Stukely Westcott was one of the founding settlers of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and one of the original members of the first Baptist Church in America, established by Roger Williams in 1638.
20 Facts About Stukely Westcott
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Stukely Westcott came to New England from the town of Yeovil in Somerset, England and first settled in Salem in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but difficulties with the authorities prompted him to join Roger Williams in settling near the Narragansett Bay in 1638 at Providence Plantations.
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Stukely Westcott remained there for a few years, but he was recorded as an inhabitant of Warwick in 1648, probably having settled there several years earlier.
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Stukely Westcott was most active in colonial affairs from 1650 to 1660 when he was a commissioner, surveyor of highways, and the keeper of a house of entertainment.
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The place of origin of the Westcott family appears to center around the town of Affton in county Devon, England.
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Stukely Westcott first settled in the town of Salem in the Massachusetts Bay Colony where he was received as an inhabitant and made a freeman in 1636.
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In 1640, Stukely Westcott signed an agreement with 38 others to form a civil government in Providence.
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Stukely Westcott lived there for a few years, but he was recorded as one of the inhabitants of Warwick in 1648.
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Stukely Westcott lived in Warwick for most of the remainder of his life until the events of King Philip's War compelled him to move across the Narragansett Bay.
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Stukely Westcott appears most often on the public records for Rhode Island between 1650 and 1660.
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Stukely Westcott was a commissioner from Warwick during five different years, and he was a surveyor of highways during most of those years.
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In 1655, Stukely Westcott was appointed to keep a house of entertainment, and he again received authorization in 1664 for keeping "an ordinary for entertainment" while the King's Commissioners held court in Warwick.
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One of the highest offices held by Stukely Westcott was Deputy to the General Court which he held during 1671 when he was nearly 80 years old.
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The settlement of Warwick was totally destroyed, and the aged and infirm Stukely Westcott was taken to the settlement at Portsmouth on Rhode Island to the house of his grandson Caleb Arnold, the son of Governor Benedict Arnold.
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Stukely Westcott did not sign it expecting his sons to arrive from Prudence Island the next day.
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Stukely Westcott died before they could get to his side and the will was never signed.
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Stukely and Juliann Westcott had six children, but a baptismal record has only been found for the first two.
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Stukely Westcott was a lieutenant who was killed in 1676 during King Philip's War.
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Stukely Westcott had one child with his first wife and five with his second.
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Notable descendants of Stukely Westcott through his daughter Damaris include great-great-grandson Benedict Arnold, the general during the American Revolutionary War who initially was a great leader, but who is remembered for his treason and betrayal of his homeland and fellow American soldiers.