Today, September 26, 2008, is being observed by the Town of Windsor as the official date of its 375^th birthday, marking the anniversary of Lt. William Holmes’ arrival and establishment of a trading post near the junction of the Connecticut and Farmington Rivers.

In conjunction with Windsor’s anniversary, the State Library has created online presentations of two records significant to Windsor’s early history, the “Warwick Patent” and Matthew Grant’s “Diary” or Notebook.

The “Warwick Patent” was used to justify the establishment of a colony and the erection of a fort at Saybrook, a claim to lands in Matianuck (later Windsor, Connecticut) by a party led by Francis Stiles, and the establishment of John Winthrop, Jr. as the “governor of the river Connecticut.” The “Patent” was subsequently invoked to help legitimize Connecticut’s legal status.

Matthew Grant was Windsor Connecticut’s first surveyor, second town clerk, and ancestor of President Ulysses S. Grant. His “Diary” includes two sermons by Thomas Hooker, one a Thanksgiving sermon preached October 4, 1638 and the other preached at Windsor June 20, 1647, shortly before Hooker’s death; transcriptions of other sermons and religious writings; the Windsor church covenant of 1647; Grant’s Rules for Measuring Land; and his family record. Entries on the inside cover of the Notebook record the death by hanging of Alse Young, 1647; of John Newbery, 1647; and of the Carringtons, 1651. According to John M. Taylor’s The Witchcraft Delusion in Colonial Connecticut, pp. 145-147, Alse Young and John and Joane Carrington were executed for the alleged crime of witchcraft.

CPTV will rerun the History Detectives show with the Connecticut Jewish farm segment on Thurs. Oct 2 at 9:00 p.m., Sat. Oct. 4 at 11:30 a.m. and Sun. Oct. 5 at 3:00 p.m.

The Case of the Mysterious Connecticut Farm

The “History Detectives” Investigate Jewish Agricultural Communities at the Connecticut State Library

A production crew for the popular public television series History Detectives spent much of Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at the Connecticut State Library filming part of a segment for the show’s sixth season. The segment involves a case in which “A resident of rural East Haddam, Connecticut owns an old home that he believes has a story to tell.”

The house was occupied by a number of different people from 1891 to 1906, and their names seem to suggest a Russian or Eastern European background. Many Eastern European Jews immigrated to America at this time because of the political situation in Russia. Could there be a connection? Watch the History Detectives episode on Sept. 8 for the answers.

Check TV listings in your area for information about broadcast times. In Connecticut, CPTV is pre-empting History Detectives’ normal Monday at 9:00 p.m. time slot and will air it at 1:00 a.m. Wed. Sept. 10 instead. The show will run in Boston and Springfield at the regular 9:00 p.m. Monday time.

To complement the episode, the Connecticut State Library has created an online exhibit focusing on the history of Jewish farmers in Connecticut. It features images of Connecticut agricultural scenes from the late 1800s through the mid 1900s.

For the full story of the History Detectives’ visit to the State Library, please see the article “History Detectives” Visit the State Library in the July 2008 edition of the CONNector, the Connecticut State Library newsletter.