Person:Henry Wolcott (1)

For religious reasons, Henry Wolcott and his entire family, with the exception of his oldest son, came to New England and were among those that made the arduous journey from Massachusetts Bay to the Connecticut River in 1635/6 and were among the founders of Windsor, Connecticut. There he assumed a position of influence and was a member of the Lower House in the First General Assembly held in Connecticut in 1637, and an Assistant to the Governor, 1643-1655. He became the progenitor of one of the most distinguished families in America.

He was the son of John Wolcott and Agnes Cross.^[9] As the second son of the Wolcotts of Galdon Manor, Tolland, County Somerset, England, he held a privileged position among the landed gentry and an estate which placed him in affluent circumstances. At the death of his elder brother, Christopher, in 1639, the family estate came into his possession after his move to America.

"The earlier portion of his life was passed in the quiet pursuit of a country squire's duties and responsibilities; but, becoming converted under the teaching of the Rev. John Elton, he soon found himself closely identified with the Puritan party in the religious and political revolution which then convulsed England. American presented to him, as to hundreds of others like-minded, the only asylum where civil and religious freedom could be found; and, though then past 52 years of age, and with children of an age when they most needed the social and educational advantages afforded in their native land, --to emigrate to a new home beyond the ocean. Taking their three sons, and leaving behind them for a time two daughters and their youngest son (age 5), they joined the Warham and Maverick emigration of 1630, on the 19th of October in which yr. we find Henry Wolcott's name as one of the first list of freemen of Boston.

He moved from Dorchester to Windsor in 1635; in 1637 was elected a member of the lower house of the first General Assembly of Conn; in 1640 stands first in a list of the inhabitants of Windsor; in 1643 was elected to the House of Magistrates (the present Senate) of Conn., and was annually re-elected during life, and was probably, after the pastor, the most distinguished citizen of Windsor; the younger child who had been left behind, rejoined the family between 1631 and 1641. His estate was inventoried at £764, 8s, 10d, not a large sum for one who is known to have sold about £8,000 worth of estate in England preparatory to removing to America. In the Ancient 'Family Chronologie' it is recorded of Henry Wolcott and his wife, that 'these both dyed in hope and Ly buried under one Tomb in Windsor.'" ^[1], ^[2], ^[3], ^[4]

Will

In his will, dated 30 May 1655 and proved 4 October 1655, "Henry Wolcot" bequeathed to "my wife ... all my houselot, orchard, garden, hopyard and my lot in Plimmouth Meadow during the term of her life, also ... two of my cows and half the household goods in my dwelling house"; "I leave my land in England to Henry my eldest son without encumbrances, also I give unto him my two Books of Martyrs"; to "Christopher my second son my lot in the great meadow after my death and my houselot and housing upon it after the death of my wife he paying out of it thirty pounds after my wife's decease as I shall further appoint"; to "George my third son the five pounds he owes me and five pounds more"; to "Simon my youngest son all my land on the easterly side of the Great River and my lot at Arramummett"; to "the children of Henry my eldest son five pounds to Henry the eldest of them and to the rest of them forty shillings apiece"; residue to be equally divided "amongst all my children"; "Henry Wolcot my son" to be overseer; to "Christopher my son ... my lot in Plimmouth Meadow after the decease of my wife" (Anderson, citing Hartford PD Case #6179; Manwaring 1:167-68)

1. ↑ Stiles, Henry R. History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut (1892): including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks and Ellington, 1635-1891. (Hartford, Connecticut: Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, 1892)
   II:799-800.
2. ↑ Chandler Wolcott, The Family of Henry Wolcott.
3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Myrtle Stevens Hyde, "A Wolcott Correction"., in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society)
   Vol. 157:256.

   Henry's "baptism in the parish of Lydeard St. Lawrence, Somerset, England, has long been published as 6 December 1578. His parents John Wolcott and Agnes Cross, were married in the same parish 9 Feb 1578. Examination of the original parish register [FHL 1,364,058] shows the correct double dating of the marriage to be 1578/79 and that Henry was baptized 6 December 1579, not 1578."

4. ↑ Maude Pinney Kuhns, The MARY AND JOHN.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7} Henry Wolcott, in Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995).

   ORIGIN: Lidyard St. Lawrence, Somersetshire.
   MIGRATION: 1630 on Mary & John.
   RETURN TRIPS: Travelled to England in 1640 and returned in 1641 [Lechford 324-35].
   BIRTH: Baptized at Lidyard St. Lawrence, Somersetshire, 6 December 1578, son of John Woolcott [Wolcott Gen 2].
   WILL: Windsor 30 May 1655 [CTVR 43; Grant 82 (day and month of death not given)].
   MARRIAGE: Lidyard St. Lawrence, Somersetshire, 19 January 1606 Elizabeth Saunders [ Wolcott Gen 2]. She died at Windsor on 5 July 1655 [ CTVR 43; Grant 82 (day and month not given)].

6. ↑ Best, Frank E. (Frank Eugene); William John Keep; and Helen Elizabeth Keep. John Keep of Longmeadow, Massachusetts, 1600-1676, and His Descendants: in which is Incorporated an Unpublished Keep Genealogy Prepared by W.J. Keep; a Record of Ancestry by Helen E. Keep; and the Extended Ancestry of Sallie Keep Best. (Chicago, Illinois: Frank E. Best, 1899)
   14.
7.   WOLCOTT GEN (Grifen & Alegre, 1986).

   p. 32: 'he was one of the 19 men mentioned in the CT charter'

8.   THE GRISWOLD FAMILY (E. G. French, 1990).

   p. 186: 'came in the ship Mary and John', Anna came over after the family was settled'

9. ↑ Stott, Clifford L. Humphrey Blake (1494?-1558) and his Descendants in New England and South Carolina: Richards, Selleck, Torrey, and Wolcott. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Apr, Jul, Oct 2009; Jan 2010)
   163:278, 283 .

   Henry Wolcott, bapt Lydiard St. Lawrence 6 Dec 1579, son of John and Agnes (Cross) Wolcott., citing Myrtle Stevens Hyde, "A Wolcott Correction," NEHGR 157 (2003):256 (S3)

10. ↑ Ricker, Jacquelyn Ladd. The Ricker Compilation of Vital Records of Early Connecticut: Based on the Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records and Other Statistical Sources. (Baltimore, Maryland: Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company)
    14039.

    Wolcott, Henry, b. 1578 - Palisado Cem, Windsor; d. 30 May 1655 ae 77 - from England 1630 - Windsor VR & Palisado Cem, Windsor.

11. ↑ Henry Wolcott, in Find A Grave.

Founders of Windsor, CT

Windsor was the first permanent English settlement in Connecticut. Local indians granted Plymouth settlers land at the confluence of the Farmington River and the west side of the Connecticut River, and Plymouth settlers (including Jonathan Brewster, son of William) built a trading post in 1633. But the bulk of the settlement came in 1635, when 60 or more people led by Reverend Warham arrived, having trekked overland from Dorchester, Massachusetts. Most had arrived in the New World five years earlier on the ship "Mary and John" from Plymouth, England. The settlement was first called Dorchester, and was renamed Windsor in 1637. See: Stiles History of Ancient Windsor - Thistlewaite's Dorset Pilgrims - Wikipedia entry Loomis homestead, oldest in CT. Settlers at Windsor by the end of 1640, per the Descendants of the Founders of Ancient Windsor: Abbot - Alford - S. Allen - M. Allyn - Barber - Bartlett - M. (Barrett) (Huntington) Stoughton - Bascomb - Bassett - Benett - Birge - Bissell - Branker - Brewster - Buckland - Buell - Carter - Chappel - D. Clarke - J. Clarke - Cooke - Cooper - Denslow - Dewey - Dibble - Dumbleton - Drake - Dyer - Eels - Eggleston - Filley - Ford - Foulkes - Fyler - Gaylord - Francis Gibbs - William Gilbert - Jere. Gillett - Jon. Gillett - N. Gillett - Grant - Gridley - E. Griswold - M. Griswold - Gunn - Hannum - Hawkes - Hawkins - Hayden - Haynes - Hill - Hillier - Holcombe - Holmes - Holt - Hosford - Hoskins - Hoyte - Hubbard - Huit - Hulbert - Hull - Hurd - Hydes - Loomis - Ludlow - Lush - Marshfield - A. Marshall - T. Marshall - Mason - M. (Merwin) (Tinker) Collins - M. Merwin - Mills - Moore - Newberry - Newell - Oldage - Orton - Osborn - Palmer - Parsons - Parkman - Pattison - Phelps - Phelps - Phillips - Pinney - Pomeroy - Pond - Porter - Preston - Rainend - Randall - Rawlins - Reeves - J. Rockwell - W. Rockwell - B. Rossiter - St. Nicholas - Saltonstall - Samos - M. Sension (St. John) – R. Sension - Sexton - Staires - Starke - F. Stiles – H. Stiles - J. Stiles – T. Stiles - Stoughton - Stuckey - Talcott - E. Taylor - J. Taylor - Terry - Thornton - Thrall - Tilley - Tilton - Try - F. (Clark) (Dewey) (Phelps) - Vore - Warham - Weller - Whitehead - A. Williams - J. Williams - R. Williams - Wilton - Winchell - Witchfield - Wolcott - Young Current Location: Hartford County, Connecticut   Parent Towns: Dorchester, Massachusetts   Daughter Towns: Windsor Locks; South Windsor; East Windsor; Ellington; Bloomfield