Excerpt from The Colonial History of Hartford: Gathered From the Original Records, Illustrated The town of Hartford has passed the two hundred and seventy-fifth anniversary of its settlement, and, in a few years, it will have completed three centuries of history. The early town that the founders knew has long since disappeared. Features that were familiar for generations have been swept away by the ravages of time. Only a few landmarks now remain. Within the area of what was formerly a country town, a large city has grown into vigorous life. To the sons and daughters of Hartford, the story of this development during colonial times, is of interest. It may also serve a patriotic purpose, by helping her citizens to maintain a fellowship with the forefathers, and by awakening in her children of foreign descent a loyal regard for her traditions. In the hope of rendering such a service to the city, for which the author confesses a strong personal affection, this volume has been written, in the course of a study of the records, extending over many years. Students of Connecticut records have occasionally acknowledged their doubt whether certain fundamental facts, which concern both our local history and the founding of the Colony, have been correctly conceived. Views have become current, and have been passed on from one authority to another, which appeal for their warrant largely to records that have been lost, and are not in harmony with those that are extant. Such is the opinion that three organized towns created the Commonwealth. The records prior to 1639 that have disappeared, were those of three plantations, which were constituted as such and bore the names of the three Massachusetts towns from which their inhabitants emigrated. We have, fortunately, the early records of Springfield, at first united with them, to disclose the nature of their government. Hartford, alone, has documentary evidence of any town organization before the Commonwealth was formally established. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.