The following information is from "The Life and Works of Thomas Dudley, The Second Governor of Massachusetts," by Augustine Jones. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston and New York, 1899.

Thomas Dudley, born 1576 at Northampton, England near Castle Ashby. Son of Roger Dudley who was killed at the Battle of Ivry in 1590. Name of his mother is unknown, (some sources say her name was Susanna Thorne). She was a kinswoman of Augustine Nicolls of Faxton, Northampton.

Thomas Dudley had one sister, probably younger.

He married Dorothy Yorke, (born 1582) daughter of Edmund Yorke of Cotton End, Northampton in 1607 or 1608. She died December 27, 1643 at Roxbury, Mass. The following epitaph was written for her by her daughter, Anne Dudley Bradstreet, the famous poet:

AN EPITAPH

On my dear and ever honored Mother
Mrs. Dorothy Dudley
Who deceased December 27, 1643; and of her age, 61;

Here lyes,
A worthy Matron of unspotted life,
A loving Mother and obedient wife,
A friendly Neighbor, pitiful to poor,
Whom oft she fed, and clothed with her store,
To servants wisely aweful, but yet kind,
And as they did, so they reward did find:
A true instructor of her Family,
The which she ordered with dexterity.
The publick meetings ever did frequent,
And in her closet constant hours she spent;
Religious in all her words and ways,
Preparing still for death, till end of dayes:
Of all her Children, Children, lived to see,
Then dying, left a blessed memory.

Children of Thomas Dudley and Dorothy Yorke:

1. Samuel, baptized November 30, 1608 at All Saints', Northampton, England
   married Mary Winthrop, daughter of Governor Winthrop
   died February 10, 1683 at Exeter, New Hampshire
2. Anne, born 1612 at Northampton, England
   married Simon Bradstreet
   died September 16, 1672 at Andover, Massachusetts
3. Patience, born in England
   married Daniel Dennison
   died February 8, 1689 or 1690 at Ipswich, Massachusetts
4. Sarah, baptized July 23, 1620
   married Benjamin Keayne
   died 1659 at Roxbury, Massachusetts
5. Mercy, married Reverend John Woodbridge

Thomas Dudley married Catharine Hackburn, the widow of Samuel Hackburn in 1644.

Children of Thomas Dudley and Catharine Hackburn:

1. Deborah, born February 27, 1645
   married Jonathan Wade
   died November 1, 1683
2. Joseph, born September 23, 1647
   married Rebecca Tyng
   died April 2, 1720 at Roxbury, Massachusetts
   (Also, a governor of Massachusetts)
3. Paul, born September 8, 1650
   married Mary Leverett
   died December 1, 1681

Thomas Dudley emigrated to the America in 1630 aboard the "Arbella". He was the second governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, member of the first Board of Overseers of Harvard College and signer, in 1650, of college charter. One of the founders of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Instrumental in the establishment of the Roxbury Latin School, one of the first public schools in the American colonies.

Epitaph of Thomas Dudley: "Here lies Thomas Dudley, that trusty old stud, A bargain's a bargain and must be good." Inscription on the original pewter plate on his tomb

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