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William Wilcoxson
Born 1601? Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England
Died Nov 28, 1652 Hartford CT
Emigrated Apr 5, 1635 to Boston MA

SPOUSE	CHILDREN
Margaret Birdseye m. 1629/32? St. Albans, Herefordshire, England b. 1611/12 England emigr. Apr 5, 1635 Boston MA d. 1675? CT	John (Sr.) b. 1633? England emigr. Apr 5, 1635 Boston MA d. Mar 19, 1690 Stratford, Fairfield Co. CT	Joseph b. 1636? Concord MA d. Oct 30, 1682 Killingworth CT	Timothy b. 1637 Concord MA d. Jan 13, 1713 Stratford CT
	Samuel b. 1640 Stratford CT d. Mar 12, 1713 Simsbury CT	Obadiah b. 1641? Stratford CT d. young?	Elizabeth b. 1644 Stratford CT d. 1663?
	Hannah b. 1644 Stratford CT d. Oct 4, 1722 Windsor CT	Sarah b. 1646? Stratford CT d. Nov 24, 1691 Killingworth CT	Obadiah b. 1648 Stratford CT d. Nov 1 1714 East Guilford, New Haven CT
	Phoebe b. 1650 Stratford CT d. Sep 20, 1743 Stratford CT	Johanna b. 1653 Stratford CT
William, at age 34, together with his wife Margaret, age 24, and their infant son John, age 2, sailed from London on the ship Planter April 5, 1635. The vessel arrived at Boston, May 26th of the same year.
At the very beginning of its settlement, Stratford was called Pequennocke, then changed to Cupheag Plantation and then to Stratford. It was probably named after William Shakespeare's Stratford-on-Avon. The father of Stratford settler Thomas Alsop is said to have come from the same parish in that English town as the playwright.
Map of settlements in Mid 17th century Connecticut Colony, from the book Farnham/Farnum Families in America by Antoinette Farnum Stepanek, shows the location of Stratford. The earliest map of Stratford as it was in 1639 shows seventeen families living there. William Wilcoxson's lot was in the central part of the town. On one side of it was the lot of William Beardsley and on the other that of John Peat.
William died in 1652. His oldest son was only 19 and his next oldest, Joseph was only about 16 years old.
When William's wife remarried in 1663, she moved from Stratford with their younger children (Hannah, Sarah, Obadiah, and Phoebe) to Killingworth CT, where her new husband, William Hayden (1614-1669), lived. Son Joseph, who was then already married with three children, also followed them to Killingworth. Joseph was one of the original landowners of the town.
Daughter Hannah married Lt. Thomas Hayden in 1664. Thomas was a son of William Hayden, who married her mother a year earlier.
Sources: Griffin Family Group Sheets, website, Family Group Sheet of William Wilcoxson, Apr 21, 1998. Jacobus, D.L., Ancient Families of New Haven, 1924; 3 references. Killingworth Vital Records, v. 2, p. 192. Stepanek, Antoinette Farnum, Farnham/Farnum Families in America, Vol. I, Heritage Books, Inc., Bowie MD, 1993, p. 36. Wilcox, Thomas, Descendants of William Wilcoxson of Derbyshire, England, and Stratford, Connecticut, by Thomas Wilcox, ca.1963, pp. 3-19, references Will of William Wilcoxson, deceased 1626 at Wirksworth, Derbyshire, Derbyshire town records, photostat at Lichfield, England.