Thomas Church

Thomas Church (1761-1843) was the fourth child of Samuel Church and Ann (or Anna) Davis. His family lived on Poppasquash. Before he was 16 years old, Thomas was deployed to Prudence Island multiple times. His house was damaged during the Bombardment of Bristol in 1775. In 1777, Thomas was deployed with William Throope‘s Company of Militia to act as a sentry and build barracks and fortifications on Poppasquash. In 1778, he took part in the Rhode Island Campaign as part of Viall Allen’s Company. In 1780, he served near Newport with a company from Scituate. In 1791, Thomas was an ensign in Benjamin Wardwell‘s Militia Company. He was a lieutenant in 1794 and captain in 1797. By 1798, he was serving as the second major of the Bristol County Regiment. In 1794, Thomas married Mary “Molly” Tripp in the Congregational Church. Thomas and Molly had eleven children: Benjamin, Polly, Benjamin, Thomas, Samuel Wardwell, Sarah Ann, Stephen Tripp, William Howe, Mary Tripp, Hezekiah Ward, and Betsey Wardwell. Thomas was a director of the Bristol Insurance Company in 1802. He owned a brig called the Mary which ran around on Point Judith in 1819 while delivering molasses from Cuba. Thomas was a commissioner of the Asylum in Bristol in 1826. In 1830, He was a member of the Town Council and a surveyor of highways. He remained a surveyor in 1831 and was also an auditor. He was a director of the Commercial Bank in 1831 and 1833. He was again on the Town Council in 1833 and 1835. Thomas applied for a pension in 1833, receiving $56.66 per year. He was referred to in official records as a “yeoman” and a “merchant”. In 1848, Molly reapplied for, and was granted, Thomas’s pension. She died in 1849. Thomas and Molly are buried in the North Burial Ground.