Editing Thomas Danforth (section)

==Early life==
Thomas Danforth was born in [[Framlingham]], [[Suffolk]], England, and baptized on November 20, 1623.<ref name=May18>May, p. 18</ref>  He was the eldest son of Nicholas Danforth (1589–1638) and Elizabeth Symmes (1596–1629).<ref name=PS30>Parr and Swope, p. 30</ref> Danforth immigrated with his father, brothers [[Samuel Danforth|Samuel]] and Jonathan, and sisters Anna, Elizabeth, and Lydia to [[New England]] in 1634, probably aboard the ''[[Griffin (ship)|Griffin]]''.<ref>May, p. vii</ref> 

The family, along with the 200 or so other passengers aboard, left England to escape persecution for their [[Puritan]] beliefs. [[William Laud]] had become archbishop of the [[Church of England]] in 1633 and begun a crackdown on [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformist]] religious practices (such as those practiced by the more [[Calvinist]] Puritans) that prompted a [[Puritan migration to New England (1620–1640)|wave of migration]] to the New World.<ref>Labaree, pp. 17–19</ref><ref>May, pp. x–xi</ref>