 ORIGIN: Lidyard St. Lawrence, Somersetshire
MIGRATION: 1630 on Mary & John
FIRST RESIDENCE: Dorchester
REMOVES: Windsor 1636
RETURN TRIPS: Travelled to England in 1640 and returned in 1641 [Lechford 324-25].
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admission to Dorchester church prior to 1 April 1634 implied by freemanship.
FREEMAN: Requested 19 October 1630 and admitted 1 April 1634 [MBCR 1:79, 368].
EDUCATION: His inventory included "the books and other things in the closet" valued at £11.
OFFICES: Dorchester assessor, 3 November 1633 [DTR 4]. Fenceviewer, 20 May 1634, 10 February 1634/5 [DTR 6, 10]. Selectman, 28 October 1634 [DTR 7].
Deputy for Windsor to Connecticut General Court, April 1639 [CT Civil List 64]. Assistant, April 1643, April 1644, April 1645, April 1646, May 1647, May 1648, May 1649, May 1650, May 1651, May 1652, May 1653, May 1654, May 1655 [CT Civil List 64].
Windsor constable, 26 April 1636 [CCCR 1:1]. Tax collector, 9 February 1637/8 [CCCR 1:12]. Jury, 1644 [CCCR 1:102]. Committee on highway between Windsor and Hartford, 10 April 1645 [CCCR 1:125].
ESTATE: On 3 April 1633 ordered to maintain sixty feet of fence at Dorchester, for three cows [DTR 1]. Granted fourteen acres in the meadow beyond Naponset [DTR 322].
In the Windsor land inventory on 11 January 1640[/1] "Henry Woolcott the elder" held eleven parcels: a twelve acre homelot; twenty-two acres in the Great Meadow; eight acres in Plimouth Meadow; fifty-eight acres toward Hartford; twenty-four acres over the Great River; a parcel over the Great River twenty rods in breadth and three miles in length; a parcel over the Great River ten rods in breadth and three miles in length; eighteen acres over the Great River; a parcel "upon Plimouth Meadow bank"; fifty acres over the Great River; and eight acres and fifty rods in swamp [WiLR 42]. For settling the estate of Thomas Marshfield, Henry Wolcott received seventeen acres of upland and six acres of swamp, and purchased of the overseers of Thomas Marshfield a parcel over the Great River, thirteen rods in breadth and three miles in length [WiLR 42].
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" [Hartford PD Case #6179; Manwaring 1:167-68].
The inventory of the estate of "Mr. Henry Wolcot deceased," taken 13 June 1655, totalled £764 8s. 10d., of which £351 5s. was real estate: "the houselot, housing, orchard, gardens, press, garner [granary] and things thereto belonging," £135; "twenty-two acres in the Great Meadow," £88; "8 acres in Plimmouth Meadow," £32; "24 acres at Podunk ... with a barn," £54; "Marshfield's lot and house," £24; "the lot at Arramomets," £10; and "four other lots not fenced," £8 5s. [Hartford PD Case #6179].
In her will, dated 5 July 1655 and proved 4 October 1655, "Elizabeth Wolcot" bequeathed to "my son George" £10 in moveables; to "Simon my son" some cloth; "the rest of my household goods to be equally divided betwixt Christopher and Simon my sons"; "the rest of my clothes to be equally divided betwixt my two daughters Anna and Mary"; "I would entreat Christopher to let Simon to dwell in the house and to have the use of it a while"; "my two cows to be equally divided amongst all my grandchildren" [Hartford PD Case #6167; Manwaring 1:166].
BIRTH: Baptized at Lidyard St. Lawrence, Somersetshire, 6 December 1578, son of John Woolcott [Wolcott Gen 2].
DEATH: Windsor 30 May 1655 [CTVR 43; Grant 82 (day and month 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)].
CHILDREN:
| i JOHN, bp. Lidyard St. Lawrence 1 October 1607 [Wolcott Gen 2]; living in 1631 [NEHGR 4:23-23]; no further record, and died without surviving issue before 10 March 1642 (when "Henry Woolcot of Windsor" deeded to "Henry Woolcot mine oldest son" the family inheritance in Tolland and Lidyard St. Lawrence [Wolcott Gen 39]). |
| ii HENRY, b. say 1616; m. Windsor 8 November 1641 Sarah Newberry [Grant 69], daughter of Thomas Newberry. |
| iii GEORGE, b. say 1622; m. by about 1649 Elizabeth _____ (said to be Elizabeth Treat, daughter of Richard, but without evidence [Hale, House 767]). |
| iv ANNE, b. say 1624; m. Windsor 16 October 1646 Mathew Griswold (so stated in all secondary sources, but no evidence provided). |
| v MARY, b. say 1626; m. Windsor 25 June 1646 Job Drake, son of John Drake [Grant 32]. |
| vi CHRISTOPHER, b. say 1628; d. Windsor 7 September 1662, unmarried [Manwaring 1:166]. In his nuncupative will Christopher Wolcott asked that "his estate should be divided among his brothers and sisters, only that Henry should have something more than the others" [Manwaring 1:166]. |
| vii SIMON, b say 1630; m. (1) Windsor 19 March 1656/7 Joanna Cooke, daughter of AARON COOKE [CTVR 42], and she d. Windsor 27 April 1657 [CTVR 43]; m. (2) Windsor 17 October 1661 Martha Pitkin [Grant 69]. |
ASSOCIATIONS: "John Woolcott heretofore of Glaston in the County of Somerset, yeoman, and late of Watertowne in New Engand, planter, deceased," left behind two minor daughters. One of those chosen to be guardian was "Henry Woolcott of Windsor in N.E." [Lechford 39-41]. The exact degree of kinship between this John and Henry has not been determined, but they were probably not-too-distant cousins.
COMMENTS: On 22 July 1631 "John Wollcott," writing from Wellington, Somersetshire, addressed "his loving cousin Henry Wollcott Junior in Matapan (Dorchester) these in New England," asked to be remembered to "your father and mother [and] to your brothers," and reported that "your brother Simon hath been very sick of late and so hath your sisters also.... Your brother John continues in his old course of living" [NEHGR 4:23-24]. The addressee was the younger Henry Wolcott, the eldest son in New England of the immigrant.
On 15 April 1639 "John Wollcott" of Bishop's Lydyard wrote to "my loving brother Hennory Wollcott dwelling in Winsor by Quenattecott River in New England" to inform him that "our dear brother C[hris]topher Wollcott of Wellington" had died on the 25th of March 1639 [NEHGR 2:373-74].
The statement has been made that Henry Wolcott lived at Ash Priors, Somersetshire, after 1607, and baptisms are given for sons Henry and Simon, but the parish where these events took place is not stated with assurance [M&JCH 17:176]. Further evidence is needed on this point.
In 1640 Henry Wolcott was in partnership with Thomas Marshfield and Samuel Wakeman in the voyages of two ships across the Atlantic, and he presumably made the voyage himself in one of these vessels [Lechford 324-25].
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