Married:     21 Aug 1685

Children:   Margaret (Rathbun), Mary (Dodge), Patience (Bentley), Content (Eldred), Thomas, Sarah (Rathbun), Elizabeth (Gay), Samuel, John, Sybil (Wilcox)

Thomas was born about 1657, probably at Dorchester, Mass., and was raised on Block Island where he married Aug. 21, 1685, Mary Dickens, born about 1664, daughter of Nathaniel and Joan Dickens. Thomas was an influential citizen of Block Island and apparently the most prominent of the five brothers. He was admitted a freeman in 1684, elected a second townsman in 1692, and served as first townsman in 1700-1702. His fellow islanders elected him the island's deputy to the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1700, 1703, 1705 and 1711, and again in 1730 and 1731 when he was past 70. During his first term in the Assembly, he served on a committee appointed to audit the colonial treasurer's accounts. 

He owned considerable property on Block Island, and is referred to as "Captain Thomas Rathbun" in the town records. He also invested in lands near Poughkeepsie, N. Y., which he deeded to his daughters before his death. In 1705, he purchased the Dickens property on Block Island from his wife's step- mother and brothers. He was quite likely the "Thomas Raspin" who was married Oct. 30, 1717, in Boston, to Mary Nixon. In 1730, he gave an acre of land to Mercy Nixon, wife of Joseph Lock "for the love and goodwill that I have unto her whom I brought up from her childhood ." Thomas Rathbun died Dec. 26, 1733, at Block Island, aged 76, ac-cording to the slate marker on his grave. 

An indication of his wealth is shown in the inventory of his estate, which listed 27 cattle, 210 sheep, seven swine, two horses and six Negro slaves. Since census records show only about 20 Negroes on Block Island at that period, it would appear that he owned fully a third of the slaves on the island. An idea of the value of slaves is given in the inventory, which listed a male named Mingo, valued at 60 pounds; a boy named Quoming, at 80 pounds; one woman at 40 pounds; and three "wenches" at 200 pounds (about 66 pounds each). His possessions also included several pieces of silver - a tankard and two cups. The total value of his estate was set at more than 838 pounds, a sizeable amount for the hard-working farmers and fisherman of Block Island during that period. 

(Taken in part from Wikipedia)