A Catalogue of the Names of the First Puritan Settlers of the Colony of Connecticut

jres which Connecticut necessarily must possess under the Charter, over other colonies, and particularly over the New Haven Colony. Towns from all parts of the country soon began to apply to the General Court to become members of the colony under the new government. Capt. John Young and others applied for the admission of Southold, on Long Island, into the colony, and submitted their persons and property under the Charter, which was accepted, with a prom- ise of protection. South and Easthampton had before united with the colony. Capt. Young was declared a freeman, and a commission given him to act in Southold as the General Court should require- Their citizens were required to meet and elect a constable for the organization of the town. The inhabitants of Guilford applied for admission, and tendered themselves and estates, and were accepted upon the usual terms. The towns of Stamford and Greenwich also applied, and were received as other towns had been. The inhabitants of Mystic and Paugatuck had until this time held their commissions under Massa- chusetts, but the Court now ordered that " henceforth they should forbear exer- cising any authority by virtue of commissions from any other colony than Con- necticut ;" and ordered the inhabitants to elect a constable and organize the town, and pay the sum of i;20 towards defraying the expense of procuring the Charter, as their proportion. Gov. Winthrop executed his will in Boston, at the time of his sickness, where it is supposed he died. His sons were, Fitz John and Wait Still. He had five daughters, viz. Elizabeth, Lucy, Margaret, Martha and Anne. He gave his sons double portions compared with his daughters, and made all his children execu- tors and executrixes of his will. He also appointed John Allen, Mr. Humphrey Davie, James Allen and his brother John Richards, to settle any difficulty that might arise in the settlement of his estate, or any three of them. His will was proved in court by Thomas Hatch and John Blake, July 25, 1676. Winthrop, Fitz John — son of Gov. Winthrop, of Connecticut. He early became an important man in the colony, and was a magistrate when young. He depended not so much upon the exalted reputation of his honored father as upon his own exertions, for preferment and honors. His doctrine was the same as that of the Wolcotts — that all men were self-made who became eminent — that the son of a great man was no better than the son of a pauper, except that his advantages were preferable for accomplishing the object. Fitz John appears early to have imbibed a military spirit, and possessed every qual- ification for an important military officer ; he was educated in the art of war — was bold, brave and daring to a fault, and received the commission of Captain when young. The first important appointment which brought him particularly before the public, was an appointment by the General Assembly of Connecticut in 1664, with his honored father, Matthew Allyn, sen'r.. Gold, Richards, Howell and Young, some of the most important men in the colony, to meet His Majesty's Commissioners in New York, and hear the differences and settle the boundaries of the Patent of the Duke of York and the colony of Cnnecticut, by which decision Long Island was awarded to the Duke of York, Sec, and the boundaries of Connecticut settled. We next find Mr. Winthrop, in 1683, ap- pointed by the King of England, and associated with Cranfield, the Commader- in-Chief of New Hampshire, with Dudley, Stoughton, Randolph, Shrimpton. 104 Palmes, Pynclieon, jr., and Saltonstall, as a committee to quiot all disputes re- gardinjj the Narragaiisctt country, as Commissioners of Charles 11. In 1693 the colony of Connecticut found it necessary to address King William and Queen Mary with reference to the militia of the colony, and to send an Ambassador to England for this special purpose. Maj. Gen. Fitz John Winthrop was at once selected and appointed for the important mission. While in England, in 1697, he laid before the Council of Trade a memorial giving an answer to the Dutch- ess of Hamilton's petition to the King regarding her claims to Narragansett, so far as the people of Connecticut were concerned, though this matter was not included in his instructions. He managed the affair with great adroitness and good judgment. Gen. Winthrop was appointed Major General in 1690 over the army designed against Canada. In 1698, such was his popularity that he W£is elected Governor of Connecticut, and continued to be re-elected until his death, in 1707. He was the last of the eminent men of the name in Connect- icut, though Massachusetts yet hasher Winthrops. Wood, Jonas, Wethersfield, 1636 — produced to the court his cer- tificate of church-membership, dated at Watertown, Mass., 29th of March, 1636, to join a church in Connecticut ; and he was at Weth- ersfield in '36. He came with Andrew Ward, Coe, &;c. Jonas, at Southnmpton, L. I., in '48, (which was under the jurisdiction of Connecticut) — was custom-master there in '61 — magistrate and com- missioner in '63. Perhaps the same who located at Wethersfield in '36. Wood, John, was killed in 1639, near the mouth of Connecticut river. Lieut. Bull, while in pursuit of the Pequots, found his gun marked I. W. Matthew, '63. Consider, '64, of Westchester, which at this time was claimed within the jurisdiction of Connecticut- Woodcock, John, 1639. This name is found in Connecticut before it is in Massachusetts. Woodbridge, Rev. Timothy, Hartford. I insert this family as a family of clergymen ; there having been seven of the name, ministers in the colony at about the same period of time. Timothy was settled over the first church in Hartford, in 1685, and died in 1732. According to an account by T. S. Perkins, E.sq., deceased, (who was a descendant,) Timothy was the 2d son of Rev. John, who married a daughter of Gov. Dudley, of Massachusetts, and was settled at Andover, in that colony, in 1644. Thomas Woodbridge was first married to a daughter of Hon. Samuel Wyllys, of Hartford, and was the ances- tor of Sheldon Woodbridge, Esq., of Hartford. A daughter of Thomas married Gov. Pitkin. Rev. Samuel (was a nephew of Timothy, of Hartford,) — was settled over the 3d church in Hartford, in 1705, and died in 1746. He was a grandson of Rev. John, of Massachusetts, mentioned above — from him are the descendants of those of the name in Hartford, East Hartford, and Manchester. Rev. John Woodbridge was settled at Killingworth. Rev. Dudley Woodbridge was settled over the first church in Simsbury, and died in 1710. The 2d Rev. Timothy, son of the first Timothy, was settled also at Simsbury, over the first 105 churcli in 1712, and died in 1742. Rev. Ashbel was settled at Glastenbury, in 1728, and died in 1758 ;— he was the son of the first Rev. Timothy by his sec- ond marriage to Mrs. Howell. Rev. Benjamin was settled at Amity in the town of Woodbridge, in 1742. Rev. Ephraim Woodbridge was settled over the first church in Groton, in 1704, and died in 1724— neither of whom were either dis- missed or removed from their places of settlement. The first Rev. Timothy, was a member (in 1708) of the Convention which, for the better regulation of the administration of church discipline, formed the noted Say brook Platform, of which meeting Rev. James Noyes and Thomas Buckingham were moderators, and Rev. Stephen Mix and John Woodward were chosen scribes. Woodbridge, Benjamin, 1673 — witness of Thrall's will. Whittlesey, Ruth, Wethersfield— died in 1734. This is the first death in the family, in Connecticut, on the Probate record at Hartford. Jabez Whittlesey was administrator. Jabez, of Wethersfield, was a farmer at Newington. He died in January, 1743, and left an estate of £718. Wolcott, Hon. Henry, sen'r., was an early settler at Windsor. He came to Massachusetts from Tolland, England, and moved his family to Wind- sor in 1636, to continue with Mr. Warham's church, with which he had united in England. He had married Elizabeth Saunders before he left his country, and had some family. His son Henry, jr., was about 25 years of age when the family moved to Windsor, in 1636, and soon became an active business man. Hon. Henry was a gentleman of education, wealth and distinction, and had been a magistrate before he left England. He was long a magistrate and assistant in the colony, though he had become somewhat advanced in life before he settled at Windsor. He was made the first constable of the town, which at that day and for many years after, was an office of great honor and power in the colony. In 1637 he was appointed collector of rates — deputy in 1639 and '41 — ^juror in 1641, 3 and 4— a committee with Major Mason to locate and erect fortifications — was frequently a member of both houses or branches of the General Court, and upon many of the most important committees in the colony — was one of the nineteen signers of the Petition to Charles II. for the Charter of Connecticut^ all of whom were the principal men in the colony. Mr. Wolcott was the an- cestor of more Governors of the Colony and State than any other individual? not only in the State, but in the United States. He was the ancestor of three Governor Wolcotts in Connecticut, viz. Roger and two Oliver Wolcotts — two of whom had been Lieutenant Governors ; also by the marriage of his daughter lo the first Matthew Griswold, of Saybrook, he became the ancestor of the two Governor Griswolds, viz. Matthew and Roger. His son Simon married a daughter of the first William Pitkin ; and by this connexion he also became the ancestor of Gov. Pitkin. The children of Hon. Henry were, Plenry, jr., George, Ann, Mary and Simon. Simon's children were, Elizabeth, Martha, Si- mon, Joanna, and the Hon. Roger — the latter was the second in command at the siege and reduction at Louisburg, in 1745, and in 1751 he was elected Gov- ernor of Connecticut. The first Oliver, LL. D., was Governor in 1796 and 7, The second Oliver, LL. D., had been Secretary of War, and Governor from 1817 to 1827. Erastus, who served as General in the War of the Revolution, 14 lor.