{"id":386,"date":"2013-02-07T22:58:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T04:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/genealogy-by-the-states-week-5-connecticut\/"},"modified":"2013-07-05T12:40:22","modified_gmt":"2013-07-05T17:40:22","slug":"genealogy-by-the-states-week-5-connecticut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/genealogy-by-the-states-week-5-connecticut\/","title":{"rendered":"Genealogy By the States \u2013 Week 5 \u2013 Connecticut"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Connecticut\"<\/p>\n

I have so many Connecticut ancestors, I don\u2019t know where to start!\u00a0 The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about colonial Connecticut is that I have at least two family members who served as governor for the Colony of Connecticut.<\/p>\n

First is my 11th great-grandfather, John Webster, who served as governor from 1656 to 1657.\u00a0 He was also the deputy governor from 1655 to 1656.\u00a0 Before and after these roles, he served as a magistrate from 1639 to 1655 and from 1657 to 1659.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Robert Treat, my 10th great-granduncle, served as governor from 1683 to 1698.\u00a0 He served in other capacities as well, including deputy governor from 1676 to 1683 and again from 1699 to 1709.\u00a0 The interesting thing about Robert\u2019s term as governor was that in late 1687, the government of the colony seized to exist and was not reinstated until 9 May 1689.\u00a0 It\u2019s also interesting to note that Robert\u2019s grandson, Robert Treat Paine, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence (I\u2019ve written about that here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Not only are John Webster and Robert Treat related to me, they are related to one another by marriage.\u00a0 John\u2019s son, Robert, married Susannah Treat, who is Robert Treat\u2019s sister.<\/p>\n

While I know these two men were governors of the Colony of Connecticut, I really haven\u2019t done much research on either of them.\u00a0 They are both covered extensively in their respective genealogies, History and Genealogy of the Gov. John Webster Family of Connecticut With Numerous Portraits and Illustrations<\/em> (Webster and Webster, 1915) and The Treat Family: A Genealogy of Trott, Tratt, and Treat, for Fifteen Generations, and Four Hundred and Fifty Years in England and America<\/em> (Treat, 1893).\u00a0 And I have seen other references to each as governor in other sources.\u00a0 So I thought I would compile a list of the sources I was already familiar with and see if I could find some others and share the ones available online in this post.<\/p>\n

Before I get into the sources, I thought I\u2019d share something really neat that I found today, while I was poking around.\u00a0 I found this in The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, Prior to the Union With New Haven Colony, May, 1665<\/em> (Trumbull, 1850), which is part of a collection of transcriptions of early public records of the colony and state of Connecticut.\u00a0 I believe these signatures were obtained on 11 April 1639, when these gentlemen were elected to their respective positions.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty neat to see the signature of my 11th great-grandfather!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Now for some resources.<\/p>\n

The Connecticut State Library has a few pages dedicated to Connecticut governors, as well as biographies for each governor.<\/p>\n