Wolcott History – Finch Brook

In the website of the Wolcott Land Trust on the page regarding the Finch Brook Preserve (http://www.wolcottlandct.org/preserves/finch-brook-preserve/), there is a statement “About a half mile northeast of the modern-day preserve lived one “R. Finch”, after whom Finch Brook was perhaps named.” I decided that I would see if I could unravel this mystery. Here is what I have found.

In the early years of Wolcott, the Finch family was well represented. Daniel Finch (1719-1779) died as a soldier during the Revolutionary War. His wife, Jerusha, moved to Wolcott after his death and raised their family there. In particular, their sons Gideon (1743-1815) and Eleazer (1748-1830) were living in Wolcott in the early 1800s.

In the 1868 map of Wolcott there are three Finch families identified in various parts of Wolcott. These families are:

·         Benjamin Franklin Finch (1821-1904) lived in the western part of town. He was a grandson of Gideon.

·         Lucius Ransom Finch (1813-1898) lived near the center of town. He was a brother of Benjamin and a grandson of Gideon.

·         Ruth (Sarah) Finch (d. 1872) was the widow of William Finch (1787-1838). He was the son of Eleazer Finch. Their daughter (their only offspring) married Albert Hitchcock. In 1870 the Frisbie, Hitchcock, Todd, and Upson families lived in consecutive houses on Todd Road

There were other Finch family members living in Wolcott, but many of them were females who had married into other Wolcott families. For example, Chloe Finch, a sister to Benjamin and Lucius married Albin Alcott, the great-grandson of John Alcox who was one of the earliest residents of the town in 1731.

The Finch families were not as prolific in having children as some of the other early Wolcott families. Between early deaths (a common occurrence in those days), female offspring marrying into other families, and other family members moving away, by 1900 the only Finch family still living in town were Benjamin and his wife who were in their late 70s. There were no Finch families in town in the 1910 census.

Getting back to my reason for doing this research, Finch Brook is almost certainly named for William Finch who lived in that part of Wolcott. William moved to Wolcott with his family at a young age and married in 1813, so it was probably sometime in the 1810s that he and Ruth purchased a farm on Todd Road which included the property behind their farm on which the brook was located.

Of course, I cannot leave this subject without mentioning my connection to the Finch family. The grandfather of Gideon and Eleazer was Daniel Finch (1694-1766) who was from New Haven. Daniel is my great*6 grandfather. Thus, William was my 2^nd cousin, 5 times removed and Benjamin and Lucius were my 3^rd cousins, 4 times removed.