| A Timeline of events from
1683-1978
|
| 1614 |
Adrian
Block, representing the Dutch, sails up the Connecticut River. |
| 1633 |
A Dutch fort is erected on the
future site of Hartford. Plymouth Colony sends William Holmes to found a trading post at
Windsor. |
| 1634 |
Wethersfield is
founded by John Oldham. |
| 1635 |
Saybrook is founded by John
Winthrop, Jr. |
| 1636 |
Thomas Hooker &
company journey from Newtown (Cambridge), Massachusetts, to found Hartford. |
| 1637 |
The Pequot War is fought with
American Indians native to the colony who wish to drive out European settlers. |
| 1639 |
The Fundamental Orders
of Connecticut are adopted by the Freemen of Hartford, Wethersfield & Windsor. |
| 1643 |
Connecticut joins in forming the
New England Confederation. |
| 1646 |
New London is founded
by John Winthrop, Jr. |
| 1650 |
Code of Laws is drawn up by Roger
Ludlow & adopted by colonial legislature. |
| 1662 |
John Winthrop, Jr.,
obtains a royal charter for Connecticut. |
| 1665 |
Union of New Haven &
Connecticut Colony is completed. |
| 1675-76 |
Connecticut
participates in King Philip’s War, which was fought in Rhode Island &
Massachusetts. |
| 1698 |
Fitz-John Winthrop is elected
governor of Connecticut. |
| 1717 |
Collegiate School,
which was first authorized by General Assembly in 1701, moves to New Haven. It changes its
name to Yale in 1718. |
| 1731 |
A disputed Connecticut/New York
boundary line is settled (and confirmed in 1891). |
| 1745 |
King George’s War
(French & Indian War); Connecticut troops under Roger Wolcott help capture Louisburg. |
| 1754-1763 |
The French & Indian War sees
Great Britain & France involved in a struggle for ownership of North America. |
| 1755 |
Connecticut Gazette of
New Haven, the Colony’s first newspaper, is printed by James Parker at New Haven.
Nathan Hale is born in Coventry. |
| 1763 |
Brick State House is erected on
New Haven Green. |
| 1764 |
Connecticut Courant,
the oldest American newspaper in continuous existence to this day, is launched by Thomas
Green in Hartford. |
| 1766 |
Governor Thomas Fitch, who
refused to reject the Stamp Act, is defeated by William Pitkin. |
| 1767 |
Thomas & Samuel
Green launch a newspaper, which after many changes, becomes The New Haven Journal-Courier. |
| 1774 |
Silas Deane, Eliphiat Dyer &
Roger Sherman represent Connecticut at the First Continental Congress. |
| 1775 |
Several thousand
militia rush to Massachusetts in "Lexington Alarm." |
| 1775-1783 |
The American colonists engage in
a struggle for independence from Great Britain & King George III. Connecticut men
volunteer for service in both local militias & in the Army of the Continental
Congress. |
| 1776 |
Samuel Huntington,
Roger Sherman, William Williams & Oliver Wolcott sign the Declaration of Independence.
Majorities of Connecticut people under the leadership of Governor Jonathan Trumbull
support the Declaration. |
| 1792 |
Connecticut awards land in its
Western Reserve (the Fire Lands) to residents who lost property in raids by British
soldiers & sailors during the Revolution. |
| 1812-1815 |
The United States
& Great Britain engage in a war caused in part by British impressment of American
sailors into the Royal Navy. |
| 1841-45 |
Sylvester Judd of Massachusetts
is hired to acquire, to organize & index early colonial & state records of
Connecticut. This collection of records becomes known as the Connecticut Archives. |
| 1846-1848 |
The United States is
involved in a war with Mexico over disputed territory & alleged violations of the
rights of some American settlers in areas bordering Mexico. Some Connecticut men volunteer
to serve in the 10 volunteer regiments raised by the federal government. |
| 1849 |
The State General Assembly
provides money to publish The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut. |
| 1861-1865 |
Approximately 55,000
Connecticut men volunteer to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War. Connecticut
raises two regiments of African-American soldiers. |
| 1870 |
The State General Assembly
directs all town clerks to make copies of town records produced prior to 1700 on blank
books. These transcriptions of early town records are to be forwarded to the Connecticut
State Library prior to July 4, 1871. |
| 1888 |
An estate dealer finds
original muster rolls of 235 Connecticut men who served in the French & Indian War in
old trunks & boxes. The dealer sells them to Judge Sherman Adams, who offers them for
sale to the Connecticut State Library. The State Librarian refuses to purchase them,
stating that they are state property & must be turned over to state custody
immediately or he will file suit. In a compromise, Judge Adams is paid $50 for the muster
rolls, much less than his asking price. The collection becomes known as the Sherman Adams
Collection. |
| 1888-92 |
The State Library secures from
Robert Winthrop papers from the Winthrop Papers Collection at the Massachusetts Historical
Society that pertain to the colonial history of Connecticut. |
| 1895 |
The State General
Assembly directs all town clerks to make handwritten transcriptions of all town records
that pertain to the Revolutionary War period (1774-1784) in blank books. Sixty-three town
clerks comply. The books are forwarded to the State Library. |
| 1897 |
The State General Assembly
decrees that as of July 1897 a copy of birth, death & marriage records will be sent by
town clerks to the Connecticut Department of Public Health office in Hartford (divorce
records are maintained by the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county where the divorce
occurred). |
| 1898 |
Connecticut men
serving in the 1st Connecticut National Guard Regiment are sent to fight in the
Spanish-American War. |
| 1901 |
General Lucius A. Barbour, former
Connecticut state legislator and Adjutant General, hires James Arnold of Rhode Island to
transcribe Connecticut town records & vital records up to the year 1850.
Barbour’s son, Lucius B. Barbour, extends the program to include additional records
& donates the transcriptions to the Connecticut State Library. This collection of
transcriptions becomes known as the Barbour Collection of Vital Records. |
| 1917-1918 |
Thousands of
Connecticut men & women serve as soldiers, nurses, etc., in the First World War. |
| 1919 |
The State General Assembly
creates the post of State Military Necrologist, the only such position in the nation.
Appointee Charles L. Hale directs the transcription of information on veterans from
Connecticut tombstones. |
| 1941-1945 |
During WWII, 210,000
Connecticut men & 3,300 Connecticut women serve in the Armed Forces; 75,000 are
volunteers; 2,600 Connecticut soldiers, sailors & airmen die; nine receive the
Congressional Medal of Honor. |
| 1947 |
A State General Assembly
committee endorses the plan of the Genealogical Society of Utah to microfilm all
Connecticut land & probate records through 1850. The project scope is later extended
to include vital records to 1900 & land & probate records to the early 20th
century. The Genealogical Society of Utah gets to keep a copy of
the microfilm in exchange for performing the filming. |
