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Thomas Larkham first appears in Rhode Island records on August 24, 1728, when he signed as the witness to a land deed for the purchase of 15 acres of land in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. He is the only Larkham, other than Lancelot or Frances, who appears in early Rhode Island records.

Thomas Larkham is the weak link in my Larkham line of ancestry. I haven't found clear proof that he is Lancelot Larkham's father or the husband of Lancelot's mother, Frances. It is significant; however, that Thomas and Frances Larkham appear only in the records of South Kingstown, which is where young Lancelot was living when his mother, Frances, placed him in an apprenticeship to learn the trade of weaving on July 23, 1749.[1]

Family records allude to Thomas Larkham as Lancelot’s father. My great-grandmother had, among her hand-written notes on her ancestry, a piece of paper bearing what appears to be the patrilineal line of descent of her Larkham family. At the top of the list is the name "Thomas", followed by Lancelot and his male descendants. Among the notes[2] of Isabella Weer Brayton, Town Historian of Hartford, New York and a descendant of Lancelot Larkham of Rhode Island through his son Thomas is written “Launcelot, John and Thomas Larkham came from England before 1800”.

A clue to the origins of the early Larkhams of Rhode Island may be found in the name, Lancelot. The name was relatively rare in colonial New England and even rarer in 18th century Rhode Island. It is remarkable, though, that the controversial Puritan minister, Thomas Larkham, who came briefly to Dover, New Hampshire in 1636-1642, had a grandson, Lancelot Larkham. Reverend Thomas Larkham’s son, George Larkham (also a “non-conformist” minister), was the father of Lancelot Larkham, born November 29, 1661 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England. The name Lancelot came from the family of Dorothy Fletcher, wife of George Larkham and mother of Lancelot Larkham of England. Her father was Lancelot Fletcher, who descended from a line of several Lancelots in the Fletcher line. According to Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames with Special American Instances by Bardsley, the name Lancelot “was very common in Cumberland and N. England generally for many centuries.”

Even more compelling is Rev. George Larkham’s bequest to his son, Lancelot in his will, dated January 10, 1699 and proved March 17, 1700:

Itm My will is and I doe hereby bequeath to my Son Lancelot for a Legacy Ten pound; Itm to his Son Thomas (my Grandchild) Ten pound, To be due for him; in order to his bringing up to some trade; And I hope his parents will not defraud him &c.

Could this grandchild, Thomas, be the same Thomas Larkham who appears in 18^th century Rhode Island records? Certainly the naming of the early Rhode Island Larkhams, Thomas and Lancelot, is consistent with the family line of Reverend Thomas Larkham. In addition, travel to colonial New England had become increasingly common during the early 18^th century. It would have been easy to arrange ships passage from either the English ports of Bideford or Plimouth to Boston or to Newport, Rhode Island. The economy of Rhode Island was flourishing in the early 1700s, and considering the controversial religious history of the Larkhams in England, it would have been logical to go to Rhode Island where many “non-conformist” free-thinkers had followed Roger Williams and Ann Hutchinson.

If Thomas Larkham was an infant when his grandfather signed his will on January 10, 1699, he would have been around twenty-nine years of age when he witnessed the South Kingstown land deed in 1728, and about forty-one years of age when Lancelot Larkham of Rhode Island was born on November 20, 1740.

A chronology of Thomas Larkham’s life in Rhode Island until his death in 1746 is as follows:

August 24, 1728: Thomas Larkham of South Kingstown witnessed the purchase of 15 acres of land in South Kingstown, Rhode Island for £300 by Aaron Milliman, son-in-law from Joseph Case, yeoman and his wife Elisabeth of South Kingstown.[3] Wm Keais (probably William Case) was another witness to the deed.

February, 26, 1739: Thomas Larkham witnessed a deed for the purchase of 16 acres of land in South Kingstown for 800£ by Jeffery Watson, yeoman, from Ebenezer Smith, Jr., yeoman, of South Kingstown.[4]

November 20, 1740: Lancelot Larkham of Rhode Island was born, probably in South Kingstown.

July 12, 1742: Thomas Larkham's name was posted in South Kingstown Town Council records as one of three men to whom applicants of South Kingstown tavern licenses were forbidden to serve strong liquor. Similar postings for Thomas Larkham appear in the South Kingstown Town Council Records for July 11, 1743; July 2, 1744; July 1745; and July 14, 1746.

1744: Thomas Larkham's name appeared on the South Kingstown tax list as having paid 00:10 in tax. Thomas Larkham also appeared in the South Kingstown Town Council books as one of 20 men from whom debts were collected belonging to the estate of Nathan Sheffield, dec'd. by his executor beginning in the year 1744 . Although this entry in South Kingstown records was made February 12, 1747, it is evident that the debts were collected closer to 1744 and that the record entry date was after the fact.

July 8, 1746: Thomas Larkham enlisted in Captain Edward Cole's Company in the campaign against Canada, King George's War. The troops were quartered at Fort George on Goat Island in Newport Harbor, where they remained until November 2, 1746. Of 100 men listed on the muster roll of Captain Cole’s Company, twenty-five men died and twenty deserted.

Arnold wrote in History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, “These troops were quartered on Goat Island by July and from that time until November 2, when they finally sailed for Nova Scotia they were in a state of uncertainty as to their destination. . . .The number of desertions in the third roll is noticeably large. The fact that the pay of these men was recorded just as it was for those who stayed with the colors is evidence that the authorities knew of extenuating circumstances, or in some way looked leniently upon what is technically a serious fault.”

September 4, 1746: According to the muster roll of Captain Cole's company, Thomas Larkham died September 4, 1746, having served 58 days, wages due 1£ 6S. He apparently never left Fort George on Goat Island in Newport Harbor.

Thomas Larkham’s death in 1746 would explain why, in July of 1749, it was Frances Larkham who placed Lancelot into an apprenticeship at the young age of 8 ½. Normally the father would have been the more likely party in such a contract.

[1] The apprenticeship indenture of Lancelot Larkham, July 23, 1749, nearly three years after the death of Thomas Larkham. The document begins “This indenture witnesseth that Frances Larkham of South Kingstown in Kings County in the Colony of Rhode Island & Providence Plantation in New England Woosted Corner hath put her son Lanceselot Larkham and by these presents doth voluntarily and of her own free will and accord put her aforesaid son Lanceselot Larkham an apprentice unto Joseph Enoss & his wife Margaret Enoss of the town of Richmond in the county & colony aforesaid Weavers to learn their art: Trade or mystery of a weaver after the manner of an apprentice.”

[2] Notes on the Larkham family by Isabella Weer Brayton, provided to me by her daughter, Sylvia Van Anden, June 2, 1997.

[3] Aaron Milliman was the husband of Ann Case, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Case.

[4] Relations were not always cordial between Watson and Smith. In Jeffery Watson's Diary, published in the Rhode Island Genealogical Register (RIGR), Volume 3 No. 1, Jeffery Watson wrote:

"9 Mar 1740 [1740/1]. "Ebe" and "Eph" Smith tried to cheat me by altering the date of their deed." On page 4 of his diary, Watson wrote: "9 Oct 1743. Ebenezer Smith was buried."

You are listening to the folk tune, "The Miller of Dee", sequenced by Barry Taylor.

The leaf graphic on this page is a scan of a stencil I made using
Falling Leaves, a stencil template produced by Delta Stencil Magic.

Thomas Larkham

of South Kingstown, Rhode Island