WALCOTT, William [8548] ^{2 3 4}

  General Notes:

From Walcott-Stratford Family History:
From the records concerning William, it may be gathered that he came from the Devonshire Coast of England; was Captain of a ship; was decidedly irresponsible and independent; become obnoxious to the authorities of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay; and was censured and forced to depart about 1647, apparently leaving his family behind him.
From different sources it has been found that William did not believe in child baptism and refused to allow his children to be baptized as babies. This caused his first difficulty. He also on several occasions refused to leave his family, who lived on the outskirts of the village, to stand guard duty at night, because he was fearful of Indian attacks on his family. He was punished many times for these two offences and finally his land was stripped from him and he was bound out to his father-in-law and subject to his jurisdiction and supervision. This did not improve matters and there was no alternative but to abandon his family. He was never dishonest but was condemned by the strict religious beliefs of that time and community.
In 1636 William Walcott was a freeman and was granted by the town of Salem 30 acres of land and the next year three acres more, probably in the division of marshland, as head of a family of four. His wife was Alice, daughter of Richard Ingersoll of Salem, Massachusetts, who died in 1644. There is no proof of the names of his children but they are believed to have been two sons, Abraham and Captain Jonathan Walcott, who had a close relationship with the Ingersoll family in Salem.
On April 24, 1648, according to William Aspinwall of Salem, Mass., "Ambrose Bultand of Carmond aforesaid, in the County of Devon in the Kingdom of England, his true and lawful attorney, granting his said attorney full power, etc., to aske leavie of William Wallcot of Stoke, near Tingworth in Devonshire, sometimes Master of the Ship called Goodwill and Prospers of London, the full and just sum of 10 pounds sterling committed to him of trust by the said appearer in Ferrylands in Newfoundland about three quarter years since and of the receipt to give acquitance; also to compound and to appear before any Lord or Lords; to devise law; to do pursue and generally do all things; and with powers to substitute and ratifying, etc."
Another reference to the land held by William Walcott is taken from the meeting minutes of the Selectmen of of Salem on February 13, 1651-52, "Robert Goodell having 40 acres of land granted long since by the Towne and he having bought seu'all others that had land granted to them: viz, William Walcott 30 acres . . . in the whole 480 it is ordered that the said Robert Goodell shall enjoy the land." Goodell's home farm was adjacent to the farm lands owned by Abraham Walcott and by John Walcott, son of Capt. Jonathon Walcott.
Page 8 of THE WALCOTT BOOK by Arthur Stuart Walcott (Sidney Perley publisher, 1925) gives this account, "In 1639, William Walcott was already in trouble with the church authorities, and in a letter from Rev. Hugh Peter, pastor of the Salem church to another minister, his is included among the names of several who are stated to have had "the great censure" passed upon them by the Salem church. "Willaim Walcott for his refusing to bring his children to the the ordinance, willingly neglecting family duties, etc." (Roger Williams and wife, Stukeley Westcott, were censured for "refusing to hear the church", "denying all Bay churches to be true", and for "being rebaptized" in the same letter.)" The original letter is in the State House at Boston, Vo. CXXI, folio 33. A copy is printed in the Essex Institute Collections, Vol. 38, page 97.
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The Walcott Family: According to a record book entry dated 24 Apr 1648, he was in Newfoundland.

Dictionary of First Settlers of New England by Savage, page 939:

WILLIAM, Salem 1637, was excommun. by Hugh Peter's influence with his ch. at
the same time, and for the same cause, as famous Roger Williams, with
whose opinions on some points of ecclesiast. customs be sympathiz. rem.
Farmer thinks, to Providence, but I kn. no more.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Arrived in America, 1636. ^{4 5}

• Residence, 1637, Salem, Essex Co, MA. ⁶

William married Alice INGERSOLL [6607] about 1630 in Salem, Essex Co, MA.¹ (Alice INGERSOLL [6607] was born before 21 Dec 1612 in Sandy, Bedfordshire, England ¹ and died after 1646 in Essex Co, MA ¹.)