https://orcuttfamilyhistory.wordpress.com/william-orcutt-mary-marth...
"Orcutt Family History"

To America

WILLIAM ORCUTT was in America by 1663, but exactly when he came and where he came from continue to be topics of debate for researchers. Orcutt scholar Judy Orcutt Holy presents his possible origins in An Orcutt Line (With wives and descendants of William I and Thomas 2 Orcutt through William Edwin 7 Orcutt).(1) A brief summary of the possibilities follow:

1) He may have come from Scotland by way of England. She says, “There is a baptismal record from Fillongley, Warwickshire, England, 6 December, 1618 in the name of William Orchar, son of William Orchar, a name which Frederick Scott Orcutt Sr. believed may have been modified from the Scottish Urchard/Urquhart…Sir Thomas Urquhart (1611-1660) 11th Chief of the Scottish Clan Urquhart, wrote that some Urquhart cousins had migrated from Scotland into England…”

2) He may have been an Englishman named Aucotte or Harcutt. Joel Thomas Orcutt has identified a William Aucotte, born in 1639 in Warwickshire, who may have been our William.

3) He may have been one of the many Scottish prisoners of war brought to New England 1650-53 and sold as indentured servants.

Marriage to Mary Martha Lane

WILLIAM ORCUTT and MARY MARTHA LANE were married in Hingham, Massachusetts, on December 24, 1663. Judy Orcutt Holy explains that, while many secondary records show the date as January 24, 1664, the original journal of the Rev. Peter Hobart, first minister in Hingham, solves the mystery. “Hobart’s Journal for the turn of the year 1663-64 has two pages…The first page lists baptisms/births/marriages/deaths for 1663, the last three lines giving early December events. Then the following page–which begins with the last events of December and goes on the January-March events–is headed 1663 1664. But at the top are first the concluding December events (without the word December repeated from the prior page) covering Dec. 20-24th. It’s among that particular group of concluding Dec. events where we find the listing: 24 Andrew Lanes Daughter Maryed."

William and Mary Martha Orcutt’s Life Together–The Hingham/Weymouth and Marshfield/Scituate Years

William and Mary spent the first few years of their marriage in Hingham or Weymouth (3 1/2 miles southwest of Hingham)–or perhaps between the two towns–in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Their first child, WILLIAM ORCUTT 2, probably was born there about 1664.

By the birth of their second child, who was baptized 24 March 1666/67, they had moved from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to Plymouth Colony, living in Marshfield (South Scituate.) (4) They lived here through the birth of their eleventh child, baptized in 1683. They attended Second Church in Situate (now First Unitarian Church, Norwell, MA), then located at the corner of Main Street (Route 123) and Old Meeting House Road, and that is where all the children, except the eldest and youngest, were baptized. (1)

The Massachusetts Vital Records (4, 5) show the following baptism records for ten children after

William 2, spelled as recorded:

ANDREW ORCOTT, baptized 24 March 1667.

JOHN ORCOTT, baptized 18 April 1669.

MARTHA ORCOT, baptized 23 April 1671.

JOSEPH ORCOTT, baptized 9 December 1672.

HANAH ORCUT, twin of Mary, baptized 11 April 1675.

MARY ORCUT, twin of Hanah, baptized 11 April 1675.

THOMAS ORCUT, baptized 2 (worn) October 1677.

BENJEMEN ORCUT, baptized 9 March 1680.

ELIZABETH ORCUT, baptized 16 July 1682.

DEBORAH ORCUT, baptized 7 October 1683.

A twelfth child SUSANNA ORCUTT, included in William’s probate records, is widely assumed to have been born about 1685, probably in Bridgewater. No record of her birth or baptism has been located to date.

Life & Death in Bridgewater

William earned his living as a yarn spinner, as recorded in Scituate merchant John Cushing’s account book. (1)

William passed away in Bridgewater on September 14, 1693. (7)

His estate, valued at 119 pounds and 11 shillings, was probated on October 30, 1694. Along with furniture and clothing, his household items included spinning wheels, 2 guns and a sword, iron pots and pewter vessels, a plow and lumber. There were cattle, sheep, 1 mare with bridle and saddle, swine, tobacco, wheat, rye, oats, and Indian corn. Real property listed were the dwelling house, barn, and 70 acres of adjoining improved land and 50 acres of dormant land; 20 acres more of land; 14 acres more; 2 lots of meadow; and a whole share in the Cedar swamp.

The probate agreement between widow Martha and her children gave Martha the house and adjoining lands until son Thomas reached the age of maturity at 21. After that, she would have 4 acres of improved land, her firewood provided for her, and full and free liberty to live in the house and improve it for her use.

Eldest son William Orcutt received 15 acres of land plus a 5 acre lot on the north side of the town river, as well as land that his father William deeded to him before his decease. Son John received 20 acres with land formerly given to him. Andrew received the land given to him prior to father William’s decease and which Andrew sold to his brother John. Joseph received 50 acres and 1/3 of a meadow, the other 2/3 of which he bought from brothers John and Andrew. At age 21, Thomas would receive about 35 acres, being half of the lands adjoining the house in which the Widow Orcutt would live, plus 1/2 of the house and barn. At age 21, Benjamin would receive the other half (35 acres) of the land adjoining the house plus the other half of the house and barn.

Daughters Martha, Mary, and Hanna each received six pounds. Susanna’s six pounds were delivered to eldest brother William to hold until she came of age or had need of it.

Neither Elizabeth nor Deborah are mentioned, so it can be assumed that they predeceased their father.

Thomas, Benjamin, and Susanna had not yet come of age. Edward Mitchell was “chosen and allowed to be ye Guardian” of Thomas and Benjamin, as noted in a sidebar to the agreement.

Massachusetts Vital Records include a Widow Orcutt, who died April 30, 1712, at Weymouth, Massachusetts. (8) This is assumed to be our Martha, widow of William, who may have gone to Weymouth to live with son Andrew or Benjamin, both of whom relocated there.

No grave markers remain.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/237910925/william-orcutt

William Orcutt III

• BIRTH 18 Dec 1636 Fillongley, North Warwickshire Borough, Warwickshire, England
• DEATH 14 Sep 1693 (aged 56) Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA
• BURIAL First Cemetery, Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA
• MEMORIAL ID 237910925

William Orcutt appears to have emigrated from England (baptismal record from Fillongley, Warwickshire, England, 6 December, 1618 in the name William Orchar, son of William Orchar, a name supposedly modified from the Scottish Urchard/Urquhart) and arrived in this country prior to this marriage date.

Some sources say he came in 1660, arrived in Weymouth, MA, moved to Scituate/Marshfield. One tradition from the John line (Helen G. Judson) says he was a cabin boy on the second ship to Plymouth [this would make sense if the ısecond shipġrefers to a Mayflower fleet in 1630, but this needs to be confirmed. It couldn't be the 1621 ship, since he would have been 3-4 years old at that time.

He later became a seaman which could account for few records or any land purchase/grant between 1664 (or earlier) and the family¡¦s move to Bridgewater apparently after October 7, 1683 -- the year daughter Deborah was baptised in 2nd Church Scituate, also the year William purchased property in Bridgewater -- or shortly thereafter, since last child of 12, daughter Susannah, was born in Bridgewater in 1685.

Parents
William Orcutt II 1592–1693

Spouse
Mary Martha Lane Orcutt 1642–1712 (m. 1663)

Children
William Orcutt 1664–1739
John Orcutt 1669–1753
Mary Orcut Hudson 1675–1738

Notes== - Newer, More Plausible Theory: William Alcocke of Mancetter

With the benefit of modern online digital databases, in 2000, Joel Thomas Orcutt discovered a more plausible baptismal record for William Orcutt of Bridgewater: the record for the baptism of a William Alcocke in Mancetter, Warwickshire on October 20, 1639.[9][10] An abstract of that baptismal record is also readily available for free online.[11] The original is available on the pay site findmypast.com.[12] A copy is posted as an image on this profile and reads, under the heading for October 1639, "William Alcocke sonne of William Alcocke and Margerit his wife bap the twentieth."

At first blush, the 1639 baptismal record for a William Alcocke may not appear very promising as the baptismal record for William Orcutt of Bridgewater. However, deeper analysis shows that the Alcocke record is much more plausible than the 1618 baptismal record for William Orchar. (See more at the site referenced.)

References

1. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Alcocke-22

2a. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/103335036

2b. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/237910925/william-orcutt

3. https://orcuttfamilyhistory.wordpress.com/william-orcutt-mary-marth...