Re: Fishers of Dedham, MA 1630s: rethinking it
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In reply to:
Fishers of Dedham, MA 1630s: rethinking it
Duane Boggs 3/06/11
In the previous post, I differentiated carpenter Thomas Fisher (who moved from Newtowne (now Cambridge) MA to Dedham, MA in 1637, and died there in 1638) from a donor Thomas Fisher of Winton/Winston, England (who reportedly gave 25 pounds, through John Allen to John Winthrop, for the Massachsetts Bay Company/Colony).A pound was worth 20 shillings, so 25 pounds was the equivalent of 500 shillings.Donor Thomas could afford to part with 500 shillings (presumably without impoverishing himself).Carpenter Thomas, however, made a bequest of only 30 shillings to his daughter Sarah, and the town of Dedham only paid his widow Mary 40 shillings for his work on the Dedham Meeting House.I don't think a man who earned only 40 shillings, and could only afford to give his daughter 30 shillings would have given 500 shillings to the MBC.Does anyone have different thoughts on the relative wealth of carpenter Thomas and donor Thomas, and does anyone think they were the same man?