"(5) John Wolcott/Wilcott, c.1730-c.1780. According to the History of Center County Pennsylvania (John B. Linn, 1884), John Wilcot was the first settler in the present township of Potter, which was organized in 1774. It is located in central Pennsylvania in the Appalachian Mountains, and was officially opened to settlers in 1769. In a court case, Miles v. Potter and Barber, 1810, it is recorded that George McCormick testified: "Wilcot was the only settler in Penn's Valley in 1772. He lived where Earlytown now is." Earlytown is also in Potter Township. John Wilcott was one of five men appointed in 1773 to lay out the road from the east end of the Great Plain west to Sunbury. The Great Plain is adjacent to Penns Valley. John Wilcott was one of the 54 men of Bald Eagle and Potter who signed a request for arms and ammunition in 1776. In 1778 John Wilcot is listed at Bald Eagle in Potter Township as having 2 horses and 4 cows but not holding any land, never having gained legal title to the land on which he lived.
In 1778, Indians massacred the family of Jacob Stanford at Bald Eagle. Stanford's daughter was found dead on the path leading to the home of John Willcot, their nearest neighbor. This appears to be the same story told by Silas Wolcott's granddaughter, Etta Wolcott Park: "Polly Stanton, one of the neighbor girls used to say: 'Mrs. Wolcott, if the Indians ever come this way I shall run down to your house for you have so many guns'. One day Silas went out hunting. He had been gone some time when the postman came in great haste. 'Mrs. Wolcott', he cried. 'Do you know all your neighbors are being killed by the Indians? If you women and children can get onto my horse, I will try to get you to the fort.' 'I will stay and wait for Silas', said the grandmother. Margaret Wolcott did not say who the old lady was.... I understood her to say it was the grandmother of the children. ...Margaret spoke of her as 'the old lady'. Margaret got on the horse with her babe in arms, the other two children in front. They had got about halfway to the fort when the baby began to cry. 'You will have to leave that baby,' said the postman. 'I can take no chances on that.' Margaret would not leave her baby, so got off the horse and walked all the rest of the way to the fort. Back home the old lady bolted the doors and placed guns at all the windows.... When Grandfather returned home there was no one there but the old lady. His family he found at the fort. All the neighbors had been killed and their houses burned, his being the only house left standing and his the only family left living. Polly Stanton was up the road, dead scalped. She had tried to get to their house as she had said she would do."
Although Etta thought this had taken place later at Havana, New York, there were no Indian problems at Havana while Silas lived there. Because of the hard winter of 1779-80 and problems with the Indians, most settlers left Penns Valley at that time, but many returned in 1784. No records were kept between 1780 and 1784, but in 1784 Paul Wilcot and Silas Wilcot held land at Bald Eagle, where John had lived and where the massacre had taken place."
www.wolcottfamily.com/watertown - Wolcott Family Society webpage
John V(2)'s birthplace, birthdate, and the date and location of his death are not currently known (no documentation).
In 1778, Indians massacred the family of Jacob Stanford at Bald Eagle. Stanford's daughter was found dead on the path leading to the home of John Willcot, their nearest neighbor. This appears to be the same story told by Silas Wolcott's granddaughter, Etta Wolcott Park: "Polly Stanton, one of the neighbor girls used to say: 'Mrs. Wolcott, if the Indians ever come this way I shall run down to your house for you have so many guns'. One day Silas went out hunting. He had been gone some time when the postman came in great haste. 'Mrs. Wolcott', he cried. 'Do you know all your neighbors are being killed by the Indians? If you women and children can get onto my horse, I will try to get you to the fort.' 'I will stay and wait for Silas', said the grandmother. Margaret Wolcott did not say who the old lady was.... I understood her to say it was the grandmother of the children. ...Margaret spoke of her as 'the old lady'. Margaret got on the horse with her babe in arms, the other two children in front. They had got about halfway to the fort when the baby began to cry. 'You will have to leave that baby,' said the postman. 'I can take no chances on that.' Margaret would not leave her baby, so got off the horse and walked all the rest of the way to the fort. Back home the old lady bolted the doors and placed guns at all the windows.... When Grandfather returned home there was no one there but the old lady. His family he found at the fort. All the neighbors had been killed and their houses burned, his being the only house left standing and his the only family left living. Polly Stanton was up the road, dead scalped. She had tried to get to their house as she had said she would do."
Although Etta thought this had taken place later at Havana, New York, there were no Indian problems at Havana while Silas lived there. Because of the hard winter of 1779-80 and problems with the Indians, most settlers left Penns Valley at that time, but many returned in 1784. No records were kept between 1780 and 1784, but in 1784 Paul Wilcot and Silas Wilcot held land at Bald Eagle, where John had lived and where the massacre had taken place."
www.wolcottfamily.com/watertown - Wolcott Family Society webpage
John V(2)'s birthplace, birthdate, and the date and location of his death are not currently known (no documentation).
"(5) John Wolcott/Wilcott, c.1730-c.1780. According to the History of Center County Pennsylvania (John B. Linn, 1884), John Wilcot was the first settler in the present township of Potter, which was organized in 1774. It is located in central Pennsylvania in the Appalachian Mountains, and was officially opened to settlers in 1769. In a court case, Miles v. Potter and Barber, 1810, it is recorded that George McCormick testified: "Wilcot was the only settler in Penn's Valley in 1772. He lived where Earlytown now is." Earlytown is also in Potter Township. John Wilcott was one of five men appointed in 1773 to lay out the road from the east end of the Great Plain west to Sunbury. The Great Plain is adjacent to Penns Valley. John Wilcott was one of the 54 men of Bald Eagle and Potter who signed a request for arms and ammunition in 1776. In 1778 John Wilcot is listed at Bald Eagle in Potter Township as having 2 horses and 4 cows but not holding any land, never having gained legal title to the land on which he lived.
In 1778, Indians massacred the family of Jacob Stanford at Bald Eagle. Stanford's daughter was found dead on the path leading to the home of John Willcot, their nearest neighbor. This appears to be the same story told by Silas Wolcott's granddaughter, Etta Wolcott Park: "Polly Stanton, one of the neighbor girls used to say: 'Mrs. Wolcott, if the Indians ever come this way I shall run down to your house for you have so many guns'. One day Silas went out hunting. He had been gone some time when the postman came in great haste. 'Mrs. Wolcott', he cried. 'Do you know all your neighbors are being killed by the Indians? If you women and children can get onto my horse, I will try to get you to the fort.' 'I will stay and wait for Silas', said the grandmother. Margaret Wolcott did not say who the old lady was.... I understood her to say it was the grandmother of the children. ...Margaret spoke of her as 'the old lady'. Margaret got on the horse with her babe in arms, the other two children in front. They had got about halfway to the fort when the baby began to cry. 'You will have to leave that baby,' said the postman. 'I can take no chances on that.' Margaret would not leave her baby, so got off the horse and walked all the rest of the way to the fort. Back home the old lady bolted the doors and placed guns at all the windows.... When Grandfather returned home there was no one there but the old lady. His family he found at the fort. All the neighbors had been killed and their houses burned, his being the only house left standing and his the only family left living. Polly Stanton was up the road, dead scalped. She had tried to get to their house as she had said she would do."
Although Etta thought this had taken place later at Havana, New York, there were no Indian problems at Havana while Silas lived there. Because of the hard winter of 1779-80 and problems with the Indians, most settlers left Penns Valley at that time, but many returned in 1784. No records were kept between 1780 and 1784, but in 1784 Paul Wilcot and Silas Wilcot held land at Bald Eagle, where John had lived and where the massacre had taken place."
www.wolcottfamily.com/watertown - Wolcott Family Society webpage
John V(2)'s birthplace, birthdate, and the date and location of his death are not currently known (no documentation).
In 1778, Indians massacred the family of Jacob Stanford at Bald Eagle. Stanford's daughter was found dead on the path leading to the home of John Willcot, their nearest neighbor. This appears to be the same story told by Silas Wolcott's granddaughter, Etta Wolcott Park: "Polly Stanton, one of the neighbor girls used to say: 'Mrs. Wolcott, if the Indians ever come this way I shall run down to your house for you have so many guns'. One day Silas went out hunting. He had been gone some time when the postman came in great haste. 'Mrs. Wolcott', he cried. 'Do you know all your neighbors are being killed by the Indians? If you women and children can get onto my horse, I will try to get you to the fort.' 'I will stay and wait for Silas', said the grandmother. Margaret Wolcott did not say who the old lady was.... I understood her to say it was the grandmother of the children. ...Margaret spoke of her as 'the old lady'. Margaret got on the horse with her babe in arms, the other two children in front. They had got about halfway to the fort when the baby began to cry. 'You will have to leave that baby,' said the postman. 'I can take no chances on that.' Margaret would not leave her baby, so got off the horse and walked all the rest of the way to the fort. Back home the old lady bolted the doors and placed guns at all the windows.... When Grandfather returned home there was no one there but the old lady. His family he found at the fort. All the neighbors had been killed and their houses burned, his being the only house left standing and his the only family left living. Polly Stanton was up the road, dead scalped. She had tried to get to their house as she had said she would do."
Although Etta thought this had taken place later at Havana, New York, there were no Indian problems at Havana while Silas lived there. Because of the hard winter of 1779-80 and problems with the Indians, most settlers left Penns Valley at that time, but many returned in 1784. No records were kept between 1780 and 1784, but in 1784 Paul Wilcot and Silas Wilcot held land at Bald Eagle, where John had lived and where the massacre had taken place."
www.wolcottfamily.com/watertown - Wolcott Family Society webpage
John V(2)'s birthplace, birthdate, and the date and location of his death are not currently known (no documentation).
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