CONNECTICUT RESEARCH. Historical Overview. Historical Overview. Historical Overview. Connecticut Research 9 April 2008

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1 CONNECTICUT RESEARCH Fiske Genealogy Library 9 April Adriaen Block 1633 Dutch fort on Connecticut River Plymouth Colony trading post 1634 Wethersfield settled from MA Plymouth settlers at Windsor 1635 Saybrook settled 1636 Thomas Hooker founds Hartford Gary A Zimmerman Pequot War ends 1638 New Haven colony founded 1639 Fundamental Orders of CT 1643 New England Confederation 1644 Saybrook joins CT 1646 New London founded 1662 Connecticut receives royal charter 1665 New Haven and CT united Lyme formed from Saybrook 1666 County government established Gary A Zimmerman / Fiske Library 1

2 New Haven and CT united Lyme formed from Saybrook 1666 County government established King Philip s s War 1684 New England Confederation ends 1701 Collegiate School authorized 1717 State House in New Haven First settlers in Wyoming Valley 1769 CT settlers found Wilkes-Barre 1771 CT s claim confirmed by the King 1773 Westmoreland settlers arrive 1774 Westmoreland twp created 1776 Westmoreland county created 1778 Wyoming massacre 1782 Continental Congress overturns the royal confirmation of CT claim Yankees refuse to leave; Pennamite war continues CT and VT send troops to help Wyoming Valley residents 1788 PA agrees to honor Yankee land titles and CT gives up its claim to PA land Congress grants Western Reserve to CT as compensation for this lost land Gary A Zimmerman / Fiske Library 2

3 1848 Slavery abolished in CT 1875 Hartford made sole state capital 1960 County governments abolished Local justice courts abolished 1960 District courts begin 1978 Common pleas & Juvenile courts transferred to superior courts 1983 Appellate court created by constitutional amendment New England Records Town or City Records Vital Records Land Grants Military Records Probate Records Other officers One or more constables Tithingmen Ensured that everyone made their expected contributions to the meetinghouse and the minister s s salary Ensured that everyone attended church services (No tithingmen in RI where church and town were separate) Fence viewers to ensure property lines were marked and kept in good repair Surveyor of highways to lay out new roads and keep existing roads in good repair Someone who had land taken for a public road was given other parcels of town land to make up for the lost land Poor and Sick People Actions of concern and support always recorded in the town records Best place to find details of lower class A decision not to support someone led to a warning out Not an order to leave town; just a notice that if you got sick the town would not be helping you A guest in your home might also receive a warning out notice Livestock Ear notches were recorded in the town record books Lands granted to proprietors of new towns are recorded in the town records Land Grants Colony or state legislature would also grant land for new towns Original inhabitants received town lots for their house and field lots for their crops and rights to future divisions of land as the town developed You could sell your rights,, you could sell your present holdings, but you could sell nothing to a non- inhabitant of the town without permission of the selectmen Town record books will have sketches of the lot layouts as land is divided and assigned to residents Descriptions in metes and bounds Gary A Zimmerman / Fiske Library 3

4 Military Records Each colonial town had its own militia As the need arose, residents would sign up for service through their town Payment records and details of the organization and leadership of militia units are available for many towns Probate Records Handled on a regional basis rather than the local town, usually MA probate jurisdictions followed county lines CT after 1698 had probate districts that crossed county lines and these boundaries changed with time need to explore these details to find the records for a given person Two types of records: What was presented to the court (original wills, affidavits, and receipts of heirs) What was recorded in the probate books (actions of the court, divisions of estates, disagreements over the division) Connecticut State Library Located in Hartford CT Best place to start your in-state research Barbour Collection of Connecticut VR Charles R Hale Collection of CT Cemetery Inscriptions Vosburgh Collection of New York State church records 99 volumes of material Extensive CT Newspaper Collection Full set of Hartford Courant from 1764 to the present All daily newspapers in state for last 250 years Most weekly newspapers ever published in state Over 2040 different titles! Godfrey Memorial Library Located in Middletown CT Home of the American Genealogical- Biographical Index (also known as the Rider Index) Wide selection of links to all states Godfrey Scholar program (for a fee) Connecticut Historical Society Connecticut Ancestry Society (in Hartford) Stamford CT Genealogy and Family History Manuscript Finding Aids Library Loan collection for members Formerly Stamford Genealogical Society Focus on southwestern CT Genealogy Publishes Connecticut Ancestry Gary A Zimmerman / Fiske Library 4

5 Connecticut Society of Genealogists Glastonbury CT Mystic Seaport Library Shelf list on line Connecticut Genealogy content Digitized Books For Future Reference Send queries or research questions to: Gary A Zimmerman gzim@antiochsea.edu or gzim@fiskelibrary.org at home at library Mail query to Fiske Library, rd Ave E Seattle WA Gary A Zimmerman / Fiske Library 5