Eleventh Generation

1796. Thomas MANCHESTER⁴³² was born about 1620 in Yorkshire, England. He died in 1691 at the age of 71 in Portsmouth, Newport Co., RI. He came initially to New Haven, CT, in 1639, but moved to Portsmouth, RI, in 1642. He may have come as part of a company of Yorkshire settlers led by Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, a famous nonconformist minister. As of 1639 and 1640 he was listed as a servant of Mr. Perry. He owned considerable land in Portsmouth by the time he died, including Quononoqutt Island and Dutch Island. Some question whether the family really came from Yorkshire.

This information comes from Boyer, Ancestral Lines, Third Edition, pp. 286-7. He may have been the son of Henry de Mancestre of Warwickshire. See Genealogies of RI Families, Gary Boyd Roberts, 1989.

The following is from "The Manchester Family of Rhode Island", by Alden and Rita C. Manchester, Takoma Park, Md., in the New England
Historic Genealogical Society of Boston Register, October 1947. It differs considerably from, and corrects many errors in the following
other genealogies, from which I have added several items of interest, namely:. Austin's Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island, Vol 2, p
108: from "New England Families", by William Richard Cutter, Vol 2, p. 853, New York, 1913: from "Colonial Families", by the American
Historical Society, New York, 1929: from the "Genealogy of Stephen Manchester: from "The Genealogy of the "Briggs Family", by Pearl Leona Heck: from Daniel Wilcox of Puncatest", by Herbert A. Wilcox, South Pasadena, Cal., 1943: and from the "Cooke Family & Descendants and Relatives of Francis Cooke of the Mayflower". The genealogy by Alden and Rita C.Manchester carries the descendants down much further than given below.

Thomas Manchester was born in England about 1620, and died at Portsmouth, R.I., about 1691. Alden and Rita Manchester state that no
English ancestry of Thomas Manchester has ever been satisfactorily established, and they consider the statement in "Colonial Families" that Thomas was the son of Henry de Mancestre, and grandson of Hugo de Mancestre, Lord Mancestre of Warwickshire, England, was pure guesswork and only worthy of inclusion here as an interesting speculation. Thomas Manchester was an early pioneer of Quinnipiac, called
New Haven after 1640, in the Plantation of Connecticut: since he is found there in 1639, it would seem probable that he was of the company of Yorkshire settlers who in 1638 came to America with Ezekiel Rogers, the famous non-conformist minister, with the view of joining the Quinnipiac Plantation, although many of them eventually settled elsewhere. The New Haven colony differed very much from other colonies.
Many of the colonists put up large houses. As an explanation why this style of building was so general, it may be said that the founders of
New Haven were mainly gentlemen and merchants, used to living in superior houses in London and other parts of England. For a period, Thomas continued at Quinnipiac, but removed to Portsmouth, R.I, before 1642. On February 25/1642 he was appointed to serve on the next jury. From 1674 till his death, he was Town Sergeant. He became a considerable landed proprietor. Prior to 1655 he acquired land on the
island of Aquidneck, and on January 25/1655, he made a deed of a tract of 12 acres there to Thomas Wood. On December 10/1657, he shared in the land division and received eight acres at Portsmouth. He also had share in Dutch Island and Quononoquet Island, and conveyed his interest in1/300th right therein to Richard Sisson on July 6/1658. His mansion and homestead was built on his Portsmouth land. On July 9/1691, Thomas deeded to his son John, his mansion house and all lands at Portsmouth, except the piece at the lower end, which had been theretofore deeded to his son Thomas. According to the deed, half was to be John's on his brother Thomas' death, and the remaining half upon the death of his Mother, conditioned always that pay to his brothers Thomas, William and
Stephen, 10 shillings each, to Job 20/-, and to his sisters Mary andElizabeth, ten shillings each.
Margaret WOOD and Thomas MANCHESTER were married before 1650 in Portsmouth, Newport Co., RI.

1797. Margaret WOOD died in 1693 in Portsmouth, Newport Co., RI. She was born in Portsmouth, Newport Co., RI.

Children were: