4.0 Finding Our Family Heritage on the Old Connecticut Path
ARE WE RELATED?For those who seek a family connection, explore the resources available in the subpages (left) that include hundreds of families and thousands of individuals who came to America in those early years and whose descendants set roots all across our country. A place to start your search may be found in the Newton-Dimick Allied Families document compiled by Robert S. Newton that cross references all family names found in the Newton and Dimick family records. This remarkable document lists 403 family names and thousands of individual family members. Their origins go back to Mayflower, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, early settlers of Connecticut, early settlers of Vermont, and westward across the country. The Allied Families document is available as a searchable pdf file for those who are looking for their own family origins. NEWTON/DIMICK FAMILIES - ALLIED FAMILIES SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANCESTRY AND SOME DESCENDANTS of DAVID NEWTON of MILFORD, CONNECTICUT and THE DIMICK FAMILY Compiled by ROBERT S. NEWTON (1 MB searchable pdf)
FAMILY HISTORY & THE OLD CONNECTICUT PATH
The search for the Old Connecticut Path started as a family history project. The Newton family history begins with Reverend Roger Newton who enrolled in Kings College at Cambridge University in 1636. Roger left England in 1638 crossing the Atlantic to Boston where he enrolled at Harvard College. In 1640, Roger walked the Old Connecticut Path to Hartford at age 20. He became the student of Reverend Thomas Hooker and was accepted into the family home during his preparation for the ministry. There he met 16 year old Mary Hooker whom he married in 1644. Reverend Roger Newton with his wife, Mary, went on to be the first minister at Farmington, Connecticut in 1652 and the second minister at Milford, Connecticut in 1660 where they lived for the remainder of their lives. Their children and descendants continued to move west spreading across the United States. But, the first steps on the trail west started from Cambridge in 1636.
Thomas Hooker came to Boston in 1633 aboard the Griffin with his wife, Susannah Garbrand Hooker, and their seven children. He was elected minister of the congregation at Newtowne later known as Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ministers were highly regarded in this era. Among ministers in England and America of his time, Thomas Hooker was a superstar. Hooker’s vision of community was embraced by his congregation. Realization of that vision required the entire congregation to uproot from homes in Newtowne to migrate across the wilderness to Connecticut in 1636. This congregation lead by Thomas Hooker founded Hartford, Connecticut 375 years ago.
Within a year of the founding of Hartford, Reverend Hooker preached a sermon that formed as the basis for the colony’s “Fundamental Orders”, the first constitution in America. The beliefs that Reverend Hooker preached, codified in the “Fundamental Orders”, built upon the belief that the government’s “foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people.” It marked the beginnings of American democracy, of which Thomas Hooker is recognized as the father.
While the Old Connecticut Path has a place in history as the migration route from the Boston/Cambridge area of the Massachusetts Bay, there was another important route coming from the Plymouth Colony on the Massachusetts Bay. Known as the Providence Path, it joined the Old Connecticut Path in the area of Ashford/Willington, Connecticut. Elder Thomas Dimick came to Hingham in 1637 and settled in Barnstable in Plymouth Colony. His children followed the Providence Path to Connecticut after King Philip's war. My Dimick ancestors settled in the area that became the Connecticut towns of Mansfield, Ashford, Willington, Tolland located at the convergence of the Providence Path and the Old Connecticut Path. Others settled along the Connecticut River. They were among the pioneers who came west to Connecticut from the Plymouth Colony.
I am fortunate to have the Newton and Dimick family history so well recorded by my uncle, Robert Newton. If you explore the "Genealogy: Newton & Dimick Families" page you will see the great benefit of standing on the shoulders of one who has gone before. There are resources there that could help another family make a connection with ancestors who came west to Connecticut in those early years, or who continued west across America.
The life of Thomas Hooker and his descendants is well researched. Background information on his life and resources to explore further are provided in the "Thomas Hooker" page.
The Founders of Hartford are listed on their own page along with links related to the founding of the city.
As I walk on the Old Connecticut Path, I think of Mary Hooker who endured a 3 month voyage across the Atlantic at age 9 and then, at age 12, walked more than 100 miles over 14 days from Cambridge to Hartford. I wonder how she would have seen the world she traveled through and how incomprehensible our world would be to her. And I wonder how Mary’s parents responded when she asked the age old children’s question, “Are we almost there, yet?”
The faith, courage and perseverance that the pioneers who came along the Old Connecticut and Providence Paths. I hope that the travels recorded in this site and the resources provided will help inspire you to rediscover the Path and discover your own family heritage along the way.
Please send any feedback, comments and/or suggestions to
e-mail : oldconnecticutpath@gmail.com
