Hartford Founder's Monument at Old Church Graveyard
Hartford Founders Monument is a memorial located at the Old Center Church Graveyard (see picture at right).
In 1633, the purtian preacher, Thomas Hooker (1586-1647) revolted against the authority of the English Church, and was forced to sail to Massachusetts Bay Colony on the ship Griffin with many of his followers. He was known as an outstanding speaker and an advocate of universal Christian suffrage.
Called today "the Father of Connecticut", Rev. Thomas Hooker was a towering figure in the early development of colonial New England. Owing to his conflict with the colony puritan leadership in Boston (he advocated for greater suffrage for the non-puritan residents) Hooker and the Rev. Samuel Stone led a group of about 100 who, in 1636, founded the settlement of Hartford, named for Stone's place of birth, Hertford in England. Here in 1638 they wrote the first constitution in America to create the new Colony of Connecticut and it's central city, Hartford CT.
Early History of Hartford[]
The first whites known to have explored the area were the Dutch, under Adriaen Block, who sailed up the Connecticut in 1614. By the early 1620s, Dutch fur traders had established a fort in Saukiog that they called “House of Hope,” in a location still known as Dutch point.
In England, a Puritan minister named Thomas Hooker was attracting the attention of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who fought fiercely against Puritan attempts to reform the established English Church. Eventually, Hooker was forced to leave England for Holland, and in 1633 came to Massachusetts to escape more persecution. The ship Griffin carried him and many members of his congregation from Braintree to America, arriving in Boston Harbor on 04 Sep 1633.
There, he became the first minister of the church at Newtown, now known as Cambridge, Massachusetts. His assistant was Samuel Stone, who had been born in Hertford (or, as it was usually spelled then, Hartford), north of London.
Finding the Boston area too cramped, Thomas Hooker and about 100 people from his congregation, along with as many cattle, left Massachusetts in 31 May 1636 and traveled south, arriving at Connecticut about a month later. Here they started a settlement to the north of the Dutch. They originally called their new home Newtown, but changed it to Hartford, probably at the suggestion of Samuel Stone.
The Native Americans in the area had generally good relations with the white settlers, at least in part because they sought protection from two warlike tribes, the Mohawks to the west and the Pequots to the east. Booker's group completed a treaty with the Indians for a tract of land embraced in present day city of Hartford and the adjoining towns of East Manchester and East and West Hartford. The title of this land was taken by Mr Samuel Stone and Mr Wm. Goodwin as trustees for this Colony.
Because it lay outside the authority of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Hartford assemblage needed its own authority to govern. In 1638, the General Court (legislative body), meeting in Hartford, adopted the Fundamental Orders, often described as America's first written constitution and the reason why Connecticut's official nickname is the Constitution State. The Orders, inspired in part by Hooker's assertion in a sermon that “the foundation of authority is laid, firstly, in the free consent of the people,” set up an independent government and established Connecticut as a commonwealth.
Each male member of this Colony was giving about two and one-half acres of the main tract of land and the balance was held in common. This division was made in what is now the center of Hartford city. By the terms of the division each man was required to build a house on his land within a year or forfeit his portion of the land to the colony.
Monument History[]
The original brownstone monument erected in 1837 was replaced by this one in 1986, by the Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford. It stands in the Ancient Burying Ground, which is located to the rear of the First Congregational Church at the corner of Main and Gold Streets in Hartford. This cemetery is also known as Old Center Cemetery. It lists the original Founders of Hartford.
List of Hartford Founders[]
Sorted List[]
- Adams, Jeremy (1604-1683) - English Immigrant - Proprietor of Colchester, Great-Uncle to Pres. John Adams.
- Allyn, Matthew (1605-1670) - English Immigrant - later founder of Windsor, Connecticut.
- Andrews, Francis (c1620-1663) - English Immigrant - 1639 settler of Fairfield, Connecticut.
- Andrews, William (c1605-1659) - English Immigrant - 1st school-teacher in Hartford.
- John Arnold (1585-1664)
- Andrew Bacon (1605-1664)-later moved to Hadley, MA.
- John Barnard (1598-1664) - Maltster, later moved to Hadley, MA.
- Thomas Barnes (1610-1690) - veteran of Pequot War, his first wife was the last person executed for Witchcraft in Hartford in 1663.
- Robert Bartlett (1612-1675) - killed during King Philip's War at Northampton MA.
- John Baysey (1612-1671)
- Thomas Beale
- Nathaniel Bardon
- Mary Betts
- John Bidwell
- Richard Billing
- Birchard, Thomas (1595-1684) -
- Peter Blatchford
- Thomas Blatchley
- Bliss, Thomas Sr (1563-1649) - persecuted puritan leader
- Bliss, Thomas Jr (1616-1688)
- William Blumfield
- James Bridgeman
- John Bronson
- Richard Bronson
- Thomas Bull
- Thomas Bunce
- Benjamin Burr
- Butler, Richard (1600-1684) - English Immigrant
- Dorothy Chester
- Clement Chaplin
- Richard Church
- John Clarke
- Nicholas Clarke
- William Clarke
- James Cole
- William Cornwell
- Crow, John (1606-1685)
- John Cullick
- Philip Davis
- Fulke Davy
- Robert Day
- Nicholas Disborough
- Joseph Easton
- William Edwards
- Edward Elmer
- Nathaniel Ely
- James Ensign
- Zachary Field
- Thomas Fisher
- John Friend
- Samuel Gardner
- Daniel Garret
- John Ginnings
- William Gibbons
- Richard Goodman
- William Goodwin
- Ozias Goodwin
- Seth Grant
- George Grave
- Bartholomew Greene
- Samuel Greenhill
- Thomas Gridley
- Samuel Hales
- Thomas Hale
- John Hall (1605-1676) - settler in Wallingford CT.
- Stephen Hart
- William Hayden
- Haynes, John (1594-1653) - 5th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1st Governor of the Colony of Connecticut
- Higginson, John, Rev (1616-1708) - Rev at Guilford, Connecticut from 1641-1659 then relocated to lead church at Salem, Massachusetts - participant in Salem witch trials.
- William Hills
- John Holloway
- Holton, William (c1620-) -
- Hooker, Thomas, Rev (1586-1647) - puritan leader of this colony. 1636 immigrant on the Griffin.
- Edward Hopkins - Governor
- John Hopkins
- Thomas Hosmer
- George Hubbard
- Thomas Hungerford
- William Hyde
- Jonathan Ince
- Thomas Judd
- Ralph Keeler
- William Kelsey
- Edward Lay
- William Lewis
- Richard Lord
- Thomas Lord
- Thomas Lord Jr
- Lyman, Richard (c1580-c1641) -
- John Marsh
- Marvin Matthew (1600-1678) - English Immigrant with family on 1635 ship Increase - 1649 helped settle Norwalk CT.
- Reinold Marvin
- John Maynard
- John Moody
- John Morris
- Benjamin Munn
- Thomas Munson
- Joseph Mygatt
- Olcott, Thomas (1613-1654) - English Immigrant - Constable of Hartford
- Olmstead, James (1580-1640) -1632 Immigrant with family on ship Lyon.
- Olmstead, John (1616-1686) -1632 Immigrant with family on ship Lyon, nephew of James Olmstead
- Olmstead, Richard (1612-1687) -1632 Immigrant with family on ship Lyon, nephew of James Olmstead, 1649 helped settle Norwalk CT.
- William Pantry
- Parker, William (1611-1677) - English immigrant who later helped settle Saybrook CT.
- Paul Peck (1608-1695)
- William Phillips
- John Pierce
- Thomas Porter
- Post, Stephen (1604-1659) - 1633 Immigrant with family on ship Griffin.
- John Pratt -
- Lt Pratt, William (1609-1678) -
- John Purchase
- Nathaniel Richards
- Thomas Richards
- Risley, Richard (1612-1648) - 1633 immigrant on ship Griffin, settled in Hocaknum CT.
- Thomas Root
- William Ruscoe
- Nathaniel Ruscoe
- John Sable
- Thomas Scott
- Thomas Selden
- Richard Seymour
- John Skinner
- Arthur Smith
- Giles Smith
- Thomas Spencer
- William Spencer
- John Stanley
- Thomas Stanley
- Timothy Stanley
- Thomas Stanton
- Edward Stebbins
- George Steele
- John Steele
- George Stocking
- John Stone
- Samuel Stone
- John Talcott
- Thomas Thompson
- Thomas Upson
- Robert Wade
- William Wadsworth (1594-1675) - one of the wealthier settlers of Hartford. Son rescued Connecticut's royal charter.
- Henry Wakeley
- James Wakeley
- Samuel Wakeman
- Nathaniel Ward
- Andrew Warner (1595-1684)
- John Warner
- Richard Watts
- Richard Webb
- John Webster
- Thomas Welles - Governor
- William Westley
- William Westwood
- John White
- Samuel Whitehead
- William Whiting
- John Wilcox
- Gregory Wolterton
- Thomas Woodford
- Wyllys, George Gov (1590-1645) - 4th Governor of the Colony of Connecticut
Unscribed Founders of Hartford[]
Nicholas Gennings (Jennings)
Nicholas Olmstead (Son of James Olmsted) Abraham Pratt
Priscilla (Wakeman) Richards (Widow of Thomas Richards) William Watts
Matthew Beckwith Nathaniel Browne John Cattell Thomas Crumpe Thomas Goodfellow Rebecca (Taylor) Greenhill Henry Hayward Blaynch Hunt Nicholas Jennings (Ginnings) Nathaniel Kellogg Samuel Ketherell John Latimer Thomas Lee Richard Lyman, Jr. Isaac Moore, Dea. Jarvis Mudge Nicholas Olmstead (Son of James Olmsted) Abraham Pratt Priscilla (Wakeman) Richards (Widow of Thomas Richards) Robert Sandford William Watts