Connecticut History

A timeline of key events and information on where to find historical information of Connecticut.

Timeline
The following important events in the history of Connecticut affected political jurisdictions, family movements, and record keeping:

1633-1636: Puritans from Massachusetts established settlements on the Connecticut River at Windsor, Wethersfield, and Hartford.

1638:The New Haven colony was established. New London was founded soon after.

1662: A British royal charter established Connecticut as a colony separate from Massachusetts.

1740: By this date all of present-day Connecticut had been settled and organized into incorporated towns, the basic governing units.

1786-1800 : Connecticut relinquished its claims to western lands, except for the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania which Connecticut claimed until 1799, and the Western Reserve in Ohio which it claimed until 1800. Connecticut settlers remained in both areas.

1788: Connecticut ratified the Constitution to become a state.

1840s: As the factory system developed, thousands of foreign laborers began moving into Connecticut.

1861-1865: Connecticut furnished 60,000 troops to the Union Army during the Civil War.

Histories of Connecticut State
In addition, an especially helpful source for studying the history of Connecticut is Charles W. Burpee's, Burpee's The Story of Connecticut, Four Volumes. (New York: American Historical Company, 1939; FHL book 974.6 H2b).

The following sites have additional information about Connecticut history:
 * http://www.cthistoryonline.org/
 * http://www.cslib.org/history.htm

Contents
Histories are great sources of genealogical information. Many contain biographical information about individuals who lived in the area, including
 * Parents' names
 * Maiden names of women
 * Place of birth, death, or marriage
 * Occupation
 * Migration
 * Military service
 * Descendants

Where to find histories
To find local histories in the Family History Library, do various Place Searches in the Family History Library Catalog using your ancestor's town, county, state, or country as the search terms.