52AncestorsFB

Week 26 Prompt: Legend

This week’s 52 Ancestors theme is”Legend.” While I tend to make mention that I am related to Noah Webster, of dictionary fame, I often neglect another Webster legend—Governor John Webster.

Gov. John Webster is my eleventh great-grandfather, with an impressive resume of his own. He was a founder of Hartford, Connecticut, and one of the leading members of the First Congregational Church of Hartford.

He served the Colony of Connecticut for many years in various capacities:

  • Deputy to Connecticut Legislature (1637 to 1638)
  • Assistant to the General Court of Connecticut Colony (1639 to 1659)
  • War Committee for Hartford (1653 to 1654)
  • Commissioner for United Colonies (1654)
  • Deputy Governor of Connecticut Colony (1655)
  • Governor of Connecticut Colony (1656)
  • Magistrate of Connecticut Colony (1657 to 1659)

In 1659, Gov. John Webster, along with other dissenters, left the church and Connecticut and settled Hadley, Massachusetts. He died two years later on 5 April 1661.

Bibliography

Barbour, Lucius Barnes. Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1977. 

Hinman, R. R., editor. Catalogue of the Names of the First Puritan Settlers of the Colony of Connecticut; With the Time of Their Arrival in the Colony, and Their Standing in Society, Together With Their Place of Residence, as Far as Can Be Discovered by the Records.  Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1968. 

Jacobus, Donald L, editor. List of Officials, Civil, Military and Ecclesiastical of Connecticut Colony from March 1636 to October 1677….  New Haven,Connecticut: Roland Mather Hooker, 1935.

Trumbull, J. Hammond. Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, Prior to the Union With New Haven Colony, May, 1665.  Hartford, Connecticut: Brown & Parsons, 1850.

Webster, William Holcomb and Rev. Melville Reuben Webster D. D. History and Genealogy of the Gov. John Webster Family of Connecticut With Numerous Portraits and Illustrations.  Rochester, New York: E. R. Andrews Printing Co., 1915.