Additional information added by Paul Seymour
Briefly, about the founding of Connecticut, it was established as a retreat for Puritan Nobleman by the Earl of Warwick, via King Charles. The name Puritan has been misinterpreted over the centuries. The Puritans were just basically even more anti-catholic than the average Brit during this period, and Queen Elizabeth, and later King James found their beliefs a little too radical at the time to be politically acceptable. They were having enough problems at the time just breaking away from the Catholic Church and establishing a more moderate alternative.
Roger_Ludlow “Roger Ludlow (1590-1664) was one of the founders of the Colony of Connecticut. He was born in March 1590 in Dinton, Wiltshire, England. Roger was the second son of Sir Thomas Ludlow of Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire (Maiden Bradley is today the home of John Michael Seymour, Duke of Somerset) and Jane Pyle, sister of Sir Gabriel Pyle. He matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford in 1609 or 1610, and was admitted to the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple in 1612.”
According to the Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford website http://www.foundersofhartford.org/founders/seymour_richard.htm:
The Founders of Hartford
“Here are the 163 men and women listed in the Book of Distribution of Land as being those who settled in Hartford before February 1640. Their names are on a monument in Hartford's Ancient Burying Ground.
Jeremy Adams | William Gibbons | John Pierce |
Matthew Allyn | Deacon Richard Goodman | Thomas Porter |
Francis Andrews | Elder William Goodwin | Stephen Post |
William Andrews | Ozias Goodwin | John Pratt |
John Arnold | Seth Grant | William Pratt |
Andrew Bacon | George Grave | John Purchas (Purkas) |
John Barnard | Bartholomew Greene | Nathaniel Richards |
Thomas Barnes | Samuel Greenhill | Thomas Richards |
Robert Bartlett | Thomas Gridley | Richard Risley (Wrigley) |
John Baysey | Samuel Hale (Hales) | Thomas Root |
Thomas Beale | Thomas Hale | William Ruscoe (Reskoe, Rescue) |
Nathaniel Bearding | John Hall | Nathaniel Ruscoe |
Mary Betts | Stephen Hart | John Sable (Savell, Sables) |
John Bidwell | William Hayden | Thomas Scott |
Richard Billing | Hon. John Haynes | Thomas Selden |
Thomas Birchwood | Rev. John Higginson | Richard Seymour |
Peter Blachford | William Hills | John Skinner |
Thomas Blackley | John Holloway | Arthur Smith |
Thomas Bliss, Sr. | William Holton | Giles Smith |
Thomas Bliss, Jr. | Rev. Thomas Hooker | Sergeant Thomas Spencer |
William Blumfield | Governor Edward Hopkins | William Spencer |
James Bridgeman | John Hopkins | John Stanley |
John Bronson | Thomas Hosmer | Thomas Stanley |
Richard Bronson | George Hubbard | Timothy Stanley |
Capt. Thomas Bull | Thomas Hungerford | Thomas Stanton |
Thomas Bunce | William Hyde | Deacon Edward Stebbins (Stebbin) |
Benjamin Burr | Jonathan Ince | George Steele |
Deacon Richard Butler | Thomas Judd | John Steele |
William Butler | Ralph Keeler | George Stocking |
Clement Chaplin | Nathaniel Kellogg | John Stone |
Mss. Dorothy Chester | William Kelsey | Rev. Samuel Stone |
Richard Church | Edward Lay | John Talcott |
John Clarke | William Lewis, Sen. | Thomas Thompson |
Nicholas Clarke | Captain Richard Lord | Thomas Upson |
William Clarke | Thomas Lord | Robert Wade |
James Cole | Thomas Lord, Jr. | William Wadsworth |
Sgt. William Cornwell | Richard Lyman | Henry Wakeley (Walkley) |
John Crow | John Marsh | James Wakeley |
Captain John Cullick | Matthew Marvin | Samuel Wakeman |
Philip Davis | Reinold Marvin | Nathaniel Ward |
Fulke Davy | John Maynard | Andrew Warner |
Robert Day | John Moody | John Warner |
Nicholas Desborough | John Morris (Morrice) | Richard Watts |
Deacon Joseph Easton | Benjamin Munn | Richard Webb |
William Edwards | Thomas Munson | John Webster |
Edward Elmer | Joseph Mygatt | Governor Thomas Welles |
Nathaniel Ely | Thomas Olcott | William Westley |
James Ensign (Ensigg) | James Olmsted (Holmsted) | William Westwood |
Zachary Field | Dr John Olmsted | Elder John White |
Thomas Fisher | Capt. Richard Olmsted | Samuel Whitehead |
John Friend | William Pantry (Peyntre) | Major William Whiting |
Samuel Gardner | William Parker | John Wilcock (Wilcox) |
Daniel Garret | Deacon Paul Peck | Gregory Wolterton (Wilterton) |
John Gennings | William Phillips | Thomas Woodford |
Governor George Wyllys |