John William Wilcox 10/12/16 By: Grace Wilcox English
John Wilcox my 9th great grandfather was born in St Edmonds, Suffolk, England in 1592 the child of Christopher age 30 and Margaret (Molde) Wilcox age 26. When John was less than a year old his father died at age 30. John married on October 12th 1615 in Terling, Essex, when he was 20 years old to Mary (?). Their children were (1) Ann Wilcox, born 1616, Sarah, 1618? John born January 13th 1622 in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. John and his family immigrated to America in 1635 when he was 40. John Wilcox was one of the early colonists who settled in the area. Though the Dutch began exploring the area as early as 1614, the English were the first europeans to put down roots in 1636. Under the leadership of a prominent puritan minister, Thomas Hooker. John Wilcox was believed to be one of the Englishmen to come from England with Thomas Hooker, according to Fifty Puritan Ancestors “Among these early emigrants of the Wilcox name was John Willcocks of the Hartford, Connecticut, Colony, who appears to have been one of the "original proprietors" of that settlement. His name and the exact location of his house lot is found in the plot of the original plan of Hartford made as of date 1642, by Wm. Porter of Farmington, by surveys from the original records of the "Distribution of 1639." This is the earliest trace so far found of this emigrant. There is nothing to show where he came from or how he got to Hartford. From the fact of his being numbered among the "original proprietors" it is a natural inference that he was one of the company of Rev. Thomas Hooker, who removed from Newtown (Cambridge), Mass., in 1636.” 100 colonists from England established a settlement, that is now Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. They called it the River Colony then. Soon after other English families and slaves landed and some joined the colony or started their own. The natural resources in Connecticut are timber and fish were harvested and exported to England. Hard work was the daily life of these settlers. Men and boys toiled in the fields, sometimes with their slaves tending to their crops. Women and girls stayed home, they tended the hearth, wove cloth, sewed clothes and made dinner. Communities stayed close and revolved around the puritan church and family life. Within a century the colony would go from a 5,500 population to 100,000 in 1750. John Wilcox was surveyor of highways from from 1642-1644. Surveying was a respected skill to the colonists, and surveyors served as vital links between local communities and the new government. Surveying was a task and a skill that men who were farmers, millers, craftsmen, or petty regional bureaucrats relied on to make a living. Surveyors followed English methods and learned as apprentices under fathers or uncles or were taught by private instructors.; Juror 1645; Selectman 1649; and died on October 1st 1651 in Hartford Connecticut when he was 56 years old.
The Wilcox family crest Fidus et Audax (latin) - Loyal and Brave