Thomas Hungerford, of Hartford

Biographical Summary #1:

Thomas Hungerford (Hungerfoot), a proprietor "by courtesie of the town;" his home-lot was on the west side of the road to the Cow Pasture; removed to New London about 1650, where he died 1663. He married as his 2d wife, Hannah, daughter of Isaac Willey, of New London, about 1658; she survived him, and married (2) Peter Blachford, of New London and Haddam (q. v.); (3) 1673, Samuel Spencer, of Haddam.

SOURCE: James Hammond Trumbull, editor, The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Volume 1 (Boston, Massachusetts: Edward L. Osgood, 1886), page 247. Retrieved: 3 May 2011 from Google Books

Family

The parents of Thomas Hungerford are not known.

He married twice, his first wife's name is not known (she supposedly died by 2 Nov 1657, in New London, CT), but they most likely married by about 1648,[5] the approximate birth year of their supposed first son, Thomas. Together they had:

1. Thomas Hungerford Jr. b. ~1648, d. ~1713. Married Mary Green.
2. Sarah Hungerford b. ~1654. Living in 1671; no further information.

He married second Hannah Willey by about 1658 in New London, CT.[6] She was the daughter of Isaac Willey and Joanna (Lutten) Willey. She died about 1681 in Haddam, CT. Together they had one daughter:

1. Hannah (Hungerford) Ross b. ~1659, d. after1719). Married William Ross.

Disputed origins

It has been argued that Thomas' father was John Hungerford of Cadnam, Bremhill, Wiltshire and his wife Elizabeth Escourt. Although John Hungerford had a son named Thomas Hungerford, that Thomas was a barrister in England, married Rebecca Wallis, had children, and died in England, and as far as is known, never traveled to New England.

Hannah and the Wolf

On the road leading from New London to the Nahantick bar, (Rope Ferry) nearly in the parallel of Bruen's Neck, is a large single rock of granite, that in former times was popularly known as Hungerford's Fort. It is also mentioned on the proprietary records in describing the pathway to Bruen's Neck, as " the great rock called Hungerfort's Fort." We must refer to tradition for the origin of the name. It is said that a young daughter of the Hungerford family, (Hannah ?) being alone on this road, on her way to school, found herself watched and pursued by a hungry wolf. He made his approaches cautiously, and she had time to secure some weapon of defense, and to retreat to this rock before he actually made his attack. And here she succeeded in beating him off, though he made several leaps up the rock, and his fearful bark almost bewildered her senses, till assistance came.

We can not account for the name and the tradition, without allowing that some strange incident occurred in connection with the rock, and that a wolf and a member of the Hungerford family were involved in it; but the above account may not be a correct version of the story. (2)

Notes

• Thomas Hungerford (Hungerfoot), a proprietor "by courtesie of the town; his home-lot was on the west side of the mad to the Cow Pasture ; remove to New London ab. 1650, where he d. 1663. He m. as his 2d wife, Hannal dau. of lease Willey, of New London, ab. 1658 ; she survived him, and IT (2) Peter Blachford, of New London and Haddam (q. v.); (3) 1673, Samuel Spencer, of Haddam. (1)
• Estate, £100. Children, three—"Thomas, aged about fifteen; Sarah, nine; Hannah, four years old, this first of May, 1663." The relict of Thomas Hungerford, married Samuel Spencer, of East Haddam; one of the daughters married Lewis Hughes, of Lyme. (2)
• Probably born in Wiltshire, England. Thomas and his sister Anne came to Connecticut about 1638. Thomas settled with his first wife in Hartford, a town on the Quonektacut River, named for the Indian word meaning long-river. He owned a triangular plot of land on the road to the cow pasture, now North Main Street. He moved to New London about 1650 with eleven others when John Winthrop was establishing the town. He acquired a substantial amount of property, and married Hannah Wiley. (2)
• Thomas Hungerford, 2d, had a grant of land in 1673, " four miles from town," and his name occurs, as an inhabitant, for ten or twelve years, though he was afterward of Lyme. The heroine of the rock is more likely to have been a member of his family, than of that of his father, whose residence was in the town plot, on the bank. (2)
• Thomas Hungerford, of Hartford left his daughter Sarah (born about 1654, probably in Boston) in his sister Anne Leigh care after his first wife died. He later remarried and died in New London, Connecticut before 1 May 1663.
• Thomas Hungerford, of Hartford and New London, Conn., according to Mr. J. J. Murphy, who in his "Life of Colonel Daniel Elihu Hungerford," written in 1869, says that Thomas, brother of Sir Edward Hungerford, K.B., landed on the shores of New England in 1628. The said Colonel Daniel Elihu Hungerford was born in Herkimer County, New York; died in Rome Italy, 1896, and had a daughter who married John W. Mackey, of California, residing in Paris. Both she and her father have spent much time in England and have given especial attention to the genealogy of the Hungerfords. Thomas Hungerford was baptized, probably at Bremhill Parish, England in 1602. (See the book, "Thomas Hungerford, of Hartford and New London, Conn., and some of his descendants with their English Ancestors," by F. Phelps Leach (1924); died at New London Conn., 1663; who married (name unknown). Service : "History of New London," by Caulkins, 1860, page 68 -- Thomas Hungerford and Jonathan Brewster of the Cape Ann Party, 1650, on the peninsula where the first Trading Post stood.
• 19. Thomas Hungerford, born at New London, Conn., 1648; died at East Haddam, Conn., 1714, who married before June 6, 1671, Mary Green, of Narragansett. Service: Bodges' "Kings Philip's War," Leominster, Mass., 1896, No. 140 being Thomas Hungerford.
• http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/HUNGERFORD/1996-06/08... " I have a family history (Reference FHL# 0908084, item# 5) of the Hungerfords compiled by Gustave Anjou. He supports the theory that our Thomas was the son of John Hungerford, MP and Elizabeth Hungerford. He also did a family history on the Huntingtons--and was exposed as a fraud by a Huntington family organization. ..."
• Was an early member of First Church, Hartford before moving to New London about 1650.

References

1. http://www.foundersofhartford.org/founders/
2. The Founders of Hartford: Thomas Hungerford (Hungerfoot)
3. Caulkins, Frances M. History of New London, Connecticut: From the First Survey of the Coast in 1612, to 1852. New London: author [Hartford, Ct., Press of Case, Tiffany and Co., 1852. Print. pg. 278
4. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hungerford-43 cites
   1. "Thomas Hungerford appears to be the brother of Anne (Hungerford) Leigh, wife ofJohn Leigh. According to the genealogy published 1888, a letter from Thomas to his sister was dated 1657. It was discovered among family papers. In it, he discusses visiting his sister in Ipswich, Massachusetts with his daughter, Sarah. He desires to leave his daughter with Anne to raise. This is apparently in preparation for his second marriage. Sarah seems to have been left with Anne and is mentioned in the Last Will & Testament of John Leigh in 1671. Or perhaps she just came to them upon the death of her father in 1663. https://archive.org/details/johnleighofagawa00leew/page/84/mode/2up"
   2. William Smith Porter, Historical Notices of Connecticut No. 1, Containing Hartford in 1640 (Hartford: Elihu Geer's Press, 1842); image of p. 10 at InternetArchive.org. Text: "In addition to the above, the following persons had been owners of lots previous to 1G39, and had either sold them, or forfeited them to the town, by not settling or removing, contrary to the conditions of their grant."
   3. William Smith Porter, Historical Notices of Connecticut No. 1, Containing Hartford in 1640 (Hartford: Elihu Geer's Press, 1842); image of p. 10 at InternetArchive.org. Text: "In addition to the above, the following persons had been owners of lots previous to 1G39, and had either sold them, or forfeited them to the town, by not settling or removing, contrary to the conditions of their grant."
   4. William Smith Porter, Historical Notices of Connecticut No. 1, Containing Hartford in 1640 (Hartford: Elihu Geer's Press, 1842); image of p. 24 at InternetArchive.org.
   5. William Smith Porter, Historical Notices of Connecticut No. 1, Containing Hartford in 1640 (Hartford: Elihu Geer's Press, 1842); image of p. 21 at InternetArchive.org.
   6. Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 AmAncestors, 2:819 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011), p. 819, entry for Thomas Hungerford by subscription at AmericanAncestors.org.
   7. Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 AmAncestors, 2:819 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011), p. 819, entry for Thomas Hungerford by subscription at AmericanAncestors.org.
   8. Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society 14:86 (Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society, 1912); image of p. 86 at FamilySearch.org.
   9. Barbour, Lucius Barnes, 1982, Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut, Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., Baltimore, Maryland and Connecticut Society of Genealogists, Inc., Glastonbury, Connecticut pp.705
   10. Himebaugh, Maria Walton, 1913. Hungerford Genealogy: A Genealogical & Biographical Record of the Hungerford Family in England, Ireland, Canada and United States. Privately published, Wichita, Kansas, pages 36-45 (#1)
   11. Lee, William John, Leigh of Agawam [Ipswich] Massachusetts, 1634-1671 : and his descendants of the name of Lee (Albany: Joel Munsell's Sons, 1888); [1] at InternetArchive.org.
   12. Rixford, Elizabeth M. Leach. Three hundred colonial ancestors and war service : their part in making American history from 495 to 1934. Rutland, Vt.: Tuttle Co., 1934. via Ancestry.com (book pages 170-171).
   13. Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford, https://www.foundersofhartford.org/the-founders/thomas-hungerford/