Browsed by
Tag: Connecticut History

Connecticut Explored Names a New Publisher

Connecticut Explored Names a New Publisher

Comments 0 Comment

Media Contact: Jennifer LaRue, jglaruehere@gmail.com June 4, 2022: The Board of Connecticut Explored Inc. has announced the appointment of Dr. Katherine A. Hermes as the organization’s new Executive Director and Publisher. (Dr. Hermes is also the editor of Digital Farmington.) Hermes will assume the newly created role, which includes serving as the organization’s first formal Executive Director in addition to being its Publisher, on July 5. She succeeds Founding Publisher Elizabeth J. Normen, who is retiring from the post she created after…

Read More Read More

Free in Farmington: The Stories of Two Men Named Frank

Free in Farmington: The Stories of Two Men Named Frank

Comments 1 comment

Author: Tavvia Jefferson The history books are mostly silent about two free black men named Frank who lived in colonial Farmington. Christopher Bickford’s town history, Farmington in Connecticut, omits them entirely. Barbara Donahue’s book, Speaking for Ourselves: African American Life in Farmington, Connecticut is one of the few books to mention the men. There are no records documenting the dates of the births of either Frank, but there are probate records that provide glimpses into their lives.  In the probate records from 1698 and…

Read More Read More

The Will of Timothy Indian, A Christian Man of Farmington

The Will of Timothy Indian, A Christian Man of Farmington

Comments 0 Comment

Author: Katherine A. Hermes, (with Sarajane Cedrone, who helped transcribe the will and inventory). In the mid-to-late eighteenth century, Farmington was home to a group of Christian Native people who lived in an indigenous community, but who often emulated the colonists both in religion and law. This new Christian community drew Native people from the Mohegan (New London County), Wangunk (Middlesex County), and Quinnipiac (New Haven County) tribes, in addition to the local Tunxis tribe that had long inhabited Farmington….

Read More Read More

The Will of Amy Pewompskin, A Native Woman of New Hartford

The Will of Amy Pewompskin, A Native Woman of New Hartford

Comments 0 Comment

Author: Sharon Clapp Amy Pewompskin, also known as Saquama, of New Hartford, Connecticut, died on March 19, 1752, having declared her will on March 10, 1752 (appearing in the Litchfield County Probate Records of the time). Her “beloved mother” Mary was designated as the sole executor of her estate.  Amy identified two sisters and one brother, as well as an uncle “Cornelius Indian,” in her will. Her sisters were Christian, aka Mehannack, and Pationes [the “t” was not cross and appears…

Read More Read More

“How to find Onepenny: Re-telling Connecticut’s Native History through Wongunk Genealogy”

“How to find Onepenny: Re-telling Connecticut’s Native History through Wongunk Genealogy”

Comments 0 Comment

On May 25, 2018 Prof. Katherine Hermes, J.D., Ph.D. and Prof. Alexandra Maravel, J.D.  of Central Connecticut State University, New Britain sat down with Ronna Stuller on the public access television show, “Thinking Green,” to discuss their genealogical research on the Wongunk (Wangunk), the Native people who lived (and in some cases still do) along the Connecticut River from Hartford (Suckiog) in the South Meadows, Wethersfield (Pyquag), South Glastonbury (Nayaug), Middletown, Portland (Wongunk Meadows), Haddam and Thirty Mile Island, East Hampton, Killingly…

Read More Read More

Irish Immigration to Avon – A Forerunner To An Incidence of Cultural Prejudice at the Pine Grove School House In West Avon, 1876 (Part 2)

Irish Immigration to Avon – A Forerunner To An Incidence of Cultural Prejudice at the Pine Grove School House In West Avon, 1876 (Part 2)

Comments 0 Comment

Author: Janet M. Conner,  Avon Historical Society     (Part 1 was previously published on March 1.) History of the Pine Grove School House, Harris Road and West Avon Road, Avon, Connecticut The little, white painted school house, built in 1865, sits on its original foundation on the corner of Harris Road and West Avon Road in Avon, Connecticut.  The word ‘quaint’ is all-encompassing when looking at this well-preserved historic relic.  Other adjectives come to mind like ‘picturesque’, ‘charming’ and…

Read More Read More

Irish Immigration to Avon – A Forerunner to An Incidence of Cultural Prejudice at the Pine Grove School House in West Avon, 1876 (Part 1)

Irish Immigration to Avon – A Forerunner to An Incidence of Cultural Prejudice at the Pine Grove School House in West Avon, 1876 (Part 1)

Comments 0 Comment

Author: Janet M. Conner,  Avon Historical Society No matter when, in the course of our nation’s history, instances of racial or cultural discrimination or prejudice have occurred, the result is always the same…feelings get hurt, people become disenfranchised, the wrongs done continue to be perpetrated and people are less connected with those who are “different.”  Such was an instance of prejudice that occurred long ago at the lovely, one-room Pine Grove School House in West Avon, Connecticut. (Fig. 1) On…

Read More Read More

The Service of Africans from Connecticut in the American Revolution

The Service of Africans from Connecticut in the American Revolution

Comments 2 comments

Author: Kenneth Neal The American Revolutionary War era is consistently at the forefront of the consciousness of Americans, whether in touting the contributions of the founding fathers, or boldly asserting rights promised by the Constitution. The present day development of American Revolutionary War consciousness has been shaped by a selective use of the historical written record from the American Revolution that has devoted considerable attention to the subjects of the ‘Founding Fathers’ and ‘Rights’.  A recent collaboration of a number…

Read More Read More

Building Peace after the Revolution: William Spratts and Old Gate Mansion

Building Peace after the Revolution: William Spratts and Old Gate Mansion

Comments 0 Comment

Author: Teresa Lewis   Today, many historians are attempting to revise Connecticut’s revolutionary history by presenting a more complete historical picture, including the plight of loyalists and prisoners of war in New England both during and after the conflict. During the war, many loyal Tories were imprisoned in jails located in central Connecticut, including one at Farmington (Gilbert, 287). One such prisoner was William Spratts. Unlike many other loyalists and British soldiers, however, Spratts stayed in the United States following…

Read More Read More

Mary Barnes: Last Witch Hanged In Connecticut

Mary Barnes: Last Witch Hanged In Connecticut

Comments 59 comments

Author: Sandra Whitney On January 6, 1662, Mary Barnes was taken from her home in Farmington CT, more than likely by John Andrews, the local constable/sheriff, and taken to Hartford where she was indicted for witchcraft. She was approximately 32 years old at that time and had four children. There is not a lot written down about Mary Barnes in the historical records.  Who was Mary Barnes?  How did this Farmington goodwife became involved in the witch-hunt that was going…

Read More Read More

css.php