Fifth Generation

39. Ann "Anney" THACHER (*) (~)^10,11 was born on 7 May 1697 in Yarmouth, Barnstable County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America.²¹ (Her surname is also shown in some sources as "Thatcher.") She was christened on 27 June 1697 in Yarmouth, Barnstable County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America. She died on 12 March 1756 at the age of 58 in Tolland, Tolland County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America.^21,24 Ann was buried in Tolland, Tolland County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America.^21,24,25 in the South Yard Cemetery. She has Ancestral File Number 8L9V-QS.

Ann "Anney" THACHER (*) (~) and Captain John LOTHROP Sr., Esq. (*) were married on 31 May 1722 in Yarmouth, Barnstable County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America.^21,26 Captain John LOTHROP Sr., Esq. (*)^10,11,26,27, son of Hopestill LOTHROP and Elizabeth LOTHROP, was born on 3 October 1699 in Barnstable, Barnstable County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America.^21,27 (Some sources indicate that he changed his surname from "Lathrop" to "Lothrop." The gravestone of his son, David, however, lists his surname as "Lathrop.") He was christened on 30 October 1699 in Barnstable, Barnstable County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America. (His christening date is shown as 1697; that cannot be correct as birth date was 1699.) He died on 17 October 1752 at the age of 53 in Tolland, Tolland County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America.^21,26,27 Life Sketch: "John was a Deacon of the Tolland Cong. church. Between 1736 and the time of his death, he is mentioned in numerous probate records of Hartford County concerning Tolland residents, either as an executor of a will, witness to a will, one of the estate appraisers, or as one of the distributors of an estate to the heirs, all by the name of John Lothrop. From the October 1748 to May 1752 sessions of the Conn. Assembly, he with Zebulon West was a deputy for the town of Tolland, all under the name of Mr. John Lothrop. In May 1751 and again in May 1752, by the name of John Lothrop, he was confirmed by the Conn. Assembly as a Justice of the Peace for Hartford County, in which Tolland was then located.

On May 31, 1722 at Yarmouth, Mass., John Lothrop m. Ann Thacher, dau. of Col. John Thacher, Esq. and Lydia Gorham, b. at Yarmouth June 7, 1697.

The extant table-top gravestone of John Lothrop calls his surname as Lathrop, when it actually was Lothrop. Wife Ann's almost pristine gravestone four years after her husband, which calls her the widow Lothrop, raises the obvious question regarding her married family name. John Lothrop's recorded birth, marriage, the recorded birth of all his children, his multiple appearances in the Conn. Public Records, and his own will is uniformly by the surname of Lothrop.

John Lothrop's distant cousin, Dr. Daniel Lothrop (1712-1783) of Norwich, Conn., descended from Samuel Lothrop (1623-1700), the second surviving son of John Lothrop's famous grandfather, Rev. John Lothrop (1584-1654) last of Barnstable, Mass. John Lothrop of this memorial descends from Rev. John Lothrop's third surviving son Joseph (1624-1702).

Samuel left the family in Barnstable, Mass. early in life for Connecticut, eventually founding the numerous Lothrop family of Norwich, Conn. Between the beginning of the 18th century and the Rev. War all of Samuel Lothrop's descendant Norwich, Conn. family were surnamed Lothrop in vital records, church baptism records, land deeds, probate records, etc.

Abruptly during the period of the Rev. War, Samuel Lothrop's great grandson, Dr. Daniel Lothrop, became convinced the family surname was really Lathrop, not Lothrop, and caused the entire Norwich Lothrop family to change to the surname of Lathrop. However, the descendant family of Samuel's brother Joseph Lothrop remained in greater Barnstable until after the beginning of the 18th century when they began relocating to towns in present Tolland County, Conn. However, Joseph's descendants did not adopt the spelling of Lathrop before or after their relocation from greater Barnstable to Conn.

Unfortunately, this Lothrop vs. Lathrop surname problem was exacerbated by Barber in his Connecticut Town Vital Records by alphabetized all Lothrop surnamed families under the surname of Lathrop, thus misleading family genealogists to erroneously change all Lothrop surnamed families to the surname of Lathrop.

Obviously then, the John Lothrop of this memorial died 25 years or so before Daniel Lothrop of Norwich began convincing the Norwich Lothrop family to change their surname to Lathrop clearly indicating the table-top gravestone of the John Lothrop of this memorial was erected long after he died and after the Rev. War." John was buried in Tolland, Tolland County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America.^21,27 in the South Yard Cemetery. He has Ancestral File Number 8L9V-PM.

Ann "Anney" THACHER (*) (~) and Captain John LOTHROP Sr., Esq. (*) had the following children: