Birth: 1601, Walton on Trent, EnglandDeath: May 29, 1651, Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA
WILLIAM WILCOXSON came to Boston on the good ship, "Planter" at age 34 with wife, Margaret aged 24 and son, John age 2. They sailed from London on April 15, 1635 and arrived at New England on May 6, 1635. He brought a certificate from the minister at St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England confirming his character.
Because William was a linen weaver by trade, he probably came from Derbyshire where they grew flax for weaving and many with the name of Wilcoxson lived. He may be the son of William Wilcoxson of Wirkswork. The will of William Wilcoxson, Sr. mentions a younger son, William, aged 25 years in 1626.
He was made a freeman in Massachusetts Colony on December 7, 1636, first living in Concord, Massachusetts, removing to and settling in Stratford, Connectcut by 1639 where he was one of the early settlers and had a homelot in the center of the village. He represented Stratford as deputy to the General Court in Hartford in 1647.
Some sources say that he left Stratford to live in Hartford and Windsor, but it is evident that he died in Stratford in 1651 and an inventory of his estate was taken in Stratford on June 16, 1652. In his will made in May of 1651. William left 30 pounds to the church in Concord, Massachusetts where they attended so many years before. His son, JOHN WILCOXSON, and daughter, PHEBE (WILCOXSON) BIRDSEYE, were my ancestors.
He married MARGARET BIRDSEYE around 1632 in England. After William's death, she married William Hayden of Windsor, Connecticut, and the Haydens removed to Killingworth, Connecticut before her death in 1675.
Other children of William and Margaret Wilcoxson: John Wilcoxson, Joseph Wilcoxson, Deacon Timothy Wilcoxson, Obediah Wilcoxson, Elizabeth Wilcoxson, Hannah (Wilcoxson) Hayden, Sarah Wilcoxson, Johannah Wilcoxson.
Family links:
Spouse: Margaret Birdseye Hayden (1610 - 1675)*
Children:
John Wilcoxson (1633 - 1690)*
Timothy Wilcoxson (1638 - 1713)*
Hannah Hayden (1644 - 1722)*
Phebe Wilcoxson Birdseye (1650 - 1743)*
Burial: Old Congregational Burying Ground, Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA
found on findagrave.com
William WilcoxCame to America in 1635 in the Ship Planter from London. He moved to Stratford in 1639. Died 1652. Was a representative at Hartford 1647. The Wilcox family is of Saxon origan and was seated at Bury St. Edmunds in the county of Saffolk England before the Norman conquest. In the county of Suffolk mentions 15 generations.
found on ancestry.com
History of William Wilcoxson
The first specific allusion to William Wilcoxson in either English or American records, is to be found in Hotten's "Original Lists of persons emigrating to America prior to 1700". There we find that William Wilcoxson, age 34, together with his wife Margaret, age 24, and their infant son John, age 2, sailed from London on the ship, Planter, April 5, 1635. Besides the Wilcoxson family, the Planter's list included the families of John Tuthill, Thomas Olney, George Giddings and William Beardsley, as well as several single persons, including Richard and Charles Harvey, William Felloe, Thomas Savage, Michael Willinson, Francis Peabody, Francis Baker, Thomas Greene and a few others. The vessel arrived at Boston, May 26th of the same year and we have the word of "Orcutt, "History of Stratford and Bridgeport", that his first American home was at Concord, MA. Since he appeared at Stratford, Connecticut in the year 1639 he could not have lived for more than four years there. At the very beginning of its settlement, Stratford was called Pequennocke, then changed to Cupheag Plantation and then to Stratford. The earliest map of Stratford (as it was in 1639) shows seventeen families living there. This map shows William Wilcoxson's lot in the central part of the "town". On one side of it was the lot of William Beardsley and on the other that of John Peat. Across the street lived widow Elizabeth Curtis, Francis Nichols, Thomas Fairchild and Arthur Bostwick. Further down the street lived Richard Harvey, who, with William Beardsley had come over in the Planter with William Wilcoxson. William Wilcoxson was selected to serve his town as Deputy in the Connecticut Assembly and was on intimate terms with Governors Winthrop and Bulkley. William Wilcoxson died early in the year 1652. This we know from the fact that there is record of the inventory of his will on June 16th, 1652. Margaret remarried in 1664 to William Hayden of Windsor, Connecticut, later removed to Killingworth (now Clinton, Connecticut). The name of this line was originally Wilcoxson, but the last syllable was generally dropped about the middle of the eighteenth century. From "Abner Wilcox and Lucy Eliza Hart Wilcox" the fact that just because the passengers of the Planter embarked with a blanket certificate from the minister of St. Albans, Hertfordshire, there is no reason to believe that William lived there. The records of the shire do not contain his name, and he was more likely from Derbyshire, the town of Biggin. If so, his father could have been the William Wilcoxson who married Anne Howdische 2/8/1575. Since William was a linen weaver, and Biggin was an area where flax was grown and woven into cloth, there is credibility to this theory.
found on ancestry.com
Extract from WILCOX FAMILY HISTORY; Wilcox, Owen N.; Cleveland Ohio, 1911
1600's, Connecticut
The following extract from Owen Wilcox' History is actually taken originally from HOTTEN'S ORIGINAL LISTS; Hotten, John Camden.
"William Wilcoxson came from England in 1636 in the ship "Planter," in company with Richard Harvey and William Beardsley, who settled in Stratford. He was made freeman (equivalent of one having the right of suffrage) in Massachusetts in 1636, and hence was one of the first proprietors and a prominent man in the township. In his will dated May 1651, he gave 40 Pounds to the Church in Concord. He left a widow and five sons, through whom the descendants of his name are widely scattered in the nation. the name has been contracted in some localities to Wilcox."
Also in Wilcox Family History:
An early map of Stratford shows that he resided at lot # 70, Elm Street. pg.6
An early diagram of the original church at Stratford shows that the family had a box pew on the left, near the front.pg.7
He held share # 13 in the Common Field. pg.7.
Of the seventeen families that made up the original group of settlers in Stratford, his was listed third and comprised William, Margaret and three sons. pg. 8
He was a representative of his district at the General Court which convened in Hartford as a lawmaking body. pg 12.
As a representative in 1647, he helped to pass a new law which required a note from a physician as well as a license from the Court in order to have permission to use tobacco. Only those over the age of 20 could apply for this "medical tobacco permit," and there were a number of additional restrictions placed upon the user of "the weed." Among the restrictions, it was not permitted to smoke in public, whether on the streets of the towns or in fields, unless the smoker was on a journey of more than ten miles. It was not permitted to smoke in the presence of others, exception made if the other person had already "accustomed himself to the vice." A similar law was passed the same year to govern the use of alcohol. One of the provisions of that law was to make bartenders responsible for monitoring the amount of alcohol consumed by individual patrons in a public house.
ancestry.com
William Wilcoxson
William Wilcoxson, head of our clan in America, was born in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England in 1601 to William Wilcoxson and Anne Howdische. He had one older brother and two younger sisters. He was married to Margaret Birdseye in England. One source, states that her last name was Harvey and that she was the daughter of James and Elizabeth Harvey, born 26 Feb 1610 in Ilkeston Derbyshire.
This conflicts with other sources, but nothing has been verified.
William Wilcoxson, came to New England with his wife Margaret and son John on the ship, Planter in the summer of 1635.
At the time of William and Margaret's immigration (during the reign of Charles I), Archbishop Laud, Primate of England, was actively engaged in persecuting people of independent religious conviction and it was then almost as difficult for an Englishman to leave England as it was for a Russian to leave Russia in later times. The emigrant was required to submit certain guaranties of character and intention before he was permitted to embark. These included a certificate from some minister of the orthodox church and an "attestation from the Justice of the Peace". The entire group of passengers sailing with William and Margaret were vouched for in a blanket certificate of character by the minister of St. Alban's, Hertfordshire, England. Because of this fact, some have wrongly concluded that Williams and his fellow passengers were from Hertfordshire, and members of the church of St. Alban's. As explained elsewhere on this web page, this is probably incorrect.
The first specific allusion to William Wilcoxson in either English or American records, is to be found in Hotten's "Original Lists of persons emigrating to America prior to 1700". There we find that William Wilcoxson, age 34, together with his wife Margaret, age 24, and their infant son John, age 2, sailed from London on the ship, Planter, April 5, 1635. Besides the Wilcoxson family, the Planter's list included the families of John Tuthill, Thomas Olney, George Giddings and William Beardsley, as well as several single persons, including Richard and Charles Harvey, William Felloe, Thomas Savage, Michael Willinson, Francis Peabody, Francis Baker, Thomas Greene and a few others. The vessel arrived at Boston, May 26th of the same year. He was made a Freeman of Massachusetts Colony 7 December 1636, and was settled for a time at Concord, Massachusetts removing to Stratford in 1639.
At the very beginning of its settlement, Stratford was called Pequennocke, then changed to Cupheag Plantation and then to Stratford. The earliest map of Stratford (as it was in 1639) shows seventeen families living there. This map shows William Wilcoxson's lot in the central part of the "town". On one side of it was the lot of William Beardsley and on the other that of John Peat. Across the street lived widow Elizabeth Curtis, Francis Nichols, Thomas Fairchild and Arthur Bostwick. Further down the street lived Richard Harvey, who, with William Beardsley had come over in the Planter with William Wilcoxson.
William Wilcoxson was selected to serve his town as Deputy in the Connecticut Assembly and was on intimate terms with Governors Winthrop and Bulkley.
Children of William and Margaret (Birdseye) Wilcoxson--all born in Stamford, Connecticutt.
1. John, born 1633/4; died 19 March 1690; married (1) 1656, Johanna Titterton, (2) 1658, Deborah Titterton, (3) Elizabeth Bourne
2. Joseph, born 1535; died 9 February 1703, married 1658, Margaret Sheathers
3. Timothy, born 1637; died 13 January 1713; married 28 December 1664, Joanna Birdseye
4. Samuel, born 1640; died 12 March 1713/4; married 1665, Hannah Rice
5. Obadiah, born circa 1641; died 1 November 1714
6. Elizabeth, born 1642; died 16 April 1663; married 17 March 1664, Daniel Hayden
7. Hannah, born 1645/6; died 19 April 1722; married 7 March 1665, John Meigs
8. Sarah, born 26 October 1648, died 24 November 1691; married 1714/4, Mr. Griswold
9. Phebe, born 31 August 1650, died 20 September 1743; married (1) 11 December 1669, John Birdseye, (2) 1680, John Beach
10. Johanna, born 1653; died 4 October 1722
William died in 1652 in Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut. A record of the inventory of his will was dated 16-June-1652. Margaret remarried in 1664 to William Hayden of Windsor, Connecticut, later removed to Killingworth (now Clinton, Connecticut).
From "Abner Wilcox and Lucy Eliza Hart Wilcox" the fact that just because the passengers of the Planter embarked with a blanket certificate from the minister of St. Albans, Hertfordshire, there is no reason to believe that William lived there. The records of the shire do not contain his name, and he was more likely from Derbyshire, the town of Biggin. If so, his father could have been the William Wilcoxson who married Anne Howdische 2/8/1575. Since William was a linen weaver, and Biggin was an area where flax was grown and woven into cloth, there is credibility to this theory.
found on ancestry.com
A Founder of Statford Connecticut
From a site on internet to order a book called:
“Descendants of William Wilcoxson and His Wife Margaret”
William Wilcoxson was a linen weaver in England. He, his wife Margaret, and their son John arrived in America on the ship ‘Planter’ and settled in Concord, Massachusetts. Two other founders of Stratford, William Beardsley and Richard Harvey, were with him on the same voyage. William Wilcoxson was a freeman in Massachusetts in 1636. He left Concord, Massachusetts, for Connecticut and arrived in Stratford around 1639. In May 1647 he was a Duputy to the Connecticut Legislature for Stratford.
William had a large family—five sons and five daughters. Several of his children raised their families in Stratford. Others settled in Guildord, Killingworth, Simsbury, or Windsor.
The genealogy of this family is complicated by the variations in spelling of the surname. These include Willcoxkson, Wilcocson, Wilcocks, Wilcokson, and Wilkockson. Some branches of the family eventually shortened the name to Wilcox.
found on ancestry.com
Notes for William Wilcoxson from John Selby Wait:
The first specific allusion to William Wilcoxson in either English or American records, is to be found in Hotten's "Original Lists of persons emigrating to America prior to 1700". There we find that William Wilcoxson, age 34, together with his wife, Margaret, age 24, and their infant son, John, age 2, sailed from London on the ship, Planter, April 5, 1635. The vessel arrived at Boston, May 26th of the same year, and we have the word of Orcutt's "History of Stratford and Bridgeport" that his first American home was at Concord, Massachusetts. Since he appeared at Stratford, Connecticut in the year 1639, he could not have lived more than four years there in Massachusetts.
At the very beginning of its settlement, Stratford was called Pequennocke, then changed to Cupheag Plantation, and then to Stratford. The earliest map of Stratford (as it was 1639) shows seventeen families living there. William Wilcoxson's lot was in the center of the "town"; his neighbors were William Beardsley and John Peat. Across the street, lived the Widow Elizabeth Curtis.
William Wilcoxson was selected to serve his town as Deputy in the Connecticut Assembly and was on intimate terms with Governors Winthrop and Bulkley.William died early in the year 1652. This is known as fact as there is record of the inventory of his will on June 16, 1652. Margaret remarried in 1664 to William Hayden of Windsor, Connecticut, later removed to Killingworth, Connecticut.The name of this line was originally Wilcoxson, but the last syllable was generally dropped about the middle of the eighteenth century.From "Abner Wilcox and Lucy Eliza Hart Wilcox" the fact that just because the passengers of the Planter embarked with a blanket certificate from the minister of St Albans, Hertfordshire, there is no reason to believe that William lived there. The records of the shire do not contain his name, and he was more likely from Derbyshire, the town of Biggin. If so, his father could have been William Wilcoxson who married Anne Howdische 2/8/1575. Since William was a linen weaver, and Biggin was an area where flax was grown and woven into cloth, there is credibility to this theory. History from another source:William Wilcox also known as Wilcoxson. Came from England to Concord, Massachusetts on the "Planter" in 1635. A Freeman at Cambridge in 1636. Removed to Stratford, Connecticut, he later lived in Hartford and Windsor.
Ref: Planters of the Commonwealth, page 143
Nutmegger, volume 13, #2, page 248 Savage, volume 4, page 548
Bogue Family, page 393
Stratford Genealogy, page 1346
Cutter's Northern Ney York, volume 2, page 654
Cutter's New England Family, volume 1, page 159
Descendants of William Wilcoxson. page XIV, XVIII, XIX
Immigrant Ancestor-Virkus (seven volumes)
The below information was furnished to Gordon C. Nagle Sr, in May 1998, by Jane Trotman of Hidden Hills, California 91302. It is titled "Descendants of William Wilcoxson of Derbyshire, England and Stratford, Connecticut", reproduced by the mimeograph process in the Spring of 1963, from data accumulated by intermittent research and correspondence over a period of thirty years, written by Thomas Wilcox, P.O. 462, Pasadena, California 91102.
In Stratford, six more children were born to William and Margart. Their entire family comprised of nine children, all of whom lived to adulthood, married and had families of their own. We compute that by the year 1725 the strain of William Willcoxson, through his daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters, must have already passed into the bloodstream of at least seventy Connecticut families. By the time of the Revolution there were several thousand of his descendents in Connecticut. At that time it was impossible for a Wilcox to travel far in his native state without meeting some kind of kindsman. Obtaining so great a distribution at so early a date we would imagine that there is today scarcely anyone with pre-revolutionary lines who cannot trace distaff descent from William Wilcoxson. In our Preliminary Report we referred to him as Father of Connecticut. By sheer paternity we believe he deserves such a title. Of course, the great majority of William Wilcoxson's descendants are through females. Daughters and daughters-daughters to the nth generation. As a genealogist it has seemed to me sometimes that the main social function of our family in America has been to supply other families with ancestresses.Let us pause to think of our first American household as it existed in its happiest days, about 1630, before the spectre of death and separation had appeared and while all the children remained under the Stratford rooftree. At mealtime what a picture the whole group must have made, seated about the rough hewn trencher board--the parents at either end; the children in order of their strature; John and Joseph on either side of their father; Timothy, Elizabeth, Samuel, Hannah and Sarah filling up the mid-table and little Obadiah and baby Phoebe sitting down next to mother Margaret.
And the parents, what were their thoughts as they beamed at each other through this gamut of carefree, youthful eyes? Did they imagine a time when the descendants of these devoted children would be almost "as the sands of the sea for multitude"? Did they envision the infinitely varied adventures and destinies in store for this brood and their many descendants? Could they conceive that out of these loins would come men and women who would pioneer states, cities and communities then undreamed of that from them would descend soldiers, captains and generals to take part in struggles for the establishment and preservation of a great nation; that from them would come judges, senators, ministers, missionaries, scientists and any number of undistinguished but honorable citizens, each taking some part in a highly complex civilization?The ultra-individualistic William Wilcoxson descendant of today who thinks that he has nothing in common with a tenth cousin in far away Oregon, Alaska, Florida or California, should think sometimes of this first family and reflect that when we go far enough back on the tribal stem all Wilcoxsons coalesce and join at the Stratford hearth.Lamentably William Wilcoxson did not live to be an old man. He died early in the year 1652. This we know from the fact that there is record of the inventory of his will of June 16, 1652. Hence, all of the nine children were under age when he passed away. John, the oldest, was but 19, while Phoebe, the youngest, was but a babe in arms. Thus came the first tragedy to a family that was to suffer more than its due share of untimely deaths, orphaned children and scattered kinsmen.For the years immediately subsequent to 1652 there is no record to indicate how the widow Wilcoxson and her brood managed to exist in that wild, raw country. However, neighbors were generous in those days. The were few in numbers, but those few were all of kindred race and similar religion. All were bound to each other by a feeling of loneliness in those vast solitudes, so far removed from pleasant-memoried England. Quite likely the family were aided after the father's death by their pioneer neighbors and the friendly counsel of the good minister, Rev. Adam Blakeman, pastor of the first Statford church.Just when or where it was that the widow Wilcoxson met William Hayden (an immigrant of 1630) of Windsor we do not know. It may be that the two families had known each other in Derbyshire or that they had become acquainted at Concord.However, the legend, as given in "Records of the Connecticut Line of the Hayden Family", is to the effect that Margaret married William Hayden sometime in the year 1663. The latter had then removed from Windsor to Hamonoscett (later Kenilworth, Killingworth and finally Clinton) with his three motherless children and there he joined by Margaret and the younger Wilcoxson children. By that time,John, Joseph, Timothy remained at Stratford with their families. Elizabeth removed with her husband, Sergeant Henry Stiles to Windsor while Joseph, already the father of three children, followed his mother and father-in-law to Killingworth. There he settled permanently. Samuel, who married the following year at Widsor, probably did not live long at Killingworth, if at all. The unmarried children who accompanied their mother to Killingworth and three in their lot with the Haydens were, therefor,Hannah (who the following year became the bride of her step-brother Daniel Hayden) Sarah, Obadiah, and Phoebe. Margaret Wilcox Hayden, our first ancestress in America, died at Killingworth in 1675.
John S. Wait: From The History of Stratford (Connecticut), The First Settlers. (p86): and The Complete Book of Emigrants, p 128.William Wilcoxson came from England to America on board the ship "Planter" (Nicholas Travice, master) which sailed from London to New England the morning of April 2, 1635. A total of thirty-eight persons were listed as..."the parties having brought certificates from the minister of St. Albans in Hertfordshire and attestations from the justice of the peace according to the Lord's orders." This party, along with eighty others and the crew filled the small ship.William was made a freeman in Massachusetts Colony December 7, 1636, settling in Concord prior to moving to Stratford in 1639. He was a juryman, or deputy, in Hartford in 1647. At the time of his death, he left a widow and five sons. His will, in which he gave 30 pounds to the church at Concord, is dated May, 1651/52. There is a record of the inventory of his estate dated June 16, 1652.His sons, Timothy and John, remained in Stratford, but Joseph settled in Killingworth in 1661. Samuel eventually settled in Simsbury, and Obadiah settled in East Guilford (now Madison.)Little is known of William's true origins in England. Although he, his wife and son, and thirty-five others received a blanket certificate of character from the minister at St. Albans, this alone does not attest to his home as being in Hertfordshire. His trade was 'linen weaver,' and at the time of his departure this embryonic industry was centered in the towns of Belpre, Chesterfield, and Wirksworth in Derbyshire. The parish records of Derbyshire confirm that many Wilcoxsons lived in the surrouding villages. In the will of a 'William Wicoxson' of Wirksworth (dated 1626) behests are made to George, Anne, 'Mazie,' and William (descibed as a younger son, age twenty-five.) Peter Wilcoxson signed as a witness. As the younger son, William would not be entitled to receive any lands or property according to English Common Law. Therefore he would have been apprenticed to a trade (in this case linen-weaving.) Age, place, and trade provide strong evidence that this is the William who emigrated to America.Other records show that he was born in 1620 in Stratford Connecticut and his father was John Wilcoxson. Both records have him married to Margaret Birdseye, although the John records have the marriage at being 1645 - after a lot of his children were born. These records apparently originated from the church of Latter Day Saints (July, 1996)Note: WILLIAM, the freem. in Massachusetts. of 7 December 1636, came in the Planter from London, in the ship's clearance call. linen weaver, aged 34, with w. Margaret, 24, and s. John, 2, but at what town he first sat down, is not cert. We can be sure it was not Boston, nor Salem, nor Charlestown, nor Dorchester, nor Roxbury, nor Watertown, and of the few others Concord seems most likely. To what part of Connecticut. he first rem,. is unkn. or at what time; but he is seen in 1647, as rep. at Hartford, and prob. in a high degree is it, that he had more s. and ds. Joseph, Samuel, Obadiah, Timothy, Elizabeth wh. m. at Windsor 16 April 1663, Henry Stiles; and Hannah, wh. m. also at W. 17 March 1665, Daniel Hayden; Sarah, wh. m. 1665, John Meigs; and Phebe, married 11 December 1669, John Birdseye, jr. of Stratford, so that it is not improb. that he had chos. W. for his resid. Yet he may have early rem. to Stratford, where he died 1652. Some of his descend. have sunk the last syl. of the ancestor'sname.
found on ancestry.com
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