About the Connecticut GenWeb Project
In the early commerce between the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut a popular route over the land was through the region now covered by Windham county. Remote from the sea shore, and possessing no navigable lakes or rivers, it was perfectly reasonable that this territory should be for a time overlooked, or rather that it should be passed by as a goodly land for the home-seekers in a new world to locate upon. Accessibility by water was to the first settlers an almost absolutely essential feature in any site chosen by them for the planting of a little colony. But we may well imagine that the fertile valleys and hills of this beautiful region, and the picturesque attractions of the future Windham did not long remain unnoticed. The land became known to the English about the year 1635. When, about that time, the early colonists began to traverse the hideous and trackless wilderness, on the way from Massachusetts to the Connecticut river, tradition tells us their encampment for the night was on Pine hill in Ashford. A rude track, called the Connecticut Path, obliquely crossing the Wabbaquasset country, became the main thoroughfare of travel between the two colonies. Hundreds of families toiled over it to new homes in the wilderness. The fathers of Hartford and New Haven, ministers and governors, captains and commissioners, government officials and land speculators, crossed and recrossed over it. Civilization passed to regions beyond but made no abiding place here for more than half a century.
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This is a brand new automated Query System !!! Queries will be posted immediately! There must be a reference to Windham County in your query or it will be deleted. Please capitalize surnames. Please note - if you reply to a query using the reply form on the query message board, IT WILL BE POSTED WITH THE QUERIES ! If you DO NOT want your reply posted, use your email by clicking on the persons name and send your reply that way.
INDEX to History of Windham County, CT by Ellen D. Learned , (THIS IS A NEW INDEX WITH FIRST NAMES INCLUDED) provided by SWORDSMITH PRODUCTIONS, PO Box 242 Pomfret, CT 06258, (860)963-0383 fax, this company has an inexpensive reprint available at http://www.swordsmith.com/ for the Index click here
Just published on my site, "An Index to Towns" in Bailey's "Early Connecticut Marriages": Donated by Rod Davis, click here
INDEX to History of Ancient Windham, Ct. by William L. Weaver, click here. PLEASE NOTE THAT JAN HARRIS HAS A VERY FADED COPY AND CAN NOT DO LOOK UPS IN THIS BOOK. PLEASE REFER YOUR LOOK UPS TO Deb Inman , FOR ABBE to BILLINGS ONLY.
INDEX to Windham's Bi-Centennial, A Memorial Volume of the Bi-Centennial Celebration of the Town of Windham, Connecticut 1692-1892, published by the Committee in 1893, click here.
Folklore and Firesides of Pomfret, Hampton and Vicinity by Susan Jewett Griggs, copyright 1950, vol. #1, click here. Folklore and Firesides of Pomfret, Hampton and Vicinity by Susan Jewett Griggs, copyright 1950, vol. #2, click here.
Folklore and Firesides of Pomfret, Hampton and Vicinity by Susan Jewett Griggs, copyright 1950, vol. #3, click here.
Historic Gleanings in Windham County, Connecticut by Ellen D. Larned, published 1899, click here
History of Windham County, Connecticut by Ellen D. Larned, Volumes I , published 1874, click here
History of Windham County, Connecticut by Ellen D. Larned, Volumes II , published 1874, click here
A Modern History of Windham County Connecticut by Allen B. Lincoln,Volume I , published 1920, click here
A Modern History of Windham County Connecticut by Allen B. Lincoln,Volume II , published 1920, click here
Christopher Lyttle has the following photos of Windham County homes and people. on his home page: The album these pictures were in came from my Janes ancestors and all of the thirteen pictures relate to them in some way or another. The largest number of pictures were of the interior of a house which I believe was in Providence. One contained the only picture I have of Alphonso Richards Janes, who is a 2nd great grandfather of mine. All comments are welcome. To go there click here
Ashford page
Brooklyn page The Brooklyn Fair is the oldest, continueous, agricultural Fair in the USA. The Brooklyn Fair is sponsered by the Windham County Agriculural Society Inc. and is always the weekend before Labor Day. Many folks in Windham County and the US are unaware of this Historical fact. It was founded in 1809, incorporated in 1820 and the first fair was held in 1849 and has been continuous since. We are still looking for Historical/Geneological folks and or groups to exhibit. I am the chairman of the Historical Committee for the Society and can be contaced at : Luciaray@aol.com or you cant call the President (Daniel Piotrowski) at his home: (860) 774-9999. This will be our 152nd year. The dates for this year are: 23-26 Aug 2001. The fair can be viewed on: Brooklynfair.org. Raymond L. Racine Luciaray@aol.com Canterbury page
Chaplin page
Eastford page
Hampton page
Killingly page
Plainfield page
Pomfret page
Putnam page
Scotland page
Sterling page
Thompson page
Windham page
Woodstock page
To go to Many New England Families who after the Revolutionary Struggle settled in Otsego County, NY. Some Windham Co., CT surnames: Shepard, May, Lyon, Child, Morris, Bowen, Peake, Hale, Knowlton, Adams, Cady, Dana, Holbrook, Jones, Spaulding and more, by Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah Johnson. , click here
To go to Sharon Sukup Mach’s page which covers my CARY, CONANT, and HANDY (HENDEE) lines from,Windham,CT, click here
To go to a page that has connections with Windham Co. Many surnames of Windham Co. people including: Phipps, Towne, Healy, Corbin,Fairbanks, many, many more, click here
To go to Sue (House) Register's Desc. of Luke Hayden, click here
To go to Sue (House) Register's Desc. of John Clake , click here
To go to Sue (House) Register's Desc. of John House, click here
To go to Sue (House) Register's Desc. of Thos. Lawton, click here
To go to Sue (House) Register's Desc of Geo. Martin/Marten, click here
Ray Brown's Place for New England Genealogy, (this is an excellent site) click here
To go to Betty Mock's site with the Maynard and Chappell Family, click here
To go to Mary Ann Kaylor's 2 Web Sites on the Converse Family, click here and click here
Rod Davis has a page for Old New England families - chiefly CT & MA - many traced back to Immigrant Ancestors and European roots, to go there click here Clayton Church has a page for Willimantic, called Thread City, which is not associated with the USGENWEB, to go there, click here
Sally Cox has a web page with a biography of Levi Nelson Clark of Windham County, to go to that page, click here
Sally Cox has a web page with many families from CT, click here
Henry Wheeler just recently created (February 2000) a page for Oliver Williams, born Pomfret 1723/24., click here
Rita J Johnson, I am working on The Kimballs of Hampton. I presently have the family outline and am working on links to individuals which will have notes and pictures on that person, click here
Aspinock Historical Society of Putnam, Inc., click here
Nancy Caswell-Simpson has a web page with the families of Caswell, Valliere& Beaulieu, from Windham County, click here
The Sabin Association. They maintain a HUGE,database of Sabin descendents from William Sabin and Mary Wright of Rehoboth, MA (pretty much all Sabins in the US & Canada). and early settlers of Pomfret and Woodstock, to go there, click here
Stephanie Lang has a page which includes the Marcy Family of Windham Co., to go there click here
Audrey Moran has a page which includes the Dains Family of Windham Co, to go there, click here
Nancy Neely has a page which includes the Johnson Family that lived in Windham, Co for nearly 200 years, to go there, click here
Sam Behling has a page which includes the Holt and Preston Families of Windham County, to go there, click here
Marti Spalding has a page with some interesting Spalding history, to go there click here
To go to the of the story of the trip from Woburn, MA, to Canterbury, CT, of Benjamin and Hannah (Knowlton) Baldwin, click here
To go to the Knowlton of Windham County, click here
To go to the Vinton Family of Woodstock, CT by Tom Hoot ( if you know more of this family, please contact Tom), click here
To go to the Lasell family of Windham County, CT, click here
To go to the Sweet family of Windham County, CT,( If anyone knows of the new address for this page, please let me know) click here
To go to the Murdock family of Plainfield, CT, click here
To go to the Buck family of Windham County, CT, click here
To go to the Comins family of Windham County, CT, click here
Several Ancesteral Lines of Moses Hyde and his Wife Sarah Dana,click here
The Searls Family of Brooklyn, CT, click here
In Memory of John Abbe and his Descendants, published 1916, donated by Gregg Watts, click here
To go to the Index of Military Records for Windham County, click here
To go to the Index of Land Records for Windham County, click here
Jan. 3, 2002 Joan Gilbert Tatro I have a book Family Secrets by Marcella Pasay copyright 2000 by Heritage books These are 18th and 19th century birth records found of Windam County Ct. at the state library archives . 1726-1855 Some other county towns mentioned: Ashford, Brooklyn, Canterbury, Chaplin, Columbia, Coventry, Enfield, Hampton, Killingly, Lebanon, Mansfield, Middletown, Norwich, Plainfield, Pomfret, Sterling, Thompson, Union, Voluntown, Willington, Windham, Woodstock, Dudley Ma. Warwick, RI The book is indexed by town and also has name index. It is a book of 101 pages.
Feb. 21, 2001Cathy Lauer I have a copy of "Connecticut Divorces - New London - Tolland - Windham Cos. 1719-1910" compiled by Grace Louise Knox & Barbara Ferris I will gladly do lookups also for Tolland & Windham
Nov. 11, 2000, I have the History of Brimfield,Mass 1701-1876. There are genealogies of families that lived in Brimfield at that time.....most came from Mass Bay Colony of Roxbury area to Windham Co.,Conn and Tolland Co., Conn.......later generations migrated to other areas of Mass[Hampden Co]and around 1800-1820 to Windham co.Vt. Email me at: LOOKUPSNE@hotmail.com Put Brimfield query in the subject box [ I have the book for 2 weeks] For an index of names listed, please click here
Bonnie Divoll I have the "History of Union, CT" by H.M.Lawson, 1893. Includes genealogies. Will do lookups. Ben Zimmerman I have in my possession a copy of "History and Genealogy of John Marcy, 1662-1724, Woodstock, Conn. and many of his Descendants, Eleven Generations" by Charles Edney Marcy (copyright 1980). This is an excellent research tool. I am a Marcy descendant, currently working on tracing the lines of the Marcy wives in my lineage. I am willing to do look-ups in this book. As is the case with most families, given names recur frequently, so please be specific with dates.
Cheryl Stedtler CSTEDTLER@aol.com. BROWN, LEWIS, and VICKERS. I have extensive info on those names as well as people of color for Windham County, the Nipmuc Tribe and I am willing to share the info. I also have a copy of Ellsworth Back's Diary -- he lived in N. Woodstock. I will do look-ups if there's someone connected to the Back line.
Deb Inman reinman@snet.net has generously offered to look up in "A Modern History of Windham County Connecticut" : A Windham County Treasure Book, Allen B. Lincoln, Editor. Pub = S. J. Clarke Pub. Co. Chicago, 1920. PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU ARE ASKING FOR A LOOK UP IN LINCOLN'S, PLEASE LOOK IN THE INDEX, BY JAN HARRIS, FIRST, THEN REFER THE PAGE NUMBER AND NAMES AND DATES TO DEB, AS THERE IS NO INDEX IN THE BOOK. I have Vol 1 & 2, but Vol 2 is the one with an index to biographies. Mostly "prominent" people. Also "History of Ancient Windham, CT. Genealogy." William Weaver, 1864. Surnames include: Abbe to Billings ONLY. There is also an index by wives' names.
Kathleen Murray has generously offered to do look ups in the following books:
New England Colonial Families, Vol I Brown Family of Bristol Counties and Descendants of Jared Talbot. by Carl Boyer. Jared's descendants ended up in Killingly. New England Marriages Prior to 1700, Torrey. Perspectives of Putnam, By Margaret Weaver. I also have the Early Ct. Families CD from Family Tree Maker.
Carol Day cwday@snet.net I am willing to volunteer to look up information. Sources, I am willing to have listed are as follows: History of Windham County, Vols I & II, Ellen Larned History of Stonington, CT 1649-1900 (Genealogical Register of Stonington Families), Richard Wheeler Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, MA, 1629-1818, Vols. A-J & K-Z, Thomas Bellows Wyman The History of Ancient Windsor, Vol 2, Henry R. Stiles Connecticut 1790 U.S. Census Eastford Vital Records, Vol. 2c, have births (1852-1870) and deaths (1852-1881)
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Gregg Watts has offered to do LIMITED lookups in "In the Memory of John Abbe & His Descendants", by Cleveland Abbey, click here
Deb Inman reinman@snet.net EASTERN CT LOOK-UP AND RESEARCH SERVICE: All town halls in New London, Windham, and Tolland Counties. Vitals, land records, probate records, cemetery photos. FRENCH-CANADIAN GENEALOGY: There is a large population of French-Canadians in eastern CT. Most had ancestors who immigrated in the late 1800's to work in local textile mills. To trace French-Canadian lines in Quebec I can use the vast resources (Drouin, Jette, Tanguay, PRDH, etc) at the French-Canadian Genealogical Society in Tolland, CT. Her home page can be found here.
Nancy Simpson cazzy62@earthlink.net I do genealogy for a reasonable fee for the towns of Windham County as well as anywhere else in CT. Most searches can be done for around $50
David Wilson purda@snet.net: I am doing paid research for towns in Windham County and neighboring towns. Folks should E-MAIL me for prices. I have a large database in my own computer and know town hall locations, libraries, etc., where I can get much more information.
Kay Gleason I am the owner of a one-person business which reproduces old maps of towns in New England and New York. My maps of Windham County towns are from the Atlas of Windham County by Gray, published in 1869. You can see the complete list of maps at http://www.oldmapsne.com
Digital Archives for Windham County Research
The USGenWeb Archives stores original source materials in online digital format for free downloading. Check out the CT Table of Contents.
Or, see what is available state by state: at the Archives
If you would like to donate Windham County data in electronic format to the Archives, please contact the Windham County coordinator.
If you have electronic data for other areas of the United States, please contact the USGenWeb Archives coordinator.
Windham County
Border Counties:
Windham County is bounded on the west by Tolland County, the south by New London County, the east by Kent and Providence Counties RI, and the north by Worcester Co MA.
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