Thomas Groom arrived in Philadelphia in late 1683. He probably shipped goods on the Comfort of Bristol, which left Bristol in May 1683 and arrived a month later.1 His brother Peter had already arrived. Their sister Mary might have come with either of them.2 Peter settled in Burlington County, New Jersey. He and Thomas remained close, and years later Thomas named some of Peter’s family in his will. When Mary Groom married John Rogers in 1685, she was living in Byberry, probably with Thomas, and Peter Groom was one of the witnesses. Mary and John Rogers “published their intentions of marriage by writing affixed on the meeting house doore according to law … 16th day of 7th mo 1685 … in their publick meeting place in the house of John Hart on Poequesy (alias Bybury Creek in the upper part of the county of Philadelphia.”3 After their marriage they lived on Crosswicks Creek, Burlington County, New Jersey, and had four children, John, Deborah, Mary and Joseph, born between 1687 and 1692. John died in 1700. Mary’s death in 1692 or 1693 was recorded by Chesterfield Meeting.

Peter Groom probably started out living in Bucks County. In May 1682 he bought 200 acres in Southampton from Thomas Fairman.4 That November he sold that tract; at the time he was still living in Bucks County.  In 1683 he rented 200 acres in Bucks County, and requested that it be joined to Thomas “Hold”.5 This is probably Thomas Howell, who shipped goods on the same ship as Peter’s brother Thomas. In 1690 Peter sold that tract of 200 acres.6 By March 1691, when Peter gave a power of attorney to his brother Thomas, he was living in Burlington County. He married twice and had children with both wives. In 1694 Peter was hauled into Burlington Court, accused of living in sin with the wife of Thomas Wright. Peter did not do his case a favor by appearing drunk in court and refusing to take off his hat.7 In his will of December 1726 Peter named his wife Elizabeth (née Wood) as well as five sons and five daughters. He died around October 1728, when the inventory was made of his estate.

The Groom family of southeastern Pennsylvania is descended from Thomas, since Peter’s descendants stayed in New Jersey. In 1683 William Penn issued a warrant to lay out 200 acres in Southampton Township, Bucks County, for Thomas Groom.8 This was the first of several pieces of land Groom would own. As one of the earliest settlers there, he is shown on Holme’s map of early landholders, with land on Poquessing Creek.9 In addition to farming, Thomas was described in a 1691 power of attorney as a carpenter.10 In 1694 Thomas bought 150 acres in Philadelphia County from Thomas Fairman adjoining Job Howell (son of Thomas Howell) and Peter Groom.11 This may have been his primary plantation.

Sometime around 1690, Thomas married Elizabeth; her last name is unknown. Thomas and Elizabeth were members of Byberry Meeting. He was active there; she was not. Along with William Walton and many others, Thomas signed a paper signifying disunity with the faction of George Keith, denouncing the spirit of separation.12 In 1707 he was appointed by Byberry Meeting as an overseer, along with William Beal. Two years later he attended the Quarterly Meeting, along with Rynear Tyson.

Thomas and Elizabeth had three children who lived to marry. Since the births of their children were not recorded at Byberry or Abington (the monthly meeting that Byberry belonged to), there may have been other children who died young. Their daughter Mary married William Cooper, son of James and Hester, but this was not her first choice. A mason named Samuel Grimsditch lodged with the Groom family for two years until his death in January 1713. He was contracted to marry Mary Groom and “intended (had not death prevented) in a short time to have made [her] his wife”. He wanted her to have his possessions. After his death Thomas Groom, William Groom (Mary’s brother), and William Marshall (the husband of Mary’s sister Elizabeth) affirmed his statements before a justice and letters were granted to Mary Groom.13

Thomas had multiple dealings with William Marshall. Although there is no record of the marriage, there is strong circumstantial evidence that William was his son-in-law, married to Thomas’ daughter Elizabeth. Thomas named her in his will as Elizabeth Marshall, although he did not give her husband’s name. In 1697 Thomas sold land to William Marshall. This was part of a tract of 350 acres in the Manor of Moreland, bought from John Holme on June 4.14 Groom promptly divided the tract into three parts, selling 100 acres to Thomas Scott and 150 acres to William Marshall, tailor of the Manor of Moreland.15 Groom sold the remaining 101 acres to Hugh Morgan, bought it back again, and finally sold it to John Wharton in 1715.16 In 1713 Thomas Groom and William Marshall bought land together, along with a man named Thomas Kemball. They went to the Commissioners of Property in Philadelphia and bought 2500 acres, a large tract, in the Great Swamp in Bucks County, near Richland. They proposed to build a grist mill on it.17 Half the money was to be paid at next summer fair, on the 16^th of May, and the remainder six months later. The Great Swamp was in the northern end of Bucks County, about twenty miles north of Byberry. In 1713 only a few settlers had moved there, but people were buying up the land on speculation. In 1707 Groom sold a tract of 550 acres in Bucks County that he had bought a few years earlier; this may have been another speculation.18 In 1716 Groom acted as an intermediary for a sale of two tracts in Philadelphia County, from Thomas Kimber to James Cooper. Kimber sold the land to Groom on March 6, and a week later Groom sold it to James Cooper, merchant of Philadelphia.19 William and Mary Groom, children of Thomas, witnessed the deed. Soon after this Mary married William Cooper, James’ son.20

In 1735 Thomas was approaching the end of his life. His son William had died before him. His wife Elizabeth was dead. He was lodging in a room in Byberry and no longer lived on his Byberry land. He had mortgaged it and later assigned it to Samuel Cooper, who paid off the mortgage. Samuel was another son of James Cooper, and the brother of William Cooper, Thomas’ son-in-law.21

Thomas wrote his will on October 1, 1736. He did not mention his wife Elizabeth or his daughter-in-law Margaret Groom, widow of William Groom. He did name both daughters, a niece, some of his grandchildren but not others, and several people named Marshall of unspecified relationship. He left a small legacy of five shillings to Mary Dunning; perhaps she was keeping house for him. The largest legacies were to his daughters, Mary Cooper and Elizabeth Marshall. Johanna Page got £5; she was a niece, the oldest daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Groom. He left £5 to Mary Halloway, who was not a known child of Peter. She was probably a granddaughter, a married child of William and Margaret, since he named the other three of their children.22 He left £20 to each of his grandsons, Thomas and William (sons of William and Margaret), and the carpenter’s tools “at their mother’s house”. He left to Ann Groom, daughter of William and Margaret, the moveable goods at Margaret’s house. He only named one of the children of Mary and William Cooper, their daughter Rebecca, leaving her the remaining moveable goods “in the room where I lodge”. The Coopers were relatively well off, with a substantial legacy from William’s father James; perhaps Thomas felt that they did not need as much from him. He left another £5 to Mary Johnson, the eldest daughter of William Marshall. This is plausibly another granddaughter, although the wording is odd, since he did not name her as a relative, for example “my granddaughter” or the “daughter of my daughter Elizabeth”. Yet the legacy of the same amount suggests that she was a granddaughter or a niece. A Mary Marshall married John Johnson in 1728 at the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.23 Was this the same Mary? Finally he left another £5 to Sarah Marshall, wife of Moses. Her relationship to Thomas is unknown. If she was a granddaughter, she would have to be an unknown daughter of William and Mary Cooper or else a daughter of Elizabeth Groom Marshall. Thomas’ daughter Elizabeth and Mary were the executors. Normally the son would be executor, but William had died four years before.

Children of Thomas and Elizabeth:24

Elizabeth, m. — Marshall. This was probably William Marshall, who is surely related to the tailor of the Manor of Moreland who bought land with Thomas in 1697 and 1713, and who attested to the will of Samuel Grimsditch in 1713. A man who bought land in 1697 could be a generation too old to marry Elizabeth, and her husband could be the son of that William. A William Marshall died in February 1764, according to the Byberry death record kept by Henry Tomlinson. However he does not fit easily into the Marshall family of Tinicum, Bucks County, which included a Moses, born about 1701, who married a woman named Sarah, possibly referred to in Thomas’ will.25

Mary, b. ab. 1695, d. 1772, m. ab. 1722 William Cooper, son of James and Hester of Philadelphia. They lived in Byberry until William’s death in 1736. Mary died in Byberry in 1772. Children: Rebecca (married William Hibbs), Thomas (married Phebe Hibbs), James (married Hannah Hibbs), Samuel (married Grace Ridge), Letitia (married Abraham States).

William, b. ab. 1698, d. 1732, m. ab. 1716 Margaret—.  Lived in Southampton, Bucks County, where he operated a grist mill. He was disowned by Abington Meeting in 1716, possibly for marrying out of unity. He died in 1732, before his father Thomas, and did not leave a will. Children: Anne (married Garrett Vansant at Christ Church in 1739), Thomas (married Lydia Goforth of New Castle County), Mary (possibly married — Halloway), William (married Rachel Walton), and three daughters who died young.