William Pitkin

Notes:

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:

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]

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.

Martha married Simon Wolcott on 17 Oct 1661 in Windsor, Connecticut Colony. Simon (son of Henry Wolcott and Elizabeth Saunders) was born on 11 Sep 1624 in Tolland, Somersetshire, England; died on 27 Sep 1687 in Windsor, Hartford Co, Connecticut Colony. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Cemetery: Re-interment

Notes:

Elizabeth is buried in the Springfield Cemetery in Springfield Massachusetts. The original burial grounds was at the riverfront behind the Old First Church. To make way for a railroad, 2024 bodies were moved to the cemetery on the hill in 1849 and placed in a mass grave. The main entrance to the cemtery is on Maple St but the graves are at the Pine Street entrance. Most of this information is found in the Cooley Genealogy by Mortimer E. Cooley published in 1941.

Cemetery:
Buried behind the Springfield church, the bodies were disinterred and moved to the Springfield Cemetery.

Elizabeth married Daniel Cooley on 8 Dec 1680 in Springfield, Hampshire Co, Massachusetts. Daniel (son of Benjamin1 Cooley and Sarah (wife of Ensign Benjamin Cooley) [?]) was born on 2 May 1651 in Springfield, Non-County Area 1, Massachusetts Bay Colony; died on 9 Feb 1726/27 in Springfield, Hampshire Co, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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

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

Notes:

Henry (Lieut) one of the original proprietors of Tolland (Conn) and Wellilngton Conn; a man of affairs in town and (as were his family) tall of stature. He m(1) 1 Apl 1696 Jane (dau Thos) Allyn fo Windsor, b. 22 July 1670; d. 11 Apl 1702; m(2) Rachel Talcott who d. 8 Jan 1725/6; [Lt Henry] d. 17 Nov 1747; res S Windsor.

Henry married Jane Allyn on 1 Apr 1696 in Windsor, Connecticut Colony. Jane was born on 22 Jul 1696 in Windsor, Hartford Co, Connecticut Colony; died on 11 Apr 1702 in Windsor, Hartford Co, Connecticut Colony. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]