Thomas HURLBUT

1610 - 1671  (61 years)

• Name	Thomas HURLBUT  [2]
  	Thomas Hulbut came across the Atlantic, it is supposed, in the year 1635, for he was a soldier under Lion Gardiner, who built and had command of the fort at Saybrook, Conn. Lion Gardiner, it is said, was an Englishman, and by profession an engineer, and had been in Holland in the service of the Prince of Orange, but was engaged by the proprietors of the Connecticut Patent, issued by Charles II, to Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brooke and others, granting a large tract of territory on the banks of the Connecticut river, to erect a fortification at its mouth. Gardiner, said Jude Savage, embarked at London in the BACHILOR, of only 25 tons, 11 August, 1635, with his wife and female servant, and eleven male passengers, and after a long and tempestuous voyage, arrived at Boston 28 of following November. It is believed, however, that Gov. Winthrop told that Gardiner sailed in a Norsey barque (a fishing vessel of the coast of Norway), 10 July, 1635. It is supposed that Thomas Hurlbut was one of the 11 passengers above referred to; but who his parents were, or when or where he was born, we have not been able to learn. We may yet pretty confidently believe tat his birth occurred as early as the year 1610, and I am more inclined to believe that he was a native of Scotland than I am able, perhaps, to show satisfactory evidence for such belief. Mr. Hurlbut while at Saybrook, in an encounter with the Pequot Indians in 1637, was wounded by an arrow. This appears in a letter of Lion Gardiner, written in June, 1660, some 23 years after the skirmish with the Indians, addressed to Robert Chapman and Thomas Hurlbut, detailing incidents regarding the Pequot war, as far as come within his personal knowledge. Capt. Gardiner, in the communication named, says that Mr. Robert Chapman, Thomas Hurlbut and Major Mason urged him to do it, "and having rummaged and found some old papers then written, it was a great help to my memory." The document laid in manuscript until 1833 (173 years) when it was printed in Vol. 3, 3d Ser. of Mass. Historical So. Colls. Mr. Hurlbut was by trade a BLACKSMITH, and after the war with the Pequots, he locatd and established himself in business at Wethersfield, Ct., and was one of the early settlers of that place, as well as first blacksmith. A single extract from the Colonial records would seem to indicate that he was a good workman and charged a good price for his work; "March 2, 1642, Thomas Hallibut was fined 40 shillings for encouraging others in taking excessive rates for work and war." But this fine appears to have been "respited" Feb. 5, 1643, upon Peter Bassaker's Tryal to make "nayles" with less loss and cheaper rates. He seems to have been a man of good standing in the place; he was Clerk of the "Train Band" in 1640, Deputy to the General Court, Grand Juror and also Constable in 1644. It appears on the records that he received various tracts of land in the several divisions of the Town, which were recorded together in 1647. In 1660 the Town of Wethersfield granted Thomas Hurlbut Lot 39, one of the "four score acre lots" (in Naubuc, east side of the river), which he afterward sold to Thomas Hollister. For his services in the Indian wars, the Assembly voted him a grant of 120 acres of land Oct. 12, 1671. It is supposed that Mr. Hurlbut died soon after the last named date, as no evidence appears that the land was set off to him during his life. In that early day of the Colony, land was plenty and cheap, and no attempt appears to have been made to avail himself of the bounty, nor even by his sons; it was not until 1694, on the petition of John Hurlbut, Jr., of Middletown, a grandson of the settler and soldier, that it was set off. It is told, and the tradition is not an unreasonable one to credit, that the house in Wethersfield, Ct., where Miss Harriet Mitchell resides in 1888, stands upon the site of the dwelling of the first Hurlbut who lived in the settlement. (Miss M. is said to be of the 6th generation from her ancestor Thomas Hurlbut.) That house of the early settler, as tradition gives, had peculiar attractions for the Indians, whether with the purpose to inspect the architecture of the edifices, or else to get a view of the proprietor of the mansion, for he had been an Indian fighter formerly, I cannot say; but often, when in the village, they were to be seen looking curiously in at the windows. The Christian name of the wife of Mr. Hurlbut was Sarah, but nothing further is known; no date of birth, marriage, nor death. The dates of birth of five of their six sons are missing; whether there were any daughters or not, is not known, During the contention that existed in the Church of Wethersfield, the early records of both of the Town and Church, it is understood, disappeared. [1]
  Birth	26 Mar 1610	Chippenham, Wiltshire, England   [2]
  Gender	Male
  Death	12 Oct 1671	Wethersfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut   [2]
  Person ID	I66722	Main Tree
  Last Modified	14 Oct 2020

  
  

  Family	Sarah UNKNOWN
  Children	+ 1. Sergt John HURLBUT,   b. 8 Mar 1642, Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, USA d. 30 Aug 1690, Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut (Age 48 years)  [Birth] + 2. Samuel HURLBUT,   b. Abt 1644, Wethersfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut  [Birth] + 3. Cornelius HURLBUT,   b. Abt 1654, Wethersfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut  [Birth]
  Family ID	F26821	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	14 Oct 2020

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 26 Mar 1610 - Chippenham, Wiltshire, England  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Sources

  [S12067] Henry H. Hurlbut, The Hurlbut Genealogy or Record of the Descendants of Thomas Hurlbut, of Saybrook and Wethersfield, Conn. [S4570] Grosskopfleastman Family Tree Website.