Stukely WESTCOTTAge: 851592–1677
- Name
- Stukely WESTCOTT
| Birth | about 1592 Somersetshire, England |
| Marriage | Juliana MARCHANT - View family 5 October 1619 (Age 27) Church Of St. John The Baptist, Yeovil, Somersetshire, England |
| Birth of a daughter #1 | before 27 January 1621 (Age 29) Yeovil, Somersetshire, England
daughter -
Damaris WESTCOTT
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| Christening of a daughter | 27 January 1621 (Age 29) St. John The Baptist, Yeovil, Somerset, England
daughter -
Damaris WESTCOTT
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| Birth of a son #2 | 31 March 1622 (Age 30) Somersetshire, England
son -
Samuel WESTCOTT
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| Christening of a son | 3 March 1623 (Age 31) St. John The Baptist, Yeovil, Somerset, England
son -
Samuel WESTCOTT
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| Birth of a son #3 | about 1624 (Age 32) Yeovil, Somersetshire, England
son -
Robert WESTCOTT Sr.
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| Birth of a son #4 | about 1631 (Age 39) Yeovil, Somersetshire, England
son -
Amos WESTCOTT Sr.
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| Birth of a daughter #5 | about 1632 (Age 40) Yeovil, Somersetshire, England
daughter -
Mercy WESTCOTT
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| Birth of a son #6 | about 1633 (Age 41) Yeovil, Somersetshire, England
son -
Jeremiah WESTCOTT
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| Death of a son | about 1636 (Age 44) Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts
son -
Samuel WESTCOTT
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| Flourished | Stukley obtained a license from the General Court to remove with his family out of the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 12 March 1638 (Age 46) Salem, Massachusetts |
| Flourished | Roger Williams "freely admitted twelve loving friends and neighbors" into equal ownership with himself in Rhode Island. 8 August 1638 (Age 46) Rhode Island |
| Marriage of a son | Jeremiah WESTCOTT - View family between 27 July 1665 and 66 (Age 73) Portsmouth, Rhode Island
son -
Jeremiah WESTCOTT
daughter-in-law -
Eleanor (Ellen) ENGLAND
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| Death of a wife | 1670 (Age 78) Rhode Island
wife -
Juliana MARCHANT
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| Death of a son | 19 December 1676 (Age 84) Kingston, Washington Co., Rhode Island
son -
Robert WESTCOTT Sr.
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| Death | 12 January 1677 (Age 85) Portsmouth, Newport Co., RI |
| Globally unique identifier | F62972DAD09C214B8E875AACC3C99667E709 |
| Last change | 20 January 2023 - 09:53:54 |
| Family with Juliana MARCHANT - View family |
| himself |
Stukely WESTCOTT
Birth about 1592 Somersetshire, England
Death 12 January 1677 (Age 85) Portsmouth, Newport Co., RI Loading...
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-2 years wife |
Juliana MARCHANT
Birth 1590 England
Death 1670 (Age 80) Rhode Island Loading...
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Marriage: 5 October 1619 — Church Of St. John The Baptist, Yeovil, Somersetshire, England |
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16 months #1 daughter |
Damaris WESTCOTT
Birth before 27 January 1621 29 31 Yeovil, Somersetshire, England
Death after 1678 (Age 56) Newport, Newport Co., RI Loading...
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14 months #2 son |
Samuel WESTCOTT
Birth 31 March 1622 30 32 Somersetshire, England
Death about 1636 (Age 13) Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts Loading...
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21 months #3 son |
Robert WESTCOTT Sr.
Birth about 1624 32 34 Yeovil, Somersetshire, England
Death 19 December 1676 (Age 52) Kingston, Washington Co., Rhode Island Loading...
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7 years #4 son |
Amos WESTCOTT Sr.
Birth about 1631 39 41 Yeovil, Somersetshire, England
Death January 1686 (Age 55) Warwick, Kent Co., Rhode Island Loading...
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1 year #5 daughter |
Mercy WESTCOTT
Birth about 1632 40 42 Yeovil, Somersetshire, England
Death 24 August 1700 (Age 68) Warwick, Kent Co., Rhode Island Loading...
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1 year #6 son |
Jeremiah WESTCOTT
Birth about 1633 41 43 Yeovil, Somersetshire, England
Death 1686 (Age 53) Old Warwick, Kent Co., Rhode Island Loading...
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| Note | <b>Talk by Eleanor Wescott Trismen, read at the 15th Biennial Meeting in Vermont, August 8, 1964
</b> First, in retrospect: We, the members of this family Society, must remember with reverence that we shall be forever grateful to our late National Society Founder, Roscoe Leighton Whitman. He spent many long hours during his life in co mpiling the two Westcott Genealogies so that future cousins would be able to enjoy their contents. His efforts have made it so much easier for Westcott descendants to join Patriotic organizations.
This year (1964) celebrates the 30th year since the National Society was founded by Mr. Whitman and a group of cousins at the Lexington Hotel in New York City in 1934.
I shall begin by quoting from an address given by Mr. Whitman at the 4th biennial meeting at Alexandria Bay on August 9, 1941. "There are four out standing epochs or memorable periods in the history of the Westcott family, as they have bee n revealed by the ancient records."
"First, the origin of the family in England exists undoubtedly with the Teutonic tribesmen - the Saxons, Angles and Jutes, all members of a Saxon confederation effected in the 4th century for mutual advancement and protection. They descended fro m a warlike people who first appear in the history of the Romans in the year 113 B.C."
Hordes of these tribesmen, who were celebrated for naval prowess, passed over from what is now Jutland peninsula of Denmark to the island of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries and completely subjugated the native Romans and over spread th e south and southwest of the country. New detachments of the invaders followed with their chiefs. They founded eight kingdoms; among them was West Saxony or Wessex. About the year 827 they were united into one kingdom, called Anglia or England.
Among these erstwhile tribesmen was probably a man whose bloodstain was to run through the veins of Westcott men and women for all time. This statement is predicated on the fact that the family name is derived from that of one of the eigh t kingdoms they founded - Wessex. This appears unquestionable. The name was originally spelled Wescote and Westcote - the first syllable Wes as in Wessex; the second syllable, cote, indicating a place of residence - cottage, house, or enclosure.
As further verification of this nativity, history points out that the present shires of Devon and Somerset in southwest England comprise in part the old kingdom of Wessex or West Saxony. The first definite record of a person of the Wescot e name is found in Devonshire in the 12th century; therefore these original bearers of the name had remained in the territory their ancestors had conquered six or seven centuries before Though secluded in the dim mystic past, records seem suppor table of the beginning of the clan and the name appropriated to be known down through the generations.- - -
"The second epoch embraces a period with definite and positive records to substantiate them. These records are found in the London Museum. It is a period of nearly a century which every Westcott descendant may recall with justifiable pride. "
From the years 1216 to 1307 - ninety-one years - John de Wescote and his son and namesake were Canons of the Church of England at the Cathedral of St. Peter's in Exeter, Devonshire. They were the son and grandson of Furbert de Wescote, wh o was born in Exeter in 1164. The father is the first of the Wescote name of whom definite information has been found. As there are no detailed records of the family prior to these great disciples of God and benefactors of humanity, members of t he Westcott family today may be content to date the beginning of the family from them. Surely no more worthy founders of any family can be desired no greater inspiration to follow Christ's teachings.- - -
"The third epoch finds Wescotes really battling to retain and perpetuate the family name. Thomas de Wescote about 1414 married Elizabeth Littleton, sole heir of an old, rich, aristocratic royal family of Frankly in Worcestershire. Thomas d e Wescote was a Knight in his own right and so two distinguished, titled families were united. Before the marriage, Elizabeth Littleton exacted an agreement from Sir Thomas that their first son should be baptized in her own family name. The firs t child of the union was a son and he was baptized Thomas de Littleton. The birth of other sons (Nicholas, Edmund, Guido) followed."
Finally it became the desire of the mother that all their four sons should bear her family name. To this Guido furiously dissented. It appears that a family quarrel followed which was finally settled by the father deeding the old Manor estate t o Guido. Guido's father, Thomas, removed with his wife Elizabeth to her ancestral estate at Frankly.
"The old Manor estate was at what was known in the year 1300 and is still known in Devonshire as "Westcott". It may still be found on a map of that shire. The estate passed from the family ownership about the year 1500. Guido de Wescote bec ame a Baron, married Alice Granville, and in the year 1450 was granted the Coat of Arms which is the cherished and deserved symbol of the Society of Stukely Westcott Descendants. This explains the meaning of the motto on the arms: "the name rene wed".- - -
"The fourth epoch was the coming of the family founder, Stukely Westcott, to America in June, 1635."
Concerning the life of Stukely in America, I will continue. Stukely was born about 1592, probably near Ilchester, England. He married Juliana Marchant at the Baptist Church in Yeovil, England on Oct. 5, 1619, of which there is record. Note: In M r. Whitman's first book, he recorded Stukely's wife as Rosanna Hill. Laura La Mance, the recorder, was the source of that data, with no proof. If Stukely did marry Rosanna, it was probably at a later date. There seems to be no record of that mar riage. There is baptismal record of most of Stukely's and Juliana's children at Yeovil. Among Rhode Island Governor Arnold's papers was the following notation: "June 24, 1635 - arrived in Mass. Bay. Sailed from Dartmouth of Devon May 1, 1635, al l but one of the party (Wm. Carpenter) coming from Winchester in southern Somerset or within five miles of that place. My Father, William Arnold, and his family "sett sayle" from England and arrived (Thurs.) June 24 1635. On board was Stukely We stcott, 43, of Yeovil and his wife, with children: Robert, Damaris, Samuel 13, Amos 4, Mercy, and Jeremiah."
As yet we have no definite proof of the names of the parents of Stukely. In 1935 a Mr. Russell Westcott gave the following record to Mr. Whitman: "The parents of Stukely, Richard (Sr.), and Rebecca were Guy (nickname for Guido) Westcott and wif e Mary Stukely, daughter of Sir Lewis and Margaret (Arscote) Stukely."
Our Society did some research in England a few years ago, but found that early Devon and Somerset records are scarce. Because of religious strife, heavy tax burdens and controversies in England, many vital statistics were carelessly kept or lost , so it is difficult to trace various family lines. Our Society is thankful that it knows as much as it does about Stukely I and his whereabouts.
Stukely's children all lived to maturity except Samuel, who must have died shortly after his arrival in Massachusetts. The rest of the children married and have living descendants.
1.Damaris married the first Governor (B. Arnold) of R.I. (Royal Charter).
2.Mercy married Samuel Stafford.
3.Robert married Katherine (surname unknown). Robert was killed in King Philip's War in R.I. in 1675-6.
4.Amos married (1) Sarah Stafford, (2) Deborah Stafford (sisters).
5.Jeremiah married Eleanor England.
On March 16, 1676, at the age of 84, Stukely was driven from his home in Warwick, R.I. by the Indians at the time of King Philip's War in R.I. He took refuge on a neighboring island, where he died the following January 12, 1677, at his grandson' s home in Portsmouth, R.I.- - -
<b>Concerning Roger Williams, Founder of Providence
</b>In order to appreciate fully the interesting life of our Stukely Westcott, it is quite necessary to tell something of Roger Williams.
Roger Williams was born in 1606, the son of William Williams. He lived in Conwyl Cayo, a parish near Lampeter in Wales. Roger's wife was Mary Barnard. Roger and Mary "sett Sayle" for America on their honeymoon, and they landed in Boston Harbor o n February 5, 1631.
In 1950 a Mr. Gilbert Rees published an interesting story about the life of Roger Williams. The book is called I SEEK A CITY. On the book cover it says: "It was the unquenchable fire of the religious zealot which enabled Roger Williams to carr y out his beliefs in the face of some of the most maddening opposition ever placed in the path of a man with true faith in an ideal."
In the cold gray dawn of a bitter morning in 1636, Roger had no choice but to flee the onslaught of the City Fathers of Boston, who were determined that his non-conformist tongue should be silenced. With a handful of followers he set out for h e new not where, sustained by the faith that somewhere, somehow he would be enabled to build the City of his dreams; a City where men could live together in peace and harmony, give vent to their right of freedom of speech, religious belief, an d general way of life.
In referring to an account of Roger Williams by R. Elton, Roger Williams maintained that "the people were the origin of all free powers in government," but that they were "not invested by Jesus Christ with power to rule in his Church, that the y could give no such power to the magistrate, and that to "introduce the civil sword" into the Kingdom of Christ was to confound heaven and earth, and "lay all upon heaps confusion." In other words, he advocated separation of Church and State, w hich, thank the good Lord, holds true today in our country.
In referring to the DAR Magazine, an excerpt from an educational article by Mrs. Ralph W. Wilkine, State Regent of Rhode Island: "Roger Williams, called "Netop" by the Indians, founded Providence in 1636." The history and tradition of this grea t City still exert their influence, and its charm and spirit can be felt not only in its people but in its monuments and in its beloved streets and buildings.
Providence started on a small Rock, which is now called "Roger Williams Rock" and is located in a small Park adjacent to a street bearing his name. When Williams came to R.I., he settled in what is now East Providence, but finding that the lan d was under Mass. jurisdiction, be took a canoe and paddled down the Seekonk River. An Indian is said to have been standing on a rock and called out a welcome to him: "What cheer Netop." Williams landed there. Later he settled near the site o f a spring, which is now enclosed in a small Park on South Main Street. A Proprietor's Grant in 1721 reserved liberty for the inhabitants to fetch water at this spring forever.
Roger Williams often presided at the first town House during the years 1644-1647, and a tablet marks the site.
"For a hundred years after the founding of the town, the citizens established themselves and their families firmly at the headwaters of the Providence River and dedicated themselves to the task of building a free and prosperous community." - - -
<b>Concerning Stukely's life in Rhode Island
</b>Stukely Westcott, the Founder of one branch of the family in America, became a staunch follower of Roger Williams and his beliefs. Stukely obtained a license from the General Court at Salem, Mass. on March 12, 1638, to remove with his famil y out of the jurisdiction of the Mass. Bay Colony. On August 8, 1638, Roger Williams "freely admitted twelve loving friends and neighbors" into equal ownership with himself in Rhode Island. Stukely's name headed that list.
Through his friendship to the Indians, Roger Williams acquired great tracts of land. He distributed parcels of land to his faithful followers. Stukely was one of the colony's largest land owners, owning up to 20,000 acres in Rhode Island. Stukel y was also a co-founder of the first Baptist Church in America, called "The First Baptist Church of Providence." He was several times chosen "assistant" (corresponding to our Lieutenant Governor) and frequently was elected deputy to the Colonia l Assembly. Stukely was truly a leader among the sturdy pioneers of Providence.
Based on old deeds of November 11, 1664, it is believed that Stukely Westcott's log cabin lot in Providence was located upon the present block bounded by Waterman St. and College St. on the south, and nearly in the center of that block extendin g from North Main St. eastwardly to Hope St. That location is not far from the old First Baptist Church.
As we know, Stukely and his family later moved to old Warwick in 1647, some miles south of Providence, where he owned land. At Warwick our Society placed and dedicated a marker in 1935 to his honor. The marker is located on a large boulder at th e edge of his lot.
On May 12, 1682, Stukely sold his house, orchard, and lot in Providence to Samuel and Anna Bennett, whose granddaughter Priscilla was later to become the wife of Stukely's grandson Stukely.
Concerning Stukely's character, I will sum up with the following: Stukely Westcott must have been a man of courage and a man dedicated to his convictions of right and wrong. Because of religious strife and heavy tax burdens, he left his homelan d to try a new life in the wilderness of America. Just remember it took him and his family two months to cross the Atlantic Ocean. And because he believed in separation of Church and State, he had the courage to leave Salem, Mass. to find a ne w life in the wilds of Rhode Island, following his beloved friend, Roger Williams. Stukely was a religious man and helped to found the First Baptist Church in America, at Providence. He was a leader among his fellow men, having held various post s in the early history of the Colony. He was a home-loving person, raising five children to maturity. And he must have been a fearless man, living a long life of 84 years enduring the hardships of cold winters, disease, and Indian raids.- - -
I will conclude my address with the following poem, written by Miss Alice Wilson of Seal Beach, California:
"Roll back the curtains of the years And let your eyes behold the distant times, the ancient ways, the sturdy men of old. Across the stormy deep they came, The forest wilds they trod, to find a home for Liberty, a Temple for their God." - - -
<b>Talk by Eleanor Wescott Trismen </b>From Bill Wescott's webpage - http://www.wescottfamily.net/wescott.html
Many details of Stukley's personal life came from his family bible, now in the collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
1619 - residing in Ilminster, Somerset, England
1635 - left Devonshire, England in the spring... heading for America June 24, 1635 - arrived in Massachusetts with his wife, sister, 5 of his children and Benedict Arnold
1636 - settled in Salem - one of the 12 people who formed the first Baptist Church in America
1638 - followed his friend, Roger Williams, to Providence, Rhode Island
1648 - moved to Warwick, Rhode Island
1676 - driven from home by Indians, so he moved to Portsmouth, Rhode Island |