Thomas Greene (?-ca. 1651/52)
MSA SC 3520-529
Biography:
BORN in England.
IMMIGRATED: in 1633/34 as a free adult.
RESIDED: in St. Mary's County.
FAMILY BACKGROUND.
FATHER: Thomas Greene of Bobbing, Kent County, England, who was created
a Knight Bachelor of the Realm in 1622.
MOTHER: Margaret, daughter of Thomas Webb of Frittenden.
BROTHERS: Robert, Esq.;John; Jeremiah.
MARRIED first, Ann Cox, who probably died in 1638.
MARRIED second, in 1643 Millicent Browne.
MARRIED third, by 1647 Winifred Seyborn, widow of Nicholas Harvey.
She subsequently married Robert Clarke (ca. 1611-1664).
CHILDREN. SONS Thomas; Leonard Greene (?-1688), who married Ann; Robert,
who married Mary, daughter of William Boreman (ca. 1630-1709); and Francis.
PRIVATE CAREER.
EDUCATION: literate.
RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Catholic.
SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES: an original adventurer in founding of
the colony; brought two servants with him on his arrival in Maryland; his
wife immigrated in 1638, and two of his children followed in 1644; he was
a close friend of Leonard Calvert and Father Thomas Copley, a Jesuit priest;
Gent., by 1637/38.
OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: planter.
PUBLIC CAREER.
LEGISLATIVE SERVICE: Assembly, present 1637/38, special writ 1638/39,
St. Mary's Hundred, St. Mary's County, 1640-1641, special writ 1641/42
(Aggrievances), St. Mary's Hundred, St. Mary's County, 1642A (Accounts;
probably Laws), present 1642B (Laws); Upper House, 1646/47, 1649, 1650
(Laws 1; dismissed by the 2nd session).
OTHER PROVINCIAL OFFICES: Council, 1644-1647, 1648-1650; justice, Provincial
Court, 1644-1647, 1648-1650; appointed governor by Leonard Calvert on June
9, 1647, but he was never commissioned and was superseded by William Stone
on August 6, 1648; acting governor, 1649.
LOCAL OFFICE: justice, St. Mary's County, 1644-1650.
STANDS ON PUBLIC/PRIVATE ISSUES: a strong supporter of the Jesuits
against Lord Baltimore in first decade of settlement of the colony; he
was accused of partiality as acting governor, 1648; as acting governor
in October 1649, he proclaimed Charles Stuart the "undoubted rightfull
heire" to the English throne; discharged from all offices on August 6,
1650, for usurping authority.
WEALTH DURING LIFETIME.
LAND AT FIRST ELECTION: ca. 2,000 acres.
WEALTH AT DEATH.
DIED: will probated on January 23, 1651/52.
LAND: ca. 2,500 acres.
Source: Edward C. Papenfuse, et al. A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789. 2 Vols. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979, 1985), 373-4, 943.
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