George Hubbard, of Wethersfield

George Hubbard is a notable early European settler in both the Connecticut and New Haven colonies. He first arrived in Wethersfield in 1635, the year after its 1634 founding, then moved to Milford in 1639, and finally Guilford in 1650, the latter two towns being in the New Haven Colony.

He was a surveyor as well as a leading figure and legislative representative in Connecticut.

Early Life

George Hubbard was born on March 14, 1600 in Glastonbury, Somerset, England to unknown parents. There are some Internet genealogies that take him back to a Thomas Hubbard b. 1369, but there is no actual evidence for this theory. Past genealogists argued that he could have been a son of Edmund Hobart and Margaret Dewey, but that theory has since been abandoned due to their other children being well-documented in England.

He married Mary. She was traditionally believed to be the Mary Bishop born in Glastonbury, Somerset, England c. 1627 to father John Bishop, who would go on to be one of the original proprietors of Guilford in 1639. In the 1933 American Genealogist article "George Hubbard's Wife," however, genealogist Donald L. Jacobus disproved this theory.

George and Mary were the parents of the following children, two of whom were born in England: Mary, John, Sarah, Hannah, Elizabeth, Abigail, William, and Daniel. John was born in England and was fostered by the Merriam family; he married Mary Merriam in 1648.

He arrived in the colonies in 1633 and was living with Mary in Watertown, Massachusetts by 1635.

Life in Wethersfield

On May 6, 1635, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay granted the inhabitants of Watertown permission to "remove themselves to any place that they shall think meete to make choice of, provided they continue under this government." (Massachusetts by then had too many towns and increasing numbers of cattle.) On October 15, 1635, George and his family joined about sixty men, women and children with their cattle, horses and pigs as they commenced their difficult journey toward Connecticut.

After arriving in Wethersfield -- part of a group of 60 people -- by December 15, 1635, George worked as a surveyor with Samuel Wakeman. They surveyed the Connecticut River from Windsor "to the Falls" (Chicopee?) and from Wethersfield to the river's mouth. Wethersfield comprised a fifty square mile parallelogram straddling the river.

In 1636, the governing commission assigned George to survey the boundaries of Wethersfield and nearby Windsor. George represented Wethersfield on the commission 1638-42 (he was fined one shilling for coming to his first meeting late). In 1638, he also became one of the two Wethersfield residents authorized to trade with local Native Americans. He was fined one shilling for being late to a 7am session of the General Court on April 5, 1639.

He served in the Connecticut General Court at Hartford for the first time in 1638, meaning he was a freeman by then; he served several more times during his life.

In 1639, George, by survey, cut out that portion lying east of the Connecticut River from the Hartford line to the Sturgeon River. In this area George laid out forty-four "Three mile lots." His, comprising one hundred ninety-five acres, was number 14 in Glastonbury (then called Naubuc Farms); to the east was wilderness.

It is commonly said that he was the George Hubbard who was fined £10 for trading a gun to a Native American in 1649, but that is believed to have been the other George Hubbard of the area, who lived in Hartford at the time of the incident.

Life in New Haven Colony

George appears among the 44 original settlers of Milford on November 20, 1639, for an allotment of ten acres. He was granted Milford Island. He was admitted January 15, 1644 to the Milford church.

George sold Milford Island and the family family moved to Guilford by 1648, where Mary's parents were settled. He bought properly from Jacob Sheaffe on September 22, 1648. George was admitted to the Guilford church on October 6, 1650.

His name appears on a freemen list for Guilford c. 1650-52, and as having moved from Milford. He served eight years as a deputy magistrate (1652-66) and assembly member (1666-67; this means he served at the union of the Connecticut and New Haven colonies). In May 1670, the Court invested him with the authority to "joyne persons in marriage" as a justice.

Death & Will

George Hubbard died in Guilford in early 1683. His will has a codicil dated May 23, 1682, in which he stated that his life had been prolonged since his last update of December 30, 1682. In the new codicil, he devised (left or willed) a room in his house to his daughter Elizabeth. The inventory of his estate was taken May 30, 1683; it was valued at £564.8.6 sterling. (See: pp. 96-7, Volume I, Probate Office Records, New Haven, Connecticut.)

The following names were listed in his will:

• Sons John, Daniel, and William
• Daughters Mary (wife of John Fowler), Sarah Harrison/Morrison, Abigail (wife of Humphrey Spinning), Hannah (probably wife of Jacob Melyne), and Elizabeth (unmarried at that time; later second wife of John Norton of Guilford).
• Grandson John Spinning was named, but no parents were named, so he could have been from Abigail or from another daughter who married a Spinning and had already died

The grave of George Hubbard was in the Guilford cemetery, south of where the soldiers' monument now stands in the center of the Guilford village green. This cemetery was not used after 1817, and the gravestones were removed.

In 1914, at the time of the publication of a book on the Hubbard family, there was still at least one heirloom left from him -- a linen chest brought by him from England. It is made of oak and is about four feet high and two feet deep, with a crude scroll work embellishing the front. The wood, all except the panels, is two inches thick, and is held together with wooden pegs. It formerly opened at the top. As of 1914, it had never been possessed by anyone outside the family since George was alive.

Resources

• Atwater, Edward E. History of the Colony of New Haven, 1666-67. (1881)
• Bond, Watertown
• Day, Edward Warren. One Thousand Years of Hubbard History, 866-1895. (1895)
• Gardiner Card Collection
• Guilford Town Clerk
• Hubbard, Harlan P. One Thousand Years of Hubbard History. (1896)
• Hubbard, Irvin W. Descendants of George Hubbard, 1584-1960. (1961)
• Jacobus, Donald L. "George Hubbard's Wife." The American Genealogist, Vol. 10 (1933), Issue 17.
• Lloyd, Jane Hubbard. American Ancestry, Vol. 9.
• Trumbull, J. Hammond. Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, Vol. I. (1850)