{{Short description|English colonist in North America (c. 1610 – c. 1682)}} {{Infobox person | name = Thomas Olney | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{circa|1600}} | birth_place = St. Albans, England | death_date = {{circa|1682}} | death_place = Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations | nationality = | other_names = | occupation = shoemaker | years_active = | known_for = early proprietor in Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations | notable_works = }} '''Thomas Olney''' ({{circa|1600}} – {{circa|1682}}) was an early settler in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, where he served as a minister at the First Baptist Church, Providence, and was one of the first proprietors in colony.
==Family== Olney was born in St. Albans, England, about 1600 and was trained as a shoemaker.<ref>Robert Charles Anderson, "The Great Migration Begins Immigrants to New England, 1620-1635", Ancestry.com. New England, The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635 [database on-line]. Provo, Utah, US: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Volumes 1-3; The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volumes 1-6. Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1996-2011, pg. 302-308</ref> He married Marie Ashton, the daughter of James and Alice Ashton, at St. Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire, England on September 16, 1629,<ref>Thomas Olney in the England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973, Ancestry.com. England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: England, Marriages, 1538–1973. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.</ref> and they had the following children: Thomas, Epenetus, Nabadiah, James, Mary, Discovered, and Lydia. His first 2 sons were baptized in St. Albans, England and the remainder were born in America.<ref>Robert Charles Anderson, "The Great Migration Begins Immigrants to New England, 1620-1635", Ancestry.com. New England, The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635 [database on-line]. Provo, Utah, US: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Volumes 1-3; The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volumes 1-6. Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1996-2011, pg. 302-308</ref> Austin's "The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island" 1887, he refers to Thomas' wife as Mary Small. It is undetermined if he picked up an incorrect surname for his first wife, or if this was a second wife.<ref>John Osborne Austin, "The genealogical dictionary of Rhode Island : comprising three generations of settlers who came before 1690 : with many families carried to the fourth generation", J. Munsell's sons, Albany, New York, 1887, [https://archive.org/details/genealogicaldict00aust/page/n461/mode/2up]</ref> No record for this marriage has been located at this point.
Olney's will was dated March 21, 1679/80 and proved October 17, 1682 in Providence, Rhode Island.<ref>Robert Charles Anderson, "The Great Migration Begins Immigrants to New England, 1620-1635", Ancestry.com. New England, The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635 [database on-line]. Provo, Utah, US: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Volumes 1-3; The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volumes 1-6. Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1996-2011, pg. 302-308</ref>
==Immigration to New England== Olney and his family immigrated to Massachusetts on the ship ''Planter,'' having received their permit to emigrate in April 1635.<ref>Robert Charles Anderson, "The Great Migration Begins Immigrants to New England, 1620-1635", Ancestry.com. New England, The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635 [database on-line]. Provo, Utah, US: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Volumes 1-3; The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volumes 1-6. Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1996-2011, pg. 302-308</ref> They arrived in Boston, Massachusetts on 7 June 1635 and first settled in Salem, Massachusetts.
They were asked to leave Massachusetts Bay Colony due to religious differences, and they moved to Providence in 1638 following Roger Williams. He signed the Providence agreement to form a government in 1640, and he was one of the original 12 persons to whom Roger Williams deeded land that he had purchased from Canonicus and Miantonomi on October 8, 1638. His wife Marie died between 1645 when her last child was born and 15 Aug 1659, when her husband Thomas refers to persons who might claim thirds in a piece of land he was selling.<ref>Robert Charles Anderson, "The Great Migration Begins Immigrants to New England, 1620-1635", Ancestry.com. New England, The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635 [database on-line]. Provo, Utah, US: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Volumes 1-3; The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volumes 1-6. Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1996-2011, pg. 302-308</ref> == Political career == Olney served the town in various capacities including the first Treasurer, Court Assistant, Town Councilman, Clerk, Assistant to the General Court of Trials, Commissioner, Justice of the Peace, Town Moderator, Fence Viewer, juryman, tax collector and Commissioner to End Small Causes. He was on a sub-committee to prevent sale of ammunition to the Indians and numerous other committee's. He was named as one of the ten Assistants to the Governor in the Royal Charter of 1663, a document which served as the basis for Rhode Island's government for nearly two centuries.
==First Baptist Church== Olney was one of the original members of the First Baptist Church in Providence, but he and several others withdrew from the Six-Principle Baptists under William Wickenden's leadership to found a second church in 1653/4. He served as lay pastor for this small congregation until his death in Providence between June 16 and October 9, 1682.<ref>James H. Olney, ''A genealogy of the descendants of Thomas Olney: an original proprietor of Providence, R.I., who came from England in 1635'' (Press of E.L. Freeman & Son, 1889) [https://books.google.com/books?id=N4dBAAAAMAAJ]</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Rhode Island}} * List of early settlers of Rhode Island * Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations {{Clear}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sam/tolney.html Olney Information] *[https://books.google.com/books?id=N4dBAAAAMAAJ ''A genealogy of the descendants of Thomas Olney: an original proprietor of Providence, R.I., who came from England in 1635'' (1889)]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Olney, Thomas}} Category:English emigrants to the United States Category:People from colonial Rhode Island Category:17th-century Baptist ministers from the United States Category:1682 deaths Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:1600s births