Salmon Brook (Granby), Connecticut

Salmon Brook, which started out as no more than a small cluster of houses and a remote outposts of Simsbury, would later became part of the newly formed Town of Granby. It was the home of Nathaniel Holcombe I, II and III and is an important place in the history of this family line. It is certain that almost every Holcombe in Granby was a descendant of the first Nathaniel and hundreds of them raised families and lived out their lives there. Six generations from this writer's direct line lived there, for over 120 years, starting with Nathaniel and ending with Apollas.

Granby Center (Salmon Brook); from the United States Geological Survey, 1892

Remote Outpost

Dorchester, Massachusetts, as the arrival point of Thomas Holcombe and Windsor, Connecticut, where he settled, are important places in the family history, for obvious reasons, but Salmon Brook / Granby could truly be called the ancestral home to this Holcombe line. Located in Hartford County in far north-central Connecticut, the original settlement of Salmon Brook was named for a stream formed by two forks that merge and empty into the Farmington River. The first settlers made their homes between the forks. At the time, there were just a handful of families and they fell under the jurisdiction of the Town of Simsbury but were far removed from Hopmeadow, the main Simsbury settlement. Because of this isolation, the settlers were fiercely independent and self-reliant.

From the Salmon Brook Historical Society: . . .The image of a New England town as a rural, peaceful oasis is a myth. Granby, Connecticut has the traditional Green and the classic white Congregational Church, along with a history of conflict and change. The town was settled by a rugged and adventurous group of rebels, dissenters, and outlanders.

From The Brittle Thread of Life: . . . Salmon Brook’s roots lay in the early settlement patterns of the Connecticut River valley, in the various motives behind the colony’s expansion, and in the social and economic tensions that emerged in the course of the seventeenth century. These forces provided considerable momentum behind the creation of this frontier village. Yet, in contrast to the founding of communities in eastern Massachusetts and coastal Connecticut in the days of the Puritan Migration of the 1630’s, it would take decades to establish a permanent and secure settlement at Salmon Brook . . . Promoters of the expansion of the English domain had to cast a broad net and reach deeply into their increasingly stratified society to find willing settlers. The result was not what they might have hoped.

Settlements in Simsbury, the "Northwest Society" would eventually
split-off to form Granby (from The Brittle Thread of Life).

Colonial expansion west from the Connecticut River valley was inevitable and planning had already begun by the 1660’s. A small settlement was formed at Simsbury but abandoned during King Phillips War. After the war, the settlers returned to find homes and farms burned to the ground. While a scarcity of land was one reason for expansion, local Indian tensions as well as more global concerns also played a role in the movement west. The authorities at Windsor and Hartford planned a series of small clusters of homes along the frontier, thus creating a line of defense against the known and unknown dangers that lurked in the wilderness beyond. Those who ventured out into this frontier to live where taking a real risk as the threat from both the French and Spanish and their Indian allies was real. They were living at the edge of English civilization and along a volatile imperial border.


The first plats at Salmon Brook, just north of the west (or south) branch of the brook.
Nathaniel Holcombe's homestead is at plat number one (from the Brittle Thread of Live).

 

Like many settlements in New England, Salmon Brook, despite some diversity, was predominately a tight-knit “covenanted” Puritan society with the Congregational Church as the focal point of cultural and political life. As it grew and continued to became more diverse, the closed puritan society would begin to collapse. The church’s role would forever change with the formation of the United States. A state constitution of 1818 officially disestablished the Congregational Church as the official religion.

The nineteenth century saw many economic hardships in northern Connecticut. Granby fell victim to the rise and fall of the milling industry in much the same way as Massachusetts and slid into, what has been described as, a sleepy eight decade depression. This economic stagnation, along with the opening of the frontier would lead many to leave for new opportunities west. This left Granby rural, under-developed and with a population that remained relatively flat. Which is one of the reasons this area still retains much of its historic New England flavor.

Granby

Granby was spun-off from Simsbury 1786 and this was treated as a form of independence by the locals. In the 1790 census, there were 489 families and a population of 2,595. In 2011, Granby celebrated its 225 birthday. Historic Salmon Brook is in the south-center of the town (called Granby Center). Covering over 40 square miles with a current population of over 11,000, Granby has always had a rural character and much of it is still that way today. More recently, however, suburban development has crept into the town. The physical topography consists of rolling hills, plains and woodlands, with some larger hills and small “mountains” that rise to over 1000 feet.



Buildings at the Salmon Brook Historical Society.

The 1790 census listed over 50 Holcombe households in Granby and an 1855 map shows well over 40 Holcombe homes and farms scattered throughout the town. The Salmon Brook Historical Society has extensive documentation on the family and at least three eighteenth century Holcombe houses have survived. In addition, there are many landmarks, both natural and man-made, named after the family.


The Nathaniel Holcombe III house at Bushy Hills in Granby.

Granby still fashions itself as a rural community on the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains and it is far enough away from Hartford to maintain its small town feel. Dense forests, rolling farmland and raging waters are abundant. It also has a robust historical society and take great pride in showcasing its colonial roots.

Additional Information:
For the five-part story of the Holcombe family, go here . . .
For the colonial family series, go here . . .

Research Notes: There is an abundance of information available on the web about Salmon Brook and Granby. For this report, information was gleaned primarily from the Salmon Brook Historical Society, the Book: The Brittle Thread of Life and the Holcombe Family website.

This post is one of a series about the places my ancestors lived. From time-to-time, additions to the series are made. For an overview of all of all of the towns and places covered and links to each story, go here . . .