homas4 Landers (John3-2,
Thomas1), born 24 March 1734/5, died 19
Nov. 1809. His gravestone reads: "In Memory of Capt. Thomas
Lander/Consort of/Mrs. Jerusha Lander/Who died/Nov. 19 A.D. 1809/In
The 75th Yr. of His Age". This stone (clearly legible in
1966) lies beside that of his wife: "In Memory of Jerusha
Lander/Who Died/Jan/23rd 1814/In the 73rd Year of Her Age" -
in a small cemetery 1 ½ miles south easterly of the Friends
Meeting House at North Fairfield, Maine.1
He married in Falmouth 11 March 1764 Jerusha4 Parker (called "both of Falmouth" in the Falmouth town records), daughter of Thomas3 and Experience (Nickerson) Parker of Falmouth, born 23 March 1740, died 23 Jan. 1814.
This Thomas Landers was only three years old when his father died. The latter's will, dated 2 March 1737/8, gives to "My son Thomas Landers £20 at one and twenty, he to be put out to a suitable trade". The will of Jerusha's widowed mother, Experience Parker, "of Sherburn in the County of Nantucket", dated 8 May 1783, gives "to my two daughters Jerusha Landers and Mary Lake, all my wearing apparel" (Nantucket County Probates; The Register, vol. 114, p.134-135, Apr 1960).
Although his older children probably were born in Falmouth, their births are not recorded there. We find that Joseph5 Nye of Sandwich and Joseph5 Dimock of Falmouth purchased in 1781 a large tract of land called, at first, Nye's Plantation, later Fairfield, Lincoln County, Massachusetts (now Maine). Many from Sandwich, Falmouth, and other Cape towns settled there; the family of Thomas Landers was among these. Although he had been apprenticed to the trade of cordwainer (as he describes himself in 1790), he evidently spent time at sea, as the title Captain, used on his tombstone and in the Fairfield records suggests that this was a title resulting from his experience as a mariner rather than a military one. Jerusha (Parker) Landers' next younger brother, Silas, was a mariner - later partner in a shipping firm, and her brother Timothy was a sea captain.
Thomas Landers appears in the 1790 Census at Fairfield, head of a family of 3 males over 16, one under 16, and five females. A deed of 26 June 1790, shows that "Thomas Landers of Fairfield in the County of Lincoln and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, cordwainer", sold for £60 paid by Job Parker of Falmouth, twenty acres there. His wife Jerusha quitclaimed her dower rights (Barnstable County Deeds - Town of Falmouth (recorded after the 1827 fire), 1:357-58). He was chosen surveyor of highways in Fairfield in 1792 (when his son Joseph was chosen tythingman). Capt. Thomas Lander is named among those whose land abutted upon the school district.
He died intestate; we find a note by his widow: "This is to let you know that I wish John Lander to settle the estate of Thomas Lander", signed Jerusha Lander. The Court agreed to the request. "To John Lander of Fairfield, County Somerset [Somerset County was set off from part of Lincoln County in 1809], Greeting: Whereas Thomas Lander of sd Fairfield died intestate" John Lander was made administrator 10 Jan. 1810. The estate was valued at $5,119.50. The heirs of the estate of Capt. Thomas Lander, late of Fairfield, County Somerset, 27 April 1810, were Thomas Lander, Martha Connor [?Cannon], Stephen Dillingham, Simon Craggin, Heman Blackwell, Joshua Blackwell, and John Lander (Somerset County Probates, 1:1).
[Lydia B. (Phinney) Brownson and Maclean W. McLean, "Thomas1 Landers of Sandwich, Mass.," NEHGR 124:216-217]
Also have death as 19 Nov 1809 in Fairfield, Somerset, ME. [Descendants of Thomas Landers]
