Daniel Garrett, Hartford Founder

Compiled by Timothy Lester Jacobs, SDFH Genealogist

DANIEL¹ GARRETT, HARTFORD FOUNDER was born abt. 1612 in England, and died 28 Jan 1687/88 in Hartford, CT. He married (1) MARY USHER 22 May 1636 in St. Mary’s, Bocking, Essex, England. She was born in England abt. 1615, and died bef. 1665 in Hartford, CT. He married (2) MARGARET ________ bef. 1665 in Hartford, CT. She died aft. 23 Jun 1668 in Hartford, CT.

Daniel Garrett (Garrad, Garrard, Garwood) emigrated to the American colonies from Bocking, Essex, England but the date of his arrival is uncertain, but he certainly had been in Hartford prior to the land inventory of February 1639/40, in which he held three properties: a house lot of two roods on the highway from Centinel Hill to the Cow Pasture; four acres in the Pine Field; and four acres of swamp on the east side of the Great River. He was granted Nicholas Jennings’s lot in the Soldier’s Field 28 October 1640.

He was one of the residents of Hartford “by courtesie of the town”, and was made freeman 9 April 1640. He was named chimney viewer 15 February 1655/6. He became Hartford’s jailer starting 11 July 1654 after the prior jailer Founder William Ruscoe removed to Norwalk, and continued in that position until 1680. This was an occupation which was not well-paid, as he sold most of his property to John Gilbert in March 1653/4, and in May 1682 the Hartford General Court declared that “Daniel Garrett having been a long time in the country service, this court in regard of his poverty doe allow him five pownd p annum out of the country rates for two yeares.”

The inventory of his estate, which was in debt, was taken 4 March 1687/8.

Genealogy: none known