Saturday, January 21, 2017

Thomas Wallen the "Bad Boy"

Thomas Walling - court records Plymouth colony 1650
"The fourth of Aprell, 1650. Tho Wallen, Richard Carle, Gorg Way, Katheren Warner, and Mary Mills were apprehended at Barnstable,
in the jurisdiction of New Plym; and on the eight day of Aprell, aforsaid, they being examined before William Bradford, gent, Gouer,
Willam Collyar, and Willam Thomas, gent, Assistants, confessed yt they, the said Tho Wallen, Richard Carle, & Gorge Way did healpe
away Katheren Warner & Mary Mills, who were run away from theire husbands; and for yt purpose yt Richard Carle aforsaid did steale his fathers boat, which they came away in; it was therefore ordered by the Gouer & Assistants aboue mensioned, that the aforsaid Gorg Way, Katheren Warner, & Mary Mills should bee sent from constabel to constable to the place from whence they came, wh is a place called Winter Harbor, near Richmans Iland to the eastward; and yt Tho Wallen & Richard Carle aforsaid bee comitted to ward; all which accordingly was forthwith pformed."
(TL NOTE apparently Winter Harbor is in present-day Maine I think commited to ward might be a little like colonial house arrest )
Genealogical Dictionary of New Hampshire and Maine reveals a Thomas Warner whose wife Katheren went “with an eloping party from Winter Harbor to Barnstable.”
The Early Records of the Town of Providence--1662/63
-For asmuch as Thomas Walling, formerly inhabitant of this Towne of providence; hath departed this towne, the Towne being doubtfull of his return to take care for the Releife of the wife and child which he hath left in the Towne: This to signiffie unto all persons, that the town hath seized into their handes and Secured, all the estate of the said Thomas Walling....
..
Court Oct. 1664 Providence, Providence, RI: Indicted by the grand Jury for Committing Fornication with Ann Smith... pay forye shillings or to be whipt. The sayd walwin Doth Choose to pay Fortye shllings

He returned for a while then abandoned his wife and children again in 1667
“in October of 1666 Thomas Walling was found guilty of assault on Robert Colwell and paid a bond of 20 pounds, but he failed to appear in court and forfeited his bond. It turned out that he had run away with Colwell's wife Margaret White, whom Colwell subsequently divorced.”

In a separate incident, William White's daughter, Margaret, already married to Robert Colwell, ran away with her married neighbor, Thomas Walling; both deserted their families. Colwell secured his divorce 2 July 1667; Margaret had returned to Boston and was ordered to be publicly whipped 15 stripes and was fined £5 in October 1666.

Thomas was also whipped this time twice once in Providence and the other was I believe in Boston
http://www.patconwell.com/familytree/histories/TWallen.html

Poor Mary, first Wife of Thomas Wallen
from -- Thomas Wallen/Walling: Pilgrim Rogue? by Joan Gatturna
"Roger Williams wrote the following to the town of Providence: “I understand that one of the orphans of our dear friend Daniel Abbott is likely(as she herself told me) to be disposed of in marriage.'Tis true she has now come to some years, but who knows not what need the poor maid hath of your fatherly care, counsel and direction. I would not disparage the young man (for I hear he hath been laborious)...”
Williams went on to urge the town to seek assurance that the young man will “forsake his former courses.”

"The Early Records of the Town of Providence
For asmuch as Thomas Walling, formerly inhabitant of this Towne of providence;
hath departed this towne, the Towne being doubtfull of his return to take care
for the Releife of the wife and child which he hath left in the Towne: This to
signiffie unto all persons, that the town hath seized into their handes and Secured,
all the estate of the said Thomas Walling......
There are several entries about the absence of Thomas. Mary petitions the town to be
relieved of the care of an apprentice named Daniel Comstock, as she can no longer care
for him. During the same year she also apprentices her own son Gerhom to Nathaniel Mowry.
The entries about the apprenticeships are dated 1667, the same year as the divorce of
Margaret and Robert Colwell. Mary Abbott Wallen dies in 1669 and Thomas reappears to marry Margaret Colwell. "