The Massachusetts immigrant Jonathan Wade has been comprehensively treated by Anderson.778 He was a merchant and tavern keeper, and made at least two return trips to England. His name frequently appears in court records concerning business transactions. His children married into some of the most influential families in the colony (Dudley, Cotton, Bradstreet). In a court petition of 17 Mar 1682 he claimed to have been an original backer of the Massachusetts colony in 1629, having contributed £60 in total, and yet had never received the land allotment that had been promised him. His origins in England are not yet known.

Rose-Troup779 claims that Jonathan Wade was the son of Thomas Wade (square brackets in the original): “THOMAS WADE, of Northampton. His son Jonathan emigrated in 1632 and in 1649 petitioned for land in respect of ‘60li formerly disbursed by Thomas Wade for his use in the Country Stocke, for the furtherance of this plantation.’ [MR. III, 154.] This was at first denied but afterwards granted. In 1652 he had 400 acres ‘with respect to fifty pounds by him formerly disbursed for the use and behoof of the Country,’ [MR. III, 271], and confirmed because of his ‘disbursing of 50li for the good of this colony at the first.’ [MR. IV, 90.]”