Jamestown was founded by Captain John Smith and a small group of English colonists. It might be well to note that the first Negroes were brought to Jamestown and the new America in 1619.
Thomas Bond lived at Bury St. Edmunds. He had a will that was dated November 8, 1658 and was proved the 10th of March, 1659 at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury in London. Thomas Bond was to marry Elizabeth Woods in England in about 1620 as the first Pilgrims were to arrive in America.
The children of Thomas and Elizabeth Woods Bond were: Thomas (baptized September 22, 1622), John (baptized February 5, 1624), William (baptized September 3, 1625), Henry (baptized April 5, 1628), Elizabeth (baptized March 12, 1630), Francis (baptized May 31, 1632), May (baptized January 31, 1636), and Jonas (baptized August 5, 1638).
It is important to include other events of this time which led to a new home for this line of the Bond family.
The Spaniards had arrived in America and reports of their finding riches, including gold and silver, had spread across the seas to the whole world. The Pilgrims were to leave Southampton, England in 1620 by way of Plymouth, England to arrive in the New World late December of this same year. This was the beginning of “New England”.
Without going into all of the details already covered in history books, religious beliefs were reasons for the “Puritans”, Protestants who wanted to worship in their belief rather than that of the Catholic Church, to “escape” their homeland in search of a new land in which to worship as they preferred.
Two groups of English people were the first to establish “New England”. The “Cavaliers” were to land and make their home in Virginia. The “Puritans”, our ancestors, were to arrive in the Massachusetts area.
Three children of Thomas and Elizabeth Woods Bond were to arrive in America with Winthrop’s Fleet in 1629 or 1630. A son Thomas would have been about seven years old, a son John was five, and William may have been about four years old. All three children were baptized in St. James Church in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk County, England.
One writing tells us that William, and perhaps the other two children, was brought to America by his aunt Eliza, wife of Ephraim Child.
We know that Thomas and Elizabeth were to have five more children, after John, Thomas, and William, all born in America.
Because of conditions in England at this time, it is believed that Thomas and Elizabeth may have arrived in New England before the arrival of their three children who were left in the charge of their aunt until the appropriate time for them to join their parents in America. This information is sure to be found after a search into Winthrop’s Fleet passenger lists.
