teach school, we whose names are undersigned, are willing to pay yearly besides paying for our children; we shall send the following sums.’ Among others we find the name of Thomas Bourne, who subscribed ten shillings. Thus early, Thomas Bourne, his son, John, and others, took measures to establish a public school.

Note:  We have one more record of this Thomas, called by one writer the ‘eldest of the Marshfield settlers and a patriarch of its Eden.’ 

Death:  11 MAY 1664  Marshfield, Plymouth Co, Massachusetts

Burial:  Old Winslow Burying Ground, Marshfield, Plymouth Co, Massachusetts

parents are unknown

Elizabeth Rouse

Birth:  ABT 1590  Tenterden, Kent, England

Death:  18 JUL 1660  New London, New London Co, Connecticut

Burial:  Old Winslow Burying Ground, Marshfield, Plymouth Co, Massachusetts
Details:  While there is a cenotaph including Thomas Bourn’s name at the Old Winslow Burying Ground, there is no evidence that either Bourne was buried there. At this early time, most settlers were buried on their own land, often in burying grounds not locatable now. But given the fact that she died in New London, it is extremely unlikely that she was interred anywhere near Marshfield.

parents are John Rouse and Anice Peabody

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