William Pitkin IV (1635 - 1694)

Born 1635 in St Peter's Parish, Hertfordshire, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 16 Dec 1694 at about age 59 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut Colony

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Biography

"Little is known of William I's English background, but he arrived in Hartford in 1659 directly from England with four valuable assets: an excellent legal education, education as a minister, a reputation for Godliness, and 'a considerable amount of money.' He probably did not intend to stay in Hartford or even in the colonies permanently. Martha, his sister, joined him in Hartford in 1661 for a short visit, after which the two planned to return to England. Neither ever did return to England, and the short visit to Connecticut lasted a lifetime. In 1664 he was Attorney General in Connecticut.

PITKIN, William, lawyer, born near London, England, in 1635; died in East Hartford, Connecticut, 16 December, 1694. He received an excellent English education, studied law, and settled in Hartford about 1659, where he taught, bought a tract of land on the east side of Connecticut river, and engaged largely in planting. On 9 October, 1662, he was admitted a freeman, and in that year was also made prosecutor for the colony, became attorney for the colony by appointment of the king in 1664, was deputy in 1675 and treasurer in 1676-'7, and in 1676 he went with Major John Talcott to negotiate peace with the Narragansett and other Indian tribes.

From 1665 till 1690, with the exception of a brief period, he was a member of the general court, and occasionally served as commissioner from this colony to the United Colonies. In 1690 he was elected a member of the colonial council which office he held until his death. In 1690 he was appointed with Samuel Chester and Captain William Whiting to a commissioner to run the division-line between Connecticut and the Massachusetts colonies, and in that year he was sent by the colony to Governor Benjamin Fletcher, of New York, to negotiate terms respecting the militia until Governor Winthrop's return from England, whither he had gone for the same purpose. He laid out with John Crow the first Main and other streets of Hartford on the east side of the river. He owned a fulling-mill near Burnside, which was burned in 1690, and the locality became known as Pitkin's falls. Many of his descendants held important places in the civil, political, and military affairs of the colony.

He married Hannah, daughter of Ozias Goodwin, the progenitor of the Goodwin family of Connecticut, who came to this country with Dr. Thomas Hooker.^[1]

Birth

1635 London, Barkhamstead, England

Occupation

Lawyer / school teacher

Immigration

1659 England to Hartford, Connecticut

Event

1659 of Connecticut

1664 Attorney General

Burial

Ancient Burying Ground, Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut (Find A Grave)

Research Notes

Whittemore gives the father's name as "Roger". All other biographic information is supported (wife, children, work, birth and death dates). Sources for Whittemore's profile are given in his text.

Sources

1. ↑ Virtual American Biographies, William Pitkin, citing Appleton

• Walker, George. History of the First Church in Hartford, 1633-1883 (Brown & Gross, Hartford, 1884) Page 195-6: see footnote.
• Find A Grave: Memorial #10845940
• Whittemore, Henry. Genealogical Guide to the Early Settlers of America (Genealogical Publishing Co., New York, 1898) Vol. 3, Page 425.
• Jones, Roderick Bissell. "The Birth Place of William Pitkin", The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) Volume 47 (1971) Page 206-207.
• Talcott, Mary Kingsbury. "Notes on the Pitkin Ancestry in England", The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, MA, 1912) Vol. 66, Page 160.
• Pitkin, Albert Palmer. Pitkin Family of America (Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., Hartford, Conn., 1887) Page 2.
• Marsh, Dwight. Marsh Genealogy. Giving Several Thousand Descendants of John Marsh of Hartford, CT., 1636-1895 (Carpenter & Morehouse, Amherst, Mass., 1895) Page ?.
• Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography (D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1900) Vol. 5, Page 32-33.
• Cowles, Calvin Duvall. Genealogy of the Cowles Families in America (Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, New Haven, Conn., 1929) This source only mentions this William as being the father of the William that married Elizabeth Stanley.