I received the following information from Linda S on 2/5/2006. 

SKIDMORE INFORMATION

My ancestor Jonathon Porter was in someway a relative of John Skidmore of Salem ( think they were cousins via Anna nee White Scudamore of Flanders).  After a year of study I can only suggest that Jonathon's second wife Eunice Porter was a sister to Mary Tybettes (Tibbetts) (1596) the wife of Richard Whitehead and mother of Ellen and Daniel.  Mary was a second wife to William Hopkins. Templeman Tybettes (and his wife Mary had daughters Mary (1595), Eunice (1599) and a son Henry (1600). Templeman was a son of John.  John (son of Henry 1540) while born in Buckingham relocated to the Wales/Gloucestershire border. I think to run a segment of the family business (fabric).  John, however, was buried in Buckingham.  Somewhere I have his will and very unorganized notes on this family.  This is only a suggestion and requires verification that this Mary and this Eunice are those of Huntington and CT.  Mary Tybettes did marry Richard and was the mother of Ellen and Daniel, but I can only suggest she was the daughter to Templeman and Mary.

Eunice would have then been an aunt to Ellen Whitehead (1620) and Daniel and a remote in law to Thomas. The Tybettes were from Buckingham and Winterbourne and no doubt were in the Netherlands and London with the Smiths and Porters (both were merchants of silk).  The Porters, Smiths and Scudamore intermarried for centuries before arriving in America.  The critical families were the Scudamores and Smiths. They  invested money into the ventures of Thomas Smith and Captain John Smith (Jamestown, VA).  Refer to the second charter of VA (1609).

Sir Thomas Smith was the caretaker of Henry the 8th son Edward and Edward de Vere.  His son Thomas Smith was Lord mayor of London 1590s, and also an investor and treasurer of the VA Co. Likewise, the Scudamore's were cousin to Queen Elizabeth and investors in the activities of John Smith.

Richard Smith (Warwick, R.I.) and Thomas Smith (Salem) were the relatives cousins of Winthrop and Brewster of Salem.  Only one small entry for Thomas Smith's son Thomas about a miss adventure with a wheel of a mill was noted for these two individuals in Winthrop's journal.  Think this is because the Smiths, Scudamores and Porters were the heirs to Captain John Smith's charter of New England and one would not lash out at  hands which hold more power than you.  Richard Smith an absolutely charming man found Winthrop a prig and exile himself from Plymouth in support of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. He secured enormous amounts of land on Long Island at this time and settled there circa 1639 with Anne. The Smith family held also thousands of acres in Rhode Island (30,000), Long Island and CT.  Wherever there are Smiths there are Skidmores, and Porters and land surveys.

 

Back to Eunice and Thomas Skidmore (1618).  The Porters settled in conjunction with Thomas and Ellen and other family members in Huntington, L.I. circa spring1654 yet something nasty had to have happen circa 1658/9.  At this time Jonathon and Dr. van Dyke died.  Thomas gathered up his family and Eunice and returned to Fairfield where Eunice married Giles Smith in 1660.  This is well documented. Think that Richard Smith had granted the land to Thomas and Jonathon who may have been his nephews via a first marriage/or the marriage of his sisters.  Richard's son at a colinear time reclaims Newtown closer to NYC which Richard abandoned at the death of his brother's and Anne's deaths in 1643.   Richard in ripe old age I think took my other lack luster Huntington relatives to court for unjustified claims to his lands and won circa 1676 the rights retain his property. Think this secured the rights of his relatives to the lands in Huntington.

 

It is well documented that Thomas Skidmore never returned to Huntington after 1659 yet held the title of Thomas Skidmore of Huntington. He willed his estates there to his children at the time of his death in Fairfield.  Ergo your Thomas in Huntington has to be a son and not the elder.  Jonathon Porters lands were divided and given to his three daughters by the Salem court in 1659, which indicated a sudden death

 

Unlike you I think that Thomas (1600) was the son of a family exiled to Flanders and related to a Scudamore who was the chief spy in Paris for King Charles the first.  I also think he was Thomas Skidmore of Huntington's father.  The Flanders/London family were Catholic but brushed up to the South Church in Leyden and became the avant-garde of the Quakers/Baptist.  Huntington's first families were all Quakers.  The Scudamore family was very active in London and extremely international in orientation.   

Have sought the help to understand this network of people from Huntington and have discovered that they are very muddled about the early years of the town and could not help me define these people. What is really horrible is that the books they referenced can not tie these people into any order and were extremely dull to peruse. 

 Elis Whitehead was born 1614 in Lenington, Eng. He married – Alcock

Son: John Whitehead was born 1636 in Bulkington, Warwick, Eng. He died Jun 1695 in New Haven, CT.

John married Martha Bradfield on 9 Mar 1661 in Branford, CT.

 Married: Martha Bradfield was born 1640 in Branford, CT. She died 1709 in Branford, CT

 

In put British National Archives and you can purchase the wills of  two men named Richard Whitehead for three and a half pounds each.  Perhaps someone has the time and ambition to do so.

 

Will of Richard Whitehead or Whiteheade Woolman Crick, Northamptonshire

Will of Richard Whitehead or Whiteheade Woolman Crick, Northamptonshire. Catalogue reference: Prob 11/152. Covering dates: 05 July 1627.

Will of Richard Whitehead Yeoman Luddington, Wiltshire

Will of Richard Whitehead Yeoman Luddington, Wiltshire. Catalogue reference: Prob 11/148. Covering dates: 07 February 1626.

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