Henry with his wife & probably 2 or 3 children came from Derby, in Derbyshire England to America. He also brought with him the Tomlinson Family Coat-of-Arms which proves by its ornamentation the family was descended from some line of kings. This information is from the book HENRY TOMLINSON AND HIS DESCENDANTS IN AMERICA. In 1652 they settled in Milford, Ct. He was elected by the town of Milford as "Keeper of the Ordinary". In Dec. 1652 he was given a "home lott near the water side to sit down in and improve his trade of weaving." The same month he took the oath of fidelity & was given another grant of land. He got into a dispute with the town of Milford as to whether the house for the ordinary was his personal property. Alexander Bryan of whom the property was obtained, and the town disputed the claim so it was taken to the court at New Haven. In 1654 he, Ensign Alexander Bryan and Mr. East were summonded before the court of New Haven for non-payment of duties on imported wines. The two latter men paid their fines, but Henry made opposition, claiming that he had paid all legal duties, and under a legal process, caused the arrest of the Govenor of the New Haven Colony, believing that the Governor was acting above all law. He was fined 100 pounds for this action, but payment was never demanded.
In 1656 Henry and his family moved to Stratford, Ct. & purchased from Joshua Atwater the estate which Mr. Atwater had bought of William Quenby, one of the original proprietors of the township. In 1668 Henry and Joseph Hawley purchased a considerable tract of land in Derby, Ct. from the Indians & this land in whole or part he gave to his son Jonas. In 1671 he and others purchased a large tract of land of the Indians at Weantinock, now New Milford, Ct., sufficient for a township, but his sons to whom he gave it never realized much from it because of trouble with the Indians and the General Court.
In 1670 he was chosen by the town of Stratford, Ct. to be an ordinary keeper. He died at Stratford, Ct. leaving a widow, two sons & 5 daughters all married except Agur. The closing paragraph of his will contains the most beautiful and perfect commendation to his children: "And this last of all I commend to you all my children as my last blessing: Live in love and peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you."
SOURCES:
RECORDS OF THE COLONY OR JURISDICTION OF NEW HAVEN FROM MAY 1653 TO THE UNION TOGETHER WITH THE NEW HAVEN CODE OF 1656, by Charles J. Hoadley, 1858VITAL RECORDS OF STRATFORD, CT.
THE HISTORY OF THE OLD TOWN OF DERBY, CONNECTICUT 1642-1880, by Samuel Orcutt, 1880
HENRY TOMLINSON AND HIS DESCENDANTS IN AMERICA, by Rev. Samuel Orcutt, 1891
After the death of her husband she married John Birdsey Sen. They had a pre-marital agreement "for prevention of any after trouble between relations on one or the other side."
This family belonged to "Landed Gentry" or the class next below the nobility in England. Heraldry shows that this branch was descended from some duke who had received a "coat-of-arms" signifying this honor, which is inherited in a historical sense by all the descendants of the person receiving it.
He was a native of Yorkshire, England where the family name goes back in history several hundred years.