Thomas Dutton

 

Birth: Between 1619 and 1622 in Dutton, Cheshire, England

Death: 22 January 1687 in Billerica, Massachusetts, America

Thomas Dutton was an English immigrant that settled in the newly founded Massachusetts Bay Colony. His parents were probably John Dutton (5 October 1598-4 May 1693) and Mary Nuld (born about 1599).

He was married in about 1647 to a woman named Susannah (about 1626-27 August 1684) in Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts. While Susannah’s maiden name remains unknown, one possibility is that she was Susannah Palmer.

The two had nine children together: Thomas Dutton, Mary Dutton, Susannah Dutton, John Dutton, Elizabeth Dutton, Joseph Dutton, Sarah Dutton, James Dutton and Benjamin Dutton.

Thomas’ presence is made known on several occasions in legal records in Middlesex, Massachusetts. In 1661, he was accused of beating his wife, although he and Susannah both denied the claims. In 1668, Michael Bacon accused Thomas of theft, so Thomas sued him for slander. To free himself of the charges, Thomas obtained signed statements declaring that he had lived in the community for many years and that he was an upstanding man. At another point in time, he had a land dispute with John Carter (one of the men who signed his court statement) in which Thomas lost and had to pay a fine.

After Susannah died in 1684, Thomas married a woman about 32 years his junior named Ruth Hooper.

Via his son Joseph Dutton, Thomas Dutton and Susannah are the 4th great grandparents of Latter-Day Saint prophet, Joseph Smith as well as the 5th great grandparents of prophet Joseph F. Smith and the 6th great grandparents of Joseph Fielding Smith (though Joseph F. and Joseph Fielding are both descended from Joseph Smith’s brother, Hyrum Smith).

Much of this information comes from: “Genealogical Register of First Families of New England” by John Farmer and “Middlesex County, Court Records” volume 1.