Deacon Stephen Hart

1602 - 1683  (81 years)

• Name	Stephen Hart
  Prefix	Deacon
  Born	25 Jan 1601/02	Braintree, Essex, England, UK
  Gender	Male
  Died	Mar 1682/83	Farmington, Hartford Co., CT
  Notes	Fact 3: Constituent members of the church n Farmington, organized November 1652. 10 DEACON STEPHEN HART Braintree, England; Cambridge, Mass.; Hartford and Tunxis, Conn. Deacon Stephen Hart, son of Stephen Hart, and his wife, ? , was born about 1605, at Braintree, in Essex County, England. Stephen Hart is supposed to have come from Braintree, Essex County, England, with the company that settled in Braintree in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and subsequently removed to Newtown, now called Cambridge where he was one of the fifty-four settlers. They constituted the church of which Rev. Thomas Hooker was invited from England to become pastor. He was in Cambridge by 1632, and admitted a freeman there, May 14th, 1634. He became a Deacon of Rev. Hooker's Church in Cambridge. He came to Hartford with Mr. Hooker's company in 1635, and in 1639 was one of the original proprietors of that place and was also a Deacon with the church there. His house lot was on the west side of what is now called Front Street, near where Morgan Street crosses it, and there is a tradition that the town was called from the ford he discovered and used in crossing the Connecticut River at a low stage of the water, and so from Hart's Ford it soon became Hartford, from a natural and easy transition. In 1647 he was one of the "deputyes" of the General Court of Connecticut, at their May session. He was one of the first representatives in 1647, and continued, with one exception, for fifteen sessions, until 1655, and once in 1660. Tradition further says that as he and others were on a hunting excursion on Talcott Mountain, they discovered the Farmington River Valley, then inhabited by the Tunxis, a powerful tribe of Indians. The meadows were probably then cleared, and waving with grass and Indian corn. Such lands were then much needed and coveted by the settlers, who soon - probably as soon as 1640 - made a bargain with the Indians, and settled among them with their cattle. They still continued, however, connected with the settlement at Hartford, attended public worship, and prehaps wintered there, until about 1645, when the town was incorporated by the name of Farmington, from the excellent farms there. (The Principal leaders in this settlement were John Steele, William Lewis, Stephen Hart, Thomas Judd, John Bronson, John Warner, Nathaniel Kellogg, Thomas Barnes, Richard Seymour, and Thomas Gridley.) Stephen Hart appears to have taken the lead in the settlement among the Indians in Farmington, and purchased a large tract on the border of the present town of Avon, and known to this day by the name of Hart's farm. (Probably located at or near what is now called Cider Brook, on the east side of the river, and near the bridge, some three miles north of Farmigton Village.) About this time Mr. Roger Newton, a student in theology with Rev. Thomas Hooker, whose daughter he married, began to preach for them, and in 1652 was ordained their pastor. Deacon Hart and his first wife were constituent members of the church in Farmington, organized November, 1652, with Rev. Roger Newton, pastor. Stephen Hart was one of the seven pillars of the church, and was chose their first deacon. The other pillars were Rev. Roger Newton, pastor, John Cole (Cowles), John Bronson, Robert Porter, Thomas Judd, and Thomas Thomson. In 1653 he was appointed a comissioner, by the General Court, for the Town of Farmington, to aid the constable in impressing men into the army, then being raised. Mr. Hart became one of the eighty-four proprietors of Farmington in 1672. In short, no man in the town was more active, influential, and useful. His house-lot, which was four or five times as large as any other, was on the west side of Main Street, in the village, opposite the meeting house, and contained fifteen acres, exending from Mill Lane to the stone store south. This large house-lot was granted to Deacon Stephen Hart as an inducement to erect and continue a mill on the premises, to be perpetuated and kept in motion. The mill was erected originally by the Bronsons, to whom, as a consideration, was granted, viz: a tract of eighty acres, on the Pequabuk River, now known as the "Eighty Acres." The south part of this house-lot he gave to his son John, and the north part to his son Thomas. Thomas gave it to his son Josiah, and it descended to the wife of Roger Hooker, his only surviving child, and to her only son, Thomas Hart Hooker, who sold it to Samuel Deming. The Demings and their descendants held it as late as 1874. These lots and lands, in some respects, are the most desirable and valuable of any in the old town of Farmington. His widow, Margaret, gave her property to her sons, John and Arthur Smith, and daughter, Elizabeth Thompson. She had grandchildren - Elizabeth, John, and Ann Thompson. Deacon Hart's Will was dated March 16th, 1682-3. He mentions the farm he formerly gave his three sons, John, Steven, and Thomas, viz: one-half to John, one-fourth to Stephen, and one-fourth to Thomas. Item. - I give my sons, Steven and Thomas, and my daughters, Sarah Porter and Mary Lee, my Swamp Lot in the great Swamp, (The Great Swamp means Kensington Parish, now part of Berlin) and all my uplands to be equally divided between them. Item. - I give my grandchild, Dorothy Porter, 10 pounds. Item. - I give my grandchild, John Lee, 3 pounds. Item. - I give my grandchild, John Hart, my eldest son's son, 3 pounds. Item. - I give my beloved wife, +c. The Inventory was taken by Thomas Hart and John Hart, Selectmen. Issac Moore and Benjamin Judd, Appraisers. Taken March 31st, 1682-3. Amount 340 pounds, 4s. House and homestead, 70 pounds; land at Nod, east of river, 40 pounds. Deacon Hart was a farmer and large land-holder, located in the village of Farmington, and was a man of great influence, and a leading character. He died March, 1682-3, aged 77 years. He married first Elizabeth Symons? and she died ?. Second he married Margaret, the widow of Arthur Smith, and daughter of ? . She survived Deacon Hart, and was admitted to the church in Farmington, March 17th, 1690-1. She died in 1693.
  Person ID	I17271	Stedman/Steadman/Steedman Families of the New World
  Last Modified	7 Jan 2006

  
  

  Family 1	Elizabeth Symons,   b. ____, ____, England, UK ,   d. Unknown
  Children	1. Mary Hart,   b. 1627, Ipswich, Suffolk, England, UK ,   d. 10 Oct 1710, South Hadley, Hampshire Co., MA  (Age 83 years)   2. Stephen Hart, II,   b. Bef 28 Feb 1631/32, Ipswich, Suffolk, England, UK ,   d. 18 Sep 1689, Farmington, Hartford Co., CT  (Age ~ 57 years)   3. Thomas Hart,   b. 1644,   d. Unknown
  Last Modified	7 Jan 2006
  Family ID	F6883	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	Margaret [--?--],   b. Abt 1615,   d. 1693  (Age ~ 78 years)
  Married	Aft 1644
  Last Modified	7 Jan 2006
  Family ID	F6889	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 25 Jan 1601/02 - Braintree, Essex, England, UK Died - Mar 1682/83 - Farmington, Hartford Co., CT  = Link to Google Earth