Complex sentence: Thomas was one of the gentry who made the transition from the old to the new; an interesting footnote in history as we find one of the founders of colonial America is a direct descendent of one of the founders of Norman England over 500 years prior.
Split into simpler sentences: Thomas was one of the gentry who made the transition from the old to the new. In an interesting footnote in history: one of the founders of colonial America is a direct descendant of one of the founders of Norman England over 500 years prior.