Thomas Pope

!Will: 9 Jul 1683. Inventory taken (he's called "of Dartmouth") on 4 Aug 1683. Probated at Plymouth 2 November 1683. His will reads as follows: The Last Will and Testament of Thomas Pope being aged and weake of body But yett in prfect understanding and Memory wherin I have of my estate as followeth; I Give unto my son Seth as an adition to what I have formerly given him ten shillings in Mony alsoe I give unto my Grand son Thomas Pope all that my twenty five acrees of upland and two acrees of Meddow Lying and being on the west syde of Acushenett River be it more or lesse; and it is my Desire that his father may take the said Land into his hands, and make the best Improvement of it that hee can for the good of my said Grand son untill hee comes of age to Make use of it himselfe; alsoe it is my mind that my son Seth shall in consideration of the aforsaid Land pay three pound sterling unto my Grand son Jacob michell when hee Comes to age of twenty one yeers alsoe I give unto my Daughter Deborah Pope five pound in Mony and to each of my other Daugters five pounds apeece in Mony alsoe my meddow Lying att the south Meddowes in Plymough or the value of it I give to be equally Devided amongst all My sones and Daughters; alsoe I give and bequeath unto my son Isaake all my seate of Land where I now Dwell with all the Meddowes belonging therunto and all the privilidges therunto belonging To him his heires and assignes for ever; But an if it should please God that hee should Decease without an heire before hee comes to the age of twenty and one yeeres then my said seat of Lands shall belonge unto the sons of my son Seth, alsoe I give unto my son Isacke all my houseing and houshold Goods of all sorts alsoe all my Cattle, and horse kind and swine; alsoe all sorts of Provisions alsoe Cart and plowes with all the takeling belonging unto them alsoe I Give unto my son Isacke all my mony except that which I have Given to my Daughters and I order my said son Isacke to pay all my Just Debts and to receive all my Debts that are Due unto mee alsoe I order my Indian Lydia to live with my son Isacke untell hee is one and twenty yeers of age and my Indian Gerle I give to him During his life alsoe it is my mind and will that my son Isacke shall make Noe bargaine without the Consent of his overseers; untill hee be twenty yeares of age, I have made Choise of John Cooke and my son Seth and Thomas Tabor to be for overseers, To see this My will prformed Signed and sealed in prsence of John Cooke and Thomas Tabor. Thomas Pope & his mark. ------------- From Cutter 1:94: Thomas Pope, immigrant ancestor, was born in 1608, died in Dartmouth, Mass., in Octobert 1683. He settled in Plymouth, Mass., where he was taxed on January 2, 1633, and again on January 2, 1634. On October 6, 1636, he received a grant of five acres of land "at the fishing point next Slowly field, and said Thomas be allowed to build." On June 7, 1637, he volunteered to go under "Mr. Prence," on an expedition against the Pequots. On August 29, 1640, he sold his property at the fishing point to John Bonham, and on November 20 of that year he was granted five acres "of meadowing in South Meadows toward Gavans Colebrook meadows." In August, 1634, he was among those men able to bear arms. He was chosen constable, June 4, 1645, and was on a jury in August, 1645. In 1646 he was at Yarmouth. On June 1, 1647, an action for slander was brought against him, confessed, authors and defendants were brought in equally guilty, and damages paid. In July, 1648, he was chosen surveyor of highways, and again on June 6, 1651. On July 26, 1652, and in 1656, he was "on an Enquest". In December 1663, he and Gyles Rickard were arrested "for breaking the King's peace by striking each other, and were fined three shillings and four pence." On February 7, 1664, and May 2, 1665, he was disputing with John Barnes in regard to a boundary line. He was made freeman in 1668. In 1673 he petitioned for a grant of land at Saconnett, now Little Compton, Rhode Island, but was unable to secure the grant. He was granted permission by the court to look for land, undisposed of, and he secured a large tract on the east side of the Acushnet river at Dartmouth, where he moved doubtless about 1674. In July, 1675, his son John, aged twenty-two, his daughter Susannah and her husband Ensign Jacob Mitchell, were killed by King Philip's Indians, "early in the morning as they were felleing on horseback to the garrison, whither the Mitchell children had been sent the afternoon before." The Dartmouth settlement was abandoned soon after this, because of the danger from the Indians, and no attempt seems to have been made for about three years to settle there again. On June 12, 1676, several indians who had been captured and sent in by Bradford and Church, were brought before the court; one of them, John-num, was accused of being concerned in the murder of Jacob Mitchell and his wife and John Pope, and was put to death. On July 13, 1677, other Indians were put into slavery as a punishment for the outrages committed at Dartmouth.