| Note* | | Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33 GEORGE ALCOCK ORIGIN: Unknown MIGRATION: 1630 FIRST RESIDENCE: Roxbury RETURN TRIPS: Made two visits to England between 1630 and 1640, one ofwhich was about 1636 when he married his second wife [RChR 76]. OCCUPATION: Butcher CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admitted to Roxbury church as member #51, havingearlier been a member of Dorchester church: 'Mr. George Alcock, he camewith the first company Anno 1630. He left his only son in England, hiswife died soon after he came to this land, when the people of Rocksbroughjoined to the church at Dorchester (until such time as God should givethem opportunity to be a church among themselves) he was by the churchchosen to be a deacon especially to regard the brethren at Rocksbrough.And after he adjoined himself to this church at Rocksbrough, he wasordained a deacon of this church. He made two voyages to England uponjust calling thereunto, wherein he had much experience of God'spreservation & blessing. He brought over his son John Alcock. He alsobrought over a wife by whom he had his 2d son Samuel born in the year. Helived in a good and godly sort, & died in the end of the 10th month anno1640 & left a good savor behind him, the poor of the church muchbewailing 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 363mistakenly placed Alcock as an Oxford man and was followed in this byothers, but was corrected by Moriarty in 1943 (NEHGR 97:205)]. Probateinventory included Ð1 14s. in books [SPR Case #21]. OFFICES: Deputy to General Court from Roxbury 14 May 1634, 2 September1635, 3 March 1635/6, 25 May 1636 [MBCR 1:116, 156, 164, 173]; committeeto set bounds between Charlestown and Cambridge, appointed 7 November1632 and reported 6 March 1632/3 [MBCR 1:94-95, 101, 102]; one of theRoxbury members of a committee to value livestock, 13 May 1640 [MBCR1:295]. ESTATE: Gave 40s. toward construction of sea fort, 1 April 1634 [MBCR1:113]. In his will, dated '22 day 11th [month], called December [sic]' 1640,and proved '(28) 11:1640,' George Alcock of Roxbury bequeathed to sonJohn debt of Ð40; to wife Ð100; to 'brother Thomas Alcocke of Dedham allthat he owes me' along with some cattle; to the two children of Thomas Ð2each; to Elizabeth Blandfield Ð2 and 'she shall be put forth where shemay be well educated'; to servant Joseph Wise a heifer and the rest ofhis time from after midsummer next; to servant John Plimton his time fromafter midsummer for Ð5; house and lands to be improved for the educationof his children, half for son John and half for son Samuel, 'for sevenyears, beginning from the first day of the 11th month, called January,about which time expired, my son John will be 21 years of age'; brethrenPhilip Eliot and William Park to be executors; brother Mr. Hooker, Mr.Weld, Mr. Eliot and Isaac Heath to be overseers [SPR 1:7 (originallost)]. The inventory was taken on 30 December 1640, without a totalbeing 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 diedduring 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: With first wife i JOHN, bp. St. Margaret's, Leicester, Leicestershire, 21 January1626[/7] ('Johannes filius Georgii Alcocke') (b. England about 1 January1626/7 [date calculated from father's will]); m. by 1649 Sarah Palgrave,dau. of RICHARD PALGRAVE [NEHGR 97:12-14; TAG 28:218, 222-23; Sibley1:124-26]. With second wife ii SAMUEL, b. Roxbury 16 April 1637 [RVR MS 1]; m. at Cambridge 24March 1667/8 Sarah Brackett, dau. of John and Alice Stedman and widow ofJohn Brackett [NEHGR 97:12; Sibley 2:9-10]. ASSOCIATIONS: Brother of THOMAS ALCOCK of Boston and Dedham (bequest inGeorge's will) and of Elizabeth Whitehead of Leamington Priors,Warwickshire, whose sons John and Thomas were in New Haven by 1641 [NEHGR97:10; Aspinwall 101-02; Hall-Baldwin 1-2, 210-13]. George Alcock's firstwife, whose given name is uncertain, was sister of THOMAS HOOKER. COMMENTS: Most secondary sources state that George Alcock was aphysician, but no primary source has been found to support this. Twopossible reasons for such a false assumption suggest themselves: 1) bothhis 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 forboth Dorchester and Roxbury churches a deacon, and some modern writer mayhave mistaken the abbreviation 'Dn.' for 'Dr.' Three strands of evidence point to the conclusion that George Alcockraised livestock for sale: 1) included in his probate inventory were '27neat's tongues,' certainly more than would be needed for familyconsumption [SPR NS 2:3]; 2) as early as 1632 William Pynchon, at thattime treasurer of Massachusetts Bay Colony, disbursed to 'Mr. Alcock fora fat hog for to victual the pinnace for the taking of Dixie Bull, Ð310s.' [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 day11th [month], called December' 1640; since the original of the will is nolonger extant, we cannot tell how the error came about. However, sinceGeorge Alcock was buried on 30 December 1640, and the inventory of hisestate was taken on the same day, the correct date of the will must be 22December 1640, and the date of probate 28 December 1640. This allows usto calculate the approximate birthdate for son John. The best treatment of the Alcock brothers was published by GeorgeAndrews Moriarty in 1943 [NEHGR 97:10-14]. Given the residence of theirsister, Elizabeth Whitehead, in Warwickshire in 1647, Moriarty notes theAlicock family of Sibbertoft in the 1618-19 visitation ofNorthamptonshire [Walter C. Metcalfe, ed., The Visitations ofNorthamptonshire Made in 1564 and 1618-19 ... (London 1887) 60-61]. Thenames Thomas, George and Elizabeth all appear in this pedigree, but theThomas shown in the youngest generation appears to have been born about1595, much too old for the immigrant to New England.1 |