Roger Wolcott, Governor of Connecticut

Notes:

Governor of Connecticut from 1751 to 1754.

From Wikipedia:

His formal education was severely limited by the nature of the frontier village, so at age twelve he was apprenticed to a weaver, and at the age of twenty-one entered that business on his own. He married Sarah Drake on December 3, 1702, and they had fifteen children before her death in 1748. Their son Oliver Wolcott Sr. signed the Declaration of Independence and went on to become governor of Connecticut.

In May 1709, Wolcott was admitted to the bar and began to practice law. In 1711, during Queen Anne's War, He accompanied militia forces on an expedition to Quebec as a commissary. On his return he served as Clerk of the House, 1710-1711 and was elected Deputy to the colony's Lower House in 1709-1714, 1718, 1719, serving as Speaker in October, 1719. In 1714 he was elected to the Upper House (also called the Council) and served as Assistant, 1714-1718, 1720-1741, 1754-1760. He was Commissioner of Connecticut for the Adjustment of Colonial boundaries, 1717, 1718, 1723-1726, 1728, 1730, 1737, 1740, 1742, 1750. Captain of the Trainband of Windsor, 1722. Captain of Troops raised for active service, 1724. He was made judge of the Hartford County court in 1723, serving through 1732, and of the colony's Superior Court in 1732, serving through 1741. Wolcott was made Colonel of the 1st regiment, 1739.

In 1741 Wolcott was elected Deputy Governor of the colony. As deputy governors traditionally served as the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Connecticut, he also assumed that position, which he held until 1750.

In 1745 Wolcott was again active in the militia, this time as a Major General. In King George's War, Massachusetts governor William Shirley issued a general call to the New England colonies for an expedition against the French in Île-Royale (present-day Cape Breton Island). Wolcott served as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the Expedition to Cape Breton. General Wolcott headed the Connecticut troops in Sir William Pepperrell's expedition that captured Fortress Louisbourg.

With the death of Governor Jonathan Law in 1750, Wolcott succeeded to the position of governor. He was re-elected annually to that position through 1753. Shortly after he retired as governor, his son, Roger Wolcott, Sr., attended negotiations with six other British colonies and around 200 members of various Indian nations at the Albany Congress in June and July 1754. During his administration, a disabled Spanish ship, the St. Joseph and St. Helena, with a cargo valued at 400,000 Spanish dollars, ran aground near New London.

Wolcott ordered the ship seized and the cargo impounded in order to allow time to resolve conflicting claims between the vessel's captain and the salvage crew. While in the colony's custody, a large portion of the ship's cargo mysteriously disappeared. Tainted with the scandal surrounding the Spanish Ship case, he was defeated for re-election in 1754. All previous governors had died in office. Following his defeat, Wolcott generally withdrew from public life to study and follow literary pursuits. In 1759, Wolcott authored a short history of the Connecticut colony entitled Roger Wolcott's Memoir Relating to the History of Connecticut.

Roger married Sarah Drake on 3 Dec 1702 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. Sarah (daughter of Job Drake and Elizabeth Clark) was born on 10 May 1686 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; died on 20 Jan 1748 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Maj. Gen. Erastus Wolcott was born on 21 Sep 1722 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; died on 14 Sep 1793 in South Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; was buried in South Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut.
2. Oliver Wolcott, Governor of Connecticut was born on 20 Nov 1726 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; died on 1 Dec 1797 in Farmington, Hartford, Connecticut.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Between 11 Sep 1624 and 11 Sep 1625
• Alternate birth: Abt 1630

Notes:

Came to New England with his sisters around 1635.

Simon married Martha Pitkin on 17 Oct 1661 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. Martha (daughter of Rev. William Pitkin and Elizabeth) was born before 12 Dec 1639 in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England; was christened on 12 Dec 1639 in Berkhamsted St. Peter, Hertfordshire, England; died on 13 Oct 1719 in South Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; was buried in Old South Windsor Churchyard, South Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 13 Oct 1719, East Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut

Notes:

Emigrated to New England in 1630 on the Mary and John. First at Dorchester, then at Windsor. Inherited property in England in 1639; the following year he travelled back to England to deal with it, returning in 1641.

He was one of the first twelve men elected to the lower house of Connecticut's first General Assembly in 1637, and in 1643 he was elected to the Magistrates, the upper house of that assembly where he was a member until his death.

Henry married Elizabeth Saunders on 19 Jan 1606 in Lidyard St. Lawrence, Somerset, England. Elizabeth (daughter of Thomas Saunders and Ann Blake) was born in 1584 in Lidyard St. Lawrence, Somerset, England; was christened on 20 Dec 1584 in Lidyard St. Lawrence, Somerset, England; died on 5 Jul 1655 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; was buried in Palisado Cemetery, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 7 Jul 1655, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut

Notes:

He was headmaster of the Berkhampstead school, and he and his wife died when their daughter Martha was a small child.

Said to have died some months before his father, of the plague.

William married Elizabeth. Elizabeth died before 21 Dec 1641; was buried on 21 Dec 1641 in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was the miller at Tolland.

John married Agnes Crosse. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Thomas married Ann Blake. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Said to have been a member of Parliament, but we've been unable to confirm that. He appears to have been a justice of the peace, bailiff, churchwarden, etc.

John married Agnes. Agnes died before 6 Nov 1606; was buried on 6 Nov 1606 in Tolland, Somerset, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was a "tucker." "Tucking and fulling were names for the finishing process of cloth making, in which newly woven wool cloth was prepared for sale by soaking and beating, usually by means of a water driven mill." [The Wolcott Family of Somerset, England, citation details below.]