Martha (Pitkin) Clark (bef. 1639 - 1719)

Born before 12 Dec 1639 in Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, England

Ancestors

Wife of Simon Wolcott I — married 17 Oct 1661 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut Colony

Descendants

Died 13 Oct 1719 after age 79 in East Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut

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Biography

Martha was born in 1625. Martha Pitkin ...

Christening 12 Dec 1639 Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, England

Immigration 1661

Burial Old South Windsor Church Yard, Windsor, Hartford Co., Connecticut

Martha immigrated 1661 from England to Hartford, Connecticut.

Someone wrote that Martha was one of the most beautiful women of the century.

MARTHA PITKIN

She followed her brother William to America in 1661, to return with him to England, 'not once supposing he intended to remain in the wilderness,' as she expressed it. Her first greeting on meeting her brother, whom she found feeding his swine, was, 'I left a brother in England serving his king, and find another in America serving his swine.'

Martha Pitkin was a lady endowed with more than ordinary talent, improved by an excellent education. The reception she met with in the colony was most flattering; her comely form and accomplished manner making the colonists anxious to retain her in their country. In the words of the Rev. Thomas Robbins, for many years the pastor of the church she attended, 'this girl put the colony in commotion. If possible she must be detained. The stock was too valuable to be parted with. It became a matter of general consultation what young man was good enough for Miss Pitkin.' Tradition says that so many young men wished to marry the accomplished beauty, that they cast lots for her hand, but fails to say what part Miss Pitkin was to take in the affair. The facts are, that the sons of Henry Wolcott, one of the first settlers of East Windsor, were well pleased with Miss Pitkin, and to avoid all question of strife or jealousy, it is believed it was decided by lot among themselves which one should sue for her hand. The lot fell to Simon Wolcott, the youngest son; at all events, he pressed his suit, and was successful. Her brother favored the match, and she became the wife of Simon Wolcott, and subsequently the mother of Governor Roger Wolcott, grandmother of Governor Oliver Wolcott, and great-grandmother of the second Governor Oliver Wolcott, and of Governor Roger Griswold. Governor Ellsworth was also a lineal descendant, and her granddaughter married Governor Matthew Griswold. It was stated in the funeral sermon of Governor Roger Wolcott, her ninth child, that 'he never went to school, but was educated by his mother in her own dwelling'(+)

After the death of her husband Martha Wolcott became, in 1693, the second wife of Mr. Daniel Clark, one of the first settlers of Windsor. He was the secretary of the colony before the charter, and was one of the magistrates named in that instrument A man of influence in the colony, an assistant from 1662 to 1664, he was appointed by the town of Windsor to sit "in the great pew which was wainscoted for the magistrate." He died Aug. 12, 1710, aged 88.

In the will of William Pitkin she is mentioned as "his sister Clark." She is buried in East Windsor, Conn., the resting place of several of her children. For a more complete history of her descendants, see the "Wolcott Memorial."

Martha was christened Dec. 12, 1639 in Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, England. MARTHA's grandfather, William Pitkin, was a Member of Parliament for Berkhamstead. He died in 1644, leaving six houses in London to Martha's father, William Pitkin, Jr., who was headmaster of Berkhamstead school. Martha's parents died when she was a small child, and she and her brothers were probably raised by their uncle, Francis Pitkin. Her brother, Roger, remainded at Berkhamstead during the rule of Cromwell. He became an army officer after the restoration of the monarchy, living at London. Her brother, William, emmigrated to America in 1659 and settled at Hartford, Connecticut. William was a lawyer and was appointed King's Attorney in 1671. He was Treasurer of the Connecticut Colony from 1690 to 1694, and Commissioner to settle the Connecticut-New York boundary in 1683 and 1693. Martha came to the colonies from London to visit her brother, William, in 1661. According to tradition, Martha was enthusiastically received in the colony for her culture and grace, and the leading men of the colony sought to find a husband for her in order to keep her in the colony. She married Simon Wolcott. She was buried in the Old South Windsor Churchyard Cemetery where a headstone marked her grave, but her name was later added to her husband's tomb in the Palisado Cemetery in Windsor.</p>.

Sources

• Gibbs, George. Memoir of Oliver Wolcott, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass., 1850) Vol. 4, page 1
• Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College (Holt, 1885) Vol. 1, Page 519
• England & Wales Christening Records, 1530-1906 about Martha Pitken

Name:Martha Pitken

Gender:Female

Christening:12 Dec 1639 Great Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire, England

Father's Name:Willyam Pitken

Mother's Name:Elizabeth

• Clemens, William Montgomery, American Marriages Before 1699 (Pompton Lakes, NJ, USA: Biblio Co., 1926) about Martha Pitken

Name:Martha Pitken

Spouse:Simon Wolcott

Marriage:17 Oct 1661 Windsor, Connecticut

• Cooley, Mortimer Elwyn. The Cooley Genealogy: the Descendants of Ensign Benjamin Cooley. (Tuttle Publishing Co., Rutland, VT., 1941) Page 446
• Pitkin, Albert Palmer. Pitkin Family of America (Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., Hartford, Conn., 1887) Pages lxxix - lxxx.
• Find A Grave: Memorial #8275851: 'Martha Pitkin Wolcott, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA.
• The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III'. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010), (Originally Published as: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995), page 2051 (https://www.americanancestors.org/DB393/i/12107/2051/1415522944 : 5 July 2017).
• Stott, Clifford L., Humphrey Blake (1494?–1558) and His Descendants in New England and South Carolina: Blake, Richards, Selleck, Torrey, and Wolcott, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 2009) Vol. 163, WN 652, Page 285.