I’ve written a number of blogs over the past two years that
addressed pieces of the history of Connecticut – both relating to some of my
ancestors and of the history of the town of Wolcott where I was born and
raised. But I’d like to step back from all of these pieces and look at the
overall picture of this early history.
As I did so, and looked at a few maps of Connecticut that
show that time period (*1, *2), the larger picture has a shape that one might
not expect. So I have titled this blog a genealogical tapestry, with the
threads that hold the whole together being the stories of the individuals that
shaped this history. Except as specifically noted, the individuals mentioned
are various relatives of mine and their relationships to me appear at the end
of the blog. I have also chosen to leave out references to any of my prior
blogs (you can look them up if you desire). So the references are to various sources
in Wikipedia and these are also collected at the end of the blog.
I’ve tried to make this as readable as possible and not get
into too many of the individual details so that you may see the tapestry that
is the history of Connecticut. Enjoy!
Colony of
Connecticut – pre-1662
The Colony of Connecticut (*3) was founded in 1636 by a
group of about 100 individuals who left the Massachusetts Bay Colony, led by
John Haynes and Thomas Hooker. Haynes was the first governor and Hooker was the
Puritan minister of the church. Hooker delivered a sermon in 1638 on the
principals of government which heavily influenced those who later that year
wrote the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. In the early years of the colony
governors were not allowed to serve consecutive terms. Thus, for 20 years, the
governorship rotated between Haynes and others, most of whom were part of the
original group of 100. One of the others was Thomas Welles, the only man in
Connecticut’s history to hold all four top offices – governor, deputy governor,
treasurer and secretary.
In 1659, John Winthrop the Younger (*4) [not a relative]
began a 16-year term as the governor and was instrumental at both merging the
other colonies in Connecticut into a single colony and obtaining the colony’s
official charter in 1662. He was also the governor during the extended dispute
with New York (see more information below)
New Haven Colony
1638-1662
The New Haven Colony (*5) was begun in 1638 by John
Davenport, a Puritan minister, and Theophilus Eaton (*6) [not a relative]. They
did not have an official charter from the British crown, but instead purchased
land from the local Quinnipiac tribe who agreed to sell the land in return for
protection from the neighboring Pequots. Davenport’s dreams initially failed
and it wasn’t until after his death and under the leadership of James Pierpont
that the colony began to thrive and Davenport’s dream of a college was realized
with the College of Connecticut (later Yale University).
However, during the initial days of the colony, there were
others who settled additional “plantations” who united with New Haven in what
was called the “United Colonies of New England”. These included Milford and
Guilford (1639), as well as Stamford and Long Island (1640) and Branford
(1643). The claims on Long Island were ceded in 1664.
In 1641, the colony claimed the area that is now South Jersey
and Philadelphia after buying the area from the Lenape tribe. Just a year
later, fifty families came by ship to establish a trading post at what is today
Philadelphia. The Dutch and Swedes in the area burned their buildings. The settlers
could not get any support from its New England patrons and the Governor
reluctantly testified that the “Delaware Colony” was “dissolved”.
William Leete (*7) was the Deputy Governor and Chief
Magistrate of the colony in 1661 when he helped prevent the capture of two
former English judges who were being sought by King Charles II for signing the
death warrant of his father, Charles I, several years earlier. When agents of
the king came looking for them Leete cooperated enough to avoid being accused
of obstruction of justice, but did not provide enough information for them to
be captured. Leete later served as the Governor of the New Haven Colony from
1661-1665 and also served as the Governor of the Colony of Connecticut from
1676 to 1683, the only man to serve in both those positions.
So, in addition to the New Haven Colony not having an
official charter, it was this act of hiding those involved in this regicide
that soured any chance of the colony from getting support in England. Thus,
when the new charter for the Colony of Connecticut was granted in 1662, New
Haven was forced to become part of it, although the actual merger did not
happen until 1664.
Colony of
Connecticut – post-1662
Beginning in 1670, the interior portion of the state, i.e.
away from the cities which had access to either the ocean or the navigable rivers,
began to be settled. Initially, this included such places as Wallingford
(1670), Branford (1685), and Waterbury (1686). My hometown of Wolcott (then
called Farmingbury) was first settled in 1731, although it did not become an
official town until 1796. Some of the early settlers in Farmingbury were John
Alcox from New Haven, Stephen Upson from Waterbury, Samuel Beecher from
Cheshire, and John Frisbie from Branford.
James Pierpont came from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in
1685 to assume the pastorate of the Congregational Church in New Haven. Under
his guidance, the colony began to thrive. Between 1701 and 1776, the capital of
the colony was shared between Hartford and New Haven.
Western Claims
I mentioned above a few of the areas beyond the bounds of
what we now know as the State of Connecticut (such as Long Island, South Jersey
and Philadelphia). In addition, the original charter of 1662 gave the Colony of
Connecticut control from sea-to-sea – a 120-mile wide stretch beginning at the
Delaware River and running all the way to the Pacific Ocean (including portions
of what is now PA, OH, MI, IN, IL, IA, NE, WY, UT, NV and CA). However, since
the British had no control beyond the Mississippi River, the claim to areas
beyond it were never very practical. Most of this area was never settled until
after the Revolutionary War and was ceded in 1786 as part of the
post-Revolutionary War national resolution of outstanding claims (when the
states gave up these claims to the US in return for the US taking on the debts
of the states). However there were a few areas that remained in contention
after that.
Westmoreland County,
Connecticut (*8) was located in the present-day area of the Wyoming Valley
of PA (Wilkes-Barre and Scranton). Connecticut sent settlers to the area as
early as 1754 and Wilkes-Barre was founded by several families from Connecticut
in 1769 (*9). But since this area had been granted not only to CT in 1662, but
to PA in 1681, armed bands of Pennsylvanians (Pennamites) tried without success
to expel them in 1769-1770, again in 1775, and for a third time in 1784 – this
extended conflict was called the Pennamite Wars (*10). The controversy
continued until 1799 with the Yankee settlers becoming Pennsylvanians with
legal claims to their land. A few of my relatives moved to this area toward the
end of this period, but I have no records on whether they were part of the
conflict.
Connecticut Western
Reserve (*11) – while most of the area west of Pennsylvania had been ceded
by Connecticut in 1786, they retained a portion south of Lake Erie. The State
of Connecticut (now no longer a colony) sold much of this land to developers
and a number of people from CT moved here during this period in an effort to
solidify those claims. It was not until 1800 that the state ceded its final
claims to the United States. The name “Western Reserve” is still referred to in
various names from the period such as Case Western Reserve University. The area
was surveyed by Moses Cleaveland (*12) [not a relative] from Connecticut who
also founded Cleveland OH (an interesting history note is that that the “a” was
dropped from the city name by an early printer in order to conserve space on
the map). During the period from 1796 to 1800, several other towns such as
Youngstown, Warren, Hudson, and Ravenna were settled by individuals coming from
Connecticut and lured by the availability of land.
Connecticut-New York
Border Dispute (*13) – in
addition to the western lands, the border between Connecticut and New York was subject
to a great many disputes. In 1664, King Charles II sent royal commissioners to “end
unneighbourly and unbrotherly contentions” about the borders. As part of the
agreement, the main land was divided with a north-northwest line at the mouth
of the Mamaroneck River. This new line kept Westchester for NY, but cut through
the Hudson River around West Point, making Albany a part of Connecticut.
Although this was realized as a mistake the following year, the correction of
this required a signed agreement from both sides, including the Duke of York in
England, and neither approval was ever given. Additional attempts at settling
the dispute were made in 1683 and 1700, but those also were never totally
resolved due to a variety of circumstances. New York had a counter claim that
their border extended east to the Connecticut River. It was not until 1731 that
the final resolution was made, not only resolving the border that had run through
the Hudson, but creating the notch in the border which still appears to this day.
Several of my relatives were impact by this shifting border.
First, my wife’s Dutch relatives lived in this area. Dirk Dirksz (Dirksz being
the Dutch patronymic) was born there in 1663 when the area was still under
Dutch control. When the British took control, they required the local residents
to begin using the English surname convention, so he was then called Dirk
Dirksz Van der Karre. Thus his name change actually appears to have been while
he was a young child in what was then claimed by Connecticut. Also, one my
Russell ancestors, Robert Russell, moved to this area toward the end of this
period, although it is uncertain if it was before or after the final treaty.
References
Genealogical
Connections
Alcott (Alcox), John – my great*6 grandfather
Beecher, Samuel – my great*7 grandfather
Davenport, John – his granddaughter was the 1st
wife of my great*7 grandfather, James Pierpont
Frisbie, John – my great*6 grandfather
Haynes, John – his granddaughter was the 2nd wife
of my great*7 grandfather, James Pierpont
Hooker, Thomas – my great*9 grandfather, the grandfather of Mary
[Hooker] Pierpont
Lette, William – the great*8 grandfather of my aunt, Barbara
Leete [Bishop] Pierpont
Pierpont, James – my great*7 grandfather
Russell, Robert – my great*6 grandfather
Upson, Stephen – my great*7 grandfather
Van der Karre, Dirk Dirksz – my wife’s great*7 grandfather
Welles, Thomas – my great*10 grandfather
Valuable entries; Thanks. I assume that you are familiar with History of the Town of Wolcott (Connecticut) from 1731 to 1874, with an account of the Centenary Meeting, September 10th and 11th 1873; and with the Genealogies of the Families of the Town
ReplyDeleteBy Rev. Samuel Orcutt
Waterbury, Conn: Press of the American Printing Company, 1874.
I started to put it on line 10 years ago, but much remains to be done (unless someone else has done it by now) -- see
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rak//gen/wolcott/History-000-227.htm.
Yes, I am familiar with it and have used it several times as both reference material and source material in my continuing blogs about Wolcott history. I actually wrote one blog entry about Rev. Orcutt himself who seems to have caught the 'genealogical bug' while writing about Wolcott and so wrote several more such books as he moved about in his pastorate in the years following. You can see it here - http://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2015/07/wolcott-history-samuel-orcutt.html
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