Henry Wolcott

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]

Notes:

Emigrated with his parents in 1630; admitted a freeman at Boston 1 Apr 1634, and moved with his parents to Windsor in 1636. He was a farmer and an importer. His apple orchards were among the largest in Connecticut.

Served in the House of Deputies 1655, 1660, and 1661, and in the House of Magistrates from 1662 to his death. Served on the Governor's War Council in 1675 and 1676.

At the time of his death, he had a "servant" named Cyrus valued at 30 pounds. Cyrus was possibly a slave, and if so, would have been the first known of in Connecticut.

Henry married Sarah Newberry on 18 Nov 1641 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. Sarah (daughter of Thomas Newberry and Joane Dabinott) was born on 10 Apr 1620 in Devon, England; died on 16 Jun 1684 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married Job Drake on 25 Jun 1646 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. Job (son of John Drake and Elizabeth Rogers) died on 16 Sep 1689 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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]

Notes:

"John settled at Wethersfield, where he was a selectman in 1679. He later moved back to Windsor and was elected to the House of Deputies in 1698 and subsequently." [Wolcott Immigrants and Their Early Descendants, citation details below.]

John married Mary Chester on 13 Feb 1677 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut. Mary (daughter of Capt. John Chester and Sarah Welles) was born on 23 Dec 1654 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts; died on 10 Jul 1689 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Job married Elizabeth Clark on 13 Sep 1677 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. Elizabeth (daughter of Daniel Clark and Mary Newberry) was born on 28 Oct 1651 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; died on 22 Dec 1729 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Nov 1746
• Alternate death: 17 Nov 1747, South Wellington, Tolland, Connecticut

Notes:

An original proprietor of Tolland and Wellington in Connecticut.

Henry married Rachel Talcott after 22 Nov 1701. Rachel (daughter of Samuel Talcott and Hannah Holyoke) was born on 2 Apr 1676 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut; died on 8 Jan 1726 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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]

Mary married John Eliot on 19 Dec 1706. John (son of Rev. John Eliot and Elizabeth Gookin) was born on 28 Apr 1667; died on 25 Mar 1719 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; was buried in Palisado Cemetery, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Hannah Newberry on 14 Dec 1703 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. Hannah (daughter of Thomas Newberry and Ann Ford) was born on 10 Feb 1680 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; died on 17 Oct 1719 in South Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Sarah married Roger Wolcott, Governor of Connecticut on 3 Dec 1702 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. Roger (son of Simon Wolcott and Martha Pitkin) was born on 4 Jan 1679 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; died on 17 May 1767 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; was buried in Palisado Cemetery, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"Capt. Gideon Wolcott commanded one of the companies raised by the colonists in 1760 against the French and Indians." [Wolcott Genealogy, citation details below.]

"Gideon commanded the 9th Co., 1st Connecticut Regt., under Maj. Gen. Phineas Lyman. He served in this unit from 1758 to 1760." [Wolcott Immigrants and Their Early Descendants, citation details below.]

Gideon married Naomi Olmsted about 1748 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut. Naomi (daughter of Deacon Joseph Olmsted and Hannah Marsh) was born on 1 Mar 1721 in East Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut; died on 7 Nov 1775 in South Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was a representative to the Connecticut general assembly for many terms, and a speaker of the assembly. Also a justice of the peace, probate judge, and chief judge of the county court.

He commanded a regiment of Connecticut militia in 1776, helping to raise the siege of Boston. In 1777 he led troops guarding the Hudson. He was appointed by Washington to the court-martial conducting the trial of Major Andre. After the war, he was a judge of the Connecticut supreme court. Yale College, it is said, gave him an honorary degree.

Erastus married Jerusha Wolcott on 10 Feb 1746. Jerusha (daughter of John Wolcott and Hannah Newberry) was born on 18 Jan 1719 in South Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; died on 2 Jun 1789 in South Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; was buried in South Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Governor of Connecticut, 1796-97. Signer of the Declaration of Independence and of the Articles of Confederation.

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]