Early Inhabitants & Tax Lists to 1748
Extracted from
A History of
Cornwall, Connecticut
A Typical New England Town
Edward C. Starr, B. D.
1926, no copyright

[Transcribed by Jane Devlin]

In 1750, the town had been organized for a decade; it was twelve years since the land was sold to the original proprietors. At the beginning, the settlement was sudden, then almost ceased, but in 1748 had again made a rapid increase as the following lists of owners show. An X before a names marks it as in the list of 1748 which probably would differ little from that of 1750, - at least is the nearest to it that we have. The first purchasers were by no means all prospective settlers, but in many cases land speculators, and some, like the ALLENs, continued to be so afterward. Thirty-eight Early Inhabitants (these drew lands of the 1st & 2d divisions, 1739) Daniel ALLEN ( a son Daniel appears later) Gideon ALLEN, sold to Samuel STURGIS X Joseph ALLEN, sold 1 Right to Daniel ALLEN X Thomas BALLARD Isaac BISSELL, his son Benjamin appears later Samuel BRYANT, sold to John DIBBLE, 1738 Stephen BURR Stephen BURROUGHS, rec'd deed 8 Jan 1738 Samuel BUTLER Timothy COLLINS, sold to Nathaniel JEWELL, 1739 James DENNIE X John DIBBLE, bought of S. BRYANT Reuben DIBBLE, bouth of Ebenezer BISHOP Benajah DOUGLAS Peter EASTMAN, sold to Samuel ROBERTS, 1739 Joseph FROST, sold to Roger BISSELL William GAYLORD, received deed 8 Feb 1783 X Samuel HALL, sold to Nathaniel JEWELL, 1739 X Thomas HARRIS Joseph KILBOURN, sold to Daniel HARRIS ? Samuel KILBORN Nathan LYON, sold to Josiah BIERCE, he to James DOUGLAS & Samuel ABBOTT, sold to George HOLLOWAY Benjamin OSBORN, sold to John HOLLOWAY Jacob PATCHEN, Josiah P. sold to Benjamin HOUGH Timothy PIERCE, sold to Jame DOUGLAS Samuel ROBERTS Ebenezer SEELEY, sold to Nathaniel GREEN, 1740 Eliphalet SEELEY Elizur SEELEY John SHERWOOD Ephraim SMEDLEY James SMEDLEY Samuel SMEDLEY, rec'd deed 8 Feb 1738 Nathaniel SPAULDING, sold to Abraham PAYNE, & David JEWELL Jonathan SQUIRES Andrus TRUBY Joseph WALLER Ebenezer WHITTLESLEY sold to Thomas GRIFFIS, & George HOLLOWAY, he to D. JEWELL 1740 Many of the original purchasers soon sold their Rights, and some who drew allotments also disposed of their lands after securing them, because unable to retain them. Mr. PALMER says that many gave up their Rights and moved away in the first few years. It will be noticed that in the first decade there were many changes in ownership thorugh only some of them are mentioned above. The owners of property seems to be carelessly recorded, or omitted from the tax lists, for they disappear and reappear there with no apparent reason in repeated instances. Forty-five on Tax List (£1433) in 1742. X Samuel ABBOTT, bought of Josiah BIERCE, 1740 Daniel ALLEN, sold to Isaac CARRIER, 1741 X Joseph ALLEN, bought of G. ALLEN (land of S. ROBERTS), 1740 X David BALDWIN X Thomas BALLARD X Eleazer BARRETT Benjamin BISSELL, gone 1744, sold to Gideon SMEDLEY 1747 X John BLINN X William Chidester, bought of Zephanaih HOUGH, 1740 X John CLOTHIER, gone 1744, back 1745 X John CLOTHIER 2d. X Reuben DEAN X Benjamin DIBBLE, gone 1745 X John DIBBLE X James DOUGLAS, bought of Timothy PIERCE & Josiah BIERCE X Woodruff EMMONS David FRISBIE, gone 1744 X Nathaniel GREEN X Thomas GRIFFIS, sold to J. HOLLOWAY what he had from E. WHITTLESEY Moses HARRIS, gone 1744, sold to John HARRIS 1743 X Thomas HARRIS, gone 1744, here 1748 X George HOLLOWAY, bought of Josiah BIERCE, 1739, & E. WHITTLESEY, 1740 X John HOLLOWAY, bought of Benjamin OSBORN 1741 X Samuel HORSFORD Benjamin HOUGH, gone 1744. (Z. HOUGH sold to S. ROBERTS) David JEWELL, sold to John YOUNG 1748, bought of Roger BISSELL & of George HOLLOWAY X Joshua JEWELL, sord to Joshua PIERCE 1748 X Nathaniel JEWELL, bought 1739 X Stephen LEE, gone 1744 Reuben LOVEJOY, gone 1744 Peter MALLORY, gone 1744 Samuel MESSENGER, gone 1744. Sole to M. MILLARD, 1739, & to Joseph PECK, and John HOLLOWAY X Matthew MILLARD bought of Jno. PATTERSON & Stephen BISSELL Benoni PALMETER, gone in 1748 Timothy PANGBORN, gone in 1745 James PICKETT, gone 1745 X Samuel ROBERTS, sold to Joseph ALLEN 1740 what was Gideon ALLEN's William SMILEY, gone 1745 Jonathan SQUIRE, gone 1745 X Reuben SQUIRE, sold to Samuel ROBERTS, 1740 X Thomas TANNER, gave to son William, 1740 X William TANNER, gone 1745, sold to Reuben DEAN 1742. Bought of Benjamin BISSELL X Ebenezer TYLER X Phineas WALLER, gone 1745, here 1748 X John YOUNG, bought of Isaac FELLOWS, 1740 Added Names in 46 on List - (£1785) - in 1744 X Samuel BENEDICT X Ebenezer BISSING, gone 1745 X Samuel BROWN Elijah M. HARRIS, gone 1745 X Patrick HINDMAN X Amos JOHNSON X William JOYNER X Nehemiah MESSENGER, sold to Joseph MATHER, & Abiel DUDLEY, 1752 X Thomas ORTON, sold to B. Sedgwick & J. HURLBURT, 1748 X Joseph PANGBORN Joseph PECK, sold to Samuel GRUMAN 1741 X Abraham RAYMOND, gone 1745, sold to Joseph PECK X Ichabod SQUIRE Added Names in 43 on List - (£1712) - in 1745. X John HARRIS Widow HARRIS, gone in 1748 Benjamin BISSING, gone 1748 Josiah WHITMAN, gone 1748 Added Names in 70 on list (£3154=18 s.) in 1748 Abraham ALL Widow ALLEN Ebenezer BISSING Jacob BROWNSON Thomas DEAN Benjamin DIBBLE 2d John DOWNS Gideon DUDLEY Benjamin EVEREST Daniel EVEREST John GRIFFIS Daniel HARRIS Elisha HATCH Jonathan HURLBURT John JEFFERS Robert JOINER Jason MILLARD John MILLARD Jesse MOSS Thomas NORTON Benoni PECK Jesse SPAULDING Thomas SPAULDING Jesse SQUIRE Abel WILLE Zephaniah WIX ("WEEKS")