Editing Thomas Danforth (section)

==Family and property==
Danforth married Mary Withington in 1644.<ref name=PS30/> The couple had 12 children, but half of these died before the age of three. Danforth was survived by only three of the others.<ref>May, pp. 19–23</ref>  Danforth died in Cambridge on November 5, 1699.<ref name=Appletons>{{Cite Appletons'|title=Danforth, Thomas|year=1888|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P68LAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA73}}</ref> During his lifetime, Danforth owned an [[Slavery in the colonial history of the United States|enslaved man]] named Philip Ffeild.<ref>https://radcliffe-harvard-edu-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/3d37f30c-a266-4be8-bd4b-234dca08497f/AppendixI-ListofHumanBeingsEnslavedbyProminentHarvardAffiliates.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220509144334/https://radcliffe-harvard-edu-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/3d37f30c-a266-4be8-bd4b-234dca08497f/AppendixI-ListofHumanBeingsEnslavedbyProminentHarvardAffiliates.pdf |date=2022-05-09 }} {{Bare URL PDF|date=September 2022}}</ref>

[[Image:Seal of Town of Framingham, Massachusetts.png|thumb|right|upright|The seal of [[Framingham, Massachusetts]]; the words "Danforth's Farms" are visible near the top of the shield.]]
In 1662 Danforth began to acquire land to the west of Boston by way of land grants by the [[Massachusetts General Court|Great and General Court]] after general surveys conducted by [[Edmund Rice (1638)|Edmund Rice]] at the behest of the Court.<ref>p.92 In: Temple, J.H. (1887). ''History of Framingham, Massachusetts, Early Known as Danforth's Farms 1640-1880''. Town of Framingham. 794pp. [https://archive.org/details/historyofframinged00temp pdf]</ref> Originally known as "Danforth's Farm", he began to refer to the estate as "Framingham" in the 1670s in honor of his birthplace.<ref name=PS30/> Although Danforth continued to reside in Cambridge, he developed these lands, which came to number {{convert|15000|acre|km2}}, by issuing 999 year leases rather than selling parcels.<ref>Parr and Swope, p. 39</ref> By the 1690s a number of somewhat discontiguous communities existed on the land, which petitioned the state for incorporation.  Objections were made to the earliest petition (of 1692) by Danforth, since it did not include all of his lands, and a number of subsequent petitions were objected to by neighboring communities.<ref>Hurd, p. 614</ref>  It was not until 1700, after Danforth had died, that the town of [[Framingham, Massachusetts|Framingham]] was granted a charter.<ref>Parr and Swope, p. 40</ref>  The town's seal contains the words "Danforth's Farms" in commemoration of this heritage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.framingham.com/history/300th/300th003.htm|title=Student Walks Away With Grand Prize|publisher=framingham.com|access-date=2012-07-16|date=1997-06-15}}</ref>

[[Danforth, Maine]] is named in his honor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.danforthmaine.org/history.html|title=History of Danforth, Maine|access-date=2012-07-14|publisher=Town of Danforth, Maine|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723220619/http://www.danforthmaine.org/history.html|archive-date=2012-07-23}}</ref>  The [[Danforth Art|Danforth Art Museum]], founded in 1975, is located in Framingham.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.danforthmuseum.org/about.html|title=About the Danforth Museum|access-date=2012-07-16|publisher=Danforth Museum}}</ref>