Hartford’s Colonial Founders
Led by Reverends Hooker and Stone, a group of Puritan English colonists left Newtown, MA seeking their own settlement. They followed the Connecticut Path, a Native American trail west of the Connecticut River and then south to the future site of Hartford. Hooker’s group, which include wives, sisters, and children, spent
two weeks trekking through the wilderness, accompanied by 160 head of cattle, goats, and pigs.
CT River Valley in the 1600s
Native American tribes lived in the area and the Dutch Fort of Good Hope was nearby. The Native Americans sought protection from two competing tribes; the Mohawks to the west and the Pequots to the east. Tension and conflicts between the European settlers and Indigineous tribes led to several wars, causing hardship and strife.
Learn about the Pequot WarFounders Monument
By 1835 the Ancient Burying Ground was a relic of the past. Daniel Wadsworth, son and heir of Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth, began efforts to clean up the Ancient Burying Ground. He established the first Ancient Burying Ground Association and led efforts to erect a memorial to Hartford’s colonial founders.
In 1964 the Founders Monument was restored by a committee of the Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford (SDFH). The Founders Monument was completely replaced in 1986 by the SDFH to commemorate Hartford’s 350th anniversary. The monument was created out of solid pink granite from Stony Creek, CT.
The first Founders Monument in 1835 led to efforts to identify the first colonial landowners in Hartford. The Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford has conducted research on these families that you can access through the link below.
The Founders website >>[N] JOHN CROW / JOHN CULLICK / PHILIP DAVIS / FULKE DAVY / ROBERT DAY / NICHOLAS DESBOROUGH / JOSEPH EASTON / WILLIAM EDWARDS / EDWARD ELMER / NATHANIEL ELY / JAMES ENSIGN / ZACHARY FIELD / THOMAS FISHER / JOHN FRIEND / SAMUEL GARDINER / DANIEL GARRET / JOHN GENNINGS / WILLIAM GIBBONS / RICHARD GOODMAN / OZIAS GOODWIN / SETH GRANT / GEORGE GRAVE / BARTHOLOMEW GREENE / SAMUEL GREENHILL / THOMAS GRIDLEY / SAMUEL HALE / THOMAS HALE / JOHN HALL / STEPHEN HART / WILLIAM HAYDEN / JOHN HIGGINSON / WILLIAM HILLS / JOHN HOLLOWAY / WILLIAM HOLTON / THOMAS HOOKER / EDWARD HOPKINS / JOHN HOPKINS / THOMAS HOSMER / GEORGE HUBBARD / THOMAS HUNGERFORD
[E] IN MEMORY OF THE FIRST / SETTLERS OF HARTFORD / JEREMY ADAMS / MATTHEW ALLYN / FRANCIS ANDREWS / WILLIAM ANDREWS / JOHN ARNOLD / ANDREW BACON / JOHN BARNARD / THOMAS BARNES / ROBERT BARTLETT / JOHN BAYSEY / THOMAS BEALE / NATHANIEL BEARDING / MARY BETTS / JOHN BIDWELL / RICHARD BILLING / THOMAS BIRCHWOOD / PETER BLACHFORD / THOMAS BLACKLEY / THOMAS BLISS SR. / THOMAS BLISS JR. / WILLIAM BLUMFIELD / JAMES BRIDGEMAN / JOHN BRONSON / RICHARD BRONSON / THOMAS BULL / THOMAS BUNCE / BENJAMIN BURR / RICHARD BUTLER / WILLIAM BUTLER / CLEMENT CHAPLIN / DOROTHY CHESTER / RICHARD CHURCH / JOHN CLARKE / NICHOLAS CLARKE / WILLIAM CLARKE / JAMES COLE / WILLIAM CORNWELL
[S] THOMAS SCOTT / THOMAS SELDEN / RICHARD SEYMOUR / JOHN SKINNER / ARTHUR SMITH / GILES SMITH / THOMAS SPENCER / WILLIAM SPENCER / JOHN 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 / HENRY WAKELEY / JAMES WAKELEY / SAMUEL WAKEMAN / NATHANIEL WARD / ANDREW WARNER / JOHN WARNER / RICHARD WATTS / RICHARD WEBB / JOHN WEBSTER / THOMAS WELLES / WILLIAM WESTLEY / WILLIAM WESTWOOD / JOHN WHITE / SAMEL WHITEHEAD / WILLIAM WHITING / JOHN WILCOCK / GREGORY WOLTERTON / THOMAS WOODFORD / GEORGE WYLLYS
[W] WILLIAM HYDE / JONATHAN INCE / THOMAS JUDD / NATHANIEL KELLOGG / RALPH KEELER / WILLIAM KELSEY / EDWARD LAY / WILLIAM LEWIS SR. / RICHARD LORD / THOMAS LORD / THOMAS LORD JR. / RICHARD LYMAN / JOHN MARSH / MATTHEW MARVIN / REINOLD MARVIN / JOHN MAYNARD / JOHN MOODY / JOHN MORRIS / BENJAMIN MUNN / THOMAS MUNSON / JOSEPH MYGATT / THOMAS OLCOTT / JAMES OLMSTED / JOHN OLMSTED / RICHARD OLMSTED / WILLIAM PANTRY / WILLIAM PARKER / PAUL PECK / WILLIAM PHILLIPS / JOHN PIERCE / THOMAS PORTER / STEPHEN POST / JOHN PRATT / WILLIAM PRATT / JOHN PURCHAS / NATHANIEL RICHARDS / THOMAS RICHARDS / RICHARD RISLEY / THOMAS ROOT / NATHANIEL RUSCOE / WILLIAM RUSCOE / JOHN SABLE.
