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Notes for Thomas Kilbourne and Frances Moody

Research Notes:

Thomas and Frances Kilbourne settled in Glastenbury, CT on 108 acres which were set off to him, but he dying before the property was recorded, it was entered in the name of his widow, and has ever since remained in the family. The present [1870] occupant is Austin Kilbourn, Esq., author of various tracts on agriculture. [1]

Came to Boston in the Increase in 1635, age 55, with wife Frances, age 50, and children Margaret (23 on custom-ho. record but bapt 23 Sep 1607), Lydia (22 but bapt. 14 Jul 1616), Mary, 16, Frances, 12 (bapt. 4 Sep 1621), and John (10, bapt. 29 Sep 1624). Elizabeth (bapt 12 May 1614) did not come. [2]

The Great Migration [3] reports:

Thomas Kilbourn
Origin: Wood Ditton, Cambridgeshire.
Migration: 1635 on the Increase (on 15 April 1635, "Tho[mas] Kilborne," aged 55, husbandman, "uxor Francis Kilborne," aged 50, "Margaret Kilborne," aged 23, "Lyddia Kilborne," aged 22, "Marie Kilborne," aged 16, "Francis Kilborne," aged 12, and "Jo[hn] Kilborne," aged 10, were enrolled at London as passengers for New England on the Increase [Hotten 66]).
First Residence: Wethersfield.

Education: The inventory of the estate of the widow included "books" valued at £2 [Hartford Court Records 2:16 (probate side)].
Officeholding: The inventory of the estate of the widow included "arms and ammunition" valued at £2 15s. [Hartford Court Records 2:16 (probate side)].

Estate: On "12 month 25 day 1640" [25 February 1640/1], "Fran[cis] Kilborne, widow," held eight parcels of land at Wethersfield: "one piece whereon her house standeth containing by estimation 3 acres"; "one piece lying in the Great Meadow containing by estimation [illegible] acres"; "one piece also in the Great Meadow containing by estimation 3 acres"; "one other piece also in the Great Meadow containing by estimation 5 acres"; one piece lying in the Great West Field at the south end of the town containing by estimation fifty-six acres"; "one piece lying in the West Swamp containing eighteen acres"; "one other piece in Beaver Meadow containing two acres"; and "one other piece on the east side of Connecticut River containing one-hundred and eighty acres" [WetLR 1:185].

In her will, dated 13 November 1650 and proved 1 June 1651, "Francis Killburne of Wethersfield, … in lieu of forty shillings she borrowed of Richard Law … have given him five pounds to be paid within a year or two" and bequeathed to "my daughter Margerit, the wife of Richard Lawe, my old cloth gown, and to my grandchild Jonathan Lawe five shillings"; to "my daughter Lydia. the wife of Robert Haward, five pounds as the full of her portion I promised upon marriage with my daughter"; to "my daughter Meary, the wife of John Roote, five pounds as the full of her portion I promised upon marriage with my daughter"; to "my daughter Francis, the wife of Thomas Ufford, ten pounds in full of her portion promised in marriage with my daughter"; to "my grandchild Elizabeth Geneson," clothing; to "my three daughters to be divided amongst them, Lydia, Mary & Francis," clothing and linen; to "my son John," three shirts, and he to be sole executor [Hartford Court Records 2:15 (probate side); Manwaring 1:133].

The inventory of the estate of Frances Kilborne, taken 3 December 1650, totalled £349 8s. 4d. (against which were debts of £13 13s. 4d.), of which £135 was real estate: "the house and homelot & 12 acres in the Great Meadow," £105; "4 acres in the Westfield, 2 in Beaver Meadow, 4 in Mile Meadow," £20; and "her land beyond the river" £10 [Hartford Court Records 2:16 (probate side)].

On 5 December 1650, "there was exhibited into the court the will and inventory of the widow Killburne. The court not being satisfied about the proof of the will, ordered that John Killburne should for the present administer till they shall take further order about the same" [Hartford Court Records 2:16 (court side)]. On 1 June 1651, the "court approves of the last will and testament of the widow Killburne deceased and doth confirm John [Killburne administrator]" [Hartford Court Records 2:25 (court side)].

Birth: Baptized Wood Ditton, Cambridgeshire, 8 May 1578, son of John Kilborne.
Death: By 3 September 1640 [CCCR 1:445].
Marriage: Moulton, Suffolk, 5 September 1604 Frances Moody, daughter of George Moody [NEHGR 80:319, 323-24].

Children:
1. Anne Kilbourn, born say 1605; named in the 5 August 1607 will of her grandfather, George Moody [NEHGR 80:316-17, citing PCC 87 Hudleston]; no further record. (In accord with the custom of the time, she may have been baptized in Moulton, the home parish of her mother.)
2. Margaret Kilbourn, bp. Wood Ditton 23 September 1607; m. by about 1636 Richard Law (eldest known child d. "9 January 1711/2 in the 75th or 76th year of his age" [MilfordVR Barbour 112]).
3. Thomas Kilbourn, bp. Wood Ditton 30 November 1609; possibly the "Thomas Kilborne," aged 24, and "Elizabeth his wife," aged 20, who were enrolled at Ipswich on 30 April 1634 as passengers for New England on the Elizabeth [Hotten 280]; otherwise no further record.
4. George Kilbourn, bp. Wood Ditton 12 February 1611/2; no further record. (He was not the George Kilbourn who had settled at Roxbury and Rowley [Hale, House 653; Sarah Stone Anc 95].)
5. Elizabeth Kilbourn, bp. Wood Ditton 12 May 1614; no further record.
6. Lydia Kilbourn, bp. Wood Ditton 14 July 1616; m. by about 1641 Robert Howard (eldest known child born about 1641 [Ackley-Bosworth 14-15]).
7. Mary Kilbourn, born about 1619 (aged 16 on 15 April 1635 [Hotten 66]); m. by about 1639 John Root (eldest known child, son John, m. on 18 October 1664 [Savage 3:572]).
8. Frances Kilbourn, bp. Wood Ditton 9 September 1621; m. by 1650 Thomas Ufford, son of Thomas Ufford [1632, Roxbury] [GMB 3:1857-58].
9. John Kilbourn, bp. Wood Ditton 29 September 1624; m. (1) by 1651 Naomi _____ (eldest known child born 15 January 1651[/2] [WetVR Barbour 190, citing LR1:18]; "Naomey," w. John Kilburne, d. Wethersfield 1 October 1659 [WetVR Barbour 190, citing LR1:39]); m. (2) about 1662 Sarah Brunson, daughter of John Brunson [TAG 38:199-204].

Associations: John Moody [1633, Roxbury] [GMB 2:1273-76] was a brother of Francis (Moody) Kilburne [NEHGR 80:313-27]. Their sister Elizabeth Moody married John Pratt of Wood Ditton [NEHGR 80:324], but he was not the immigrant of that name to Cambridge and Hartford [TAG 64:11; GMB 3:1507-10].

Comments: According to her age on the passenger list, Mary Kilbourn was born about 1619. William Ridgwell, vicar of Wood Ditton, was buried there on 2 May 1618, and no further parish register entries were made until 29 July 1620, thus explaining the lack of a baptismal record for Mary. (Although there are some discrepancies between the baptismal records at Wood Ditton and the ages given on the passenger list, there is no doubt of the identification, and the discrepancies have no material impact on the analysis of this family's chronology.)

On 3 September 1640, the estate of Abraham Finch owed 5s. to "widow Kilborne" [CCCR 1:445]. On 2 September 1647, "Widow Kilburne" successfully sued Peter Blachfield [CCCR 1:156].

The identity of the "grandchild Elizabeth Geneson" named in the will of Francis (Moody) Kilbourn has not been determined. She cannot be a child of any of the children of Francis whose marriages are documented above. The only remaining solution is that she was a daughter of either daughter Ann or daughter Eliuzabeth, whose fates are unknown.

Bibliographic Note: In 1845 Payne Kenyon Kilbourne published an account of this family [The Family Memorial. A History and Genealogy of the Kilbourn Family, in the United States and Canada from the Year 1635 to the Present Time (Hartford 18450] and in 1856 he brought a much-expanded version [The History and Antiquities of the Name and Family of Kibourn, (in Its Varied Orthography.) (New Haven 1856)].

In 1931 Mary Walton Ferris treated the family [Dawes-Gates 2:508-14]. In 1952 Donald Lines Jacobus treated the family of this immigrant, including much detail on the family of his wife [Hale, House 652-56]. In 1960 Jacobus prepared another brief account of the family[Ackley-Bosworth 16-18].


Footnotes:

[1] Root Genealogical Records, 1600-1870 by James Pierce Root.

[2] James Savage, Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England.

[3] Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Vol. 4, I-L (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2005), 148, [AmericanAncestors].