Thomas Danforth was born on November 1623 at Framlingham, Suffolk, England, and baptized there on November 20, 1623. He was the eldest son of Nicholas and Elizabeth Danforth, whose family name was spelled in eleven different ways in the parish registers. The father was evidently a man of considerable property, and after the death of his wife emigrated to Massachusetts (c. 1634), taking his children with him. He was elected to various political offices in the colony.
Thomas was admitted as a freeman May 10, 1643, soon becoming a man of note. In 1650 he was named as treasurer of Harvard College in the charter granted to the institution in May of that year, although he does not appear to have assumed the duties of office until 1654, from which time he performed them until 1669. In that year he became steward, serving until 1682. He was also chosen clerk of the Overseers in 1654. His interest in the college was deep and continuing.
He was also distinguished on the small stage of the colony's political life. With the organization of Middlesex County he was elected recorder of deeds (1652) and held the office until 1686. He represented Cambridge, in which town he lived, as deputy in the General Court in 1657 and 1658 and was chosen an Assistant for twenty successive years beginning with 1659. From May 28, 1679 until the dissolution of the government in May 1686, he was associated with Simon Bradstreet as deputy-governor.
He was appointed president of the Province of Maine, February 4, 1680, and held that office until dropped by the Dudley administration, May 29, 1686. He also for many years served his town in the offices of selectman and town clerk, and at times was head of the Commissioners of the United Colonies.
He was an acknowledged leader of the popular as opposed to the prerogative party, was an enemy of Joseph Dudley, and in 1682 was one of the committee entrusted with the task of drawing up instructions for the colony's agents. Owing to his political opinions, he was naturally not in office during the Andros regime.
On April 18, 1689, he was one of those who signed the demand upon Andros to surrender the government and after the fall of the governor, he was again annually elected to his former offices until the grant of the new charter in 1692. In December of that year, however, he was chosen an associate judge of the superior court and held that office until his death.
He was a man of strong character and, although willing to go to almost any length in opposing the Laws of Trade and the demands of the British government, he was far from being as narrow-minded as most of his party.
In the public excitement attending the Indian war of 1675 he joined Daniel Gookin and John Eliot in defending the "Praying Indians, " incurring so much obloquy by so doing that his life was threatened. Again he showed his ability to rise above the mob by his condemnation of the witchcraft trials in 1692. He appears to have had ample means and lived on what is now Kirkland St. , Cambridge, owning, besides other property, ten thousand acres at Framingham, in which town he bequeathed three valuable leases to Harvard.
Danforth acquired great influence in the management of public affairs. As commissioner of the United Colonies, Danforth helped to organize military cooperation among the colonies to the Dutch and Indians. During King Philip’s War, he defended the “Praying Indians” against hostile criticisms. Notably, he served as a judge during the Salem witch trials of 1692. Danforth was sympathetic to the plight of individuals accused, relocating some of them to his lands west of Boston. Danforth, Maine is named in his honor.
Thomas Danforth was a conservative Puritan.
In February 1644 Danforth married Mary, daughter of Henry Withington of Dorchester, by whom he had twelve children. She died March 26, 1697.
