User:SBmeier/Thomas Hastings (of Watertown)

Deacon Thomas Hastings (c.1605-1685) and his wife Susan left Ipswich, Suffolk, England on "The Elizabeth," April 30, 1634. Although his home in England is unknown, the make-up of their ship's "company" strongly suggests that he was from East Anglia and perhaps from the counties of Suffolk or Norfolk. Among his many public offices, he served as Deputy for Watertown to the General Court of Massachusetts in 1673. He held property in nearby Dedham between 1636 and 1639 but there is no evidence that he ever lived there.

Family
The only major genealogy to treat the family, The Hastings Memorial (Boston, 1866), states that he was of noble birth by descent from the illustrious family that included the Earl of Huntingdon line. He is not known to have claimed such a connection in his lifetime and there is no record to substantiate this supposed connection and much to argue against it. After the death of his first wife, Thomas married Margaret Cheney of Roxbury and together they had eight children. Remarkably for the day and given such a large brood, they all survied their parents.

Legacy
In Watertown, where the American town meeting first took form, Thomas Hastings was repeatedly called to leadership positions inside and outside the church. At one time or another, he held virtually every office to include multiple stints as Selectman, Moderator and Town Clerk. He was last elected to public office (Selectman) in 1680. As a Freeman, he owned property and would have been a devoted Puritan and believer of the Gospel as conveyed in the Geneva Bible. Certainly one of the town's most influential citizens, later historians have called him one of the "old war-horses" of Watertown. His descendants are numerous and many have risen to positions of great importance or notoriety. Although no marker remains, he almost certainly lies among his many descendants in Watertown's Old Burying Ground (Arlington St. Cemetery). Margaret Hastings survived him by about five years.

Resources
http://www.thomashastings.org

Watertown Free Public Library http://www.watertownlib.org/catalog/page.asp?pn=vir688