New Horizons Genealogy

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Hartford County Connecticut History


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Hartford County was constituted such in 1666. It's original limits comprised an extensive district of country on both sides of Connecticut river, the entire county of Tolland, most of the counties of Middlesex and Windham, and a part of the counties of Litchfield and New London. The present extent of the county is about 30 miles from the north to south, and averages 25 miles in breadth from east to west. It is bounded north by Hampden County in Massachusetts, east by Tolland County, west by Litchfield, and south by the counties of Middlesex and New Haven. This county as a whole in resources, wealth and population, will rank before any other in the state; and in many respects, before any in New England. The valley of the Connecticut is justly celebrated for the extent and richness of its meadows; and there is no section throughout its whole course, where they are more enlarged or fertile than in this county. The soil generally is rich, various and fertile, and it is for the most part highly cultivated; well adapted to a grain culture, particularly that of rye and Indian corn, of which large quantities are annually raised. The county is intersected nearly in the center by the Connecticut river; in its western part by a range of greenstone mountains, called in some parts the Talcott Mountains. It is watered by several streams, among which are the Farmington, Hockanum, Scantic and Podunk rivers, all of which discharge their waters into the Connecticut.

A great variety of manufactures is carried on in the county, many of which are extensive, and employ a considerable amount of Capital. They will be notices in the account of the several towns. The following is a list of the several towns in the county, with the population according to the census of 1830.

Hartford 9,789 East Hartford 2,237 Manchester 1,576
Avon 1,025 East Windsor 3,537 Marlborough 704
Berlin 3,037 Enfield 2,120 Simsbury 2,221
Bloomfield - Farmington 1,901 Southington 1,844
Bristol 1,707 Glastonbury 2,980 Suffield 2,690
Burlington 1,301 Granby 2,722 Wethersfield 3,853
Canton 1,437 Hartland 1,221 Windsor 3,220