Mertz Genealogy - Person Sheet
Mertz Genealogy - Person Sheet
Name8G GF Philip Thomas 
Death1675
Memo(will proved 10 Aug 1675)
Parent-Proof notes for 8G GF Philip Thomas
Without checking it too closely, I’m willing to accept what the Thomas Book says specifically about Philip Thomas.
Pedigree notes for 8G GF Philip Thomas
I am a little more skeptical of the ancestry of Philip Thomas as told in the Thomas Book. The author claims to have reasonable proof of the fact that Philip was the son of Evan Thomas of Swansea, Wales who died in 1650.
Then, despite his own acknowledgment that there multiple people in England and Wales of that period named Evan Thomas and Philip Thomas, he settles on Evan of Swansea, says he was the son of John Philip Thomas who married Gwenllian daughter of Walter Herbert. These were people who lived in the 1500‘s.
These were also people who lived at the time when surnames were just coming into use. So John Philip Thomas took his name from his father whose name was Philip ap Thomas. The “ap” seems to mean son of or heir of. In other words Philip ap Thomas was a name which meant Philip son of Thomas.
His father was Thomas ap Rhys and his father was Sir Rhys ap Thomas. An even more detailed ancestry of Sir Rhys is presented tracing him back many more generations to Urien Rheged, a British prince of the sixth century. And the proof of all of this? Little more really than the fact that the coat of arms on the cane of Philip Thomas of West River had an image of three ravens not unlike the coat of arms of Sir Rhys which also depicted in some form three ravens. Who knows how much of this is true? I certainly don’t.
Then, despite his own acknowledgment that there multiple people in England and Wales of that period named Evan Thomas and Philip Thomas, he settles on Evan of Swansea, says he was the son of John Philip Thomas who married Gwenllian daughter of Walter Herbert. These were people who lived in the 1500‘s.
These were also people who lived at the time when surnames were just coming into use. So John Philip Thomas took his name from his father whose name was Philip ap Thomas. The “ap” seems to mean son of or heir of. In other words Philip ap Thomas was a name which meant Philip son of Thomas.
His father was Thomas ap Rhys and his father was Sir Rhys ap Thomas. An even more detailed ancestry of Sir Rhys is presented tracing him back many more generations to Urien Rheged, a British prince of the sixth century. And the proof of all of this? Little more really than the fact that the coat of arms on the cane of Philip Thomas of West River had an image of three ravens not unlike the coat of arms of Sir Rhys which also depicted in some form three ravens. Who knows how much of this is true? I certainly don’t.
Relocated notes for 8G GF Philip Thomas
IMMIGRANT. In 1651, Philip Thomas from Bristol, England received a patent on a 500 acre tract of land called Beckley for transporting himself, his wife Sarah and his children Philip, Sarah and Elizabeth into the Province of Maryland. He seems to have arrived directly from England and not first settled in Virginia though he got to Maryland about the same time as a group of Puritans who arrived from Nansemond, Virginia and Philip Thomas then became closely associated with the Puritans.
In New England, history tells us the Puritans came to actually persecute the Quakers, in Maryland, especially along the Chesapeake Bay, the Quakers recruited the Puritans to their ranks. It is believed Philip Thomas eventually became Quaker.
In New England, history tells us the Puritans came to actually persecute the Quakers, in Maryland, especially along the Chesapeake Bay, the Quakers recruited the Puritans to their ranks. It is believed Philip Thomas eventually became Quaker.
My Comments notes for 8G GF Philip Thomas
Quoting a Baltimore history book, Karen (Johnson) Fish, in her family history of the Richard Talbott family says “Philip Thomas was a noted man of his time, the owner of a large estate, and held a variety of positions under the government of the colony.”
Children Names notes for 8G GF Philip Thomas
In this tangled web of the Society of Friends of West River, his daughter Sarah married John Mears and their daughter Sarah married John Talbott, son of Richard. So, John, the brother of our 7G GF Edward Talbott married Edward’s wife’s niece.
We have one other person named Thomas, sort of, in our family tree. Joseph Thomas married Dorcas, widow of Thomas Sutton. He died in 1748 in Baltimore County. Whether he had anything to do with the Philip Thomas family, I have no idea.
We have one other person named Thomas, sort of, in our family tree. Joseph Thomas married Dorcas, widow of Thomas Sutton. He died in 1748 in Baltimore County. Whether he had anything to do with the Philip Thomas family, I have no idea.