Windsor, Connecticut

Located north of Hartford on the Connecticut River, Windsor was the first permanent settlement in the, soon-to-be Connecticut Colony and the home of Thomas Holcombe. In 1633 a group from Plymouth established a trading post at the meeting of the Connecticut and Farmington Rivers. A year later, the first group from Dorchester, Massachusetts, established itself just north of the trading post. Others from Dorchester would follow and a foothold in Connecticut was established.

North-central Connecticut prior to 1625 showing tribal settlements
along the Connecticut River in the area of future Windsor.

Holcombe Family (2) - Colonial Generations

Part 2 - Nathaniel Holcombe of Salmon Brook

Thomas Holcombe would arrive in New England sometime between 1630 and 1633. A few short years later, he would be living on the outskirts of Connecticut's first settlement, Windsor. There, he and his wife, Elizabeth, would raise a large family and prosper. Their youngest son, Nathaniel, would be only nine years old when Thomas died. After that time, Nathaniel's stepfather, James Enno and his older brothers would probably have a great influence on him as he grew to manhood in the wilderness at Poquonock.

If you missed Part 1 of the story, go here . . .



The original settlers at the remote outpost at Poquonock, circa 1640. 

Holcombe Family (1) - Colonial Generations

Note: Thomas Holcombe of Windsor, Connecticut, and his descendants are well-documented in both written texts and on the Internet. This report presents a narrative of the early generations in my personal family line and is not meant to be a full and complete history of Thomas Holcombe or the Holcombe family.

Part 1 - Thomas Holcombe in the New World

It is unclear exactly when Thomas Holcombe arrived in New England. It could have been as early as 1630 on the Ship Mary & John or as late as 1633 on the Ship Thunder. As passenger lists for many of the Puritan voyages did not exist, the actual date that he first set foot on New England soil will probably never be known. Regardless, his arrival 10 - 15 years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth places him in the company of the first few hundred or few thousand white men to live in the English Colonies of North America.

Drawing of the ship Mary and John. While it is unclear if Thomas Holcombe came
to the New World on this particular ship, it represents the type of vessel that
was plying the Atlantic Ocean between England and America in the 1630s.

The Genealogy Mother Load

My family research started about 10 years ago. Using the Internet as my primary research tool, I was able to find some modest information on some of my ancestors. It was about that time that a searchable version of the 1900 U.S. Census became available. Back then, my collection of data included census pages of my family from Wisconsin and Illinois, as well as some photographs and snippets of written history that I had collected from family members. It was a fairly small collection. The most significant discovery was on my paternal grandmother's side of the family.