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Note: mpilers believe he was born anywhere from 1703 to 1720, and give the place of birth as either Marlborough or Sudbury, Massachusetts. There is no death record for Thomas either, perhaps moving away after his likely marriage to Mrs. Bent. His name stops appearing in the tax rolls for Sudbury about this time as well. An interesting item of note which I found at http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~historyofmarlborough/1770pollist.htm#1770, which provides the 1770 Poll list of heads of households in Marlborough, Massachusetts, is that there is a Thomas Carr listed. This could well be the original Thomas Carr who settled in Sudbury, Massachusetts, who after the death of his wife Grace Sherman, married a Mrs. Grace Bent (nee Rice). At that point in time there seems to be no further mention of him in Sudbury town records. This record in Marlborough seems to pick up this Thomas Carr at almost the same time. The ancestry of Thomas Carr is not known, although it would seem reasonable to believe that he was descended from one of four brothers born in England who came to America in the early seventeenth century. Whether Thomas had any brothers and sisters is not known either. The following is a quote from Edson I. Carr's "The Carr Family Records" published in 1894: "The difficulty of tracing the early families of Carrs in England centuries back in a definite and concise manner, is exceedingly perplexing and attended with many failures and disappointments. The records of the earliest Carrs who settled in this country, date back three centuries, to four brothers who were born in London. Their names were Benjamin, William, George and James Carr. The name of the father of these four sons, the author has been unable to find." (Nowadays, the father's name of the afore-mentioned four brothers is given as William Carr, the 10th baron of Ferniehurst Castle.) Neither Thomas nor any of his descendants are to be found in Edson Carr's work. Perhaps the explanation for this could be the statement that Edson himself made in the Preface to his book: "The work might have been vastly more complete in detail, if hundreds who have been addressed on the subject, had manifested interest enough to reply to letters soliciting information." If any of Thomas' descendants, that is to say, any of my ancestors, had received any communication or request from Edson Carr, it perhaps went unanswered. INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THE SUDBURY ARCHIVES (http://www.town.sudbury.ma.us/archives): 1. Thomas Carr appears in the "List of Soldiers Under the Command of Captain Josiah Richardson, 1753", which is a list of the Second Foot Company of the Third Regiment of Militia Company under the Command of [Captain] Josiah Richardson, [Lieutenant] Daniell Noyce, [Ensign] Samuell Dackin. In this document Carr is spelled Car. The man who recorded these names evidently spelled names as he heard them. This document is dated June 4, 1753 and the document is located in the Wayside Inn Archives. 2. Thomas Carr signed the "Record of Dissent Against Town Land Transaction" dated March 3, 1755. Those who signed this document objected to the town selling the land that was formerly part of the Thirty Rod Highways, on the basis that the town's land rights were questionable. This document is located in the Town Clerk's Office, Town Records, Book III. 3. He appears in the Town Meeting Warrant dated February 18, 1760. This document is located in the Town Clerk's Office, Town Records, Book VI. 4. His name is recorded in the minutes of the Town Meeting on May 14, 1760, and in the Town Meeting Warrant dated February 23, 1763, as well as in the Town Meeting records dated March 7, 21, and 25, 1763. 5. March 7 and May 9, 1768: his name appears in the town meeting records for these dates. Apparently Thomas Carr served as Constable for a while. Note added January 23, 2005: The following was taken from the NEHGS Register dated January 1960, page 40, article entitled: "The Willis Family of Sudbury, Mass.": "On 19 Aug. 1756 Samuel Willis sold to Thomas Carr, his neighbor on the south (in Lot No. 38), an irregularly shaped 20 acres off the west end of Willis's property; and on 9 Nov. 1758 the situation of this Willis land is further defined in the description of the route laid out for the county road 'from Concord through parts of Sudbury, Stow and New Marlboro to the county road in Worcester', which highway was to pass west of Jonathan Rice's house, then 'by the fense of Samuel, Willis, Jr.', thence to the southeast end of Thomas Carr's stone wall (Middlesex County Court Records, vol. 1758, p. 518). All three of these property owners were allowed damages for the roadway; Samuel Willis to the extent of �2.10.8." Of further interest is the fact that a great-grandson of Thomas, Emery Carr, would marry a great-granddaughter of Samuel Willis, namely Abigail Rice. BIOGRAPHY: He quite possibly could be a descendant of George Carr who settled on Carr's Island in the Merrimack River in Salisbury, Massachusetts. In Chandler's "History of New Ipswich, NH" it is written that Thomas "was a farmer, and his farm, originally of 300 acres, remained in the family for four generations." Church pastor Jacob Bigelow notes in his records that the burial of "Mr. Thomas, aged about 66" was buried on April 14, 1783.
Note: There is no birth record for Thomas in the Sudbury Town Records. Some co
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