Joseph Wadsworth and Elizabeth Talcott

Joseph Wadsworth was born in Hartford, Connecticut the son of William Wadsworth and Elizabeth Stone about 1648.

Elizabeth Talcott was born February 21, 1656 to John Talcott and Helena Wakeman in Hartford Connecticut.

He was of an impetuous, aggressive nature, courageous and resolute, and early a leader among the younger set of Hartford. As a young man he must have taken an active interest in military affairs, for "at a meeting of the councill, held at Hartford, Sept. 6th, 1675, the Councill ordered that Sgt. Joseph Wadsworth should take under his conduct twenty men, and pass up to Westfield, to assist them against the common enemie." A few months later, on the 14th of January, 1675/76, the Council, when appointing John Stanley captain " of part of an affidavit made by Joseph Wadsworth in support of a petition of James Mini to the General Assembly at its session of May, 1721, gives the approximate date of his birth. It reads, " These may Informe ye Honoured General Court that my Hononed Father haveing been a first planter of Hartford I in my youth who am Now 74 years old did often hear my sd Father say that those Lots Caled the Soldiers field was the Lots Granted to ye Paquoit soldiers only ft yt for there Good service in said warr. Joseph Wadsworth."

Document 217, Vol. Ill, "Towns and Lands," in the archives, State

Library, Hartford.

He was propounded, for freeman in 1676, with his brothers Samuel and Thomas, and all were admitted the same year

He was a lieutenant and served in Philip's war.

He first married Elizabeth Barnard, daughter of Bartholomew Barnard. Joseph then married Elizabeth Talcott, daughter John Talcott. He married late in life, Mary, daughter of John Blackleach, the younger, who had been the first wife of Thomas Welles, next of John Oleutt.

Joseph is most remembered with gratitude as the preserver of the Connecticut Charter.

The Charter Oak is Connecticut's official State Tree. An image of the Charter Oak was selected to emblazon the back of Connecticut's state quarter. In 1662, Connecticut received its Royal Charter from England's Charles II. A quarter century later, James II's royal representatives attempted to seize the charter. Well, our Connecticut forebears were not about to take that lying down, even though the Brits threatened to split the state and divide its lands between Massachusetts and New York.

On October 26, 1687, Sir Edmund Andros, who had been appointed by the Crown as governor of all of New England, arrived in Hartford to demand the charter. What exactly happened during that evening's showdown at Butler's Tavern may never be ascertained, but the upshot is that, in the midst of heated debates between Connecticut leaders and the royal entourage over surrendering the Charter, the room was plunged into darkness when the candles that illuminated it were overturned.

Was it an accident, or a crafty maneuver carefully plotted by the feisty defenders of Connecticut's rights? We may never know, but what we do know is that one passionate Nutmegger, Captain Joseph Wadsworth, who was positioned outside the tavern, found himself in possession of the Charter during the ensuing chaos in the darkness. Wadsworth took it upon himself to hide the charter safely inside a majestic white oak tree on the Wyllys estate in Hartford. The stately tree was already more than 500 years old when it served its spectacular role as a hiding spot for the precious document. Wadsworth's bold move served to preserve not only the document but the rights of the colonists.

Thus, the tree earned its nickname – the "Charter Oak." The venerable tree stood as a proud Connecticut symbol for another 150 years until it was toppled during a storm on August 21, 1856.

Now, the symbol lives on thanks to the U.S. Mint's state quarters program. [Source: http://hartford.about.com/cs/cthistory/a/aacharteroak.htm]

At a session of the General Court held in September, 1689, Joseph was chosen lieutenant " for the traine band of the north side of Hartford," and at a session of the Court held in October 1697, Capt. Joseph Wadsworth was by this Court confirmed Capy." of the train band in Hartford on the north side of the river." He had been called Captain some years earlier, as in the list of deputies to the General Court in October, 1694, the first name is that of "Capt. Jos. Wadsworth."

For several years, intermittently, he was elected townsman and doubtless displayed his characteristic vigor in the discharge of that office. While his services as deputy or representative were not so continuous or so extensive as his father's, his name appears on the records during a period of thirty years, from May, 1685, to May, 1715. The sessions, in detail, at which he was a deputy were those of May and October, 1685, May and October, 1694, May and October, 1695, October, 1699, May and October, 1703, May and October, 1704, October, 1705, October, 1706, April and May, 1707, and May, 1715. A few allusions in the records indicate that, as deputy, he spoke his mind freely and sometimes intemperately, with utter disregard to the consequences.

At the October session of 1703, for using " reproachfull words " against " William Pitkin Esqr, Assistant," and also for casting forth " reproachfull expressions against divers members of the Assembly," he was sentenced to pay a fine of ten pounds.* And during the last session that he attended, in May, 1715, he was publicly admonished by Gov. Saltonstall for a " discourse of a seditious nature and tendency," delivered on the 17th of that month. Only once does he appear to have been a member of the Council, and then toward the end of his life. At a meeting of the Governor and Council held at Hartford, August 16, 1726, Capt. Joseph Wadsworth was present as a member, and this is the last mention of him in the Colonial Records. [Colonial Records of Connecticut, 1665-1677, p. 400. lbid., 1689-1706, p. 5.]

Under date of Oct. 15, 1688, John Allyn, Secretary of the Colony,

wrote Gov. Andros, " I allso make bold to inform your Excelency that if you please to make Joseph Wadsworth Lieutenant of the company of the North side of or Towne & Mr. Niccols of the Sowth side, it will be most accomadating to the people as their habitations are settled." [Colonial Records of Connecticut, 1678-1689, p. 450.]

Many years afterwards when he himself was a deputy to the General Assembly for the last time, in May, 1715, his valiant exploit was recognized by the Colony as follows: — "Upon consideration of the faithful and good service of Capt. Joseph Wadsworth, of Hartford, especially in securing the Duplicate Charter of this Colony in a very troublesome season when our constitution was struck at, and in safely keeping and preserving the same ever since unto this day: This Assembly do, as a token of their grateful resentment of such his faithful and good service, grant him out of the Colony treasury the sum of twenty shillings." [Colonial Records of Connecticut, 1689-1706, p. 453. lbid.,

1706-1716, pp. 492 and 493. Jlbid., 1726-1735, p. 52. lbid., 1706-1716, p. 507.]

It is strange that the death of such a patriot is not recorded, but it probably took place in 1730, as his will was proved March 2, 1730-31.

Joseph Wadsworth married (1) Elizabeth Talcott, born February 21, 1656, daughter of Lieut. Col. John and Helena (Wakeman) Talcott, who died October 26, 1710. He married (2) Mary Blackleach, widow of both Thomas

Welles and John Olcott, and daughter of John and Elizabeth Blackleach of Wethersfield, Connecticut, who survived him. [Early Connecticut Probate Records, Vol. Ill, p. 122.]

There are several reasons for believing that Elizabeth Talcott, and

not Elizabeth Barnard, was the mother of his children. In March, 1753, Aaron Cook and his wife Hannah (Wadsworth) Cook of Harwinton, conveyed to Joseph Wadsworth Jr., Daniel Wadsworth and William Wadsworth, all right pertaining to them " by the Right of Our Hond Mother Elizabeth Wadsworth in the five mile so called on the East side of the great River." Hartford Town Records, No. 8, p. 424.

That Lt. Col. John Talcott possessed lands in the above described

tract, appears from a statement in the inventory of his estate taken Nov. 3, 1689, of his owning "2 prsells Land Giuen by Jos[h]ua Sachem And Cap' Sanupp nott yett deuided."

On the other hand, Bartholomew Barnard left by will only £20 to his

daughter Elizabeth. Still weightier evidence is presented in the petition of Joseph Talcott to the General Court, dated May 15, 1691. In it he recites that " Y Honourd father of your poor petitioner departed this Life upon ye 23d

day of July 1688 haueing made no writen will for yi setelment of his personall estate this Colony then being under y Gouerm' of his Excellency Sr Edmon Andros aplycation was made to him by my brother in law

Lift Jos Wardsworth: for leeters of Adminisstration upon y« sii estate etc." Document 47, Vol. IV, " Private Controversies," in the archives.

State Library, Hartford.

This proves that Joseph Wadsworth was married to Elizabeth Talcott

prior to April 18, 1689, when Sir Edmund Andros was arrested and

imprisoned. For further discussion of this question, see p. 81, Vol. LXIV,

of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, where Mr. Frank

Farnsworth Starr, to whom the editor is indebted for the information,

examines the matter in detail.

Source: An Account of Some of the Descendants of John Russell, the Emigrant from Ipswich, England, who Came to Boston, New England, October 3, 1635, Together with Some Sketches of the Allied Families of Wadsworth, Tuttle, and Beresford by Gurdon Wadsworth Russell, Edwin Stanley Welles, Samuel Hart, J. R. Hutchinson, published by Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1910, original from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, Digitized Nov. 1, 2007

http://books.google.com/books?id=XrxOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA239&lpg=PA239&dq=joseph+wadsworth,+1648&source=web&ots=3SyqRC4vtp&sig=b2XzSlO-y0ULjwgD7RDw_3rhtG8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result#PPA243,M1

The Charter Oak

Connecticut's history of constitutional government dates back to the seventeenth century and two significant documents: the 1639 Fundamental Orders, which bound the three original towns of Windsor, Wethersfield and Hartford into a colonial entity, and the Royal Charter of 1662 granted by Charles II. Twenty-five years later, when agents of James II attempted to seize the charter, it was spirited away and hidden in a majestic oak tree on the Wyllys estate in Hartford, thereby preserving the charter and the rights of the colonists. For over a hundred and fifty years, the "charter oak" was a prominent and widely recognized Connecticut landmark. When it was toppled during an 1856 storm, acorns were collected as keepsakes, as were a considerable amount of twigs, leaves, branches, and lumber. [Google images]

http://kristinabraham.com/CT%20constitution.jpg