Connecticut: Guilford - Mansfield - Milford - Norwich - Plainfield - Saybrook - Wethersfield - Woodstock
Massachusetts: Hadley - Hatfield 

              Guilford Mansfield Milford Norwich Plainfield Saybrook Wethersfield Woodstock
first settlers  1639     1702     1639    1658      1653      1635       1634       1686
incorporated    1639     1702     1639    1658      1699      1635       1634       1686
first ancestor  1639     1710     1643    1846      1699      1683       1636       1747
last ancestor   1683     1752     1648    1880+     1727      1730       1660       1763
# of ancestors    4        2        2       3         2         3          5          3
# of immigrants   2        0        0       0         0         0          0          0
# born in town    0        0        0       0         0         1          1          1
# died in town    4        1        0       1         2         2          0          0

               Hadley Hatfield
first settlers  1659    1660
incorporated    1661    1670
first ancestor  1660    1683
last ancestor   1702    1702
# of ancestors    3       2
# of immigrants   0       0
# born in town    0       0
# died in town    1       1
  • CROWTHER family (1860-1880+)
  • HUBBARD and BISHOP families (1659-1702)
  • HOWE family (1699-1727)
  • JOHNSON family (after 1710-1752)
  • LYNDE family (1683-1730)
  • RIPLEY family (1747-1763)
    14 of our ancestors lived in Connecticut for a while. The first main settlements in Connecticut were started by men from Massachusetts. In Sept. 1633, John Oldham and three others went overland to trade along the Connecticut River, the first Europeans to travel from the seacoast to the Connecticut River. This was the same John Oldham that we met in the Hingham chapter, who led our ancestor JOHN LYFORD astray in his short time at Plymouth Plantation. The following years, based in large part on Oldham's pioneering, four groups left Massachusetts to start new settlements along the Connecticut River: Watertown people started Wethersfield; Cambridge people under Rev. Thomas Hooker started Hartford; Dorchester people started Windsor; and Roxbury people started Springfield. The coastal towns of Milford and Guilford were started in 1639, in large part by a group of 25 families led by Rev. Henry Whitfield, Rector of the Ockley Church in Ockley, Kent, England, who sailed on the ship "St. John" from London to New Haven. Rev. Whitfield's wife was Dorothy Sheafe, who was the cousin of three of the other families in the group: Jacob Sheaf and his sisters Joanna Chittendan and Margaret Kitchell.
    The HUBBARD and BISHOP families (1659-1702) 
                                      |-George Hubbard
                   |-John Hubbard-|             |-John Bishop
  Jonathan Hubbard-|              |-Mary Bishop-|
                   |-Mary Meriam               |-Anne Stephens
    Our ancestors, the Hubbard family, were with the Watertown group. GEORGE HUBBARD and his wife MARY BISHOP arrived in Watertown in 1633 with their two children Mary and JOHN and their friends the Meriams. They left Watertown in October of 1635 with 60 other settlers and settled in Wethersfield, Connecticut, which is just a couple miles south of Hartford. He surveyed the lines of Windsor and Wethersfield, and starting in 1638 represented Wethersfield several times as a delegate to the General Assembly.     He was granted lots in the Great West Field (57 acres) in 1639 and in the Three-Mile lots (195 acres) in 1640. At least 5 more children were born in Wethersfield. In 1643 the family moved to Milford, where GEORGE was granted a 4 acre home lot which is on the northwest side of the intersection of Beardsley Ave and S. Broad St. At least a couple more children were born in Milford (they had a total of 10 children). In 1650 the family moved to Guilford where MARY's parents lived (see below). GEORGE became a freeman on arrival and purchased the house of Jacob Sheafe on Broad Street. He became a leading figure in the community and was selected a Deputy to the General Assembly nine times between 1652 and 1666. In 1670 he bacame a Magistrate of Guilford. A typical Colonial house built by one of his descendents in 1717 still exists on his original home lot. There is also a Hubbard Rd a mile north of the town green that might have been on other land he or his children owned.

    MARY (BISHOP) HUBBARD's parents were JOHN and ANNE BISHOP. They are the only Welch ancestors that emigrated to New England but never lived in Massachusetts. They sailed with their five youngest children on the vessel St. John (mentioned above), which left London in June, 1639, and arrived about September 10, 1639 in the Colony of New Haven. JOHN was one of six settlers who signed the deed buying land from the Indians, and was one of four magistrates who were entrusted with the civil power for administration of justice and preservation of peace in the new town of Guilford. He held this position of magistrate from 1639 until June 1643, when the church was organized. His home lot was on the east side of the green. When he died in 1661, his estate was the second largest in the town after Whitfield.

    The early graves of Guilford settlers were around the meeting house on the Green (the Green is behind the photo to the right, which was taken from the Bishop lot looking west). However in 1818 the Green ceased to be used for burials, and all the gravestones were removed, most to Alderbrook Cemetery, West Cemetery (Riverside), First Congregational Church, or Christ Church. There are alot of gravestones for Bishops and Hubbards in Riverside cemetery, but none for the 17th century. Either our ancestor graves were never marked (only about 1/4 of the early graves had markers) or the stones were lost when moved from the Green.


    Left: map of the original Guilford homelots, showing John Bishop's land to the east and southeast of the green, and Jacob Sheafe's land a block to the west of the green
    Middle: Guilford green looking north at the church.
    Right: Historical markers on the eastern edge of the green.
    JOHN HUBBARD, son of GEORGE and MARY, remained in Wethersfield on the Hubbard land. Some time before 1650 he married MARY MERIAM of Concord (see the Concord chapter for more on the Meriams). Her uncle, Robert Meriam of Concord, was married to Mary Sheafe, the sister of the three Sheafe siblings that helped found Guilford. So the Meriam, Sheafe, Bishop, and Hubbard families all came from the same area in England and knew each other before emigrating to New England, and it is not surprising that there are mulitple connections between them. The only record of JOHN's life in Wethersfield was the birth of their first four children, including JONATHAN in 1658/9. The town, though, had a dark side to its history during these years: three witch trials occurred in Wethersfield, with an older woman and a couple being hanged as witches (the only man to be hanged as a witch in Connecticut).


    Left: historical marker on the Hadley Commons showing the extent of the palisades.
    Middle: map showing the original owners of the lots off of the Commons.
    Right: view of the northern half of the Commons. The Hubbard lot is the second white house on the right.

    Toward the end of the 1650s there was a growing conflict over religious ideals in the town, and on April 18, 1659, about 60 men, including JOHN, signed an Agreement in Hartford, Connecticut, stating their intention to move to Massachusetts to form Hadley Plantation. The group laid out a one mile long "Broad Street" in one of the oxbow bends of the Connecticut River, so that both the north and south ends of the street ended at the banks of the river. The town common was the area in the middle of the street, 20 rods wide and one mile long, with 43 8-acre lots on the sides of the street. The following year the Hubbard family moved to Hadley, one of only seven families then living in Hadley. JOHN's lot was the ninth lot from the north on the east side of the street, across from the "middle highway to the meadow", and diagonally opposite Edward Church. Five more children were born in Hadley, and JOHN was a selectman in 1664, 1676, 1678, and 1682.


    Front and back views of the Hadley Hubbard home lot; note the fields are still farmed.

    The town enjoyed prosperity from its fertile land along the river and had about 50 families in 1675 when King Philip's War broke out. Colonial forces were garrisoned at Hadley during much of the war. A wooden palisade was built surrounding all of the houses on Broad Street. In one attack when the soldiers were away from the town, the settlers appeared to be overcome until a white-bearded stranger suddenly took charge and effectively led the defence of the town and promptly disappeared, leading to the legend of the "Angel of Hadley". The man was probably General William Goffe, one of the co-signers of Charles I's death warrant, who was hiding from retalliation by Royalists. Our ancestors JOHN and son JONATHAN were 45 and 17 at this time and were undoubtedly involved in the fighting.


    Front and back views of the "Isaac Hubbard ca 1700" house; and an old foundation in the back.

    In 1683, JOHN and his youngest son Isaac moved across the river to Hatfield, which had split off from Hadley a decade earlier. His oldest son John stayed in Hadley in the Hubbard home. His middle son JONATHAN had already moved to Concord to live with his great uncle Robert Meriam. Since the wills of Robert and Mary Meriam in 1682 gave bequests to all of their nieces and nephews, including JONATHAN, but not his mother MARY, I assume that MARY was already dead. JOHN and Isaac built a home on their lot at the eastern end of Elm St, across from their former neighbor in Hadley, Edward Church. This home still stands, and from the street probably looks much like it did when first built, with a very typical 17th century colonial facade of a center entrance with 4 windows on the first floor, five windows on the second floor, a pitched roof overhanging the front, and a large central chimney. JOHN was buried in the Hill Cemetery, which is adjacent to his home. The northwest corner of the cemetery has close to two dozen gravestones of Hubbards, with a tall monument honoring different Hubbard families on the four sides including three 19th century families and JOHN and MARY on the west side.


    Hill Cemetery in Hatfield. The tall memorial is surrounded by at least 20 Hubbard gravestones.
    Three sides are for Louis, died 1890; Roswell, died 1872; and John, died 1844.
    The west side is shown in the right photo, with the following text;
    John Hubbard
    Born in England about
    1630
    Died 1706
    His wife Mary Merriam
    of Concord Mass
    The RIPLEY family (1747-1763) 
                   |-Noah Ripley
  Lydia Ripley-|
               |-Lydia Kent
    After five generations of the Ripley family in Hingham NOAH and LYDIA RIPLEY left Hingham and moved to Woodstock, Connecticut in 1743 (it was actually a part of Massachusetts until 1749). One of the first generation Ripley brothers had moved to Woodstock years before, so there were probably cousins living in the town. They had 11 children born in Woodstock, including LYDIA born in 1757. Soon after, by 1763, the Ripley family moved to Barre, Massachusetts.
    The HOWE family (1699-1727) 
        |-Samuel Howe
    |
    |-Mary Nutting
    SAMUEL HOWE was born in Concord. He first married Mary Woolie in 1673 and MARY NUTTING March 26, 1678. They had ten children born in Concord, including MARY in 1682. Around 1700, the family moved to Plainfield, Connecticut where WILLIAM was one of 38 who signed the agreement to incorporate the town on Nov. 13, 1699. In the Indian war of 1704 SAMUEL was a Sergeant in the train-band company. That year he is also listed as a member of a church committee overseeing the design of the new meeting-house. In 1720 he is mentioned as a carpenter. He left a will October 30, 1724, in Plainfield, while his wife lived until 1727.
    The JOHNSON family (after 1710-1752) 
                   |-William Johnson
  Dole Johnson-|
    After four generations of the Johnson family in Woburn, WILLIAM JOHNSON's wife SARAH died a couple of weeks after their only son DOLE was born. Some time after her death (perhaps years), the father and son moved to Mansfield, Connecticut, about the same time other Johnson cousins moved there. DOLE married HANNAH in Mansfield in 1736 and moved to Harvard, Massachusetts, where their daughter HANNAH was born in 1739. The father WILLIAM died in Mansfield in 1752.
    The LYNDE family (1683-1730) 
                 |-Nathaniel Lynde
  Anne Lynde-|
             |-Susannah Willoughby
    NATHANIEL LYNDE, was born in Boston on Nov 22, 1659, the fourth son of SIMON and HANNAH LYNDE. NATHANIEL served as an apprentice to his father before marrying SUSANNAH WILLOUGHBY of Charlestown in 1683 and moving to Saybrook, Connecticut, where his father owned several hundred acres of land. His father deeded the land to him on April 16, 1685. It included what is known as Lynde Point, which is the location of the old Fenwick Hall (a resort hotel), and Lynde Point Lighthouse. In 1701, NATHANIEL became the first treasurer of Yale College, which was located in Saybrook at the time. In 1703 he gave land to the college "so long as it should be continued at Saybrook". [Unfortunately, this gift must not have been large enough or the college might have been called Lynde College. In 1718, Elihu Yale did donate the substantial sum of 560 pounds and the college was named after him.] The family had nine children, all born at Saybrook, including their youngest, ANNE, born Dec 29, 1706. SUSANNAH died in 1709, and NATHANIEL died in 1729. Both are buried in Cypress Cemetery in Old Saybrook, along with their four sons and at least a couple dozen descendents. A year after her father's death, ANNE married JOHN PRESCOTT in Lunenburg, Massachusetts.

    Cypress Cemetery in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, with the Nathaniel Lynde footstone and plaque on the left and the Susanna Willoughby Lynde gravestone and plaque on the right. Note the large yellow poplar tree by the graves - perhaps it was planted when Nathaniel was buried. The ocean can be seen behind the trees, with a bridge over to Lynde Point. Also note Susanna'a gravestone and plaque have different dates for her death. 
                                    |                 HERE          
                                |            LIETH INTERRED     
                                |              THE BODY OF      
        Nathaniel               |             SUSANNA LYNDE     
          Lynde                 |           WIFE TO NATHANIEL   
          1729                  |           LYNDE ESQ     WHO   
                                |           DIED FEBRUARY  YE   
                                |               22  1709        
                                |             AGED 45 YEARS     
                                |                               
                                |                               
  HERE LYETH INTERRED           |          HERE LYETH INTERRED  
      THE BODY OF               |              THE BODY OF      
    NATHANIEL LYNDE             |          SUSANNA WILLOUGHBY   
   DONOR OF HOUSE AND           |               WIFE OF         
  LAND TO YALE IN 1701          |            NATHANIEL LYNDE    
AND ITS FIRST TREASURER         |                               
   BORN NOV 22nd 1659           |          DIED JULY 22nd 1709  
   DIED OCT 5th 1729            |                AGED 45
    The CROWTHER family (1860-1880+) 
                               |-Elijah Crowther
  Dorothy Lucinda Crowther-|
                           |-Mary Eliza Howarth
    We now have to jump forward a century before the next (and last) of the Welch ancestors lived in Connecticut. The CROWTHERs married in Andover, Massachusetts, and all six of their chidren were born there. (see the Newbury chapter for more). The first record we have of them in Connecticut is the 1860 census, which list them as a laborer and housekeeper along with their remaining four children. The Norwich town directories for 1861 and 1862 lists EIJAH as a "cloth finisher" and living in Yantic. Yantic was a small town around a mill on the Yantic River, one of the many neighborhoods of Norwich. The town was quite isolated from the rest of Norwich by the river, and consisted of little more than the mill and housing and stores for the workers. A large brick mill building was erected in 1864, after ELIJAH died, but MARY would have seen that building often for over 30 years. The train depot right next to the mill (currently a store) was built in 1860. A house built in 1850 is also within a block of the mill, as are several other homes built around 1870.

    The years of 1861 and 1862 brought about big changes to the CROWTHER family: son James fought in the Civil War, daughter Ellen married, and ELIJAH died of heart problems October 13, 1862. Even though he died in Norwich, he was buried in South Church Burying Ground in Andover.     A bond for his estate was issued in Norwich Probate court. The next two census in 1870 and 1880 list MARY living with the Harrisons in Norwich. She is listed in all of the Norwich directories as a widow living in Yantic.

    Son James enlisted in 1861 in Company D of the 8th Connecticut Volunteers. He was discharged in 1864, and returned to Norwich where he was listed in the 1868-70 directories as a farmer on Scotland Road, five miles northeast of Yantic. In 1872 he worked as a braid mill operator boarding at 56 Franklin, in the heart of downtown Norwich. But a year later he was admitted to the Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Togus, Kennebec, Maine, with chills, fever and a disease of the lungs. He died there of consumption three months later.

    On October 12, 1861 daughter Ellen married Samuel Harrison, an Englishman working as an overseer at the mill in Yantic. In 1872 his job changed to "bookkeeper", and in the late 1880s he worked at the Yantic Store Co. and as an assistant postmaster. They had three children, all of whom eventually married, but only one had a child (who died young).

    Daughter Frances also married on October 12, 1861, in a double wedding with her sister Ellen. Frances married Charles F. Keables, who then enlisted in Company C of the Connecticut 18th Infantry Regiment. He was mustered out in 1865, after being shot in the wrist and kept in a prison camp, and for the next two years was on the tax records as living in Yantic as a manufacturer. The next three years (1867-1869) he was listed in the Norwich directory as a carriage manufacturer living in Yantic. The couple, along with DOROTHY, then moved in 1870 to Manhattan, Kansas, where they are listed in the 1870 U.S. Census with Charles working as a wagon maker. (See the Kansas chapter for more on DOROTHY.)


    Left-to-right: 1868 map of Norwich with insert of Yantic; 1870 mill worker duplex; large 1870 home; Falls on the Yantic River


    Left-to-right: old 1860 train depot; 1864 Yantic mill; bridge over Yantic R.; quiet but fast-moving stretch of Yantic River by the mill
    Bibliography (all of these books can be downloaded and read from Google Books):