M. (1) about 1625 in (probably) England
Wife: Sarah Talcott
M. (2) Jul 1644 in (probably) Connecticut
Wife: Elizabeth Stone
D. 15 Oct 1675 in Hartford, Connecticut
William Wadsworth was a Puritan who migrated to New England in the 1630s and was one of the founders of Hartford, Connecticut, but there is a claim that he may have also been to the Virginia colony a decade earlier.
It’s believed that William was born in Long Buckby, a village in Northamptonshire, England, and baptized there on February 26, 1594. His parents may have been William and Elizabeth Wadsworth and he was one of their five children, but this hasn’t been proven. While William was of sketchy origins, the woman he married was not. Her name was Sarah Talcott, and she was from the town of Braintree in Essex. They were husband and wife by 1626 when their oldest child was born on January 1st; another two were born in 1628 and 1631.
William made his home in Braintree and this brought him into contact with a Puritan preacher, Reverend Thomas Hooker. This association would set the course for the rest of his life. Like many in Essex, Hooker’s followers saw an opportunity to join a haven for their religion in America. On the heels of the Winthrop Fleet of 1630, other ships followed in the next few years, and William and some of his brethren boarded the ship Lyon in July of 1632. Also on board were wife Sarah with their two surviving children, and Sarah's brother John Talcott. They all settled in the new community of Cambridge; Sarah gave birth to another two babies, but she died not long after.
Statue of Reverend Thomas Hooker in Hartford.
Reverend Hooker had also settled in Cambridge, and after he began having disagreements with the Puritan leaders in Boston, decided to form a new community on the Connecticut River. In June 1636, William and his family joined a group of about a hundred people on a journey by foot to the place which became the town of Hartford, Connecticut. He was assigned a lot for his new home, and would spend the rest of his life there. In June 1644, he married a second wife named Elizabeth Stone, the daughter of Hartford settlers. She was much younger than William, and between 1645 and 1656, they had six children.
As an original settler of Hartford, William was a respected member of the community, and was often chosen for important civic offices. He was named as constable in 1651, and as list and rate-maker in 1668 (a rate-maker was someone who decided how much tax each settler would pay). Between 1656 and 1675, William served as a deputy to the General Court, the governing body of Connecticut.
William wrote his will on May 16, 1675 and he died on October 15th of that year. His estate was worth over £1,677, which was a large sum of money. His wife Elizabeth survived him and died in about 1682.
The Wadsworth family left an important mark on Connecticut history in 1687, when William’s son Joseph saved the colonial charter from an English official who came to retrieve it. The charter was the basis for Connecticut’s government, and authorities in England decided they wanted to revoke the powers it gave. On the day the document was to be handed over, Joseph defiantly hid it in a hole in a tree. The tree became known forever after as the Charter Oak, which is commemorated on the Connecticut State Quarter issued in 1999.
The Charter Oak quarter.
Was William Wadsworth of 1621 Virginia the same man?
In 1621, an adventurer from Kent, England named Daniel Gookin attempted to start a settlement in the Virginia colony by bringing over about 80 colonists on a ship called the Flying Harte. The first name on the passenger manifest was William Wadsworth, described as a servant of Gookin. A 19th century descendant of the New England William Wadsworth discovered this and claimed his ancestor was the same man.
But was he? There’s no way to disprove it, but it seems highly unlikely. The William Wadsworth in Virginia also appeared on a list of settlers at Newport News in February 1625. The William Wadsworth from New England had his oldest child born less than a year later, so it doesn’t seem plausible that he could have returned to England and gotten married in that period of time. Wadsworth wasn’t a common name, but there were other families with that name in England, and the name William is very common. While it makes an interesting story, it doesn’t seem true that one William Wadsworth was in both colonies.
Children by Sarah Talcott:
1. Sarah Wadsworth — B. 1 Jan 1626, Braintree, England; D. 16 Oct 1648, Middletown, Connecticut; M. John Wilcox (1622-1676), 17 Sep 1646
2. William Wadsworth — B. 1628, Braintree, England; D. young
3. John Wadsworth — B. 1631, Braintree, England; D. 6 Nov 1689, Farmington, Connecticut; M. Sarah Stanley (~1638-1711), about 1656, Farmington, Connecticut
4. Mary Wadsworth — B. 1632, (probably) Cambridge, Massachusetts; D. 1685, Hartford, Connecticut; M. Thomas Stoughton, 30 Nov 1655, Hartford, Connecticut
5. Lydia Wadsworth — B. 1634, (probably) Cambridge, Massachusetts; D. young
Children by Elizabeth Stone:
1. Elizabeth Wadsworth — B. 17 May 1645, Hartford, Connecticut; D. about 12 Mar 1714, Simsbury, Connecticut; M. John Terry (1637-1691), 27 Nov 1662, Windsor, Connecticut
2. Samuel Wadsworth — B. 20 Oct 1646, Hartford, Connecticut; D. 16 Sep 1682
3. Joseph Wadsworth — B. 1647, Hartford, Connecticut; D. 1724; M. (1) Elizabeth Talcott, 6 Dec 1677, Hartford, Connecticut; (2) Mary Blackleach
4. Sarah Wadsworth — B. 17 Mar 1649, Hartford, Connecticut; 9 May 1705, Hartford, Connecticut; M. Jonathan Ashley (1646-1705), 10 Nov 1669, Springfield, Massachusetts
5. Thomas Wadsworth — B. 1651, Hartford, Connecticut; D. about 1726, Hartford, Connecticut; M. Elizabeth Barnard, 14 Nov 1677, Hartford, Connecticut
6. Rebecca Wadsworth — B. 1656, Hartford, Connecticut
Sources:
William Wadsworth (patriarch) (Wikipedia article)
Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford (website)
Charter Oak (Wikipedia article)
Find A Grave
WikiTree
