Browsed by
Year: 2019

“According to the writing:” Richard Negro of Farmington

“According to the writing:” Richard Negro of Farmington

  Author: Lisa Johnson  Richard Negro was a captive Black man who lived and worked in Farmington during the early years of the 18th century. Richard may have been typical of many enslaved people who resisted their captivities and actively worked for their own emancipation.   Richard, also known as Dick, was owned by Thomas Hart and his son Josiah, both residents of the village of Farmington. His birth date and origin are unknown. The first record of him in 1714 describes…

Read More Read More

The Inquiring Mind of Paul Kramer

The Inquiring Mind of Paul Kramer

A Tribute to Paul Kramer, by Betty Coykendall, delivered at the Stanley-Whitman House Spring Symposium on June 1, 2019 We meet today to do two things –    to try to enlighten all of you a bit about some regional history, and    to pay tribute to Paul Kramer, who in the last decade of his life, added             immeasurably to our knowledge of that local heritage. Paul Kramer’s inquiring mind led him to investigate in depth such diverse topics as early medicine,…

Read More Read More

An Influential Citizen and The Avon Congregational Church

An Influential Citizen and The Avon Congregational Church

Author: Janet M. Conner, Researcher, Avon Historical Society Early Northington resident Joel Wheeler was a civic-minded individual.  Joel was born about 1754 to William and Abigail Fost Wheeler.  He moved to town in the late 1700s and began buying property in the town center known as East Avon. Land ownership correlated to status, wealth, and standing within the community, as well as within the Church.   In 1795, he had acquired about 100 acres of land and a house at 26 Main Street,…

Read More Read More

Free in Farmington: The Stories of Two Men Named Frank

Free in Farmington: The Stories of Two Men Named Frank

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

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

css.php