USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Farmington > Farmington town clerks and their times (1645-1940) > Part 1
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 01151 4004
Gc 974.602 F22h 1248471
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
To Francis Martine Eller in the occasion of his twenty- first with day January 18. 1944 from his mother . 1
FARMINGTON TOWN CLERKS AND THEIR TIMES
٠٤٠
Of this book there have been printed four hundred copies of which this is
Number 268.
frutas of give a good.
forts in ens In the ! our selfes"
1.
ez-
7
the Tunxis Indians. The record ndorsement and their signatures.
"A discovery "for Nighting of sutch agreements as win. I by the magistrats with the Indians of funtesestige Conserving the Lands & such things In Reference Theronto: as Lend to: Seffe peace: In In A way of fruth! Ss Righteousness betwist the English & them: 22 (fn: prins taken for granted that the magistrats bought ff Whole Country to the mochaks Country of SEquasien: the cheif . Sachemy
often: that notwithstanding their Intrust by that means gets? The magistrats did For A freindly mannen Sam to Lomess with the franceses Indian's that Som. Inglish might com Sa amongst them: (which forms: weare thes ?? That the Inten Should yell Up all the ground that they had bader improur At that time When & bergin was first mare & Resorts ground fn place together Com Compased: about with a circke Si forces Si Now also foo be started out only In that pride the inglis nuzare: to have: theuse of the grafs: for their Cows Which Now to rebarich. Contention the Inglish are willing to; fret gorillas One Little: Stige: Which Is also to bee staked out to patient
n That what Ground they delliber Up to & Inglish frith plases that was In to first bargin = making! of the Indians: A Like=proportion: if & place will beas It cho bee broke Up: for them: In that place whichIS apopatates Them: & the Indians forout that they have In present possesion till that bee: brook & Up In that place :~
Item That this bring doon the Indians have no priety Any other ground, Any Where Ells within & bones of the plantation? I yet they shall name: Liberty to fell woord from full of other Nepsyentry uses sos theo dor it Not frisst non Lagts or to the spyling of quits ou Court of english now; fall they bee hindrer of filking & hunting Soc it bee not done to the health of Any orders In the Country to hurt cattell atget fishing fouling sihunting being veft Equally to inglish Sochoran's. from That it is cleans: that all the Sands: the froglighting Is little worth still & wisdom abowl of state of the Inglish: bee: improved bron at &T& magistrats when They have Land's 'in a place give It away to englishmy To Labour- bpon: & fake "Nothing for It
Stem:That the peace & plenty that Inte have had on muyed by the sender of i Inglish In regard of purticketing of them & trade with them mak's move to y abbaring I Comfort of the furians though they hier Som Land Then where they Bringed before the Coming the English When all & dans was In bitir own
And although they doe hyer In regard of the ficvous of
Their Company yet New Corne &'stins will give a good. price Which will Counterbayle: with more then the Kyer. of their Land & therefore the Indians have Reason To Live Lowingly among the Inalich by whom their rules are preserved & their Estats & Comforts bantages his wee the chefe firicons In the Name of all trest acknowledg & so. Ingagt our selfes To make No: Quait's about this matter
Synes.
highned In The agesence of:
Staten: hart: Thomas: Juls Thomas . thomson
pethus Eis marke:
Thomas" Stanton :
Roger: Brewton: April 9
1 650
Ahomo: his marks:
leweise + names and got un braiton
Casa rompail& alow trangnichwitz i original a love fostife I for fulltant in lite porforthis agire howit Roger Montani
Thomas Ends
Recordar by me: William: JEsuis Register by j towns: order: Jenuary &' 18 (1667
Photograph of record dated 1650, of the agreement of distribution of land to the Tunxis Indians. The record was inspected by the Committee and bears their endorsement and their signatures.
FARMINGTON TOWN GLERKS AND THEIR TIMES
(Conn.) (1645-1940)
BY MABEL S. HURLBURT
Go 974.602 F22h
82 6610 2
COPYRIGHT 1943 by MABEL S. HURLBURT Farmington, Connecticut
Manufactured in the United States of America PRESS OF FINLAY BROTHERS, HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT
1248471
DEDICATION
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO MY SONS CHARLES WILLIAM AND WILSON SPENCER WITHOUT THEIR CONSTANT INSPIRATION AND PRACTICAL HELP IT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN
25%/ -
Goodspeed
FOREWORD
In reading and studying the records of the Town of Farm- ington for the 300 years of its existence, one is impressed with the loyal care and faithfulness with which the townspeople guarded their heritage.
This inheritance imposed its obligations, just as it brought its rewards.
If there were errors in judgment, if there was at times too much stress and strain over small things, after great things had been accomplished with seeming ease - it was their right - one of their freedoms, to experiment, to err, to learn. That the ultimate result, after 300 years, is as good as it is shows that the basic principles were sound.
I have endeavoured in the selection of the records used, to show the growth of the town, without the loss of fundamentals; to show an outward change about the town which has not affec- ted its foundations.
Much of value and interest has already been written about Farmington. This has not been repeated unless it seemed vital to the thread of the story.
Farmington history is not startling. It is, however, a fair sample of what has made this country of ours what it is today.
xi
CONTENTS
JOHN STEELE (1646-1665) I
Page The Seed is Sown
WILLIAM LEWIS (1665-1690) 25
The Roots Go Deep
JOHN HART (1686-1702) . 38
Healthy Growth
THOMAS BULL (1690-1704) 42
Training the Young Growth
JOHN HOOKER (1704-1740)
46
More Seeds are Sown
DEACON JOHN HART (1741-1748) 55
The Years of Cultivation
CAPT. JOSEPH HOOKER (1748-1764) 61
Struggle and Anxiety
CYPERION STRONG (1764-1767) 68
Brief Episode
SOLOMAN WHITMAN, EsQ. (1766-1790) 70
Peace, War and Peace Again
JOHN MIX, EsQ. (1791-1823) 106
The Good Years
SAMUEL RICHARDS (1823-1828) . 125
Progress and Problems
EDWARD HOOKER (1828-1833)
I38
Culture and Contentment
HORACE COWLES (1833-1841) 152
The Centuries Merge
SIMEON HART (1841-1853) I72
One of the Guardian Angels
AUSTIN HART (1853-1854) The New Habitation
Page 185
CHAUNCEY D. COWLES (1854-1859, 1871-1873) 188 One of the Keepers of the Keys
EDWIN G. SUMNER (1859-1860) . 204 A Quiet Year
JULIUS GAY (1860-1861) . . 207 A Later Pioneer
THOMAS COWLES (1861-1868) 215
War - and Peace Again
THOMAS TREADWELL (1868-1871, 1873-1879) .
238
A Favorite Son Returns
THOMAS L. PORTER (1879-1895)
Busy Years
253
CHARLES BRANDEGEE (1896-1925)
277
Happy Years
MABEL S. HURLBURT (1926-1943)
309
Records and Reminiscences
UNIONVILLE IN THE PAST
320
The Last Leaf ·
FARMINGTON HONOR ROLL WORLD WAR I 35
UNIONVILLE HONOR ROLL WORLD WAR I .
352
LIST OF PASTORS OF THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, CONGREGATIONAL, 1652 353
MEMORIAL TABLETS IN THE CHURCH
354
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF ORIGINAL SETTLERS
356
INDEX
xiv 379
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
AGREEMENT OF LAND DISTRIBUTION
Page
TO TUNXIS INDIANS .
FRONTISPIECE
MAP OF ORIGINAL SETTLERS' HOMES xvi
THE FARMINGTON MUSEUM . 32
HOME OF MR. AND MRS. A. DOUGLAS DODGE 36
THE HOMESTEAD - HOME OF CAPTAIN AND MRS. WILLIAM C. SKINNER
36
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
72
THE BARNES-MIX HOUSE 108
MAP OF FARMINGTON CANAL I28
MAP OF FARMINGTON, 1829 .
136
EDWARD HOOKER I38
SIMEON HART . I72
AUSTIN L. HART
184
CHAUNCEY DEMING COWLES
188
JULIUS GAY 208
THOMAS COWLES 216
RUINS OF STONE STORE
236
ELIHU BURRITT 248
OLD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UNIONVILLE 260
CHARLES BRANDEGEE 278
MISS SARAH PORTER 280
MABEL S. HURLBURT 310
HOME OF DR. AND MRS. W. W. BUNNELL . 314
HOME OF MR. AND MRS. HENRY F. REARDON 314
UNION SCHOOL 316
NOAH WALLACE SCHOOL . 316 HURRICANE AFTERMATH . 318
SOLOMON LANGDON HOMESTEAD AND INN 322
ORIGINAL WAREHOUSE ON CANAL FEEDER 328
BIRDSEYE VIEW OF UNIONVILLE
.
3,36
XV
-S
E
W
. 90
92
89
91
93
D
88
94
87
45
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95
105
46
49
96
97
0
47
43
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6
67
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75
0
77
1
65
70
100
48
10/
6
7
8
9 10 11 /2 13
63
62
56
52
37
38
$ 39
103
0
32
14
15 16
17
18
19 20 21 22 23|24
25
26 27 28 29
30
33
34
35
36
104
Match
FARMINGTON RIVER
PEQUABUCK RIVER
O
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78
1
68
72
73
76
99
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4
5
42
64
74
48 1
49
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51
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54 53
55
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83
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Prat 66
98
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EIGHTY ACRE MEADOW
Map showing Homes of Original Settlers from 1643 to approximately 1700
C
86
KEY LIST OF ORIGINAL SETTLERS Italics indicate Original Resident Owners
Map Number
Original Owners
Present Owners
West side of High Street
1
Robert Wilson 1655 John Clark 1657 John Norton, Jr.
2 Thomas Bird 1690 Joseph Bird (rear)
3 John and Samuel Steele
Elizabeth T. and Mary Mccarthy
Theodate Pope Riddle
Harry I. B. Rice
part of Thomson property
Herbert C. House
4 Isaac Moore (woodlot)
5 John Stanley (woodlot) John Stanley Jr. 1680
John Russell Lydia B. Hewes A. I. Balch
Carolyn W. & Francis D. Ellis
Graham Jones
St. James Mission (parsonage) Seymour Peck
East side of Main Street south to Mountain Road
6 Thomas Dymon William Smith
Farmington Village Green and Library Association
Helen M. Scarth
Edward I. Taylor
Marguerite Chase Holcombe
E. C. Joslin
Helen Deming
Est. of Teofil Balazy
William A. Hitchcock
part of Thomson property
G. M. Williams
Thomas Childs
Thomas Childs Rose Anne D. Keep Porter School property
West side of Main Street south from the center
11 12 13 14 Thomas Welles Joseph Tofani
Thomas Thomson Est. of Frank Sneath
15 John Steele fr. John H. Thompson
Thomas Steel's stillhouse S. N. E. T. Co.
Maxwell Moore
Ruth Holmes Cady
16 Thomas Judd John Judd 1669 Philip Judd 1685 (rear) John Hooker 1688 17 Thomas Upson sold to John James D. Morrell Warner who built a small house which he sold to Sam- uel Steele John Steele William Judd 1680
Farmington Savings Bank
xvii
7 John North
8 Samuel Steele
9 Matthew Woodruff
10 John Andrews William Adams Joseph Kellogg Deacon Isaac Moore Thomas Orton 1656
Dr. Bunnell's office Judatz property
Dr. Bunnell's house lot
Original Owners Present Owners
Florence Gay
19 Thomas Upson sold to John Andrews
20 Thomas Webster sold in 1651 to John Stanley
Porter Road
Porter School
Porter School
22 Thomas Newell to John Lee
Porter School
Porter School
23 Thomas Upson sold to John Andrews sold to Joseph Kellogg who built a house but soon sold it to John Lee
Original Mill Lane
24 Stephen Hart Thomas Hart Josiah Hart Mill in River
Annie Burr Lewis Robert Porter Keep Town of Farmington Winchell Smith Est.
Present Mill Lane
25
John Hart Burned in 1666
Waldo K. Chase Est. Anna Y. Barbour
Michael A. Connor
Maiden Lane
First Ecclesiastical Society parsonage May Deming Luscomb
Edward H. Deming Jr. Porter School
27
John Hart John Wadsworth
28 Moses Ventres Moses Ventres fr. 1688 Jacob Barnes 1714
29 Simeon Wrotham Jr. Samuel Hooker Jr.
30 Samuel Hooker Jr. 1716
Mabel Mason Wells Pearl Street Kenneth Ruic
Theodate Pope Riddle
R. J. and Genevieve Bien
Harrison Smith
William S. Cowles
William Sheffield Cowles
Wilmarth Lewis
35
36 Samuel Willis Samuel Wadsworth 1719
C. S. Mason Tunxis Street and south to include brook and low ground
xviii
31 32
John Talcott John Langdon
33
34
Rev. Roger Newton Rev. Samuel Hooker Edward Hopkins to Sarah Willson John Root John Warner William Higasen
Annie Burr Lewis Annie Burr Lewis
Number 18 John Andrews sold to Sam- uel Loomis of Windsor whose son Samuel lived in house and in 1659 sold to William Fudd
Florence Gay
21 William Heacox or Hitch- cock to Robert Porter
26 Thomas Porter
Saint Patrick Church Society Maple Street Robert Porter Keep Sara Crawford
Number Original Owners
37 Luke Hayes 1690 John Langdon Daniel Porter
38
39 40
Edmund Scott Nathaniel Wadsworth 1697 Daniel Warner J. Langdon Simon Newell
The Farmsteads
44
Roger Orvice Isaac Cowles 1722 James Cowles
Percy A. Cowles
East side of Main Street
45 Roger Orvice Orvice
46
47
Orvice
48
Daniel Porter
49
George Orvice
1677 Samuel Gridley
50
John Warner
Farmington Lodge Society
Farmington Lodge Society
Amanda Judatz
Frank E. Dorman
S. L. Root
A. Douglas Dodge
Edward G. Stewart
part of Coburn property
part of Coburn property
Harriet G. Porter
Isabel V. Lyons
Louise Lyons Moore
Amy C. Vorce, Trustee
Amy C. Vocre, Trustee
53 54 Benjamin Barnes Samuel Brownson in rear or on lot 74 55
56
57
Thomas Barnes Burying Ground Nathaniel Watson John Wadsworth 1660
Stephen Lawrence Est.
Porter School
MacDonald
Adrian and William Wadsworth
William Wadsworth
Truman Sanford
Anna Perkins Allen
Mary Scott Crossman
59 60, 61 Thomas Dymon sold 1650 to Samuel Cowles, - to his sons 1671 Samuel
Margaret Brady
59
60
Fohn
Nathaniel
61 62 Meeting House
63 Obadiah Richards sold to Daniel Andrus 1672
64 William Ventres John Hart (Pasture)
Sarah Beman Rose Churchill Waldo K. Chase Est.
Porter School
Mountain Road Center School District
Margaret Peters xix
Present Owners Agnes Curtin to north side of restau- rant property To south line of old school house lot near Borough line Wollenberg
41 42 43 Samuel Orvice to Samuel Wadsworth 1709
51 Edward Hopkins
52 Rev. Roger Newton 1648 Rev. Samuel Hooker 1661
Thomas Gridley
58 John Wadsworth
Number Original Owners
65 Deacon John Hart
66 Abraham Andrus
John Hart Jr.
67 John Wadsworth
68 1671 Daniel Andrus
69 John Hart
Present Owners
Lawrence Howard
Clara Preston Eyers
Laura C. Hanson
H. C. Freeman
Jennie Rhodes
Klauser Porter School lot
Adelaide Minikin Frank M. Hawley Est.
Colton Street
70 Thomas Bull John Wiatt
Ellen H. Risley Porter School Elsie Deming
71
72, 73 Richard Jones John Scoville John Cole father
71 John Cole 1712 son
Thomas Porter 1726
Marie T. Bissel
72 Nathaniel Cole 1722 John Rew Thomas Cowles
73
Stephen Cole
73 John Hart 1720 Stephen Hart pasture
74 Richard Brownson
Adrian Wadsworth Kate B. Root
May Isabel Root
Elizabeth Leopard et al
Virginia Leopard Holtz
Clarence Spinnie
Reuben and Lillian Darazio
Caroline C. Warren Samuel Labadia
Hatters Lane
76 Samuel Brownson East part of Hatch property on south side of Hatters Lane
76a
Nathaniel Wadsworth 1699 John Brownson Roger Brownson 1701 1709 William Wadsworth
76b John Brownson (mill) 1660
77 Daniel Porter's swamp
Nellie Gleason Hatch property
East side of High Street
78 Robert Porters woodlot Thomas Porter William Porter 1718 Isaac Cowles 1690
79 John Stanley 1665 Eben. Steel 1720
D. Gordon Hunter Farmington Village Green and Library Association (old Whitman house)
80 Stephen Hart Isaac Lewis Stephen Andrus 1726
Theodate Pope Riddle
xx
Marie T. Bissel
Homer Hillyer
75 John Brownson
Thomas Mason
Constance R. and H. H. Whaples W. Norton Smith
Number Original Owners
81 Samuel Judd Benjamin Judd
82
83 John Clark Fr.
Theodate Pope Riddle Theodate Pope Riddle
South side of Hartford Road
84 Joseph Bird 1666
Mary B. Carey
85
Anthony Hawkins 1666
James Judd 1678
86 Jonathan Smith 1686
Fames Gridley
Theodate Pope Riddle
87 William Judd Benjamin Judd 1698 John Norton Fr. 1706
Theodate Pope Riddle
88 Thomas North 1703
Theodate Pope Riddle (Farmhouse)
Thomas Judd
Theodate Pope Riddle
89 90 Joseph Smith 1713
William Judd's pasture
Theodate Pope Riddle
91 92 David Carpenter 1650
Joseph Bird
93 Richard Welton
Thomas North 1666
Barney
94 Richard Jones
Barney
William Corbe
Samuel North 1666 Abraham Dibell Zachariah Seymour 1672 Mathew Woodruff 1716
Barney at corner of Hartford road and Mt. Spring road
West side of Mountain Spring Road
96 97
Thomas Thomson Joseph Hawley
C. W. Deeds
Gertrude D. Thompson
G. G. Williams
98 John Woodruff 1691
T. Hewes
James Soby
Barney Home Property
Robert M. Keeney
Robert Parsons
(old school lot)
R. E. Parsons
Edith L. Beetham
F. F. Jones Arthur Parker
easterly part of Elm Tree Inn property Elm Tree Inn Country Club property
College Highway and part of Country club Mrs. Skinner
104 105
William Lewis 1665 Deacon Isaac Moore Andrew Warner 1648 William Lewis 1650 Matthew Webster 1660 Joseph Woodford 1666 Samuel Newell 1717 Thomas Newell 1646 John Haynes John Andrews Stephen Hart 1714 74A John Langdon
Harry J. Loomis Est. and west to river Theodate Pope Mrs. Riddle Mrs. C. Vorce
Xx1
99 Thomas Orton
100 Nathaniel Kellogg John Norton Sr.
101 102
103
Mary B. Carey
Theodate Pope Riddle
Theodate Pope Riddle
Thomas Judd
Theodate Pope Riddle
North side of Hartford Road
D. N. Barney Est. Near Birdseye corner
95
Present Owners Theodate Pope Riddle (The Gundy)
FARMINGTON TOWN CLERKS AND THEIR TIMES
T
H E
S E E D
I S
S O
W
N
Form Stell 1646 - 1665
IN THE establishment of the new colony at Newtown (now Hartford) in 1635-1636, the small group of emigrants from Massachusetts Bay were not without authority, although leaving their legitimate and well-founded colony and entering virgin and ungoverned soil. They came under a governmental arrangement agreed upon for their benefit by the General Court of Massachusetts, whereby eight of their number con- stituted a Commission "that some present government may be observed for the space of one year." John Steele was a mem- ber of that Commission.
He had been an original settler in Cambridge, with a home there in 1635. He remained in Hartford as an original settler and built his homestead on the Main Street, only one lot re- moved from the first meeting house and adjacent to the home lots of his good friends, Thomas Hooker and William Goodwin. The site is now occupied by the southern portion of the Trav- elers Building.
It would seem, from what little is to be found now concern- ing him, that John Steele was a quiet, steady-going and ac- commodating gentleman, with more than the usual allotment of education. His name appeared frequently as witness on wills of the townspeople of those years, and one could easily believe that with his clerical duties in Hartford and later in Farming- ton, he was looked to for legal aid in the drawing of wills and other documents. He served on numerous committees of the Town, particularly where fairness and meticulous, painstaking care were the principal requirements - such as highway, boundary and proprietors committees.
2
Farmington Town Clerks and Their Times
From the year following his service on the Commission of Eight, he was secretary of the colony and afterward deputy to the General Court for twenty years. He was a member of the first General Court which sat at Newtown, later Hartford, on April 26, 1636, and his name appears as deputy many years afterward when he was a resident of Farmington.
The inhabitants of Hartford chose John Steele as Register in September, 1639, as recorded in Hartford Town Votes, Volume I, pages 5 and 7. This preceded the authorization to do so by the General Court, as we find under date of October 10, 1639. "The Townes aforesaid (Hartford, Windsor and Wethers- field) shall each of them p'vide a Ledger Book, with an Index or alphabet vnto the same: Also shall choose one who shall be a Towne Clerk or Register, who shall before the General Courte in April next, record every man's house and land already granted and measured out to him, with the bounds and quan- tity of the same .. . "
It was therefore necessary for the inhabitants of Hartford to confirm John Steele as Register under the act of the General Court, and on November 16, 1639: Hartford Town Votes record: "It is ordered that John Steele shall be Register or Towne Clarke to record all (lands) in the Register booke ac- cording to (the order of the General Court) ... "
That Mr. Steele did this work is proved by a further entry in the Connecticut Colonial Records under date of April 1I, 1640: "Mr. Steele is returned Recorder for the Towne of Hart- ford and hath brought into the Courte 114 coppys of the sev- eral p'cells of land belonging to & concerning 114 persons."
It would seem, therefore, that Mr. Steele was not fully au- thorized to act as Town Clerk until Hartford as a Town had been empowered by the General Court to "choose their own officers." Consequently the first election of John Steele as Re- corder was in September, 1639, with a re-election on November 16 of the same year, by the inhabitants of the town of Hartford, in conformity with the regulations of the General Court.
Dr. William DeLoss Love in his The Colonial History of Hartford believes that previous to the appointment of John Steele as Register, William Spencer, who had been town clerk
3
John Steele
in Newtown, Massachusetts, made the first entries in Hart- ford's book of town votes. He says "Most of the early entries in this book (Hartford Town Book) are in his (Spencer's) well-known handwriting. He was one of the committee ap- pointed by the General Court to review the laws and orders of the Colony in 1639, and was one of the signers of the Funda- mental Orders. This would naturally suggest a similar service for the town ... he began, in proper form, the record of their town meeting, December 23, 1639. He continued as townsman to keep the records during the following months, when the in- habitants were forming the body of proprietors. His valuable service was then ended by his death."
This bears out the conclusions reached by a study of the land and town meeting records of Farmington, in that it is apparent they were not always kept by the Register - the handwriting of the land records being always that of the Regis- ter or town clerk, but the minutes of the town meetings evi- dently made by the townsmen. It points to the larger authority of the townsmen of that day than of later years, when their duties became purely administrative. The townsmen had au- thority to keep the town minutes and make entries of grants of land - sometimes a choice bit to themselves.
Although Mr. Steele was much engaged with his pen and record books, underneath was the spirit and courage of an ad- venturer - a wanderer. It is generally conceded by historians through the years that John Steele was one of the group who "viewed" Tunxis Sepus from the top of the mountain in 1639. With him were probably William Lewis, Stephen Hart, Thomas Judd, John Bronson, John Warner, Nathaniel Kellogg, Thomas Barnes, Richard Seymour, Thomas Gridley, Thomas Scott. Whether they were hunting, or it was the desire which had brought them thus far, that of always traveling on to the west - looking over the top of the next hill - they must have thrilled at the sight of the new, green valley and hills, with its two rivers joining at the edge of the plain. Their ever practical minds soon grasped the value of the high hills and meadows, particularly as compared with the sand and marshes of the
4
Farmington Town Clerks and Their Times '
Massachusetts bay, or the more rocky and scrubby land to the east of the Great River.
As early as 1643, Farmington records show that homes had been built here: "Stephen Harts house lot bounded on the north by land of Thomas Upson which he recorded in 1643."
John Steele came here probably in 1645 or soon after as he was "intreated for the present to be recorder there (Farming- ton) or until the Towne have one fitt among themselves" and continued at least until 1664.
On "December first, 1645, the Colonial Court sat at Hartford with Jo: Haynes, Esq. Gouv., Ed: Hopkins Esq. Dep. (Gov- ernor) Capten Mason, Mr. Woolcott, Mr. Webster, Mr. Whiting, Mr. Welles and as Deputys Mr. Trotte, Mr. Ollister, Ja: Boosey, Jo. Demon, Mr. Hull, Mr. Staughton, Mr. Steele, Mr. Talcott," and had the great distinction of passing the order making the plantation known as Tunxis Sepus, the town of Farmington. The articles of incorporation read thus:
"Its Ordered, that the Plantation cauled Tunxis shalbe cauled Farmington, and that the bounds thereof shalbe as followeth: The Easterne bounds shall meet with the westerne of these Plantations, wch are to be fiue myles on this side of the great Riuer, and the Northern bownds shall be fiue myles fro the hill in the great meadow towards Masseco, and the Southerne bownds from the said hill shalbe fiue myles, and they shall haue liberty to improue ten myles further than the said fiue, and to hinder others fro the like, vntill the Court see fitt otherwise to dispose of yt. And the said Plata, are to at- tend the general Orders formerly made by this Court, settled by the Committee to who the same was referred, and other occations, as the rest of the Plantations vppon the River doe. And Mr. Steele is intreated for the present to be recorder there, vntill the Towne haue one fitt among themselues. They also are to haue the like libertyes as the other Townes vppon the Riuer, for making Orders among themselues, pruided they alter not any fundamentall agreements settled by the said Committee, hitherto attended." Thus was the Town of Farm- ington incorporated, being the first and only offshoot from Rev.
5
John Steele
Thomas Hooker's church, and ranking equally with Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield.
In Farmington the home of John Steele was on the Town Path, now Main Street, about where now stands the house formerly owned by Mrs. Gertrude Gay Kimball, sometimes known as the Richard Gay homestead. His son, John Steele, Jr., lived about where Miss Alice Sneath recently lived and on this land also stood "Father Steele still house." On the corner, where now stands the Thomson house, with its much photo- graphed doorway and ell, stood the Farmington home of Governor Thomas Welles, conveyed on a parchment May 16, 1646, as a wedding gift to his daughter Anne "in consideration of a marriage lately held, betrothed and solemnized with Thomas Thomson." This deed, giving the town as Tunxis Sepus, was not recorded until January 23, 1713-14, when it was brought to be recorded by Joseph Hawley, grandson of Thomas Thomson. After passing through many hands, and the old house probably all gone, with the possible exception of parts of the ell, the present house, built by Daniel Curtis in I783, was again in the Thomson family for many years.
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