Samuel Ketcherell, Hartford Founder

Compiled by Timothy Lester Jacobs, SDFH Genealogist

SAMUEL¹ KETCHERELL, HARTFORD FOUNDER was born abt. 1604 in England, and died abt. 1650 in poss Hartford, CT. He married MARTHA CHAPMAN 1643 in Hartford, CT, daughter of SIMON CHAPMAN and MARY HEATH. She was baptized 07 Apr 1616 in Digswell, Herts, England, and died 17 Dec 1662 in Springfield, MA.

The ancestry and origin of Samuel Ketcherell (Kitcherell, Kittwell, etc.), and when he emigrated to the American colonies is unknown, but he was in Hartford by 1 Aug 1639 when he was “censured & was fined for vnseasonable and imoderate drinking att the pinnance”, along with Thomas Cornwell, John Latimer, Matthew Beckwith, and Thomas Upson. The pinnace in reference was a small boat, probably used to go across the river from Hartford to holdings on the east side.

Where in Hartford he originally lived is unknown. It is possible that he was one of the numerous servants of either George Wyllys or Edward Hopkins, but this is mere conjecture. But, “General Index to the Land Records of the Town of Hartford, from the year 1639 to the year 1839, published and compiled by Levi Woodhouse, George S. Burnham, and Gordon Roberts [printed by Wiley, Waterman and Eaton], both Hartford, CT., 1873” on pg. 456 have him sold land by Peter Busaker in 1639. On the undated inventory of his land he held: three roods “with a Mesuage of Tenyment Standing there” on a piece of land located on the road from the Old oxpasture to the Mill which he bought of Peter Bussaker; and six acres lying near Podunk on the east side of the Great River, the latter of which had been granted him on 18 November 1644 by town vote. (Hartford Town Votes, pg. 71.) This was close to the time that he married Martha Chapman, a possible sister of Robert Chapman of Saybrook, thus necessitating he have his own home.

Only one of his three children, Hannah, was recorded in the very spotty vital records of Hartford, born 4 January 1645/6. No will or inventory of his can be found, and only the marriage of his widow 2 January 1650/1 in the Hartford vital records establishes a date for his death.

Genealogy: none known, as he had only one son who died young.