Thomas Hinckley served in a variety of political and military offices before becoming governor of the colony in 1680, a post he held until the colony was folded into the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1692.
10 Facts About Thomas Hinckley
1.
2.
Thomas Hinckley was born in Tenterden, Kent, England in 1618.
3.
In 1634 the Hinckleys and Lothropp migrated to New England, although when Thomas came over is uncertain, because he did not travel with his parents.
4.
Thomas Hinckley appears to have been comparatively moderate in dealing with the Quakers; while some called for them to be banished, whipped, or even executed, the law imposed fines for acts such as getting married without the services of an approved minister.
5.
Thomas Hinckley was elected deputy governor in 1680, a new position created due to the ill health of then-governor Josiah Winslow, and the great age of John Alden, then the senior assistant.
6.
Thomas Hinckley took some steps to pursue acquisition of a charter that would legitimize the government, which some of his contemporaries criticized as being weak.
7.
Thomas Hinckley was chosen to represent Plymouth in the dominion council; criticized for doing so, Thomas Hinckley claimed that this placed him well to counter the heavy-handed rule of the dominion governor, Sir Edmund Andros.
8.
Thomas Hinckley apparently worked behind the scenes to ensure the colony would be joined to Massachusetts, which took place with the issuance of a new charter for the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1692.
9.
Thomas Hinckley was then chosen to serve on the Massachusetts governor's council, a post he would hold until his death in 1706.
10.
Thomas Hinckley was buried in Barnstable's Lothrop Hill Cemetery, where later descendants placed a memorial marker in 1829.