This day we started by calling the Town Clerks in the some of towns where Kent has ancestors.
We learned that essentially all of the Connecticut historical museums and libraries are closed on Monday. The Town Clerks are open on Mondays so our focus was starting our search there.
We learned that some of the towns require a card from the Connecticut State Genealogical Society (also closed on Monday & Tuesday) to get access to the town records. In Connecticut the State Archives has some copies and indexes to records up to about 1890. Prior to that time the original records are still in the towns where the ancestors births, marriages and deaths occurred.
Our first contact was with the Town Clerk in Guilford ... about 30 miles from our hotel.
In Guilford they do not require the CSGS card and allow the public to have access to the record indexes and the original records.
We arrived at the Guilford Town Hall at about 9:00 am.
The staff there was extremely helpful and guided us through the records that are available there.
The quantity of records in this place for Kent's ancestors was overwhelming. The records for 1640-1750 here include family surnames of Foote, Fairchild, Hand, Bradley and others. The ancestors here of interest are primarily connected to the Foote line (Kent's mother).
The Town Clerk here does not permit any electronic devices to take photos or copies other than a hand scanner. Kent had left his scanner at the hotel, so we returned to the hotel to get it.
A litte bit about Guilford ... this is the 7th oldest town in Connecticut.
The Town Hall faces the village green. Originally many community activities, including burials took place on the green. The Green today is beautiful.
Over the years the grave markers on the green were moved to various locations around town. Some of these are located at the Alder Brook Cemetery where they are placed against the front wall (some are embeded in the wall) of the cemetery. None of Kent's ancestors markers are included in those placed here.
We returned to the Town Clerks office after getting the scanner and proceeded to scan many of the records, the focus being on the Bradley and Hand families. The records included births, marriages and deaths from the 1640;s through the late 1890's. There are additional records available that will have to be considered at another time.
This original record shows the marriage of Daniel Bradley to Abigail Hand in November 1733.
As we have mentioned before the people who help us in our search are an important part of our experience. Paula Wilson was especially helpful to us in Guilford. Behind Paula is the vault that contains the village Records.
After leaving Guilford we went to the Hammonasset Cemetery in Madison.
This old cemetery includes many ancestors from the Bradley and Hand families.
We ended the day at Lenny and Joes Fish Tail restaurant in Madison.
A good day ... learned a lot about record availability and locations.
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