12th

Henry Wolcott b. 1578

/ Kirstin Miller

Henry Wolcott 12th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

Henry was born in December 1578 in Lydeard St Lawrence, Somerset, England and baptized there on December 6 at Lydeard St. Lawrence Church. In 1606 he married Elizabeth Saunders in the same church. The Wolcott family left for America in 1630 on the The Mary and John. They lived in Dorchester, Massachusetts for a year or so, then moved to 100 miles west to Windsor, Connecticut.
In Dorchester Humphrey was an assessor, fenceviewer and selectman. He was a deputy of the Court, constable and tax collector in Windsor. Henry’s brother John was living in Lydeard in April 1636 and wrote a letter to Henry. John wrote Henry of their brother Christopher’s death, King Charles at war with Scotland, how times had changed and prayers for Henry’s safety in the new country.

Henry and his wife died within a couple months, “Mr Henry Wolcot dyed may 30th 1655. The wife if Henry Wolcot dyed July 5 1655”. They’re buried in Palisado Cemetery in Windsor, CT. They share a tombstone added years after their deaths, Henry’s inscription on one side, Elizabeth’s on the other.

Henry made his will o the day he died, “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, hopyard 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”. Henry mentions each child and gifts them specific items.

Sources

John Drake b. 1585

/ Kirstin Miller

John Drake 12th great grandfather on RootsMagic tree.

John Drake was born in England about 1585. Past research on John Drake connected him to King Henry the 8th, Shakespeare and Sir Francis Drake, but it’s all been proven very unlikely. So John was born in England where he married Elizabeth and they had 5 children. In 1630 the Drakes arrived in America, sailing on the Mary and John. The passengers on this ship are considered the founders of Windsor, Connecticut. They lived in Dorchester first then the whole group moved to Windsor, Connecticut. John was a woodworker, a farmer and was active in town services. He was on several juries and on December 1, 1645 one of the constables in charge of gathering up knapsacks filled with powder and bullets, delivering those knapsacks to a Mr Talcott and keeping a written record of the ‘particulars so delivered’.

John died in an accident. Driving a cart full of corn ‘Something Scard the Cattle and they Set a running, and he Labouring to Stop them, by taking hold on the mare, was thrown’.

He wrote his will in 1659 and mentions each of his children.

John’s burial is unknown but his name is on the Founders of Windsor Monument at Palisado Cemetery in Windsor, Connecticut. The monument reads, “To the founders of Windsor and the First Congregational Church in Connecticut which came to America in the Mary and John with its pastor John Warham May 30, 1630, Settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts and migrated to Windsor in May and October 1635.”Snapshot for the Windsor Historical Society. 3 ancestors of Faber Miller are on the monument: John Drake, Thomas Dewey and Henry Wolcott

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