Wolcott Family Military Histories

     While doing research for my Wolcott genealogy, I decided to compile a written record of military histories, for these two families, and the stories that go along with the men and women who served their country.

     All of the Wolcott family histories came from the Wolcott Family In America (1578 - 1985) book published by Griffen and Alegro.  This book may be purchased from The Wolcott Family Society.

     Henry Wolcott married Elizabeth Saunders about the year 1606.  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.

     The following blog posts are men and women who served during the King Phillip War (1675-1676) French and Indian Wars (1756-1763), the Revolutionary War (1775-1782) between Great Britain and the American Colonies, the War of 1812 (1812-1815) between the United States and Great Britain, Civil War (1861 - 1865), World War I (1914-1918), World War II (1939-1945), and the Korean War (1950-1953).  Others were enlisted during peacetime.