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Ancestors of William Winthrop Rawlinson


      486. John Savage876,877,878,879, born Bet. 1630 - 1635 in England, possibly Beeston Castle, Cheshire, England; died Bet. March 06 - 08, 1684/85 in probably Middletown or Hartford, Connecticut879,880. He was the son of 972. Thomas Savage and 973. Faith Hutchinson. He married 487. Elizabeth Dubbin February 10, 1651/52 in Hartford, Connecticut881,882,883,884.

      487. Elizabeth Dubbin, born Bet. 1626 - 1636 in possibly Hartford, Connecticut; died Bet. 1676 - 1736 in probably Middletown or Hartford, Connecticut. She was the daughter of 974. John Dubbin.

Notes for John Savage:
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JOHN SAVAGE. Upon arrival in the colonies, John Savage was first a member of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was afterwards at Hartford and Middletown. In May, 1654, "he was mayd free," and living at Hartford. In 1680 John had over a thousand acres of land on the Connecticut River, and he helped build the Middletown church. John's last name is also spelled Savidge or Savadge. He begins his will Sanedg, and ends it Sanidg. Savige, Savidge, Savadge, and Sauage are other variations in colonial records. Sauvage is the French form, and in Canada we find many Sauvages. In the United States Savage and Savidge are the usual forms. "Sargnt. Jno. Savidg" is the way we find his name in one record. His will, of November 22, 1684, names three sons and six daughters living and his estate was good. He died in 1684, and left "to his loving wife Elizabeth Sauedg, my now dwelling hous and hom lott." To son William, "one peice of upland, adioyning to Israell Willcocks (seaven acre)." John was his eldest son, and "Nathanill" was another son, who was to have the home lot after his mother's "desease." Elizabeth, the widow, was executrix of the will, which shows that women had some rights even in those days of no vote. Samuel Hall and Captain Nathaniel White witnessed the will, which was in the handwriting of Captain White, "long the most important citizen of Upper Middletown." John Savage had a kersey coate, valued at fifteen shillings, according to the inventory. "One smoothing iron, 2sh., and one Large bible and other books, 15sh.," are items of the inventory, which was made by Captain White, William Ward, and Gils Hamlin. The total value of personal property was œ480, 15sh., 6d.

Although John's lineage has not been confirmed to particular parentage, we know he is definitely from England. It is interesting to note the history of Savage in England: "It is a tradition, if nothing more, that Savage was a name introduced into England by a person, thus called, in the train of Isabella of France, who became the queen of Edward II. Earlier settlements, however, had been made by the Savages, for a knight of the name founded the family in Ireland when de Courcey made his invasion. Le Sauvage was a sobriquet of early times in France. It implied a certain brusqueness of manner, and from this, doubtless, the surname arose. Those who try to be funny at the expense of the Savage family tell stories which, however, may be taken with a grain of salt, several grains, indeed. One story is that a gentleman of fortune, in Kent, rejoiced in the name of "Savage Bear, Esq." Born a Bear, his mother wished to perpetuate her family name of Savage, and gave it to her son for his Christian name. Another story teller shows us a list of names which, arranged for "ready reference," like a directory, appears this way: "Sharp Walter; Smart Isabella; Savage Solomon." One seat of the Savage family is in Worcester, England--Elmley Castle. In Cheshire "they have long been people of rank and title;" Lukesland House, and Ardchin Castle, Devon, and Lisanoure Castle, Antrim, are seats of the Savages. Lord Savage, of the Little Ards, living about 1550, was a man of affairs. There is a book called "The Savages of the Ards." (from Colonial Families of America, Author: Frances M. Smith, Call Number: R929.2 S647, New York: Frank Assaben Genealogical Company, 1909)
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More About John Savage:
Emigration: Bet. 1620 - 1654, from England to Massachusetts sometime during this period
Lived In 1: Bet. 1652 - 1673, Middletown, Connecticut884
Lived In 2: 1680, owned over 1000 acres on the Connecticut River884
  Notes for Elizabeth Dubbin:
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ELIZABETH'S last name may also be spelled Dublin or D'Aubin.
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More About Elizabeth Dubbin:
Name 2: Elizabeth d'Aubin
Name 3: Elizabeth d'Aubyn Dubbin885,886,887,888
Name 4: Elizabeth Dublin
     
Children of John Savage and Elizabeth Dubbin are:
  i.   Captain John Savage, born December 01, 1652 in Middletown, Connecticut; died October 31, 1726 in Cromwell, Connecticut; married Mary Ranney Bet. March 1681/82 - May 30, 1682 in Middletown, Connecticut; born Bet. 1647 - 1665; died Bet. 1682 - 1775.
  More About Captain John Savage:
Date born 2: December 01, 1652
  243 ii.   Elizabeth Savage, born June 03, 1655 in probably Middletown, Connecticut; died January 30, 1741/42 in probably Hadley, Massachusetts, age 86; married Deacon Nathaniel White March 28, 1678 in probably Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.
  iii.   Sarah Savage, born July 30, 1657 in Middletown, Connecticut; died February 08, 1723/24; married Israel Wilcox March 28, 1678.
  iv.   Thomas Savage, born September 10, 1659 in Middletown, Connecticut; died December 1659 in childhood, in Connecticut.
  v.   Hannah Savage, born April 06, 1661; died May 1661 in infancy, in Connecticut.
  vi.   Mary Savage, born June 25, 1663 in Middletown, Connecticut; died October 16, 1723; married (1) John Whitmore April 01, 1686; born Bet. 1640 - 1670; died Bef. 1696; married (2) Obadiah Allen Aft. 1696.
  vii.   Abigail Savage, born July 10, 1666 in Middletown, Connecticut; died October 16, 1719; married Edward Shepard April 14, 1687.
  viii.   Captain William Savage, born April 26, 1668 in Middletown, Connecticut; died January 25, 1726/27; married (1) Christian Mould May 06, 1696 in Middletown, Connecticut; born Bet. 1662 - 1667; married (2) Elizabeth Clark November 26, 1726.
  ix.   Nathaniel Savage, born May 07, 1671 in Middletown, Connecticut; died January 04, 1734/35 in Portland, Connecticut; married Esther Ranney November 03, 1696.
  x.   Rachel Savage, born April 15, 1673 in Middletown, Connecticut; died January 19, 1751/52 in Guilford, Connecticut; married (1) Thomas Hall Aft. 1700; married (2) John Spinning Abt. 1692.
  xi.   Hannah Savage, born July 16, 1676.


      488. Ensign Benjamin Cooley889, born Bef. February 25, 1615/16 in probably England, possibly St. Albans or Bap At Tring Per, Hertfordshire, England889; died August 17, 1684 in Longmeadow, Springfield, Massachusetts, at age 67889. He was the son of 976. William Cooley and 977. Joan Arnott. He married 489. Sarah Savage Colton Bet. 1640 - 1644 in England or Massachusetts.

      489. Sarah Savage Colton890, born Bet. 1615 - 1625 in probably England, possibly Wiltshire, England; died August 23, 1684 in Longmeadow, Springfield, Massachusetts891. She was the daughter of 978. XXXX Colton.

Notes for Ensign Benjamin Cooley:
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BENJAMIN COOLEY settled in the Springfield, Massachusetts area by about 1643. With the group arriving about 1643 came also George Colton who during the subsequent forty years was the inseparable companion of Benjamin Cooley. In 1649 they took the oath of fidelity together. That same year they were jointly fined for keeping cattle under improper conditions. In 1656, Colton and Cooley, with three others, were appointed to dispose of the lands at Woronoco. In 1657, Richard Fellows petitioned the General Court for two hundred acres of land in the present town of Palmer and prayed that it be laid out by George Colton and Benjamin Cooley. For years these two men dominated affairs at Longmeadow. It is believed that Benjamin and George were related and that Benjamin had married George's sister Sarah.

Benjamin helped to build the first church in Springfield. Benjamin Cooley was chosen 19 times, and served 18 times, as a Selectman of Springfield, between 1646 and 1680. This was during the time of "witchcraft" hearings, and Benjamin was in attendance at more than one of these, testifying against his neighbors. On March 4, 1650/51, there died at Springfield, Joshua Parsons, infant son of Hugh Parsons and his wife, Mary Lewis. The available evidence indicates that the child succumbed to croup or some similar ailment, but the father was accused of witchcraft in connection with the death. Benjamin Cooley testified in court that when Parsons spoke to him to go to the burial of his child, he cannot remember any sorrow that Parsons showed, for he came to him taking a pipe of tobacco. Goody Cooley testified that this was at the first time the child was taken. There was some speeches used that it might be bewitched, for those that are now bewitched have often times something rise up into their throats that doth stop their breath and it seems by George Colton's testimony that the child was strangely taken. In fact, as Ensign, Benjamin Cooley was often required by the court to "watch" citizens accused of witchcraft and was asked to report on any strange behavior, such as with Hugh Parsons who was accused of witchcraft and "removed" to Boston.

Beginning in year 1656, Benjamin began to acquire lots of land in Long Meadow, Massachusetts, an area of Springfield. He completed a home there in 1660. Indians lived nearby and very close to the homes built by settlers. The settlers were granted rights to build ponds on their land, provided that the draining of swamp land did not impede the Indians' ability to gather cranberries. All of these grants were in the long-meadow and all were made with the proviso that "the Indians be not wronged in their pease," referring of course to cranberries, the sasachiminesh that they had reserved in the deed of 1636. Evidently these grantees were acquiring cranberry bogs and it would seem that in the language of the day, a bog was a pond. Soon after and during King Philip's War, practically all of the natives deserted this valley. During the night of October 4, 1675, long after the settlers were asleep, a moccasin-footed messenger sped through the hamlet of Longmeadow. The Indian Totoe, of Windsor, impelled by "the great respect and many kindnesses he had received and for the love he bore" to the English, was making his way to Springfield with a warning of impending danger. Incited by King Philip's successes, Wequogan, the Hadley sachem, had the night before led by a winding path, with noiseless stealth, four score of his Indian warriors into the palisaded village that the English had built for their dusky neighbors on the reservation on Long Hill. There they joined the score of local Indians. Hidden by the stockade, the leader postponed for a day the sack of Springfield for his scouts to retrieve from Hartford the hostages that the Springfield people had incarcerated there, and during the journey the native scouts had revealed their secret to Totoe, a Windsor Indian, a protege of the Wolcott family there. The messenger, bearing the secret, hurried on. Thus forewarned, three substantial houses in Springfield town were garrisoned and in them the settlers found asylum. One of these was at the lower end of the town, the home of Jonathan Burt, that had been built by Hugh Parsons. Further up the street, the house of the widow Margaret Bliss was chosen. Still further north was the impregnable home of John Pynchon, built about 1662, the first brick house in the Connecticut Valley, later known as the "Old Fort." At one of these three garrisoned houses, Ensign Benjamin Cooley would have been on duty while, by virtue of his office, Quartermaster George Colton would have been with the Troopers at the Hadley headquarters. Throughout those endless hours the Longmeadow settlers watched the smoke of the burning town in utter helplessness. The winter passed in a state of siege. With the coming of the spring, Longmeadow folk gradually ventured out again. With the death of King Philip, in August 1676, life in the valley became quite normal, though it was another seventy-five years before rumors of impending danger entirely ceased.

In August of 1676, Ensign Cooley was added to the committee for the meeting house affairs. Then came the year 1679. Benjamin Cooley was growing old. Though in years he was but sixty-two, he had led an active and strenuous life and men aged early in those days. At a General Court held in Boston, 28th May, 1679: "In answer to the petition of Benjamin Cooley, ensigne to the Foot Company at Springfield, humbly desiring the favor of this Court, to lay down his place, being aged and deaf" the Court grants his request. And when another meet person is presented, they will not be wanting to approve thereof. A new Ensign to the Foot Company at Springfield was designated in May of 1681, and Benjamin Cooley was finally able to retire. August 17, 1684, Benjamin Cooley died at the age of sixty-seven. Six days later died Sarah, his wife, the mother of his eight children. Five sons and three daughters they had brought to maturity.

During his forty years in Springfield, Benjamin Cooley acquired a competence far beyond the average, while yet retaining the good will of his fellows. At his coming he acquired forty acres of mediocre land. At his death he owned 524 acres of the choicest. He had houses and barns to meet his own needs and those of his eldest sons. Of livestock, gear and equipment and the merchandise of his trade he had a sufficiency. The debts he owed, amounting to œ9-16s-6d were more than offset by the œ15-15s-2d due to him. The inventory of his estate totaled over 1241 pounds sterling, having a present-day value of perhaps $60,000.29. As were all their contemporaries, Benjamin Cooley and his wife were interred in the ancient "burying place" by the riverside in Springfield, west of the church that he had helped to build. No stones marked their graves for no lasting stone was then to be had in the community. There Benjamin and Sarah rested until the coming of the railroad. In 1849, to make room for the tracks, the remains of 2404 bodies and 517 markers were removed to the Springfield Cemetery on the hill that had been opened in 1841. The original house built by Benjamin Cooley in Springfield, Mass., about 1644, has of course long since disappeared. Not even a sketch survives. This house was located on the site of the present 537 Main Street in Springfield, between Broad and Marble streets. On the site of the barn on the west side of Main Street (No. 534) stood Thomas Goldthwait's pottery in 1766. A white frame house now stands on this barnsite. After Benjamin Cooley removed permanently to the Long-meadow, he sold this original Springfield home to Richard Sikes, in 1667/8, and both house and barn were burned by the Indians in the sack of the town on October 5, 1675.

The name Cooley is probably a corruption of Cowley. The ancestors of the Duke of Wellington wrote their name indifferently Celley, Cowley, and Cooley. The Cooleys evidently became a separate family very early. (Sources for the above include: 1) King's Handbook of Springfield, page 224, 2) Mass. Colony Records, Vol. V, page 236, 3) Burt, Vol. II, page 120, and, 4) The Cooley Genealogy)
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More About Ensign Benjamin Cooley:
Name 2: Benjamin Coley
Burial: Bet. August 18, 1684 - 1849, moved to Springfield Cemetery on the hill
Lived In 1: Bet. 1642 - 1643, Springfield, Massachusetts891
Lived In 2: Bet. 1657 - 1658, in the Long Meadow near the Great River891
Occupation 1: Bet. 1657 - 1681, Ensign of the Foot Company at Springfield, Massachusetts892
Occupation 2: Bet. 1650 - 1680, Weaver of Linen893
Occupation 3: 1664, Member of Board of Selectman, Long Meadow
Will: September 30, 1684, presented to Springfield Court893
  Notes for Sarah Savage Colton:
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SARAH COLTON was married to Benjamin Cooley. August 17, 1684, Benjamin Cooley died at the age of sixty-seven. Six days later died Sarah, his wife, the mother of his eight children. Five sons and three daughters they had brought to maturity. As one recalls the terrific infant mortality of those days, he realizes what an unusual type of mother Sarah Cooley must have been to have carried her entire brood safely through the dangerous period.
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More About Sarah Savage Colton:
Name 2: Sarah Colton
Burial: Bet. August 24, 1684 - 1849, moved to Springfield Cemetery on the hill
     
Children of Benjamin Cooley and Sarah Colton are:
  i.   Bethia Cooley893, born September 16, 1643 in Springfield, Massachusetts; died December 09, 1711; married Henry Chapin; born 1630; died August 16, 1718 in Chicopee, Springfield, Massachusetts.
  Notes for Henry Chapin:
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Henry Chapin, s. Deacon Samuel and Cicely (Penny), was a Deputy to the General Court in 1689, and served for eleven years as selectman. He and his brother, Japhet Chapin (who m. Abileneh Coole, da. of Samuel Coole-Coley1 of Milford, Conn.), were the first settlers in Chicopee, which was the "old fifth parish" of Springfield. Henry Chapin's house was near the west end of what is now Exchange Street in Chicopee Center. He was living there by 1675.
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  More About Henry Chapin:
Occupation: 1689, Deputy to the Court
  ii.   Obadiah Cooley893, born January 27, 1646/47 in Springfield, Massachusetts; died September 03, 1690 in Springfield, Massachusetts, at age 44; married Rebecca Williams November 09, 1670 in Windsor, Connecticut; born August 20, 1649 in Windsor, Connecticut; died October 18, 1715 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
  Notes for Obadiah Cooley:
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OBADIAH COOLEY. The earliest reference to Obadiah Cooley in the town records is that made concerning his assigned seat in the Meeting House in 1662/3, when at the age of sixteen he sat "Below ye Pillars on ye North Side." He was twenty-four years old when he married. It seems likely that he was a member of the militia organized in the raid on Springfield in 1675 during King Philip's War, for he was then nearly thirty years old; but no record of military service for Obadiah Cooley has been found. In spite of statements to the contrary in The Longmeadow Centennial, neither Obadiah Cooley I nor Obadiah Cooley II ever maintained residences in Longmeadow. Obadiah Cooley I lived in Longmeadow, probably, during the years after his father, Benjamin Cooley, removed there (about 1660), until he established his own home, which was in the village of Springfield. Benjamin Cooley's other four sons lived in Longmeadow; Joseph the youngest son removed from there to Somers, Conn., about 1730. The first grant of land made to Obadiah Cooley in 1664 (given as 1665 in The Longmeadow Centennial) was for 35 acres. From a description of this grant (Burt, Vol. I, p. 320), it is evident that this 35 acres was part of the division of the land between the present villages of Thompsonville and Warehouse Point, Conn. Obadiah never lived on this property. The home of Obadiah Cooley was the tract bounded north by the "Way to the Lower Wharf," now York Street; south by Mill River; east by the way to the mill, now South Main Street; and west by the Connecticut River. Obadiah Cooley II occupied this same homesite. Concerning Obadiah Cooley II's homesite, the following identification of it as the same as that owned by his father is taken from the Town Records (Burt, Vol. II, p. 518). Obadiah Cooley died in 1690, at the early age of 44. In the settlement of his father's estate in 1697, John Warner and his wife Rebecca (Williams) Cooley-Warner, represented the estate of Obadiah Cooley, deceased.
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  iii.   Eliakim Cooley893, born January 08, 1648/49 in probably Connecticut; died Bet. 1702 - 1748 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
  244 iv.   Daniel Cooley, born May 02, 1651 in Springfield, Massachusetts; died Abt. February 09, 1726/27 in in the Long Meadow, Springfield, Massachusetts, age 76; married (1) Elizabeth Wolcott December 08, 1680 in Springfield, Massachusetts; married (2) Lydia Dumbleton June 17, 1709 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
  v.   Sarah Cooley893, born February 27, 1653/54; died in probably Springfield, Massachusetts; married Jonathan Morgan January 15, 1678/79 in probably Springfield, Massachusetts; born September 16, 1646 in Springfield, Massachusetts; died 1730 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
  vi.   Benjamin Cooley893, born September 01, 1656 in Springfield, Massachusetts; died November 29, 1731 in Springfield, Massachusetts; married Abigail Bagg February 07, 1694/95 in Springfield, Massachusetts; born April 23, 1673; died January 27, 1738/39 in probably Springfield, Massachusetts.
  Notes for Benjamin Cooley:
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BENJAMIN COOLEY, b. Sept. 1, 1656, Springfield, Mass.; d. there Nov. 29, 1731. He took the oath of allegiance Dec. 31, 1678, and was a Freeman in 1690. He served as a juror in 1684.
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  vii.   Mary Cooley893, born June 22, 1659 in Springfield, Massachusetts; died December 06, 1720 in Springfield, Massachusetts; married Thomas Terry April 21, 1687; born March 06, 1664/65; died May 09, 1760.
  viii.   Joseph Cooley893, born March 06, 1660/61 in probably Springfield, Massachusetts; died Bet. 1702 - 1760 in possibly Springfield, Massachusetts.


      490. Simon Wolcott893,894, born Bet. September 11, 1624 - September 11, 1625 in Tolland, Somersetshire, England895; died Bet. April 29 - September 11, 1687 in possibly East Windsor, Connecticut, probably Simsbury, Connecticut896,897. He was the son of 980. Henry Wolcott, Esq. and 981. Elizabeth Saunders. He married 491. Martha Pitkin October 17, 1661 in Windsor, Connecticut898,899.

      491. Martha Pitkin900,901, born Abt. December 12, 1639 in Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, England902,903; died October 13, 1719 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, at age 80904. She was the daughter of 982. William Pitkin and 983. Elizabeth XXXX.

Notes for Simon Wolcott:
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SIMON Wolcott, the youngest son, was born Sept. 11, 1624/5, in England. His parents removed to America when he was about five years old; after getting settled in this country, they sent for the children. He was a little fellow to leave when his father and mother sailed away without him, but the father had seen the country to which he was taking his family and had some idea of the perils of the venture; so, Anna, Mary and Simon were left in England, for the time, but joined the family in America within a few years. The date of their coming is not known. Simon Wolcott was a freeman in 1654. After leaving Windsor, he lived in Simsbury, Conn., where in 1673 he was captain of a trainband, and in 1674 a selectman. He received a grant of 200 acres from the General Court in 1680, and was one of the few men in the Colony honored with the title of "Mister." In 1671 Simon Wolcott sold his place in Windsor and removed to Simsbury, where he had received a grant of land. This change proved most unfortunate, as the settlers were driven from the place and their property destroyed. Even Mrs. Wolcott's pewter dishes, which her husband concealed in a swamp could never be found. The family fled to Windsor, where they remained a few years and then moved to their possessions on the east side of the river in 1680. Of this move her son Roger said in his journal, "everything was to begin, few families were settled there, we had neither minister nor school. On Sept. 11, 1687, dyed my hond. father in the 62d year of his age."

Simon was the father of Lt. Henry Wolcott and Governor Roger Wolcott. Governor Roger was the father of General Erastus (in the Revolution) and Governor Oliver Wolcott, one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Governor Oliver Wolcott (the Signer) was the father of Governor Oliver Wolcott Jr., Secretary of the Treasury, etc. and Frederick W. Wolcott, grandfather of Roger Wolcott, the present Governor of Massachusetts. Lt. Henry Wolcott (son of Simon) was the direct ancestor of Hon. Edward O. Wolcott, one of the Senators in Congress from Colorado. Simon, like his Wolcot ancestors and his Cooley and Montague descendents, is a descendent of Great King Charles Charlemagne through the following lineage: SIMON40 WOLCOTT (HENRY39, JOHN38, JOHN37, THOMAS36, WILLIAM35, WILLIAM34, ROGER33 WALCOT, MATILDA32 DE CORNWALL, RICHARD31, GEOFFREY30, BARON RICHARD29, SIR GEOFFREY28, RICHARD27 PLANTAGENET, EARL RICHARD26, KING JOHN "LACKLAND"25, KING HENRY24, COUNT GEOFFREY23, KING FULK V "THE YOUNGER"22 DE GATINAIS , OF ANJOU, COUNT FULK RECHIN21, ERMENGARDE20 DE ANJOU , OF ANJOU, COUNT FULK III THE BLACK19, ADELAIDE18 DE VERMANDOIS, COUNT ROBERT17, COUNT HERBERT16, COUNT HERBERT15, COUNT PEPIN II OF14 PERONNE, KING BERNARD OF13 ITALY, KING PEPIN III "THE SHORT" OF12 FRANCE, CHARLES11 MARTEL , ROTROU, MAYOR OF THE PALACE IN A, PEPIN10 DE HERISTAL II, MAYOR OF THE PALACE, MAYOR OF THE PALACE TO SIGBERT9 ANSGISE, ARNULF8 ARNOULPH, SAINT ARNOUL BISHOP OF METZ, BODEGEISEL II7 ARNOUL, BISHOP OF METZ, GONDOLFUS6 AUSBERT, MUNDERIC5, CLODERIC4, SIGEBERT3, OF COLOGNE2 CHILDEBERT, OF COLOGNE1 CLOVIS). Simon, like his ancestors, is an ancestor of Pamela Jean Pohly through Pam's great-grandmother, Sarah Eleanor Estes.
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More About Simon Wolcott:
Burial: 1687, Palisado Cemetery, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut
Emigration: Bet. 1628 - 1634, from England to American colonies after parents
Lived In 1: Simsbury, Connecticut
Lived In 2: Windsor, Connecticut
Occupation 1: 1654, Freeman904
Occupation 2: 1673, Captain of a Trainband904
Occupation 3: 1674, elected a Selectman904
  Notes for Martha Pitkin:
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MARTHA PITKIN, the mother of governor and statesmen. Of the father of Martha Pitkin, little is known. We do know that Martha had a brother William that preceded her in emigration to the American colonies, and, a brother Roger, in London, England, who was an officer in the King's Army. Martha Pitkin followed her brother William to America in 1661, to return with him to England, 'not once supposing he intended to remain in the wilderness,' as she expressed it. Her first greeting on meeting her brother, whom she found feeding his swine, was, 'I left a brother in England serving his king, and find another in America serving his swine.'

Martha Pitkin was a lady endowed with more than ordinary talent, improved by an excellent education. The reception she met with in the colony was most flattering; her comely form and accomplished manner making the colonists anxious to retain her in their country. In the words of the Rev. Thomas Robbins, for many years the pastor of the church she attended, 'this girl put the colony in commotion. If possible she must be detained. The stock was too valuable to be parted with. It became a matter of general consultation what young man was good enough for Miss Pitkin.' Tradition says that so many young men wished to marry the accomplished beauty, that they cast lots for her hand, but fails to say what part Miss Pitkin was to take in the affair. The facts are, that the sons of Henry Wolcott, one of the first settlers of East Windsor, were well pleased with Miss Pitkin, and to avoid all question of strife or jealousy, it is believed it was decided by lot among themselves which one should sue for her hand. The lot fell to Simon Wolcott, the youngest son; at all events, he pressed his suit, and was successful. Her brother favored the match, and she became the wife of Simon Wolcott, and subsequently the mother of Governor Roger Wolcott, grandmother of Governor Oliver Wolcott, and great-grandmother of the second Governor Oliver Wolcott, and of Governor Roger Griswold. Governor Ellsworth was also a lineal descendant, and her granddaughter married Governor Matthew Griswold. It was stated in the funeral sermon of Governor Roger Wolcott, her ninth child, that 'he never went to school, but was educated by his mother in her own dwelling'. (from The Cooley Genealogy and Pitkin Family of America)

After the death of her husband Martha Wolcott became, in 1693, the second wife of Mr. Daniel Clark, one of the first settlers of Windsor. He was the secretary of the colony before the charter, and was one of the magistrates named in that instrument. A man of influence in the colony, an assistant from 1662 to 1664, he was appointed by the town of Windsor to sit "in the great pew which was wainscoted for the magistrate. He died Aug. 12, 1710, aged 88. In the will of William Pitkin she is mentioned as "his sister Clark." She is buried in East Windsor, Conn., the resting place of several of her children. For a more complete history of her descendants, see the "Wolcott Memorial." (Pitkin Genealogy)

Previous to the use of surnames, which were not generally assumed in England until about 1070 A.D., and were then introduced by the Normans under William the Conqueror, the name of the next in kin or generation was designated by an affix to the sire name, as Peter-kin, from Peter, the parent name, which gave birth to a long list of family names by affix and suffix. The following extract from M. A. Lower's "Patronymica Britannica" (2119 d, British Museum), gives the following derivations from the parent name, Peter: Petre, Peters, Peterkin, Pitkin, Peterken, Peterson, Peterham, Pierce, Pierson, Perkin, Perkins, and others. The name of Pitkin is an abbreviation or derivation of Peterkin, which is kin to Peter. The records of Hertfordshire, Eng., bear witness that the name Pitkin is an honorable one, and has been a prominent one from the thirteenth century, a number of the family having held appointments under the several sovereigns. The royal borough of Berkhamsted, St. Peters, Hertfordshire, appears to have been the home of the Pitkins at an early date.
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More About Martha Pitkin:
Burial: 1719, Palisado, East Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut
Emigration: 1661, went to America from England, at age 22905
     
Children of Simon Wolcott and Martha Pitkin are:
  245 i.   Elizabeth Wolcott, born August 19, 1662 in probably Windsor, Connecticut; died Bet. January 31, 1706/07 - January 31, 1707/08 in Springfield, Massachusetts; married Daniel Cooley December 08, 1680 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
  ii.   Martha Wolcott905,906, born May 17, 1664 in Connecticut906; died September 07, 1687 in probably Windsor, Connecticut; married Thomas Allyn; born in probably Windsor, Connecticut; died in probably Windsor, Connecticut.
  iii.   Simon Wolcott907,908, born June 24, 1666 in Connecticut908; died October 30, 1732; married Sarah Chester December 05, 1689.
  iv.   James Wolcott908, born June 30, 1668908
  v.   Joanna Wolcott909, born June 30, 1668 in Connecticut; died January 10, 1755 in Longmeadow, Springfield, Massachusetts; married John Colton September 02, 1690; born April 08, 1659 in Longmeadow, Springfield, Massachusetts; died February 03, 1726/27 in Longmeadow, Springfield, Massachusetts.
  vi.   Lieutenant Henry Wolcott, born May 20, 1670 in Windsor, Connecticut910; died Bet. November 1746 - November 17, 1747 in Windsor, Connecticut; married (1) Jane Allyn April 01, 1696; born July 22, 1670; died April 11, 1702; married (2) Rachel Talcott 1704 in Windsor, Connecticut; died January 08, 1724/25.
  Notes for Lieutenant Henry Wolcott:
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LIEUTENANT HENRY WOOLCOT was one of the original proprietors of Tolland and Wellington in Connecticut.
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  More About Lieutenant Henry Wolcott:
Name 2: Henry Woolcott
  vii.   Christopher Wolcott911,912, born July 04, 1672 in Connecticut912; died April 03, 1693.
  viii.   Mary Wolcott913,914, born 1674914; died 1676914
  ix.   William Wolcott914, born November 06, 1676914; died January 26, 1748/49; married Abiah Hawley November 05, 1706.
  x.   Governor Roger Wolcott915,916, born January 04, 1677/78 in Windsor, Connecticut916; died May 17, 1767 in East Windsor, now South Windsor, Connecticut; married Mary Drake December 03, 1702; born May 10, 1686.
  Notes for Governor Roger Wolcott:
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ROGER WOLCOTT, born in Windsor Jan. 4, 1679, rose by degrees to the highest military and civil honors. In the expedition against Canada in 1711 he was commissary of the Connecticut forces, and at the capture of Louisbourg in 1745 he bore the commission of Major-General. He was successively a member of the Assembly and of the Council, Judge of County Court, Deputy Governor, Chief Judge of the Superior Court, and from 1751 to 1754 Governor of Connecticut. He died May 17th, 1767 in the eighty-ninth year of his age. He was author of several poems. He was the ninth child of Simon and Martha (Pitkin) Wolcott, and it was stated in his funeral sermon that he was educated by his mother. In his old age he wrote of himself, "I never was in school a day in my life." He was a grandson of the emigrant and himself the first of the line of Governors bearing that name, a man of letters and elevated views, who proudly labored in the field as a husbandman; and on rainy days and in the long winter evenings filled up the intervals of study by plying the shuttle, that his bright-eyed sons and rosy-cheeked daughters might be warmly clad. He became Governor of Conn. in his 72nd year. (from Memoranda Relating to the Ancestry and Family of Sophia Fidelia Hall)

Governor Roger was the father of General Erastus (in the Revolution) and Governor Oliver Wolcott, one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Governor Oliver Wolcott (the Signer) was the father of Governor Oliver Wolcott Jr., Secretary of the Treasury, etc. and Frederick W. Wolcott, grandfather of Roger Wolcott, the present Governor of Massachusetts. This Roger Wolcott was Governor of Connecticut. His son, Oliver Wolcott, Sr., was Governor of Connecticut, also, Signer of the Declaration of Independence. His grandson, Oliver Wolcott, Jr., was Governor of Connecticut, also Secretary of the Treasury under President Washington. His son-in-law, Matthew Griswold, Sr., was Governor of Connecticut. Another grandson, Roger Griswold, was Governor of Connecticut; also was offered, by the elder President Adams, but declined, the post of Secretary of War.

In addition to his political activities he published three pieces or works. The first was poetical, his second publication was ecclesiastical, and his third political. He also wrote an account of the Pequot War in verse. The Rev. Samuel Wolcott in the Memorial says: "We have no portrait of him. In one of the political squibs of the day he is referred to as 'stately, smoking Roger.' For the following description of his public appearance, in his official costume, we are indebted, through a friend (Hon. Isaac W. Stuart), to a lady in Wethersfield, Miss Marsh, the daughter of a venerable clergyman long since deceased, who gives it as she received it from her mother, who had often seen him in her childhood: 'He was a visitor at her father's, and the costume of an officer under the regal government was too imposing to pass unnoticed. Several times a week he rode out on horseback, and never appeared abroad but in full-dress. He wore a suit of scarlet broadcloth. The coat was made long, with wide skirts, and trimmed down the whole length in front with gilt buttons, and broad gilt vellum button-holes, two or three inches in length. The cuffs were large and deep, reaching nearly to the elbows, and were ornamented, like the sides of the coat, as were also the pocket-lids, with gift vellum button-holes and buttons. The waistcoat had skirts, and was richly embroidered. Ruffles at the bosom and over the hands were of lace. He had a flowing wig, and a three-cornered hat with a cockade; and rode slowly and stately a large black horse, whose tail swept the ground.'
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  More About Governor Roger Wolcott:
Burial: Old Burying Ground, Windsor, Connecticut
Military service: 1745, Major-General in the expedition against Louisburgh
Occupation 1: Bet. 1750 - 1754, Governor of Connecticut917
Occupation 2: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

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