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4,171. David Wilton (Married Katherine ? (#4,172) about 1646 (Another source says before 1634) (Another source says 1625 in Topcraft, Norfolk, England) (Another source says they got married in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts.) (Source of all purple information on this page is from James Cox Brady and his ancestry, by Louis Effingham De Forest, New York: De Forest Publishing Co., 1933 p. 378- 386).

 

Born: 1 May 1608 in Beaminster, Dorset, England. (Another source says about 1624 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts.) (Another says about 1589 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut) of Unknown Father (#8,341) & Unknown Mother (#8,342)

Died: 5 February 1677/78 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. He is buried at Windsor.

 

[His siblings included:

Robert Wilton: Born: Before 15 August 1619 (Another source says 15 February 1618/19 in Beaminster, Dorset, England); Died: 11 February 1639/41 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut ;

Stephen Wilton: Born: Before 4 May 1623 in Beaminster, Dorset, England (Another source says on 4 May 1623); Died: 21 March 1637/38 in Beaminster, Dorset, England;

Robert Wilton: Born: About 1610 in Beaminster, Dorset, England; Died: 11 February 1640 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut ;

Joan(e) Wilton: Born: 14 January 1609/11 in Beaminster, Dorset, England; Died: 29 April 1679 in Northampton, Hampden, Massachusetts;

Nicholas Wilton: Born: About 1612 in Beaminster, Dorset, England; Died: ?;

Joan Wilton: Born: About 1614 in Beaminster, Dorset, England (Another source says before 14 January 1610/11); Died: 29 April 1679 in Northampton, Hampden, Massachusetts;

Nicholas Wilton: (Married Mary Sanniford or Mary Stanniford) Born: About 1628 in Beaminster, Dorset, England (Another source says 1624); Died: 4 August 1683 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut] ]

 

Miscellaneous Information:

David was Christened 1 May 1608 in Beaminster, St. Mary’s Church, Dorset, England. He moved to Windsor about 1636. He was a deputy 11 times. He adopted an orphan, John Taylor Jr. born in 1640. He became Lieutenant 1663 and deputy in 1665. Despite his age (67), he participated in the famous "Falls Fight" of 19 May 1676. He named brother Nicholas and sister Joane in his will. He may have come from Topcroft, Norfolk, England but this is disputed.

"David Wilton sailed with the Winthrop fleet in 1630, and settled first at Dorchester, Massachusetts, in or before 1633. Nothing is known of his parents. His brother was Nicholas Wilton. He was made freeman of the Colony on June 11, 1633. He was a member of a committee appointed in October of that year to see to the fences in the north field at Dorchester, and on January 6, 1633/4, it was ordered 'that the marsh and swamp before Goodman Hosford and Davy Wilton shall be devided among themselves and Symon Hoyte.'

From Dorchester, Wilton removed to Windsor, Connecticut, where he was granted a home lot in the Palisado in 1640. In 1644 William Whiting sued Wilton for a debt of £9 or £10, and on June 6th the jury found for the plaintiff 'the deft is to returne the steere, and costs of Court 8s vid.' In December, 1644, Wilton was one of the executors of the will of Ephraim Huit. He was first sent as deputy from Windsor to the Connecticut General Court in 1646, and again from 1650 to 1655. On January 28, 1646/7, several men were fined for transgressing 'the Order against selleing lead out of this Jurisdictio,' and David Wilton appeared on the list and 'for the brech of the same Order, is to forfeite the lead wch was attched at Wethersfield, being 131 pownd.' He served frequently as juror, and on December 7, 1648, 'Dauid Willton of Wyndsor is fyned 2s vid for not appearing timely at the Courte, to serue on the Jury.' Hostilities broke out between the Dutch and the English in 1653, and in May of that year the Commissioners of the United Colonies ordered five hundred men to be raised in the four Colonies, to be prepared 'if God called the Colonies to war with the Dutch.' Of Connecticut's quota of sixty-six men, Windsor was to furnish twelve, and Wilton was a member of the committee appointed to press these men in Windsor. In this year he was sent with Governor Thomas Welles and representatives of New Haven Colony, as a committee to treat with the Massachusetts Bay Colony officials concerning the imminent war with the Dutch and the interpretation of the Articles of Confederation.

The following account of the election of the officers of the train band at Windsor is of interest. It took place on May 28, 1655, 'Being the Day appointed for training, in the afternoon, and a pretty full meeting, and also most of the ancient men, there was a vote put for the choice of a Captain, and it was assented to that there should be a captain chosen, but with this proviso, that whosoever it fell to, he should perform the service of the place, without expecting any wages or maintenance from the town. In proposing about the choice, it fell to be Captain upon Lieutenant Cooke, for he held 87 papers; and for all that were brought into nomination besides were but 19 papers. In the choice of a Lieutenant Mr. Newbury had 80 papers, and all the rest were but 13. In the choice of an Ensign, David Wilton had the choice, by 6 papers more than Daniel Clark.' In February, 1655/6, the town decided to encourage a man to settle there as currier, and 'They do now agree that David Wilton shall send a letter with the first opportunity in the spring.' At another town meeting on October 26, 1657, 'The Town met and agreed to have the burying place made commodious. David Wilton doth hereby engage himself and his (successors) forever to maintain whatsoever fence belongs to the burying place of Windsor, now joining to his land, and also to make and maintain a commodious gate for passage to it. Also, to clear it of all stubs and boughs that grows upon it, between this and next Spring, and to sow it with English grass that it may be decent and comely, and he, and his heirs, is to have the benefit of the pasture forever.'

On March 11, 1657/8, Major John Mason presented to the General Court the list of troopers he had enlisted for his troop of horse, the first cavalry raised in Connecticut, and Ensign David Wilton was one of the thirty-seven men on this list, 'allowed by the Court.' He paid 6s for seats for himself and his wife in the Windsor meeting house in January, 1659/60, but in 1660 he sold his home-lot and the three other lots he had purchased, and removed to Northampton, Massachusetts, which had been settled a few years earlier.

At Northampton, land had been placed at the disposal of the minister, Eleazer Mather, to give to settlers who should be attracted to the town as settlers by him, and this land (one hundred and sixty-three and a half acres) Mather 'bequeathed with the consent and approbation of the town....a third part of seven score acres' to each of the three following men, John Strong, David Wilton, and Aaron Cooke. Each man received forty-six and a half acres, twenty-six rods, and eleven feet, more or less, by this grant, and the town also granted them each a home-lot of four acres. The deed of Wilton's grant from the Reverend Eleazer Mather was recorded in the fall of 1660. In the same year Wilton was granted an additonal fifty acres of land by the town. He bought in 1676 'the mill lot' next to his home-lot. From the time of his arrival Wilton took a leading part in the affairs of the town, as did the other men who followed Mather there, infusing new life and energy into the conduct of affairs to such an extent that the historian of Northampton considered it of more importance to the town for Mather to have brought half a dozen men to settle there than to have given a subsequent eleven laborious years of ministerial service. The first existing book of consecutive town records was commenced in 1660/1, and the first entry of town business, dated February 19, 1660/1, showed the appointment of a committee of seven men, of whom Wilton was one, to order the transcription of records from the old town book (probably the proprietors' registry of deeds) to the new. He was a member of the train band of Northampton, and was chosen ensign and confirmed in that office by the Hampshire County Court on March 26, 1660/1. The General Court on October 8, 1662, ordered that a commission be granted him. It was probably soon after his appointment as ensign that he furnished a set of 'cullers' for the use of the train band, for which the town granted him a parcel of land. At this County Court of March, 1660/1, --the first Court held in Northampton of which any record is in existence, --Wilton served as juror. In June, 1661, 'The Church was gathered at Northampton,' and Wilton was one of the eight founders, and signed the church covenant on the same date.

The date of David Wilton's marriage to Katherine in not known.

Wilton was a trader, both with the Indians and with the townspeople. That had been his occupation at Windsor, Connecticut, and at Northampton he engaged in quite extensive trading operations with John Pynchon, Jr., of Boston, Massachusetts from whom he purchased goods for which he paid in kind, furs, pork, etc. For a long time the Pynchons were the only persons in this vicinity licensed to trade with Indians, and they sold trading rights in Northampton to various people, including David Wilton. An account current between Pychon and Wilton shows that in April, 1675, Wilton shipped a barrel of furs, including sixty-five pounds of beaver skins, forty-three raccoons, and five pessows (wildcats), and eleven days later sixty-one additonal skins of various kinds; on June 4, 1675, a hundred and seventy-one skins, and on the 16th of June a barrel containing one hundred and two and a half pounds of beaver skins, and four wullanegs. On June 28, 1675, he sent another barrel packed with sixty-six pounds of beaver fur, thirty-three squashes (muskrats), thirteen otter skins, fourteen raccoon, and nine others of various kinds, and four bushels of Indian corn and twelve pounds of beeswax. In July, he sent sixty-six pounds of beaver, and thirty-three other skins, three barrels of pork and two of flour. In return he purchased tobacco, salt, cloves, mace, nutmegs, ribbon, gloves, stockings, cotton and taffets, nails, buttons, etc. Wilton also manufactured liquor, probably cider brandy or apple jack, and in 1662 he had a special license to sell liquor 'to housekeepers of honest conversation.' Some years before he settled at Northampton he was engaged in a 'sheep venture' in Rhode Island with John Pynchon.

Soon after the establishment of a church at Northampton the town voted 'to build a newe meeting howse of 42 foote square, and that they will lay out about it about 150l.' Wilton was a member of the committee of six men chosen to 'Cary on and finish this worke.' In March, 1661/2, he was on a committee to confer with Hadley and Springfield, Massachusetts, 'Concerneing the name of this County and the place yt should be the shere Towne and all other matters of that nature.' On April 26, 1663, he was empowered to 'prsent the Townes minde' to the Reverend Joseph Eliot, who was desired to settle at Northampton as assistant to the minister. Wilton was County Commissioner in 1663, and was chosen selectman, January 6, 1663/4, and again in 1675. In March, 1663/4, a troop of horse was raised in Hampshire County, called the Hampshire Troop, which was permitted 'for the present and vntill they can attajne to more' to constitute itself a troop with only 'six and thirty horse' and was empowered to elect its own officers. David Wilton was elected lieutenant of the troop at this time, although, curiously enough, the records of the General Court in October, 1663, five months earlier, refer to him as lieutenant on the occasion of his being appointed to a committee to lay out land at Northampton and Hadley. In July, 1664, Wilton was appointed to make terms with the Indians about a grant of land desired by them from the colonists on which to build a fort. He was a member of a committee in January, 1664/5, to seat the meeting house, with instructions that 'The rules yt they are to Attend in this worke are these Age, Estate, Qualefications only Respecting ye commissioned officers, & Imptiality.' He served as deputy from Northampton to the General Court at the session of May 3, 1665, although on May 18th, 'Vpon the motion of Capt Pinchon & Left Dauid Wilton, on their vrgent occasions, the Court judgeth it meet to dismiss them the service of this sessions, & grants them liberty to repaire to their homes.'

On October 31, 1667, Wilton was a member of a committee 'appointed & impowred to treate with their Indians about the setling of a cheife or head ouer them, & aduising wth them thereabouts to learne whom they account or desire to be, their cheife, that the English may haue their recourse to for satisfaction for injurjes from them, & finding them to agree vpon a meete man or men to be their cheife, then to acquaint the County Court of Hampshire therewith, so that notice may be taken thereof.' He petitioned in May, 1672, that he might be relieved of the office of Lieutenant of the Hampshire Troop, and the General Court granted his request, and in response to his request that a mortgage from Indians for debt be confirmed, the Court ordered that 'considering the petitioners long serving of the Country' he should be granted one hundred acres. He apparently neglected to make good the title to this land, and in June, 1685, the grant was confirmed to his heirs. In 1672/3, contributions, largely in kind, were made by the inhabitants of Northampton to Harvard College, and David Wilton 'payd by Caredge' £1 10s, and 'by a barrell' 2s 6d. He was a judge of the County Court in January, 1674/5, and was appointed Associate Justice of the Hampshire County Court in 1675, 1676, and 1677. During King Philip's War, Wilton 'dieted' soldiers who were quartered on him, and in May, 1676, stated that the country owed him for such 'diet' and other expenses, £19 9s 6d. He was a member of the Council of War appointed in 1675 for the security of Northampton, Hadley, and Hatfield, Massachusetts, and wrote in March and April, 1676, concerning the garrison to be left at Northampton, and their desire to prosecute the war with vigor, to the General Court. He was appointed for Hampshire County on a committee to 'take the account of the stewards of the new bricke building at the colledge'--Harvard--and to try to clear up the outstanding pledges, and raise additional subscriptions, in October, 1677.

Wilton returned to Windsor, Connecticut, on a visit, and died there, February 5, 1677/8. He was buried the following day at Windsor.

David and Katherine (Hoskins?) Wilton had only one child, a daughter: Mary (#2086)."

Another internet source explains that David was a member of the Connecticut Militia. He came over in the Winthrop fleet of 1630, possibly on the "Mary and John", with the group that went to Windsor in 1636. He had land granted there in 1640. He moved to Northampton in 1660. David was a lieutenant in King Phillip's War.

He came to New England in 1632. He had moved to Windsor,CT 1636 and Northampton, MA by 1660. He was a Deputy to the General Court 7 times. He was an Ensign,then lieutenant of the trainband. He was a Lieutenant in King Philip's War.

 

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