Hon. William Preston, Esq.

Hon. William Preston, son of Hackaliah Preston and Emma Preston (Fairchild),[ daughter of Thomas Fairchild of Stratford, one of the principal planters and first magistrates of that town.] was born at Strarford, March 21, 1676, just before his father's removal to Woodbury and was, therefore, in one sense a son of the soil having spent his active life in the town and rested from his labours September 5, 1754 in his 78th year of his age. He was a leading man in town, county, and colony.//He was a member of the General Court 35 sessions and stood high in the Militia having attained the rank of Colonel. He was Justice of the Quorum 11 years from 1740.//On the formation of the new county of Litchfield in 1751 he was appointed its first Judge which office he held 13 years till his death; performing its duties to the credit of himself and the interests of the people. He was a man of fine talents and commanding influence, of sterling integrity and unflinching determination. He was active and efficient in all the walks of life and died much lamented. Such was the character of the early men of Woodbury. We would gladly delineate the lives of more of them did the time and space permit. Such was the culture of the men who laid the foundations of our institutions both local and general. It is of such ancesters a virtuous descendant has a right to be proud, and the memory of whom should shame into reformation anyone who may have decamped from the boundaries of good character and correct principal.///From "A History of Ancient Woodbury Book Two"

• Reference-Full Text: https://archive.org/stream/historyofoldtown01orcu#page/n5/mode/2up A history of the old town of Stratford and the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut by Orcutt, Samuel, 1824-1893 (1886)
• Reference [1]-Full Text: http://archive.org/details/historyofancient02coth History of ancient Woodbury, Connecticut, from the first Indian deed in 1659 ... including the present towns of Washington, Southbury, Bethlem, Roxbury, and a part of Oxford and Middlebury (Vol. I) by William Cothren 1854
• Reference [2]-Full Text: http://archive.org/details/historyofancient21coth History of ancient Woodbury, Connecticut, from the first Indian deed in 1659 ... including the present towns of Washington, Southbury, Bethlem, Roxbury, and a part of Oxford and Middlebury (Vol. II, Pt. 1) by William Cothren 1854
• Reference: http://archive.org/stream/historyofancient21coth#page/664/mode/2up ibid [2]
• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Mar 11 2019, 23:38:23 UTC
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jan 9 2023, 18:22:28 UTC schwartz