Claim: Thomas Burnham, the first American ancestor of a large number of Burnhams, was a lawyer and colonist, who migrated to the American Colonies before 1645, and lived most of his adult life in Podunk.
Evidence: He was the first American ancestor of a large number of Burnhams. Thomas Burnham (1617 – June 24, 1688) was a lawyer and colonist, who was born in England and migrated to the American Colonies sometime prior to 1645. He lived most of his adult live in Connecticut where he was a lawyer and a landowner. He was among the earliest puritan settlers in Connecticut, living in Podunk and finally settling in Hartford, Connecticut. After he emigrated he married Anna Wright Burnham (1620 - August 4, 1703) in Hartford circa 1645. In 1659 he purchased from Tantonimo (sometimes spelled, Tan-tonimo), Chief sachem of the Potunke Native Americans, a tract of land now covered by the towns of South Windsor and East Hartford, on which he afterward lived, and a part of which is still in possession of his descendants.