ORIGIN: Unknown
MIGRATION: 1630
FIRST RESIDENCE: Roxbury
RETURN TRIPS: Made two visits to England between
1630 and 1640, one of which was about 1636 when he
married his second wife [
RChR 76].
OCCUPATION: Butcher
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admitted to Roxbury church as
member #51, having earlier been a member of Dorchester
church: "Mr. George Alcock, he came with the first
company Anno 1630. He left his only son in England, his
wife died soon after he came to this land, when the
people of Rocksbrough joined to the church at Dorchester
(until such time as God should give them opportunity to
be a church among themselves) he was by the church
chosen to be a deacon especially to regard the brethren
at Rocksbrough. And after he adjoined himself to this
church at Rocksbrough, he was ordained a deacon of this
church. He made two voyages to England upon just calling
thereunto, wherein he had much experience of God's
preservation & blessing. He brought over his son John
Alcock. He also brought over a wife by whom he had his
2d son Samuel born in the year. He lived in a good and
godly sort, & died in the end of the 10th month anno
1640 & left a good savor behind him, the poor of the
church much bewailing his loss" [
RChR 76].
FREEMAN: Requested 19 October 1630 [
MBCR 1:80];
admitted 18 May 1631 (as "Mr. George Alcocke") [
MBCR
1:366].
EDUCATION: Matriculated sizar from St. John's
College, Cambridge, Michaelmas 1622, but did not take
his degree [
Venn 1:11;
Morison 363
mistakenly placed Alcock as an Oxford man and was
followed in this by others, but was corrected by
Moriarty in 1943
(NEHGR
97:205)]. Probate inventory included £1 14s. in books [
SPR Case
#21].
OFFICES: Deputy to General Court from Roxbury 14
May 1634, 2 September 1635, 3 March 1635/6, 25 May 1636
[ MBCR
1:116, 156, 164, 173]; committee to set bounds between
Charlestown and Cambridge, appointed 7 November 1632 and
reported 6 March 1632/3 [
MBCR
1:94-95, 101, 102]; one of the Roxbury members of a
committee to value livestock, 13 May 1640 [
MBCR
1:295].
ESTATE: Gave 40s. toward construction of sea
fort, 1 April 1634 [
MBCR
1:113].
In his will, dated "22 day 11th [month], called
December [sic]" 1640, and proved "(28) 11:1640," George
Alcock of Roxbury bequeathed to son John debt of £40; to
wife £100; to "brother Thomas Alcocke of Dedham all that
he owes me" along with some cattle; to the two children
of Thomas £2 each; to Elizabeth Blandfield £2 and "she
shall be put forth where she may be well educated"; to
servant Joseph Wise a heifer and the rest of his time
from after midsummer next; to servant John Plimton his
time from after midsummer for £5; house and lands to be
improved for the education of his children, half for son
John and half for son Samuel, "for seven years,
beginning from the first day of the 11th month, called
January, about which time expired, my son John will be
21 years of age"; brethren Philip Eliot and William Park
to be executors; brother Mr. Hooker, Mr. Weld, Mr. Eliot
and Isaac Heath to be overseers [
SPR 1:7
(original lost)]. The inventory was taken on 30 December
1640, without a total being given; no real estate was
included [ SPR
NS 2:3, Case #21].
BIRTH: By about 1605 based on birthdate of first
son.
DEATH: Buried Roxbury 30 December 1640 [
RVR MS 96].
MARRIAGE: (1) By 1626 (Anne?) Hooker, sister of
THOMAS HOOKER ; she died during the winter of 1630/1
[
Dudley 72].
(2) By 1637 in England Elizabeth _____; she married (2)
in April 1641 Dr. Henry Deengaine of Watertown, Dedham,
Roxbury and Boston [
DeHR
6:11-15].
CHILDREN:
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i JOHN, bp. St. Margaret's, Leicester,
Leicestershire, 21 January 1626[/7] ("Johannes
filius Georgii Alcocke") (b. England about 1
January 1626/7 [date calculated from father's
will]); m. by 1649 Sarah Palgrave, dau. of
RICHARD
PALGRAVE [
NEHGR
97:12-14;
TAG
28:218, 222-23;
Sibley
1:124-26].
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With second wife
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ii SAMUEL, b. Roxbury 16 April 1637 [
RVR MS
1]; m. at Cambridge 24 March 1667/8 Sarah
Brackett, dau. of John and Alice Stedman and
widow of John Brackett [
NEHGR
97:12;
Sibley 2:9-10].
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ASSOCIATIONS: Brother of
THOMAS ALCOCK of Boston and Dedham (bequest in
George's will) and of Elizabeth Whitehead of Leamington
Priors, Warwickshire, whose sons John and Thomas were in
New Haven by 1641 [
NEHGR
97:10;
Aspinwall
101-02;
Hall-Baldwin
1-2, 210-13]. George Alcock's first wife, whose given
name is uncertain, was sister of
THOMAS HOOKER .
COMMENTS: Most secondary sources state that
George Alcock was a physician, but no primary source has
been found to support this. Two possible reasons for
such a false assumption suggest themselves: 1) both his
sons were physicians of note, and George's widow married
a physician, all of which may have been reflected back
on George; and 2) he was for both Dorchester and Roxbury
churches a deacon, and some modern writer may have
mistaken the abbreviation "Dn." for "Dr."
Three strands of evidence point to the conclusion
that George Alcock raised livestock for sale: 1)
included in his probate inventory were "27 neat's
tongues," certainly more than would be needed for family
consumption [
SPR NS 2:3]; 2) as early as 1632 William Pynchon, at
that time treasurer of Massachusetts Bay Colony,
disbursed to "Mr. Alcock for a fat hog for to victual
the pinnace for the taking of Dixie Bull, £3 10s." [
MHSC
2:8:232]; and 3) Joseph Wise, named in George Alcock's
will, became a butcher, active in Massachusetts, Rhode
Island and Connecticut [
TAG
56:80-82].
The recorded copy of the will gives the impossible
date of "22 day 11th [month], called December" 1640;
since the original of the will is no longer extant, we
cannot tell how the error came about. However, since
George Alcock was buried on 30 December 1640, and the
inventory of his estate was taken on the same day, the
correct date of the will must be 22 December 1640, and
the date of probate 28 December 1640. This allows us to
calculate the approximate birthdate for son John.
The best treatment of the Alcock brothers was
published by George Andrews Moriarty in 1943 [
NEHGR
97:10-14]. Given the residence of their sister,
Elizabeth Whitehead, in Warwickshire in 1647, Moriarty
notes the Alicock family of Sibbertoft in the 1618-19
visitation of Northamptonshire [Walter C. Metcalfe, ed.,
The Visitations of Northamptonshire Made in 1564 and
1618-19 ... (London 1887) 60-61]. The names Thomas,
George and Elizabeth all appear in this pedigree, but
the Thomas shown in the youngest generation appears to
have been born about 1595, much too old for the
immigrant to New England.
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ORIGIN: Unknown
MIGRATION: 1630
FIRST RESIDENCE: Boston
REMOVES: Dedham 1638, Boston 1651
OCCUPATION: Cowherd
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admitted to Boston church as
member #46 (late 1630) [
BChR 14];
"Our brother Thomas Alcocke and our sister Margery his
wife were recommended to Deddam" 8 September 1639 [
BChR 26].
FREEMAN: 6 May 1635 [
MBCR
1:370].
OFFICES: Chosen Boston cowkeeper 28 April 1651,
29 March 1652, 25 April 1653, 24 April 1654 and 12 March
1654/5 [
BTR 1:104,
109, 116, 119, 123].
ESTATE: On 7 February 1636/7 the Boston selectmen
"agreed that our brother, Thomas Alcock, shall have his
great lot laid out at Muddy River" [
BTR 1:15].
There is no record that this lot was laid out, but this
may be the "lot of twenty acres more or less" which
Thomas Alcock of Dedham sold to William Brisco of Boston
in 1644 [
BBOP
33-34].
He was granted six acres upland and six acres meadow
by Dedham, and noted as not now present, 6 April 1638 [
DeTR 1:42,
including facsimile of original grant]; granted one acre
and three roods of upland, 6 February 1642/3 [
DeTR 1:95];
granted three acres, three roods and twenty rods of
woodland, 4 February 1644/5 [
DeTR
1:109]; granted two acres of swamp, 11 February 1650/1 [
DeTR
1:176].
Thomas Alcock appears in surviving Dedham tax lists
of 1648 and 1649 [
DeTR 1:152,
154, 155, 158, 161].
The inventory of Thomas Alcock's estate was taken by
James Johnson and Richard Truesdall, and totalled £20
7s., including "a house and yard" valued at £14. A
separate annotation referred to "a legacy to two of our
children by Deacon Allcoke deceased & by us received for
them but we never yet gave it to them." Administration
was granted to the widow Margery, and she deposed on 30
January 1657/8. The court ordered that the widow should
have the residue of £16 to bring up the children [
SPR Case
#177].
BIRTH: No later than 1614 based on dates of
church admission and freemanship.
DEATH: Boston 14 September 1657 [
BVR 61].
MARRIAGE: By 1635 Margery _____; she married (2)
Boston 16 November 1660
JOHN BENHAM [
BVR 77],
and moved to New Haven; she married (3) Charlestown 20
February 1666/7 Richard Pritchard [
ChVR 1:24].
CHILDREN:
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i MARY, bp. Boston 8 November 1635 [
BChR
280]; d. before 4 October 1644. |
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ii ELIZABETH, bp. Boston 10 December 1637 [
BChR
282]; "Joseph Soper & Elizabeth Alcocke daughter
of Thomas Alcocke" m. Boston 6 May 1656 [
BVR
58]. (There is a Dedham birth record for
Elizabeth, daughter of "Thomas & Mary Alcock,"
14 October 1638. This is probably meant for
1637, as otherwise the births are too closely
spaced. Thomas and his family were present in
Dedham in 1638, but the Dedham church had not
yet been organized, and it would be correct for
him to have a child born in Dedham at this time
baptized in Boston.) |
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iii SARAH, b. Dedham 28 December 1639 [
DeVR
1]; bp. Dedham 5 January 1639/40 "daughter of
our brother Allcocke a member of the church at
Boston" [
DeChR
22]; no further record. |
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iv HANNAH, b. Dedham 25 May 1642 [
DeVR
2]; bp. Dedham 28 May 1642 "daughter of Thomas
Alcott & his wife being members of the church at
Boston recommended unto us by their letters to
watch over them during their abode here" [
DeChR
26]; no further record. |
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v MARY, b. Dedham 4 October 1644 [
DeVR
3]; bp. Dedham 1644 (before 3 November) [
DeChR
28]; m. Dorchester 27 September 1664 [but listed
under 1665] James Robinson [
DVR
21].
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vi REBECCA, b. Dedham 21 October 1646 [
DeVR
3]; bp. Dedham 28 February 1646/7 [
DeChR
30]; no further record. |
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vii (possibly) PHILIP, b. say 1648; m. (1)
New Haven 5 December 1672 Elizabeth Mitchell [
NHVR
31]; m. (2) Wethersfield 4 April 1699 Sarah
Butler, widow of Nathaniel [
WetVR
Barbour ]. (Philip may fit in this family,
and if so would have accompanied his mother from
Boston to New Haven after her marriage with John
Benham [NH Fam 1:12].)
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viii JOHN, b. Boston 2 July 1651 [
BVR
33]; bp. Boston 6 July 1651 [
BChR
321]; m. by 1678 Constance Mylam, daughter of
Humphrey Mylam [
BTR
144;
SLR
26:259; William F.J. Boardman, The Ancestry
of Jane Maria Greenleaf (Hartford 1906)
117].
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ASSOCIATIONS: Brother of
GEORGE ALCOCK of Roxbury and of Elizabeth Whitehead
of Leamington Priors, Warwickshire (see account of
GEORGE ALCOCK for evidence of these relationships,
and for other matters common to the brothers).
COMMENTS: Most secondary sources assign two wives
to Thomas Alcock: Mary, mother of the first two
children, and Margery, the mother of the rest. But Mary
is attested on only one record, the Dedham birth record
for daughter Elizabeth. We are claiming, though, that
this is the same as the Elizabeth baptized in Boston.
The abbreviated form for Margery ("Margy") can be
misread as Mary, and this may well be what has happened
here. Our conclusion is that Thomas probably had only
one wife, Margery.
Thomas Alcock and Margery were apparently married
about 1634 or 1635. She is referred to as "sister" when
recommended to Dedham in 1639, but there is no record of
her admission to Boston church as wife of Thomas.
Presumably, then, she is one of the otherwise unattached
Margerys admitted to Boston church prior to 1635.
Note that there is no deed or probate record which
accounts for all the children of Thomas Alcock, and that
there are three daughters unaccounted for beyond their
births: Sarah, Hannah and Rebecca. They may well have
married, and, given the residences of their mother and
known siblings, they might be anywhere in Massachusetts
or Connecticut.
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