England to the Bay Colony · 1635
A Crosby
Story
Simon left with Anne and baby Thomas. Larry kept what came after.
ScrollEngland to the Bay Colony · 1635
Simon left with Anne and baby Thomas. Larry kept what came after.
ScrollChapter 01
Why did they leave England?
Simon Crosby left in 1635. He took his young wife, Anne, and their son Thomas, only eight weeks old.
The Crosby line in England goes back to 1440. Simon was the sixth generation from John Crosby. They were landowners in County York, in the north of England, around Holme on Spalding Moor. That land was rolling low marshes and slightly higher, drier ground. The low land has been drained. Today it is mostly farms.
They most likely worshipped at All Saints Church. The church is still there. It stands on ground about 150 feet higher than the land around it, with a wide view.
England in the 1600s was in a cultural revolution. Religious freedom was under attack by the crown kings of England. Fire-brand preachers called people to go to America. Apparently the Crosbys became part of that movement.
They were prosperous. They did not leave to get richer. They left for personal liberty.
Chapter 02
The Susan & Ellen.
London, April 18, 1635.
On April 18, 1635, Simon, Anne, and baby Thomas left London on the ship Susan & Ellen.
They crossed the perilous Atlantic to start over in a new world.
Simon was the first Crosby to go. His father, Thomas, followed three years later. The wealth that let Simon leave, and secure a home, came from his father.
We still have Simon’s signature. It is on a paper dated March 24, 1633/34, signed with his father.
Chapter 03
Cambridge,
July 1635.
They reached the Massachusetts Bay Colony in July 1635, at what is now Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The family had land at what is now Brattle Square and Brattle Street. There was already a house. The land was already under cultivation. The previous owner was in the process of moving.
Chapter 04
Simon lived only four more years. In that short time he became a leader in his community.
He and Anne had three sons: Thomas, Simon Jr., and Joseph. All later descendants in this line come from those three.
Anne stayed single and raised the boys. In 1645 she married Rev. William Tompson and moved to Braintree, Massachusetts. She died on October 8, 1675, at age 69. She is buried at Hancock Cemetery in Quincy, Massachusetts. Her gravestone reads Anne Brigham Crosby Tompson.
From those three sons, thousands of descendants spread across America.
Much later, Floyd Wallace Crosby and Charlotte went west and to Cuba. Their stories are on the Montana and Cuba pages.
This is the history of Simon and Anne. It is our history too.
Story kept by Larry Allen Crosby, 9th great-grandson of Simon Crosby, and Carol Kay Crosby, from family papers and the work of earlier Crosby researchers.
