Ancestors

Thomas Picket

Thomas Picket was baptised at the First Church of Salem, in Massachusetts, on 19 November 1648. The record reads "Tho[mas], s. Jo[h]n," and his brothers John and James and his sister Sarah were baptised the same day. Four children baptised together suggests that Thomas may have been born some years before 1648. His parents were John and Margaret Pickett. The family moved to Stratford in Connecticut, and Samuel Orcutt's history of that town places them there from about 1650.

On 16 November 1676 he married Abigail Seymour at Norwalk. She was a daughter of Thomas Seamer and Hannah Marvin of Norwalk, and a granddaughter of Matthew Marvin. Orcutt's Stratford genealogy enters the family: "Thomas, son of John, 1st, and Margaret Pickett, m. Abigail ___, Nov. 16, 1676. 14. Abigail, b. July 30, 1678. 15. Hannah, b. May 20, 1680. 16. Jacob, b. Feb. 16, 1680-1." His mother died in October 1683 and his father in April 1684.

He moved on to Danbury, which was first permanently settled in 1685. His brother James was there by 1690. A James Picket of Danbury died on 15 February 1701, leaving a son John. That the Stratford Thomas and the Danbury Thomas are one man is shown by his daughters. The Abigail and Hannah born at Stratford in 1678 and 1680 are the sisters "Abigail Benedict, wife of Samuel Benedict," and Hannah, mother of "nephew Thomas Noble, of New Milford," in his son Benjamin's will of 1724.

Abigail Seymour died before him, at a date not found. He married again, to a woman named Sarah. The inventory of his estate was made on 22 January 1711/12: "He left a widow Sarah, six sons and three daughters." Some of the younger children were probably Sarah's, but the records do not say which. Another account gives him the dates 19 November 1648 to 6 February 1712, without a source. The first is his Salem baptism. The second falls after the inventory, unless it is an old-style date.

His daughters were Sarah, who married a Vidito; Hannah, whose only son was Thomas Noble of New Milford; and Abigail, who married Samuel Benedict of Danbury. One son, Benjamin, died in 1724 and left his estate to his five brothers, his sisters Sarah Vidito and Abigail Benedict, and his nephew Thomas Noble. Another son, Ephraim, was named by Samuel Benedict as brother-in-law and co-executor in 1735. When Samuel Benedict made his will that year he identified his wife as "Abigail, daughter of Thomas Picket."

Captain Josiah Starr's inventory of 1715/16 lists land at Danbury he had "bought of Thos. Picket."

If Thomas Picket is in your family, start your own tree.

Cite: Heirology, "Thomas Picket (b. 1648)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/thomas-picket-1648-b7588a.