Thomas Halsey (1591-1679)

Thomas Halsey
Coat of arms for Thomas Halsey of Hertfordshire, England & Southampton, New York
Born	1591 (1591) Hertfordshire, England
Died	(1678-08-27)August 27, 1678 Southampton, New York
Nationality	English
Known for	Co-founding the town of Southampton, New York
Spouse(s)	(1) Phebe/Phoebe (2) Ann Johnes
Children	Thomas Halsey Isaac Halsey Daniel Halsey Elizabeth Halsey (m. Richard Howell)
Parents	Robert Halsey (father) Dorothy Downes (mother)
Relatives	Sir John Halsey, Knt.
Family	Halsey of the Parsonage, Great Gaddesden
Signature

Thomas Halsey (1591/2 – 1678/9) was born 2 January 1591/2 in Hertfordshire, England and died 27 Aug 1678 in Southampton, New York. He emigrated from England in 1633 to New England, and eventually co-founded, with Edmond Farrington, Edmund Needham, Abraham Pierson the Elder, Thomas Sayre, Josiah Stanborough, George Welbe, Henry Walton, Job Sayre, and Edward Howell, the town of Southampton, New York in 1640.

The earliest Englishman bearing the name "Halsey" lived in the western end of Cornwall. The home of the Cornish Halseys was a manor of Lanesley. According to Halsey's Thomas Halsey of Hertfordshire..., that in the time of Richard I (crowned 1189), this estate comprised "the lands of the family surnamed de Als, now Hals, so called from the barton, and dismantled manor of Als, now Alse and Alesa, in Buryan, as tradition saith, or Bar Alston, Alston, in Devon in possession of Trevanin, and others, whereof they were Lords, and in particular William de Als in the beginning of the reign of King Henry III of England, that marred Mary, the daughter of Francis de Bray, was possessed thereof, father of Simon de Als who lived in Halsham in Yorkshire from him denominated." The Halseys of Cornwall and Devon were related to those of the name living at the Great Gaddesden Parsonage in Hertfordshire, England. In Cussan's History of Hertfordshire, he mentions a Thomas Halsey who was baptized 2 Jan 1592, who was a mercer in London, living in Naples in 1621, and afterward, it is believed, an emigrant to America. The first mention of this family found by Cussan was of a Richard Halsey of Great Gadesden in 1458. In 1559, when the parish registers commence, there were four families of this game in that place: Halsey of the Parsonage; Halsey of the Wood; Halsey of the Northend; and Halsey of the Lane. The descent to Thomas Halsey, the Southampton settler, is as follows:

The complete pedigree of this Halsey family, beginning with John Halsey of the Parsonage (1512), can be viewed here.