Roger Wolcott (January 4, 1679 – May 17, 1767) was an American weaver, statesman, and politician from

Windsor, Connecticut Windsor is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in the state. It lies on the northern border of Connecticut's capital, Hartford. The population of Windsor was 29,492 at the 2020 census. Po ...

. He served as colonial governor of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

from 1751 to 1754.

Biography

Wolcott was born the son of Simon Wolcott and Martha Pitkin Wolcott in

. His formal education was severely limited by the nature of the frontier village, so at age twelve he was apprenticed to a weaver, and at the age of twenty-one entered that business on his own. He married Sarah Drake on December 3, 1702, and they had fifteen children before her death in 1748. Their son Oliver Wolcott Sr. signed the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...

and went on to become governor of Connecticut. Another son,

Erastus Wolcott Erastus Wolcott (1722–1793) was an American politician and a Connecticut state militia commander during the American Revolutionary War. He served in the Connecticut General Assembly for over twenty years and was a justice of the Connecticut Su ...

, became a state legislator and supreme court judge.

Career

In May 1709, Wolcott was admitted to the bar and began to practice law. In 1711, during

Queen Anne's War Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in North America involving the colonial empires of Great Britain, France, and Spain; it took place during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. In E ...

, He accompanied militia forces on an expedition to

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

as a commissary. On his return he served as Clerk of the House, 1710-1711 and was elected Deputy to the colony's Lower House in 1709-1714, 1718, 1719, serving as Speaker in October, 1719. In 1714 he was elected to the Upper House (also called the Council) and served as Assistant, 1714-1718, 1720-1741, 1754-1760. He was Commissioner of Connecticut for the Adjustment of Colonial boundaries, 1717, 1718, 1723-1726, 1728, 1730, 1737, 1740, 1742, 1750. Captain of the Trainband of Windsor, 1722. Captain of Troops raised for active service, 1724. He was made judge of the

Hartford County Hartford County is a county located in the north central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. According to the 2020 census, the population was 899,498, making it the second-most populous county in Connecticut. Hartford County contains the ...

court in 1723, serving through 1732, and of the colony's Superior Court in 1732, serving through 1741. Wolcott was made Colonel of the First regiment, 1739. In 1741 Wolcott was elected Deputy Governor of the colony. As deputy governors traditionally served as the chief justice of the Superior Court of Connecticut, he also assumed that position, which he held until 1750. In 1745 Wolcott was again active in the militia, this time as a Major General. In

King George's War King George's War (1744–1748) is the name given to the military operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in t ...

, Massachusetts governor

William Shirley William Shirley (2 December 1694 – 24 March 1771) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of the British American colonies of Massachusetts Bay and the Bahamas. He is best known for his role in organi ...

issued a general call to the New England colonies for an expedition against the French in Île-Royale (present-day

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

). Wolcott served as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the Expedition to Cape Breton. General Wolcott headed the Connecticut troops in Sir William Pepperrell's expedition that captured

Fortress Louisbourg The Fortress of Louisbourg (french: Forteresse de Louisbourg) is a National Historic Site and the location of a one-quarter partial reconstruction of an 18th-century French fortress at Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Its two sie ...

. With the death of Governor

Jonathan Law Jonathan Law (August 6, 1674 – November 6, 1750) was the 27th Governor of the Colony of Connecticut, serving in that office from 1741 to 1750. Biography Law was born in Milford in what was then Connecticut Colony to Jonathan and Sarah (Clark) ...

in 1750, Wolcott succeeded to the position of governor. He was re-elected annually to that position through 1753. Shortly after he retired as governor, his son, Roger Wolcott, Sr., attended negotiations with six other British colonies and around 200 members of various Indian nations at the

Albany Congress The Albany Congress (June 19 – July 11, 1754), also known as the Albany Convention of 1754, was a meeting of representatives sent by the legislatures of seven of the 13 British colonies in British America: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, ...

in June and July 1754. During his administration, a disabled Spanish ship, the ''St. Joseph and St. Helena'', with a cargo valued at 400,000 Spanish dollars, ran aground near New London. Wolcott ordered the ship seized and the cargo impounded in order to allow time to resolve conflicting claims between the vessel's captain and the salvage crew. While in the colony's custody, a large portion of the ship's cargo mysteriously disappeared. Tainted with the scandal surrounding the Spanish Ship case, he was defeated for re-election in 1754. All previous governors had died in office. Following his defeat, Wolcott generally withdrew from public life to study and follow literary pursuits. In 1759, Wolcott authored a short history of the Connecticut colony titled, ''Roger Wolcott's Memoir Relating to the History of Connecticut''.

Death

Wolcott died at home in Windsor at the age of 88, and is interred at the ''Old Burying Ground'' (Palisado Cemetery) there.

References

External links

*
The Poems of Roger Wolcott, Esq., 1725

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolcott, Roger 1679 births 1767 deaths British military personnel of Queen Anne's War British Army personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession Colonial governors of Connecticut People from Windsor, Connecticut Members of the Connecticut House of Representatives Members of the Connecticut General Assembly Council of Assistants (1662–1818) Chief Justices of the Connecticut Supreme Court