Thomas Yale (New Haven Colony)

Captain Thomas Yale (1616 – 1683) was a British military officer, merchant and magistrate. He was a puritan who emigrated from London to the New England Colonies aboard the Hector in 1637, and cofounded, with his stepfather, Governor Theophilus Eaton, the colony of New Haven. He was also a deputy to the Connecticut General Assembly and fought in King Philip's War.

His half-brother, Samuel Eaton, cofounded the Harvard Corporation, and his stepuncle, Nathaniel Eaton, became the first head of Harvard, and built Harvard Yard and Library.^[1] His nephew, Governor Elihu Yale, became an early benefactor and namesake of Yale College, while his former estate, situated in New Haven, became part of Yale's Old Campus.