We find various spellings of this name: Tombly, Twambly, Twamly, and Tomlinson. The most common spelling in America is Twombly as used by our immigrant ancestor, Ralph Twombly, born in England ca. 1630; died in Dover, NH after 28 February 1684, the date his will was signed and before 7 October 1686, the date his will was proved. His wife's name was Elizabeth, whose family name is unknown.

Ralph Twombly came from England and settled in Dover, NH, as early as 1656. He had land laid out on 10 April 1656, that had been previously granted to him by the town. He was first taxed in 1657 and was a near neighbor of Governor Thomas Roberts. He served on the coroner's jury in 1657 and was excused from training in 1670.

Ralph and his wife Elizabeth Twombly had at least nine children, all born in Dover, NH, all of whom were named in Ralph's will:

• John, b. 1658; m. (1) Mary Canney, daughter of Thomas Canney; m. (2) Rachel Allen, daughter of Edward Allen.
• Joseph, b. 1661; m. Jane -----.
• Mary, b. 1663; m. Jeremiah Tibbetts, son of Jeremiah Tibbetts.
• Ralph, b. 1665; died without issue.
• Elizabeth, b. ca. 1666.
• Hope, no other facts known.
• Sarah, m. Mark Giles.
• Esther, m. Pomfret Dam, son of William Dam.
• William, b. ca. 1677; m. (1) Mary Ricker; m. (2) Abigail (Evans) Hayes.

John was on the Grand Jury in 1695 and 1698. He was baptized two days before he signed his will.

John had two wives and ten children. The order of the children is not known except for the first son, John, who was the son of John's first wife, Mary Canney. Three of the remaining four sons and one daughter of the five daughters could be the children of Mary Canney as the first son, John, in 1747, sued for share of self and three brothers and one sister in Grandfather Canney's estate. We make the assumption that Joseph is the son of Mary Canney as we know the birthday of son Samuel, 10 March 1699 is after the date of John's second marriage to Rachel Allen.

John and his first wife, Mary (Canney) Twombly had five children, we assume, dates and order of birth unknown, all born in Dover, NH:

• John, m. Sarah Damme, daughter of William Damme.
• William, m. Elizabeth Drew, daughter probably of John Drew.
• Benjamin, m. 10 July 1721, Hannah Evans, daughter of Thomas Evans. Benjamin's will, 1761-62, named seven children.
• Joseph, m. Martha Wentworth, daughter of Ephraim Wentworth.
• Sarah, m. Gershom Wentworth, son of Ezekiel Wentworth. It is only an assumption that Sarah was a daughter of Mary (Canney) Twombly as any one of the other four daughters of John Twombly could have been Mary's daughter. If another daughter of John Twombly was indeed the daughter of Mary (Canney) Twombly, then Sarah would have to be the daughter of Rachel (Allen) Twombly.

John and his second wife, Rachel (Allen) Twombly, had five children, we assume, dates and order of birth unknown, all born in Dover, NH:

• Rachel.
• Esther.
• Mary.
• Anna.
• Samuel, b. 10 March 1699; m. 26 Nov. 1723 Judith Hanson, daughter of Tobias Hanson.

Although Joseph and Martha were listed as residents of Madbury, NH in the Johnson-Mitchell book, page 187, their son Paul was baptized in Dover, NH.

Joseph and his wife Martha (Wentworth) Twombly had six children:

• Paul, bpt. 27 June 1745; m. Mercy Goudy (Gowdy), daughter of Amos Goudy.
• Hepzibah.
• Peniel.
• Solomon.
• Daniel, bpt. 26 Sept. 1753.
• Andrew, m. (1) Lucy Young; m. (2) Mary Frost.

Paul Twombly was a Revolutionary soldier in Captain Henry Hunter's Company, Colonel Jones' regiment, on an alarm in defense of a ship loading with masts on the Sheepscot River. Roll dated, Newcastle, 15 September, 1777. Paul and Mercy lived in Bristol and Boothbay, ME.

Paul and his wife Mercy (Goudy) Twombly had three children, at least:

• Martha, m. (1) 1 Dec. 1802 Samuel Woodward, son of Samuel Woodward; m. (2) at Appleton, ME 1812 William D. Gould.
• Elizabeth, m. ca. 31 Oct. 1805 Peleg Lincoln, son of Joshua Lincoln.
• John, m. in Bristol, ME 6 Sept. 1808 Eunice Jackson.