William Watts, Hartford Founder

Compiled by Timothy Lester Jacobs, SDFH Genealogist

WILLIAM² WATTS, HARTFORD FOUNDER (RICHARD¹) was born abt. 1616 in England, and died bef. 02 May 1668 in England (inventory) d. s. p.. He married _______ ______ 1641 in Hartford, CT. She was born abt. 1620 in England, and died bef. 02 May 1668 in prob. Hartford, CT (not in husband’s probate).

The ancestry, origin, and emigration to the American colonies of William Watts, son of Hartford founder Richard Watts is unknown. He was in Hartford by 1639 where he was one of those who “were Granted lotts to have onley at The Townes courtesie wth liberty to fetch wood & keep Swine or Cowes by proportion on the Common”.

For some unknown reason his holdings were not listed in the Hartford land inventory of February 1639/40. That he did have holdings at that time were mentioned in the land inventory of 1639/40 of his father, which correlate to his holdings listed dated 2 March 1646: two roods on which his dwelling house stood located on the west side of the road from George Steele’s to the Great Swamp and immediately south of the lot of his father Richard; three acres of woodland abutting the road over Rocky Hill; two acres lying near Hockanum (later East Hartford); and ten acres abutting on the road towards Wethersfield.

He married in 1641 to a woman whose name is unknown, and had returned to England by February 1650, as shown by the land inventory of that date of his brother Thomas, to whom he had given his house lot and his three acres of upland. It is probable that William’s wife had died prior to the return to England.

He died in England prior to 2 May 1668, when his inventory was taken in Hartford, in which the properties mentioned above were formally granted to his brother Thomas. He had no known children.

Genealogy: none known, as he had no known children