These are stories paraphrased from the book The Rockwell Family in America. Images generated with AI.
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First Manslaughter Trial: Walter Palmer’s 1630 Verdict
In 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Colony convened what the book identifies as its first manslaughter trial. William Rockwell appears as one of twelve jurors in the case involving Walter Palmer and the death…
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Growing Up Rockwell: Life of New England’s 2nd Gen
William and Susan Capen Rockwell raised their children in the earliest decades of New England settlement. The book presents these children as the foundation of the second generation, through whom the Rockwell family…
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John Rockwell: From New Arrival to Windsor Landholder
John Rockwell, son of William and Susan Capen Rockwell, appears in the records as a landholder and active inhabitant of Windsor. The book presents him as a representative figure of the second generation’s…
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Rockwell Family’s Bold Leap to the New World
In 1630, William Rockwell, his wife Susan Capen, and their two young children crossed the Atlantic aboard the ship Mary and John as part of the Winthrop emigration. The voyage lasted about seventy…
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Susan Rockwell: Holding the Family Together After Loss
After the death of her husband in 1640, Susan Capen Rockwell survived as a widow in Connecticut. The book treats her role as essential to the continuity of the Rockwell family through its…
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The Death of William Rockwell In 1640 and His Legacy
William Rockwell died in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1640. The book treats his death as the close of the first generation of the Rockwell family in New England, after a decade marked by migration,…
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Unseen Threads: Joan Rockwell and Early Colonial Women
Joan Rockwell, the eldest child of William and Susan Capen Rockwell, appears only briefly in surviving records. The book treats her life as representative of many early colonial women whose experiences shaped families…
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When Estates and Trust Go Hand in Hand in 1634 Dorchester
In 1634, William Rockwell was named as one of the overseers and executors involved in settling the estate of John Russell of Dorchester. The book presents this role as evidence of Rockwell’s standing…
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William Rockwell: The Deacon with a Dilemma
William Rockwell is identified as a deacon in the Dorchester, Massachusetts, church, a role described as managing the church’s material provisions and aid to those in need. The book connects that office to…
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William Rockwell’s Move to Windsor: A New Beginning
After several years in Dorchester, William Rockwell moved to Windsor, Connecticut. The book places this move in the spring of 1637, noting both the land grants associated with his settlement there and the…