Prominent People of Wolcott, Connecticut

Having looked at the various genealogies in a book I recently read about Bristol (see here), I would be remiss if I did not do the same for my hometown of Wolcott. Very different from the anthology format of the Bristol book, the parallel one for Wolcott was written by one man, the Rev. Samuel Orcutt, in 1874. He had only been in Wolcott since 1872, but the church he had been called to preach at was approaching its centenary in 1873. Thus, he felt compelled to spend a few months writing what he thought at the time would not exceed two hundred pages. Be he got drawn into it and ended up with a volume of over three times that size. The title of this tome is “History of the Town of Wolcott (Connecticut) from 1731 to 1874”.

After leaving Wolcott, Orcutt went on to write a number of other such books (I’ve written about that here). Unlike the book on Bristol which included many individuals who worked in the clock industry and who stayed in the town their entire lives, there is no such industry in Wolcott. Thus, the below list is dominated by preachers who preceded the service of Orcutt (of the 31 individuals listed, 14 have “Rev.” as their title). There are also a number of educators and physicians.

Because preachers were often from other places and did not stay long, there would seem to be less chance of their being a relative of mine. However, several of them married while in that service and if they weren’t, then their wives were often relatives of mine. Also, because this book both predates the one on Bristol by 35 years and because the focus is on prominent people in the town’s history instead of on current industry leaders such as the Bristol book, there are many in the below list who are two or more generations older. This means that they are a few generations closer to the founders of Connecticut and there has not been as much time to intermarry and generate all the family connections that led to nearly all the individuals in the Bristol book being cousins of mine. But I am fortunate that many of my family lines go back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s, so I still was able to find connections.

Nonetheless, this has also been an interesting exercise in building family trees for these pioneers of my hometown and showing me how rich a family history I have. Where the below list contains more than one person from the same family, I have indented descendants under the primary person listed. Of the 31 individuals, 26 are cousins through common ancestors, and 5 are married to a cousin.

 

·         John Alcock (1705-1777), farmer, great*6 grandfather

o   Capt. John Alcox (1731-1808), farmer and soldier, great*6 uncle via John Alcock

o   A. Bronson Alcott (1799-1888), educator, 2C5X via John Alcock

o   Dr. Wm. A. Alcott (1798-1859), educator, 2C5X via John Alcock

o   Rev. Wm. P. Alcott (1838-1919), 3C4X via John Alcock

·         Joseph Atkins (1709-1782), miller, 3C8X via John Hall (1584-1673)

o   Dea. Joseph Atkins (1747-1820), farmer, 4C7X via John Hall

·         Rev. Aaron C. Beach (1805-1881), 4C6X via John Beach (1654-1709)

o   Rev. John Wickliffe Beach (1843-1887), 5C5X via John Beach

·         Dea. Isaac Bronson (1761-1845), surveyor, 4C5X via John Bronson (1602-1680)

·         Timothy Bradley (1744-1826), farmer, 2C7X via John Humiston (1659-1696)

·         Rev. James D. Chapman (1799-1854), wife is 5C5X via Thomas Dibble (1613-1700)

·         Rev. Warren C. Fiske (1816-1887), 7C3X via Anthony Dix/Dike (1610-1638)

·         Judah Frisbie (1744-1817), farmer, great*6 uncle via John Frisbie (1650-1694)

·         Rev. Alexander Gillet (1749-1826), wife is 2C6X via John Frisbie (1650-1694)

o   Rev. Timothy Gillet (1780-1866), 3C5X via John Frisbie

·         Dea. Aaron Harrison (1726-1819), wife is 1C6X via Ephraim Warner (1670-1753)

·         Rev. Lucas Hart (1784-1813), 4C5X via Benjamin Judd (1642-1699)

·         Lucas C. Hotchkiss (1807-1908), mechanic, 2C5X via John Alcox (1705-1777)

·         Rev. Lent S. Hough (1804-1879), 4C5X via Thomas Curtis (1648-1736)

·         Capt. Heman Hall (1750-1795), farmer and soldier, 2C7X via Thomas Curtis (1648-1736)

o   Ephraim Hall (1799-1874), peddler, 4C5X via Thomas Curtis

·         Dr. Ambrose Ives (1786-1852), physician, 3C6X via Joseph Ives (1648-1694)

·         Rev. John Keys (1782-1868), [from NY, to OH], wife is 4C7X via Richard Ogden (1568-1613)

·         Simeon H. Norton (1813-1876), teacher, 3C4X via John Frisbie (1676-1736)

·         Dr. John Potter (1760-1828), 4C7X via Matthew Woodruff (1562-1632) (wife is 2C5X via Ephraim Warner (1670-1753))

·         Rev. Nathan Shaw (1788-1865), wife is 6C6X via Comfort Starr (1589-1660)

·         Seth Thomas (1785-1859), clock maker, 3C5X via Samuel Tuttle (1659-1733), see story here

·         Rev. Benoni Upson. D.D. (1750-1826), 2C6X via Stephen Upson (1655-1735)

o   Rev. Henry E. L. Upson (1831-1911), 4C4X via Stephen Upson

·         Rev. Israel B. Woodward (1767-1810), 4C5X via Thomas Curtis (1614-1707)