M. (probably) 7 Feb 1618 in Llandough, Glamorganshire, Wales1
Wife: Felix Collins
D. 2 Aug 1683 in Farmington, Connecticut2
Many of the Puritans who were a part of the Great Migration to New England during the 1630s took different paths once they arrived. Among them was William Lewis, a man who chose to move his family to the Connecticut River and became credited as an original settler of Hartford.
William’s beginnings are somewhat disputed, but by virtue of the unusual first name of his wife, one scenario seems correct. She was called Felix, and a record dated February 7, 1618 in Llandough, Glamorganshire, Wales shows a William Lewis marrying Felix Collins.1 Further back, the Llandough records state that a child named William was born on January 3, 1594 to William Lewis and Sarah Cathcart.1 It’s likely that this was the William of this biography.
After William married Felix, they had one child, then the family migrated to America on the ship Lyon, which departed from London on June 22, 1632 and arrived in Boston on September 16th.3 They settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where William was admitted as freeman on November 6th.2 The following year, William and his family joined a company of settlers who moved to Braintree.3
In 1635, William became part of a group under Reverend Thomas Hooker who trekked through wilderness to found a new settlement on the Connecticut River. The group included “100 settlers with 130 head of cattle” and they called the place Newtown, renaming it in 1638 as Hartford.4 The motivation for the move was because Hooker disagreed with the leadership in Boston that put too much restriction on voting rights.
1640 map of Hartford showing William Lewis' property.
William had a sister Ann who migrated to Connecticut in 1642. She had been married to a man with the last name Staines; it’s unclear when he died. Ann moved back to England not long after she arrived, and in 1649, William traveled to England and paid to bring her back to America. She lived out the rest of her life in Connecticut and died about 1670.5
In 1659, William moved to Hadley, Massachusetts where he served as representative to the General Court in 1662.2 His wife Felix died in Hadley on April 17,1671,2 and by November of 1677, William moved to Farmington,2 Connecticut. William died there on August 2, 1683.2 He left a will written at the end of his life where he referred to himself as “stricken in years,” and gave his property to his various grandchildren, who were all children of his son.2 William’s name is inscribed on Hartford’s Founders Monument with 162 other people.
Hartford Founders Monument. (source: Cliff, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Famous descendants of William Lewis include Franklin Delano Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, W.K. Kellogg, television inventor Philo Farnsworth and Mitt Romney.6
Children:
1. William Lewis – B. about 1620;2 D. 18 Aug 1690, Farmington, Connecticut;7 M. (1) Mary Hopkins, about 1644;8 (2) Mary Cheever (~1640-1728), 22 Nov 1671, Boston, Massachusetts8
Sources:
1 WikiTree listing of William Lewis Jr.
2 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Robert Charles Anderson, 1995
3 Genealogy and Family History of the State of Connecticut, Vol. III, William Richard Cutter,1911
4 Thomas Hooker (Wikipedia article)
5 WikiTree listing of Ann Lewis
6 FamousKin.com listing of William Lewis
7 Death record of William Lewis (younger), Connecticut, Vital Records, Prior to 1850
8 WikiTree listing of William Lewis III
