Thomas Massie (born around 1675 in either Virginia or

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England) was a planter, politician, militia officer, a Justice of New Kent County, and vestryman in colonial Virginia. At the time of his death around 1731, he owned 4,000 acres of land in

New Kent County New Kent County is a county in the eastern part the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 22,945. Its county seat is New Kent. New Kent County is included in the Greater Richmond Region. History Ne ...

, Virginia near the Little Byrd Creek in what is now

Goochland County Goochland County is a county located in the Piedmont of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its southern border is formed by the James River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,727. Its county seat is Goochland. Goochland County is includ ...

, Virginia as part of his family's Windsor Forest Plantation, which he inherited from his father.

Biography

Thomas Massie (around 1675–1732) was born to Peter Massie (1639/1640-1719) and his wife Penelope Massie (née Cooper), rumored to be the illegitimate daughter of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury. Thomas's father, Peter, who migrated to the Virginia colony sometime in the 1600s from Cheshire in England was a nephew of

Edward Massie Sir Edward Massey () was an English soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1646 and 1674. He fought for the Parliamentary cause for the first and second English Civil Wars before changing allegiance and ...

, and a planter who served as surveyor of the highways in New Kent County from 1708 until his death in 1719. He was also the owner and founder of the Windsor Forest Plantation located near the

Chickahominy river The Chickahominy is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 river in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Virginia. The river, which serves as the eastern bo ...

in the same county after he was granted 1,155 acres of land in 1690. Thomas married Mary Massie (née Walker) on November 23, 1698, in New Kent, County. Mary was the great-granddaughter of reverend and lawyer Samuel Thomas Walker, a survivor of the Indian massacre of 1622 at Jamestown, together Thomas and Mary had eleven children, including their son William Massie who would also go on to serve as a member of the House of Burgess representing New Kent County. Massie served as a vestryman for St. Peter's Parish beginning in 1704 and as a captain in the New Kent Co. Militia of the Virginia Militia until his service as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1722 until 1726. After serving in the House of Burgesses, Massie would go on to serve as

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for New Kent County from 1723 until 1729.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massie, Thomas 1675 births 1731 deaths Date of birth uncertain House of Burgesses members People from New Kent County, Virginia American planters Colonial American justices of the peace Massie family of Virginia