Nathaniel Thomas (1643 - 22 October 1718) was an English colonial magistrate, politician, and militia officer. Born in Marshfield, then in the

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the British America, first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the pa ...

, he represented the town in the colonial assembly during the 1670s, and was active in its militia during

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...

. In 1689, he served as clerk of the local court, and, following the combining of Plymouth and the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...

into the

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in British America which became one of the Thirteen Colonies, thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III of England, William III and Mary II ...

, from 1702 to 1707 he was a Plymouth County probate judge. From 1692 to 1712 he also served as a magistrate in the court of common pleas. In 1712, he was appointed to the

Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously functi ...

(the province's highest court), a position he held until his death in 1718. He was twice married, with nine children by his first wife.

References

''Ancestry of Lawrence Williams''
1643 births 1718 deaths Justices of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature People from Marshfield, Massachusetts {{Massachusetts-state-judge-stub