A Whole Lotta Family - Person Sheet
A Whole Lotta Family - Person Sheet
NameThomas Kendall 13
Birth1618, Norfolk, England
Death22 Jul 1681, Reading, Middlesex Co, Massachusetts Bay Colony, BCA Age: 63
BurialOld Burying Ground, Wakefield, Middlesex Co, Massachusetts
Spouses
Birth17 Jul 1618, Lincolnshire, England11
Death17 Jul 1703, Reading, Middlesex Co, Massachusetts Bay Colony11 Age: 85
BurialOld Burying Ground, Wakefield, Middlesex Co, Massachusetts11
ChildrenElizabeth (1642-1688)
Notes for Thomas Kendall
Deacon Thomas Kendall, Son of John Kendall (1580-1660) of Norfolk, England and Elizabeth Sacherell (1584-1640) of Cambridge, England was born in the year 1617 in Norfolk, Norfolk, England. He arrived in New England in 1638. He was a Deacon of his church and a Sergeant in the Massachusetts Militia. Thomas married married Rebecca Paine (or Payne) 1618-1703 daughter of Anthony Paine (or Payne) 1585–1649 and Alice (Potter) Paine (or Payne) 1589–1643, about 1640 in Reading, Massachusetts. Together they were the parents of:

Elizabeth (1642-1688)
Rebecca (1644-1713)
Mary (1647-1688)
Hanorath (1649-1689)
Sarah (1652-1652)
Rebecca (1654-1691)
Abigail (1655-1721)
Susanna (1658-1732)
Tabitha (1660-1711)
Thomas (1663-1664)
Ruth (1665-1665)
Thomas (1677-)


(Above bio by Charlene Patton).

A family's legacy gets diluted when there's nobody to carry on the name. This is what happened to the descendants of Thomas Kendall, a man who may have been forgotten as the founder of a family in America by the mere fact he had no surviving sons.

Note: Thomas was said to have been born in about 1617 in Norwich, England. His parents may have been John Kendall and Elizabeth Sacherall. It is known that he had a brother Francis who migrated to America with him. Thomas came over on the ship Defence, arriving in Boston on October 8, 1635. While Francis settled in Woburn, Thomas went to Reading, where he married Rebecca Paine in about 1640. He became freeman on May 10, 1645 and served as a deacon.

Between 1642 and 1665, Thomas and Rebecca had 11 children. All but one were girls; the only boy died as an infant. Of the ten daughters, two died as babies, giving the Kendalls a family of eight girls. One by one, they married, many staying in Reading and populating the town with their children. Knowing their father's name would die out, each daughter is said to have named one of her sons "Kendall." The name carried on for several more generations as a male given name, but when genealogies were later written about the Kendall family in America, Thomas was only given a brief mention with all focus on his brother Francis' line.

See "Colonial Families of the United States of America," edited by George Norbury McKenzie, page 327. While there really isn't a lot of information, there is a little. McKenzie states that "he was one of the most influential of the early settlers" and indicates that he has many descendants through his eight daughters.

Thomas had another daughter also named Sarah that was born after the first one died. She was born on June 22, 1653 in Reading, Massachusetts. She married Samuel Dunton on June 17, 1673 in Reading, MA and she died on November 20, 1734 in Billerica, MA. I am descended from their son, Ebenezer Dunton.
Contributor:
Kim Elder
11
Last Modified 14 Jan 2025Created 4 Nov 2025 using Reunion for Macintosh
Feb 2025