John Arnold, Hartford Founder

Compiled by Timothy Lester Jacobs, SDFH Genealogist

JOHN¹ ARNOLD, HARTFORD FOUNDER was born abt. 1603 in England, and died bef. 26 Dec 1664 in Hartford, CT (inventory). He married SUSANNA ______ bef. 1625 in England. She was born abt. 1598 in England, and died aft. 12 Mar 1666/67 in Hartford, CT.

John Arnold emigrated from England to Cambridge (then Newtown) in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634 where he was made freeman 6 May 1635. He was an original proprietor of Hartford, where in the land inventory of February 1639/40 he held eight parcels of land: two acres on which his dwelling house stood, located on the south side of the road from George Steele’s to the South Meadow; three acres of upland; ten acres and two roods of upland; one rood and three perches in the Little Meadow; four acres in the South Meadow; two acres in the forty acres of meadow; one acre and three roods in the Great Swamp; and two acres and one rood in the Swamp by the Great River.

He was chimney viewer in Hartford in 1643.

His will was dated 22 August 1664, the inventory of his estate was taken 26 December 1664, and his will was proved 2 March 1664/5.

Recommended Genealogy: “Some Descendants of John Arnold a Founding Father of Hartford, CT and his son Joseph Arnold, a Founding Father of Haddam, CT”, Preston T. Arnold, Leesburg, Florida, 2008 (However, it must be noted that in this genealogy the compiler claims a first wife, Elizabeth for the immigrant John Arnold, offering scant proof and running counter to “The Great Migration”, which latter source is considered definitive.