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'''Thomas Willett''' ({{circa|1607}}{{snd}}August 29, 1674) was a [[Plymouth Colony]] fur trader, [[merchant]], land purchaser and developer, [[Captain (land)|Captain]] of the Plymouth Colony militia, [[Magistrate]] of the colony, and was the 1st and 3rd [[Mayor of New York City|Mayor of New York]], prior to the consolidation of the five boroughs into the [[New York City|City of New York]] in 1898.
==Career==
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Willett's parents and siblings were evidently left behind when he emigrated to Plymouth in 1629. His family life thereafter centered around that of his wife's family. Willett married Mary, daughter of John Browne (Sr.),<ref>[https://archive.org/details/johnbrownegentle00brow/page/n4/mode/1up Brown, George Tilden (1919). ''John Browne, Gentleman of Plymouth.'' Providence: Remington Press.]</ref> a leading citizen of the Plymouth Colony, and Browne's wife, Dorothy, in 1636. He moved with the Brown(e) family from Plymouth westward, originally to the Taunton area by the 1650s, and later to the eastern shores of [[Narragansett Bay]] to Wannamoisett, near present-day Barrington, Rhode Island. Willett had substantial business dealings with Browne (Sr.) and later increasingly, especially between 1656 and 1660 when Browne (Sr.) is believed to have been in England,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/johnbrownegentle00brow/page/19/mode/1up Brown, p. 19.]</ref> with Browne's two sons, John (Jr.) and James. Another family connection was with Willett's early co-worker in the fur trade, [[John Howland]]. Howland's daughter, Lydia, married James Browne and Howland's widow, [[Elizabeth Tilley|Elizabeth]], was living with James and Lydia Broowne's family when she died. Both John Browne (Sr.) and John Browne (Jr.) died in 1662, the son ten days before the father.
The children of Thomas and Mary Willet, as compiled from several sources, were:<ref>[https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/58#paper-p358 Saffin, John. ''Personal Manuscript.'' (As reported by Abner C. Goodell Jr.), Colonial Society of Massachusetts '''I''': Transactions (1892–1894), (April 1894), (58): 358–360.]</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/newenglandhisto11unkngoog/page/n390/mode/1up?view=theater "The Willet Family".] ''New England Historical and Genealogical Register''. Boston: Samuel G. Drake. '''II''' (October 1848): 376. 1848.</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/johnbrownegentle00brow/page/27/mode/1up Brown, pp. 27–28.
*Mary, b. November 10, 1637, d. June 24,1712, married Rev. Samuel Hooker (son of [[Thomas Hooker|Rev. Thomas Hooker]]) in 1658, remarried Rev. Thomas Buckingham in 1703.
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*Rebecca, b. December 2, 1644, d. April 2, 1652.
*Thomas, b. October 1, 1646, d. before 1671(?).
*Hester, b. July 6, 1648, d. July 26, 1737,
*James, b. November 24, 1649, married Elizabeth Hunt (daughter of Peter Hunt) in 1673, remarried Grace Frinck in 1677.
*Hezekiah, b. June 20, 1651, d. July 26, 1651.
*Hezekiah, b. November 16, 1653, d. July 1, 1676, married Ann (or Hannah) Browne (daughter of John Brown (Jr.)) in 1675.
*David, b. November 1, 1654, d. before 1671(?).
*Andrew, b. October 5, 1656, d. April 6, 1712, married Ann Coddington in 1682
*Samuel, b. October 27, 1658.
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Mary Willett, the first wife of Thomas, died on January 8, 1669, at about 55 years old<ref>[https://archive.org/details/johnbrownegentle00brow/page/26/mode/1up Brown, p. 26.]</ref> making her birthdate about 1614, almost certainly in England. Her grave is next to that of Thomas Willett. Little mention is found of her in the records; what is there includes her marriage to Thomas on July 6, 1636,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/recordsofcolonyo0102newp/page/n64/mode/1up Shurtleff, '''I''' (July 6, 1636): 43.]</ref> and she is also mentioned in connection with her father's will which was hastily written while he was ill in the short period between his son's death and his own. The will of John Browne (Sr.) made scant reference to his daughter, Mary, no significant bequest to her, and none at all to her offspring. Browne's objective may have been to leave his property to the relatively more needy members of his family rather than to those of Mary's branch, as she was married to one of the wealthiest men in the colony. However this might have been, Browne's intent could have been better expressed and the result was an unusual mention in the colony's records regarding Mary Willett's good relationship with her father.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/johnbrownegentle00brow/page/22/mode/1up Brown, p. 22.]</ref>
Joanna Prudden, widow of Rev. [[Peter Prudden]] and second wife of Thomas Willett, married Willett in Milford, Connecticut, on September 20, 1671.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/peterpruddenstor00prud/page/56/mode/1up?q=willett Prudden, Lillian Eliza (1901). ''Peter Prudden: a story of his life and New Haven and Milford, Conn.'' New Haven, Conn.: Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor. p. 56.]</ref> After Willett's death in 1674, she soon returned to Milford and remarried again, this time to Rev. John Bishop.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/peterpruddenstor00prud/page/58/mode/1up?q=willett Prudden, Lillian Eliza (1901). ''Peter Prudden: a story of his life and New Haven and Milford, Conn.'' New Haven, Conn.: Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor. p. 58.]</ref> She was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, England, in 1616 and died on November 8, 1681, in Stamford, Connecticut
Mary Willett, eldest daughter of Capt. Thomas Willett and his wife Mary, married in 1658 Rev. Samuel Hooker, son of Rev. [[Thomas Hooker]], Puritan divine and founder of [[Hartford, Connecticut]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=r17mNhtcPRwC&q=willet&pg=PA231 Hooker, Edward, and Margaret Huntington Hooker (ed.) (1908). ''The Descendants of Rev. Thomas Hooker, 1586–1908.'' Rochester, N.Y.: Margaret Huntington Hooker. pp. 10–12, 18–19, and 22–23.]</ref>
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[[Category:People from North Hertfordshire District]]
[[Category:People from colonial Massachusetts]]
[[Category:People
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