Henry Wolcott ¹

   Find a Grave ID: 7369754.

  General Notes:

Made an exploratory trip to America 1628. Came with famil y (except Simon, John and 2 daughers to be educated) in 163 0 in the "Mary and John" Formed a Congrational Society i n Dorchester. Went to Windsor in 1636. Served as a membe r of 1st general Court in Mass. 1637. House of Magistrate d - 1643.
See : Conn. Nutmegger Vol II, p.3. Also Hollister's Hist . of Cn. Vol I p 189- traces family back to 11th century W ales. Stiles The History of Ancient Windsor Vol 2 , p. 79 8 shows coat of arms, gravestones, chest.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Miscellaneous. He was baptized at Lidiard St.Lawrence, Co Somerset on Decemeber 6, 1579.

The ancestor of this family was Henry Wolcott, an English gentleman of considerable fortune, who was born in the year 1578. During the progress of the Independents in England, he embraced the principles of that sect, and hence becoming obnoxious to the British government, he found it expedient to emigrate to America. His emigration, with his family, took place in 1630. They settled for a time at Dorchester, in Massachusetts.

Mr. Wolcott is represented to have been a man of talents and enterprise. Possessing an ample fortune, he associated himself with John Mason, Roger Ludlow, Mr. Stoughton, and Mr. Newberry, who were also men of wealth, in the settlement of Windsor, in Connecticut. About the same time, as is well known, settlements were made at Hartford and Wethersfield.

In 1639, the first general assembly of Connecticut was holden at Hartford. It was composed of delegates from the above towns. Among these delegates was Henry Wolcott. Since that date, down to the present time, some of the members of this distinguished family have been concerned in the city government of the state.

He came to New England about the year 1628 and in the year 1630 brought over his family, to avoid the persecution of those times against dissenters. Henry's removal to America came during the autocratic rule of Charles I. England was at war, under military law, suffering economic hardships, and split by religious fervor. Englishmen began to look to America as an asylum for civil and religious liberty. Henry was a member of England's landed gentry. A Connecticut historian later described Henry as the owner of a fine estate and "a man of superior abilities." He sold land worth about eight thousand pounds to help finance the expedition to America. The fifty-two year old Henry took his wife and sons Henry, Christopher and George. Remaining in England until a home was established in the New World were two daughters and a five-year-old son. (Anna, Mary, and Simon). Those Wolcotts leaving for America sailed on March 20, 1630 from Plymouth, England, aboard the Mary and John skippered by Captain Squeb. Before leaving England, the expedition of one hundred forty individuals from western England organized as an independent church. This came to be known as the First Church in Windsor, the oldest church in Connecticut. Henry Wolcott and his party were to make their way alone sailing for the New England coast. They left behind the comforts of English settlements to face the challenges of the American wilderness.
Inscription
HERE VNDER LYETH THE BODY OF HENRY WOLCOT SOMETIMES A MAIESTRATE OF THIS IVRISDICTION WHO DYETH Y 30 DAY OF MAY ANNO SALVIS 1655 AETATIS 77

Henry married Elizabeth Saunders, daughter of Thomas Saunders and Anne Blake, on 19 Jan 1606. (Elizabeth Saunders was born on 20 Dec 1584 in England and was buried in Windsor, CT, Palisado Cemetery.)

  Marriage Notes:

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