Travel Tuesday - from Massachusetts to Connecticut in the 1600's

"Leading Business Men of New Haven County[Connecticut] and an Historical Review of the PrincipalCities "
Boston: copyright 1887, by Mercantile Publishing Company,No. 3 Franklin Street, 1887

This is a digital book that I downloaded from THE LIBRARY in Salt Lake City. It gives a good accounting of the beginnings and history of the Colony of New Haven [Connecticut] from the early 1600's.

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Centuries prior to the occupation of New Haven region by the whites, an Indian tribe the Quinnipiacs lived there, and gave it their name. I understand that this tribe was passive, not aggressive, hunted and fished and later lived in peace with the white settlers.

In 1614, the Dutch navigator, Adrian Block, on his famous voyage from the Netherland up the Sound, visited the Quinnipiacs. He was the first white man to discover the place, and gave it the name of "Rodenberg," from the appearance of the East and West Rocks. [I am not familiar with these rocks so will do some more research to learn more]

Early in September, 1637, a party of some twenty brave men sailed into harbor of Quinnipiac. They were Englishmen, from the colony of Massachusettes, who were exploring the southern shore of Connecticut for a suitable spot to establish a new colony. They were led by Theophilus Eaton. The party was satisfied and measures were immediately taken toward securing it.

The original town plots were divided among the several families. The amount of assignment differing according to the size of the families, and amount each had contributed to the common stock. Among the chief of the old families were the Eaton, Davenport, Newman, Andrews, Atwater, Gregson, Good, Turner, Gilbert, Fugill, Tench, Malbon, Chapman, Peck, Lamberton, Fowler, Marshall, Prudden, Yale, Cheever, Browning, Whitman, Osborne, Coggswell, Beecher, Hopkins, Punderson, Dixon, Kitchell, Tuttle, Marsh, Benham, Baldwin, Ailing, Tapp, Chittenden, Kimberly, Wigglesworth, Nash, Trowbridge, Potter, Thompson, Russell, Brewster, Mansfield, Hickock, Perry and Wilkes. Of the nine equal squares into which the town was apportioned off, centre was reserved for a market-place and common. [I have been to New Haven and been to the center of town - to the Green. The Green was originally a cemetery. Later it was dug up and the contents moved to various other cemeteries. I don't think that very good records were kept at that time. Now you can hardly read some of the stones. It is just very sad! Now the Green is just that a green lawned area surrounded by the churches and now the library] 

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What a great bit of history for me......and of course there is lots more, this is just a sample. I am sure making a note to myself to check to see about other books written about the same exploration from the Massachusetts side. Good for me because here are four of my many surnames listed together and in the early 1600's with the impression that they all came down from the Massachusetts area. A new state!!!  Don't you just love it. I will add this and more to each family in my genealogy software. It sure adds a little more to the story. What a great beginning.................