Benjamin Burr, Hartford Founder

Compiled by Timothy Lester Jacobs, SDFH Genealogist

BENJAMIN¹ BURR, HARTFORD FOUNDER was born abt. 1602 in England, and died 31 Mar 1681 in Hartford, CT. He married ANNE HANNA bef. 1636. She was born abt. 1617 in England, and died 31 Aug 1683 in Hartford, CT.

The ancestry, origin, and date of immigration and to where in the American colonies of Benjamin Burr arrived is unknown. He probably was among the Rev. Hooker’s party in 1636, as he was among those selected to serve in the Pequot War of 1637. In the Hartford land inventory of February 1639/40 he held: two roods on which his dwelling house stood with yards and gardens located on the east side of the road from Centinel Hill to the Cow Pasture; three acres in the Pine Field; and four acres on the east side of the Great River. As a soldier in the Pequot War, he probably held land in the Soldiers Field, but this was not mentioned in the land inventory. He later purchased two additional parcels in Hartford.

He was admitted a freeman in May 1658. He received eighteen acres in the land division of East Hartford in 1666. He was a chimney viewer in Hartford in 1670.

His will was dated 2 June 1677, he died 31 March 1681, his inventory was taken 15 April 1681, and his will was proved 20 April 1681.

Genealogy: “A General History of the Burr Family”, Charles B. Todd, fourth edition, Knickerbocker Press, New York, 1902. It must be noted that this genealogy is short on detail and generally lacking in sources.