Simon Wolcott

Notes:

From Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts page 395: Wolcott, Captain Simon (1625-1687, Simsbury, Conn. Captain of the Simsbury Train Band, 1673. Deputy to the General Assembly 1673. Trooper from Windsor under Major March, 1657.

Simon married Martha Pitkin on 17 Oct 1661 in Windsor, Connecticut Colony. Martha (daughter of William Pitkin and Elizabeth [wife of William Pitkin Jr]) was born about 1638 in Berkhampsted, Hertfordshire, England; was christened on 12 Dec 1642 in Berkhampsted, Hertfordshire, England; died on 13 Oct 1719 in Windsor, Hartford Co, Connecticut Colony. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

(Research):Berkhamsted is a historic market town close to the western boundary of Hertfordshire, England. People have been living in the Berkhamsted area for over 5,000 years. There is evidence of flint working in the Neolithic period and metal working in the late Iron Age and Roman periods. The high street is on a pre-Roman route known by its Saxon name Akeman Street. The earliest written reference to Berkhamsted is in 970 AD. Berkhamsted was recorded as a "burbium" (an ancient borough) in the Domesday Book in 1086. The oldest known extant jettied timber-framed building in Great Britain, built 1277-1297, survives as a shop on the town's high street.

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Henry Wolcott, an English gentleman from the Parish of Lyiard, St. Lawrence, and his wife Elizabeth Saunders, with their sons Henry, Christopher and George, emigrated to New England on the ship Mary and John. The ship left Plymouth England and arrived in Massachusetts on May 31, 1630. Henry was described as "a resolute Puritan, a stout-hearted and God-fearing man". He may have been influenced by Simon Venn of Lydiard St. Lawrence, who Henry later appointed as overseer of his property he inheirited at Tolland. Simon was a brother of John Venn of London, one of the partners in the Massachusets Bay Company in 1628 and 1629.
Mr. Wolcott's residence in Windsor was toward the southern end of the town, south of the Farmington River, on a tract of high land which has always borne the name of "The Island" along which the road passes southward, and then through the meadow\emdash being the first, or meadow, road to Hartford. The lot of his eldest son, Henry, Jr., adjoined his own on the south, both fronting the west. He continued an honored resident of Windsor until his death, which occurred May 30, 1655.
Henry Wolcott Sr's Last Will (from the Wolcott Genealogy) The thirtieth of May (1655), I, HENRY WOLCOTT, sick of body, but of perfect memory, do make and ordain this my last will and testament, in manner and form following. First. I commend my soul to God my maker, hoping assuredly through the only merit of Jesus Christ my Saviour, to be a partaker of life everlasting; and I commend my body to the earth, whereof it was made. I will that my wife shall have all my house lot, orchard, garden, hop yard, and my lot in Plymouth meadow, during the term of her natural life. Also, I give unto my wife two of my cows, and half the household goods in my dwelling house. Also, I leave my land in England to Henry my eldest son, without encumbrances. Also, I give unto him my two books of martyrs. [Note: Records show that John Wolcott b. abt 1607 was Henry's eldest son] Also, I give to Christopher my second son, my lot in the Great meadow and also, my house lot and houseing upon it, after the death of my wife, he paying out of it thirty pounds, after my wife's decease, as I shall hereafter appoint. Also, I give to George my third son, the five pounds he owes me, and five pounds more. Also, I give to Simon, my youngest son, all my land on the easterly side of the Great River and also my lot at Arramonets. Also, 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. I give all the rest of my goods to be equally divided amongst all my children. Also, I appoint Henry Wolcott, my son, to be overseer of this my will and testament. Also, my will is, that Christopher, my son, shall have my lot in Plymouth meadow, after the decease of my wife.
My will is that my debts shall be first paid. October 4, 1655. The above written being testified to the Court by Mr. Henry Wolcott, upon oath, and by Mr, Wichfield to be the last will and testament of Mr. Henry Wolcott, senior, deceased, the Court approbated of the same, and ordered it to be recorded.
John Cullick, Secretary.

(Research):Henry Wolcott was born in 1578 at Tolland, Somerset and died in 1655 at Windsor CT. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Saunders of Lydeard St. Lawrence, Somerset, in 1606. Henry, Elizabeth, and three of their sons sailed from Plymouth on the Mary and John . They arrived in Dorchester MA 31 May 1630. Their two daughters and youngest son arrived a few years later. Henry settled at Windsor CT in 1636. He was a member of the CT House of Delegates from1637 to 1643, and was a member of the House of Magistrates from 1643 until his death in 1655. Henry and Elizabeth Wolcott, both died in 1655, and are buried in the churchyard of the First Congregational Church at Windsor CT - http://www.wolcottfamily.com/somerset.html

Lydeard St Lawrence The Lydeard part of the name is believed to be a corruption of Lidegaard from the Celtic garth meaning ridge and Old English led meaning grey. The second part of the village name is taken from the dedication of the church. From Saxon times the manor was owned by the Bishop of Winchester as part of their Taunton Deane estate. After the Norman Conquest it was granted to Wilward by William the Conqueror and known as Pylegh. The parish of Lydeard St Lawrence was part of the Taunton Deane Hundred. In the 18th century the manor was acquired by the Hancock family.

Henry married Elizabeth Saunders about Jan 1605/06 in Lydeard St Lawrence, Somersetshire, England. Elizabeth (daughter of Living and Living) was christened on 20 Dec 1584 in Lydeard St Lawrence, Somersetshire, England; died on 7 Jul 1655 in Windsor, Connecticut Colony. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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[Henry's] widow survived him about five weeks; she died July 7 [1655], and her will, dated July 5, is attested by her mark. The explanation of this, which we find in one of our old manuscripts, is unquestionably authentic: "Their wills were made just before their deaths, and Mrs. Wolcott, not being well enough to write her name, only made her mark."
- Wolcott Genealogy

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Married:
Henry Woolcott and his wife, Elizabeth, were presented at the Diocesan Court in July 1609 for the offence of incontinence. "They weare marryed two yeeres agon and shee was delivered of childe within thirtye weekes after." They were admonished, and the case was dismissed. Note: Incontinence in this case meant immoderate, intemperate, not holding back (from Old French).
Be it noted that in Henry Sr's wlll, John is not mentioned and therein Henry Jr is the eldest son, Chrostopher, second, and George, third.

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William Pitkin Jr was educated at Berkhamsted School and Pembroke College Oxford. Received MA from Oxford 17 Oct 1631. Sixth Headmaster of Berkhamsted Grammar School for Boys (est 1541) on 8 Aug 1636, a position which he held for seven years. William and his brother George went to Mr. Sturmey's house in Chancery Lane in London in the summer of 1643 where they became ill possibly with the plague. They died there (six months before their father) George two months after William. Both were buried from Mr. Sturmy's in Chancery Lane.
William's burial record describes him as a minister. All his children were born in the headmaster's house and christened at St. Peters Church next door. - Early Colonial Pitkin Family

(Research):In the wikitree site St Dunstan-in-the-West is listed as death place.
The Guild Church of St Dunstan-in-the-West is in Fleet Street in the City of London. It is dedicated to a former Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is of medieval origin, although the present building, with an octagonal nave, was constructed in the 1830s to the designs of John Shaw.

William married Elizabeth [wife of William Pitkin Jr] on 10 May 1637 in Thaxted, Essex, England. Elizabeth was born about 1612 in Berkhampsted, Hertfordshire, England; died on 28 Dec 1641 in Berkhampsted, Hertfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Married:
Thaxted is a town and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of northwestern Essex, England. Thaxted appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Tachesteda", Old English for "place where thatch was got". Once a centre of cutlery manufacture, Thaxted went into decline with the rise of Sheffield as a major industrial centre.

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The English ancestry of this Wolcott line goes back to John Woolcott-I of Tolland, Somersetshire. His will there was dated 9 Feb 1571, proved 11 April 1572, and mentioned the children John-II (b. 1582, bap 20 Dec 1584), Alice, and Mary, his wife Agnes, and brothers Henry and Roger Woolcott. The will of John Wolcot-II, yeoman of Tolland dated 10 Nov 1623 mentions several children, among them his two eldest sons Christopher and Henry. Henry was the progenitor of the New England Wolcott line. CG p447

John married Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Living married Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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William was churchwarden[1] of St. Peters in Berkhamsted after 1610. He was a Justice of the Peace, Member of Parliament, Agent for the Duchy of Cornwall (belonging to the King) in Berkhamsted about 1612. This was the beginning of enclosures[2] in Berkhamsted, in which he was involved with the Duchy lands.
He was deputed [to ask someone to act or speak for you] to select 30 acres "lying west upon the former inclosed grounds (Colharbour Farm), north uppon a highway leading from the great heath towards Aldbury, east uppon the open Frith (Commons) and south uppon the old fence of the Parke", for the purpose.
Receipt in the accounts to the vestry[3] includes 3/4d from him for the burial of his son George, in the church. Elected Sidesman[4] in 1612 and signed the vestry proceedings that year. Presented on 9 Apr 1613 in which he contributes another 3/4 d for his child Martha's grave.
In 1613 a levy for repairs to the Church reveals that William's rank was the 6th highest in the Parish based on holding 23 acres arable, 2.5 acres meadow, and other wealth. He was one of the first "Gentlemen" of 12 new Capital Burgesses when King James I granted the town a new Charter on 18 Jul 1618. Elected churchwarden on 26 Apr 1622. In 1625 he paid 6/8d for Mrs. Mason's grave (his mother in law?).
In 1625 more enclosure was called for by Charles I in order to raise money, even though no more division had been promised by the King's father. Behind the scenes bargaining was made with Berkhamsted for loss of grazing on 400 acres, for 100 acres for the town's poor. Fences were raised, probably under William's order, and torn down by North church farmers on an Aug 1640 night. They prevailed and it wasn't for another 220 years that Lord Brownlow who owned the Duchy rights enclosed the same 400 acres. This enclosure also did not prevail, however.
He was a Bailiff[5] in 1625. He was called Mr. Pitkin after 1627. He paid 6/8d for his wife Jane's grave in Apr 1628; she had died in childbirth (with daughter Jane). He was Chief Burgess in 1628. He signed minutes of Vestry meetings in 1631 where problems about Church dissention and other activities were noted. In 1632 he was assessed on 196 acres, the second largest in the parish. He took office as an Overseer of the Poor in 1633 and he sold the Church wardens some timber, that year.
He became Headmaster of Berkhamsted Grammar School 8 Aug 1636 and elected Overseer of the Poor in 1642.
He died in January 1644/45 and was probably buried in the St. Peter's Church churchyard.
[1] A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion, usually working as a part-time volunteer. Holders of these positions are ex officio members of the parish board, usually called a vestry, parochial church council, or in the case of a Cathedral parish the chapter.
[2] Enclosure (sometimes inclosure) was the legal process in England of enclosing a number of small landholdings to create one larger farm. Once enclosed, use of the land became restricted to the owner, and it ceased to be common land for communal use. In England and Wales the term is also used for the process that ended the ancient system of arable farming in open fields. Under enclosure, such land is fenced (enclosed) and deeded or entitled to one or more owners. The process of enclosure began to be a widespread feature of the English agricultural landscape during the 16th century. By the 19th century, unenclosed commons had become largely restricted to rough pasture in mountainous areas and to relatively small parts of the lowlands. - Wikipedia
[3] Colloquial: A "vestry" was the committee for the secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England and Wales which met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church. A vestry is a room in a church, especially one in which priests and the group of people who sing in church put on the special clothes they wear for church ceremonies, and in which things used in church ceremonies are sometimes kept.
[4] A sidesperson, also known as a sidesman or usher, in the Anglican Church is responsible for greeting members of the congregation, overseeing seating arrangements in church, and for taking the collection. In England they are usually appointed by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting and receive guidance in their duties from the churchwardens.
[5] *Bailiff was the term used by the Normans for what the Saxons had called a reeve: the officer responsible for executing the decisions of a court. The duty of the bailiff would thus include serving summonses and orders, and executing all warrants issued out of the corresponding court. The district within which the bailiff operated was called his bailiwick, even to the present day. Bailiffs were outsiders and free men, that is, they were not usually from the bailiwick for which they were responsible. Primarily, bailiff referred to the officer executing the decisions of manorial courts, and the hundred courts.

William married Jane Mason about 1606 in Berkhampsted, Hertfordshire, England. Jane was christened on 5 Oct 1587 in St. Dunstan-in-the-West, London, England; died about 1628 in Berkhampsted, Hertfordshire, England; was buried on 8 Apr 1628 in St Peter's Churchyard, Berkhampsted, Hertfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Epitaph "That worthy woman". She died in childbirth.
In 1625, William Pitkin paid for "Mrs. Mason's grave" (possibly his mother in law). Note: Another datum is her burial date: 8 Apr 1628.