USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Farmington > Farmington town clerks and their times (1645-1940) > Part 32
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In the record of ownership recorded to Governor Edward Hopkins we find: "Jan. 1653. In the Jurisdiction of Coneckkiott Land in ffarmington be- longing to Edw. Hopkins and his heires lawfully begotten of his body forever. Viz. One psell of land on which mesuarg or teniment now standeth with other out houses yardes or gardins therein being containing by estimation tenn acres be it more or less abutting on John Warners land on the south and on Mr. Newtons land on the North."
Governor Hopkins returned to Eng- land and to lucretive positions there. He died in London 1657, and left be-
quests for education of children in Hartford. Hopkins Street and the Hopkins High School in Hartford are named in his honor. He was also gener- ous with the surviving members of the Hooker family. Beside the farm to Sarah, he left cash bequests to Samuel, the eldest child of Roger and Mary Newton and such debts as were due from Mrs. Susannah Hooker to him. Genealogists have tried to find a family connection which would explain the close friendship between the Hooker family and Governor Hopkins, but there seems to be none.
ANTHONY HAWKINS lived in 1666 on the east side of Hartford road, about opposite the former red schoolhouse, on land now owned by Mrs. Mary Barney Carey. His daughter Ruth by a first marriage, born in Windsor, October 24, 1649, married Thomas Hart 3rd son and youngest child of Deacon Stephen Hart. Mr. Hawkins only son died childless. He married (2) before May 6, 1656 Ann (Welles) Thomson, daughter of Governor Thomas Welles and widow of Thomas Thomson, who died April 25, 1655. Anthony and Ann Hawkins had a daughter Sary, baptised in Farmington 1657. Ann Hawkins died 1680. Mr. Hawkins died 1673.
Mr. Hawkins was a distinguished resident of the town. He was named as one of the nineteen "truly & well be- loved petitioners" to whom his majesty Charles second granted the charter of Connecticut. Much of his life was spent in public service. He was on the jury at Hartford frequently from 1645 to 1649 - from 1657 to 1665 a Deputy to the General Court and from 1666 to 1673 an assistant. Following the formation of Hartford County in 1666 he was a commissioner for Farmington, empowered thereby to relieve the county court of small cases. He was given 400 acres of land as compensa- tion for his public service, he to take the land where it would not prejudice any other owner. He served in King Philip's War, being ordered to raise a company of soldiers at Farmington for the defense of Hadley May, 1676.
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WILLIAM HITCHCOCK or Hicock, with many various spellings, was an original proprietor and settler, but died soon. His land was sold before 1665 to Robert Porter, being recorded March 1665 in Porter's name. It was a parcel on which a dwelling house stood with barns, gardens and orchards containing five acres divided by the town highway running from the north to the south end of the town. John Lee lived just south and John Standly lived next north. This land has remained in the Porter family since that time. It is the part of the Porter School now occu- pied by the brick school store and apartments.
RICHARD JONES and William Corbe exchanged house lots about 1660, Richard Jones taking Corbe's house lot on 'the mill highway' (Colton Street), and Corbe taking Jones former house lot on the Hartford Road. Jones first home lot, on Hartford Road was of five acres, on the north side of Hartford Road, with land of Abrahan Dibbel on the west where later Zacha- riah Seymour and Nathaniel Woodruff lived, and on the east was land of Rich- ard Walton, later the home of Thomas North. It is now the large field just east of the Barney Red cottage and barn. When sold to Corbe there was no building on the land. Jones took Corbe's land, of three acres, with a 'tenement' standing on it, on the north side of Mill highway, about where the Bull lot now is. Richard Jones removed to Haddam. A Mary Jones married Thomas Barnes, in 1690, probably both were children of the original set- tlers.
THOMAS JUDD was one of the first settlers and an original proprietor of the town of Farmington. He was one of the seven organizers of the Church of Christ, October 13, 1652. He married Sarah, a daughter of John Steele Sr., and lived next to Mr. Steele. His home was about where now stands the former home of John H. Thompson. John Steele Sr. lived next south and John Steele Jr. lived next north of Thomas Judd. Judd later removed with his family to Northampton.
WILLIAM JUDD married Mary daughter of John Steele. He owned as pasture the hilltop now the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Wallace Riddle, with a right-of-way west of his dwell- ing house, shared later with Benjamin Judd. His house stood west of the present Riddle farmhouse. Judd later sold to John Norton Jr.
BENJAMIN JUDD married Susanna North January 18, 1693-4. He and Samuel lived in High Street where Mrs. Riddle's house "The Gundy' now stands and the house, formerly two separate houses were probably both built by the Judds who owned the land from High Street to the mountain.
THOMAS JUDD owned the large pas- ture and barn yards now part of the Riddle farm. He lived at the bend of the Hartford Road in the house formerly occupied by Mr. Anthony Hawkins.
NATHANIEL KELLOGG was an original proprietor and one of the earli- est settlers in Farmington, coming here from Hartford where he was also a proprietor. He and his wife Elizabeth joined the church in Farmington January 20, 1653. Kellogg lived on the Hartford road just east of William Lewis Jr., (now Elm Tree Inn) in the house later owned and occupied by John Norton Sr. Kellogg also owned other large tracts on land in pasture and meadow and mountain, and several acres between the Main Street and High Street.
He died 1657. His will mentions his wife Elizabeth, brother John, sister Jane Hallisun and sister Rachel Cave, all dwelling in old England, his adopted daughters Susan Newton and Rebecca Merval. Rev. Roger Newton had a daughter Susanna who would have been about eight or ten years old at this time and we wonder if Nathaniel Kellogg, childless, chose to call this child his 'daughter'. We find no record of adoption, and must remember that terms of relationship in those years were used with more affection than actual truth. Kellogg also remem- bered in his will his 'cousin Joseph
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Kellogg's three children', who are the ancestors of many distinguished men of that name today.
DEACON JOHN LANKTON was not an original proprietor of Farmington, but was an early settler and one of the substantial and leading citizens of the town. His first recorded land was "land bought from Rev. Roger Newton, Thomas Barnes and Richard Brownson through which the highway runs north and south, bounded south by Samuel Hooker and highway running to ould millplace, north part on Thomas Barnes and Richard Brownson and west on river and Newtons land." This record was made in 1665 and states that the land was bought in 1650. This is valu- able in that it shows us that in 1650 Rev. Roger Newton lived on the east side of the street midway between the present Hatters Lane and the old right of way into the swamp, - it also tells us that in 1665 when the record was made, Newton had sold or given his land to his brother-in-law, Rev. Samuel Hooker, who had been pastor of the church since 1661 and who lived in the former Newton house.
John Lankton had also bought land formerly belonging to John Talcott, later of Thomas Barnes and land of Richard Brownson, to make up his holdings there. He gave one acre on the opposite corner, now the corner of Hatters Lane and Main Street, to his 'son-in-law' Thomas Gridley for a house lot. When the elder Thomas Gridley was dying he asked his friend John Lankton, to administer his estate, pay the bills and care for his three children, - Thomas aged eight, Samuel aged five and Mary aged three years. Thomas Gridley Jr. married Elizabeth Clark December 25, 1679 and in 1680 John Langton gave him a houselot with a dwelling house on it. John Lankton married Mary (Semmor or Seymour) Gridley, widow of Thomas Sr.
John Lankton lived in this house on land now facing Hatters Lane. He also owned land further south on the Main street about where John Curtin now lives. Here his son Joseph baptised March 18, 1659, probably lived as he married Susannah Root of Farmington
October, 1683. And here also John Lankton's daughter Elizabeth lived, in a leanto with half the cellar, orchards and half the barn. Deacon Lankton died 1689 leaving a grandson John, son of his own son John deceased; heirs of his son Samuel, his son Joseph and daughter Elizabeth. The grandson John, left to his aunt Elizabeth's care, died November 1690 aged eight years and his share of his grandfather's estate went to Elizabeth, who on or before December 7, 1692 married Luke Hayes, the second schoolmaster in Farmington. Elizabeth Langton Hayes died 1703 and Hayes later married Maudlin Daniels who had previously been married to Samuel Street of Wallingford, second to Frank Freeman of Farmington a negro who held elective offices in the town. After the death of Luke Hayes in 1712 Maudlin married Dennis Hoogins of Ireland and the records show that she was Maudlin Hoogins a woman of property in the town. In his will, Luke Hayes did not leave any of his property to Maudlin, leaving all that he had inherited from his first wife Elizabeth, to her brother Joseph Lankton, and all other property to Lieutenant John Stanly and Lieu- tenant Samuel Wadsworth. Maudlin objected and retained as attorney John Hart. Both she and Hart were ordered by the court to produce property of the estate of Luke Hayes which they were believed to be withholding, but it profited Maudlin little, as she received none of the Hayes and Lankton estates. Hayes had property of his own in pasture, farm land and orchard as well as a small library of Latin and other school books.
John Lankton's son Joseph was named executor of his father's will and given the homestead (now part of the W. S. Cowles place). Joseph and his wife Susannah (Root) had a son Joseph born 1688, married December 24, 1713 to Rachel Cowles. On December 25, 1713 Joseph Sr. gave his son as wedding and Christmas present three acres of land with a new house next to his own, about where the former Barbour house now stands. One acre had been his own and two acres he bought January 1713 from Thomas Barnes. At his death
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Joseph Lankton Sr., willed to his son Ebenezer "on whom he depended in his last years" his ancestral homestead. The new William Hooker house stood just next south, between Lankton's and Meadow road.
Ebenezer Lankton was born July 17, 1701 and on November 30, 1727 married Jemima Cowles.
JOHN LOMAS (LOOMIS) sold his dwellinghouse with its barns, out- houses, orchards and gardens in 1655 to Samuel Lomas. This had been pur- chased from John Andrews. In 1659 Samuel Lomas or Loomis as it is now spelled, sold to William Judd and both John and Samuel removed to Windsor. The property so transferred had land of both Samuel and John Steele on the north and the homestead of John Andrews on the south and stood about where the E. H. Cady house now stands.
JOHN LEE SR., lived on the west side of the Main street, known as Town Path, on land he bought of Thomas Newell and Nathaniel Kelogg recorded in his own name January 10, 1653, thus becoming a proprietor and early settler. He married 1658 Mary, second daughter of Deacon Stephen Hart and lived about where the Main House of the Porter School now stands, having seven acres of land, extending to the river with orchards and gardens. He had other large tracts of land in Nod (Avon), the Division against Wethers- field, common land given him by the town, and pasturage in first mountain and in the second meadow.
His daughter Mary assisted her father in teaching Indian children and keeping the older Indians obedient to the rules laid down by the colonists for their conduct in the town.
John Lee's first child, John was born 1659. John Lee joined the Farmington church 1660. He died 1690. His widow married (2) Jedediah Strong of Nor- thampton, Mass. January 5, 1692 as his third wife. Her daughter, Tabitha Lee married Jedediah's son, Preserved Strong October 23rd, 1701.
Mary (Hart) Lee Strong met her death in this wise, according to the
published record "John Lee of Far- mington": "Jedidiah Strong and wife set out early in the morning to visit their children in Coventry, Ct., but at the Falls in South Hadley the horse's feet slipped up and he fell flat on the off side, and by the fall killed the woman who died next day October 10, 1710. She is probably buried in Northampton cemetery."
WILLIAM LEWIS was the second town clerk of Farmington and a chapter is devoted to him. He lived where the Elm Tree Inn now stands, part of the house now being a part of the Inn and furnished with Colonial primitives. It was built about 1666 according to Isham and Brown, that date coinciding with the record of purchase.
RENOLD MARVIN was an original proprietor and settler of Hartford. He lived in Farmington on the site of the house now occupied by W. W. Hoppin, Jr., owned by Mrs. Anne Burr Lewis. In 1653 he sold his land and dwelling house to John Warner and removed to Saybrook.
MATTHEW MARVIN came to New England in 1634 in the "Increase" with his wife and five children. He was an original proprietor and settler of Hartford where he died in 1687. He was an original proprietor in Farming- ton, his land being ten acres of meadow sold before 1655 to Nathaniel Kelodg.
NICHOLAS MASON was an original proprietor of the town having ten acres in the Little Meadow (now Farmington Golf Club links) which he sold to John North January 1653.
ISAAC MOORE was living in Far- mington as a proprietor and settler about 1645. He was entered for passage on the "Increase" in 1635 'aged 13" on the same voyage with John Warner, Mathew Marvin and others who were his life long friends in the new country. He lived on Hartford road on the site where the Farmington Country Club now stands. He married Ruth Standly December 5, 1645. She was the sister of John Standly, builder of the old house
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on High Street now the Farmington Museum, who on the same day, mar- ried Sarah Scott daughter of Thomas Scott.
Isaac Moore was granted twenty acres with a spring on it, by the town in 1656, this land about equally divided by a path, later called High Street, half of which he later exchanged with John Standly. Isaac Moore took part of Standley's land on the west side of High Street about opposite the present Museum, and conveyed his land, on the east side of High Street where the Museum now stands, to Standly, who about 1666 or 1668, built the house which still stands. After the death of Captain John Standly his son sold the house and 5 acres to Ebenezer Steele, retaining land back of the house for a wood lot. The Riddle property now embraces this wood lot and spring.
In 1649 Isaac and Ruth Moore re- moved to Norwalk, their house be- ing occupied successively by Andrew Warner and later by William Lewis. Isaac and Ruth Moore returned to Farmington again in 1660. Their daughter Elizabeth married Samuel Hayes, daughter Ruth married John Norton Jr., and daughter Mary mar- ried Captain John Hart, only child to survive in the family of John Hart who lost their lives in the fire which destroyed their home.
JOHN NORTON SR. lived in the house, probably still standing, now second east from the Elm Tree Inn, which in 1670 was the home of William Lewis.
April 22, 1697 he gave his son Thomas, his dwelling house with lot of twelve acres, barns, outhouses, gardens and orchards, except the cornfield given to his son John. The homestead so given had land of the heirs of John Orton on the east, west land of the heirs of Captain William Lewis and south on the highway leading to Hartford, north on land of William Lewis.
John Norton Jr. lived across the street from his father, where B. O. Judatz now lives. Jonathan Smith lived west of him (now the Park). High Street was east and land belonging to
Benjamin and William Judd south. On March 26, 1708 this homestead was given to his son John Norton 3rd, and John Norton Jr., lived on the south side of Hartford road near Poke Brook.
John Norton Sr. had a daughter Sarah, who married Samuel Newell October 8, 1710, a son Samuel who died August 20, 1659. He left a widow Elizabeth who died November 5, 1702.
THOMAS NEWELL was one of the original proprietors and was also a first settler. He bought a house lot with a dwelling house, barns, and gardens, orchards and all the edifices together with boards and palles (paling) for building, from William Goodwin and John Crow in 1645. January 7, 1686 his son Samuel Newell recorded this homestead as his own, as having been given him by his father. It was 'bounded south on the highway leading to the North Meadow Gate, north by Captain William Lewis, west on Mister Hains and east on Joseph Woodfords land.'
Thomas Newell was the founder of the Newell family, famous for its leadership and attainments in every generation.
Thomas' son Samuel married Mary, eldest daughter of Captain Thomas and Ruth (Hawkins) Hart, December 20, 1683. Mary (Hart) Newell died April 28, 1752, aged 86 years. Samuel died February 15, 1753 aged 92 years. They had seven children. Their eldest son Samuel, born February 19, 1686 married Sarah daughter of John and Ruth (Moore) Norton March 1, 1710 and lived at Newell Corners Southing- ton. They were the parents of Samuel who married Mrs. Mary (Hart) Root, widow of Timothy Root, and who was the first pastor of the Congregational Church in Bristol.
Thomas Newell gave his son Samuel a fifteen acre parcel of land for plowing and planting north of his homestead with "a convenient way for carts and cariages". This was probably the be- ginning of the present Avon Road now known as College Highway.
JOHN NORTH was an original pro- prietor and early settler in Farmington. In January 1653 he recorded three
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roods of land on Main street Town Path which he bought of Samuel Steell. This home site was the second from Hartford Road and extended halfway eastward toward High Street, not then laid out.
DEACON THOMAS ORTON settled first in Windsor being there in 1649. His land in Farmington in 1656 was on the east side of Main Street, just north of Robert Porter's land as it extended across the street from his home, making the Orton homestead about where Robert Porter Keep now lives. Thomas Orton also recorded in 1656 five acres with a tenement thereon bought of Joseph Bird. He later built a house there which stood until demol- ished in 1915 by F. P. Swanston, who built a new house on the site of the old one. This Orton house was lined with brick, probably brought from England as ballast and in 1704 was one of the seven houses ordered fortified against . the Indians. Other houses to be so fortified were those of William Lewis, Hawkins Hart, John Wadsworth, James Wadsworth, John Hart and Samuel Wadsworth.
GEORGE ORVIS was an original pro- prietor and settler of Farmington. He died here 1664 and his widow Elizabeth married Richard Brownson as his second wife, it being her third mar- riage. She was first the wife of David Carpenter. In 1677 Orvis's land and homestead were sold by his widow Elizabeth as executrix of his estate, to Elizabeth (Upson) Scott, as executrix of the estate of Thomas Upson. The Orvis homestead so sold was on the east side of Main Street about opposite present Tunxis Street.
ROBERT PORTER an original pro- prietor and settler in Farmington was one of the seven men who organized the Church of Christ in Farmington October 13, 1652. He lived on land where now stands the brick store and apartments of the Porter School. He married Mary daughter of Thomas Scott November 7, 1644 and was probably one of the first to settle in Farmington. He did not have his land recorded until 1665.
The birth of Mary, daughter of Robert Porter, born February 24, 1646, is one of the first recorded births in Farmington.
His son Thomas, born 1650 was a professional tailor and continued the business of his brother John who died at the age of twenty-three.
Thomas married Abigail daughter of Samuel and Abigail (Stanley) Cowles. He inherited his father's property. He had a son William who married Mary daughter of Joseph Smith June 14, 1711, and his father Thomas gave him the wood lot at the corner of High Street and Mountain Road. There was no mention in the deed of a house. William probably built the old house so similar in construction to the Farmington Museum, which stood on that location. It was moved to the east by a later owner and burned January 15, 1886. William had two sons. Captain Joseph inherited the homestead and kept a famous tavern there. David married Anna Judd.
Miss Sarah Porter wrote in “Noah Porter A Memorial by Friends" - 'Robert Porter, one of the eighty-four proprietors who settled Farmington in 1640, himself the son of a Puritan minister in England, who, on account of his non-Conformity, had been ejected from the Established Church. Four successive generations were born in the Farmington homestead of Robert Porter, and three of its owners died there, all having lived to an advanced age. They were farmers of moderate means, God-fearing, upright, respected men.' The Rev. Noah Porter, for sixty years pastor of the First Church here, was of the fifth generation from Robert Porter.
THOMAS PORTER an original pro- prietor and settler here, married November 20, 1644, Sarah, daughter of Deacon Stephen Hart. They joined the church in Farmington August 19, 1653. They lived on the southermost part of the homelot of Deacon Stephen Hart, about where the home of the late Judge Edward H. Deming stands, opposite Colton Street. The Porter house stood there until the great fire in 1866. Thomas Porter was supposed
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to be a brother of Robert Porter also an original settler here in 1650. Thomas died in Farmington 1697. His son Thomas, known as Deacon was a weaver and tailor. He lived in half of his father's homestead.
Other children of Thomas Sr., were Samuel, Dorothy, Sarah and Johanna.
DR. DANIEL PORTER was one of the earliest settlers in Farmington and an original proprietor. He lived just north of the old south school on the John Curtin property. The Porter swamp between lower Main Street and the mountain has served the good purpose of providing a boundary for much of the property in that section. Evidences are still visible of the efforts to make a road across the swamp from Meadow Lane to the Brownson mill on the mountain before Hatters Lane was laid out. Dr. Porter was the first of five generations of Daniel Porters who were physicians. His compensation was small indeed. By order of the General Court he was paid a salary for year 1656 of six pounds and "six shill- ings for each journey to each Town on the River to exercise his arts of Chiurgerie." This salary was later in- creased to twelve pounds. He removed to Waterbury and died 1690.
In 1655 he recorded his dwelling- house, with yards and gardens on land bought of Thomas Upson, about six acres.
JOHN PRATT or 'Prat' as sometimes appears, was an original proprietor and settler of Hartford and an original pro- prietor of Farmington. Pratt Street in Hartford is named for him as his home stood on land where that street was cut through. His land in Farmington was on the north side of the highway to Hartford at about the driveway en- trance to Philip Barney's house. There was a house and barn on the premises in 1655. William Lewis Jr., lived there. This land was sold to William Lewis Sr., all of which he gave to his son William.
WILLIAM PANTRY was an original proprietor and settler of Hartford where he was one of the wealthiest and most prominent members of the settle-
ment. He was an original proprietor of Farmington, but did not live here. His wife Margaret survived him. Her sister was the wife of Richard Brunson of Farmington. William Pantry's land consisted of one hundred twenty acres in Lower Meadow which in 1650 was recorded as sold to Stephen Hart.
THOMAS RICHARDSON sold his land to Simon Rotham Jr. (Wrothum). It was a five acre parcel at the junction of Eighty Acre Road and Main Street, just south of land owned by John Lankton, probably where the Willard House now stands, which Lankton built. While living in Farmington a son John was born April 15, 1672, a daughter Mary on December 25, 1667, and a daughter Sarah on March 25, 1669. Thomas Richardson removed to Waterbury.
OBADIAH RICHARDS sold his land with a dwellinghouse to Daniel Andrews in 1672 and removed to Waterbury (Mattatuck). The land embraced two acres on Town Street between the 'meting house yard and Mountain Road'.
He was son of Thomas Richards of Hartford, an early settler of Farming- ton; freeman, May, 1669; married Hannah, daughter of John Andrews of Farmington (2) Esther died November 11, 1702 in Waterbury.
JOHN ROOT was one of the early settlers in Farmington and a member of the body of proprietors in 1672. He died 1684.
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