Peleg Nott (fl. late 18th century) was an African American leader who in 1780 became the Black Governor of Connecticut, an elected office that nominally presided over the state's Black community, estimated at 5,885 people at the time. [1] Although they held little real political power, these governors were elected by fellow African Americans (both free and enslaved) according to traditional African custom, generally in accordance with their reputations for probity and influence and their owners' prestige. [2] [3]
Born into slavery, Nott was the legal property of Jeremiah Wadsworth, a prominent Hartford merchant, politician, commissary for the Continental Army, and the wealthiest person in Connecticut. After driving a provisions cart during the American Revolutionary War, Nott was entrusted with the supervision of Wadsworth's farm in West Hartford. A "first-rate feller," Nott was described as "remarkable for his exact dress and military bearing" and was well known for the trust that Wadsworth placed in him. [4] Soon after Nott's election as Black Governor, Wadsworth freed Nott and his wife and granted him property somewhere near the present-day Wadsworth Athenaeum. [1] [3]
No records exist of Nott's birth or death. According to the Oxford African American Studies Center, he "is believed to be buried in an unmarked grave in Hartford's Ancient Burying Ground." [1]
Connecticut is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capital is Hartford and its most populous city is Bridgeport. Historically the state is part of New England as well as the tri-state area with New York and New Jersey. The state is named for the Connecticut River which approximately bisects the state. The word "Connecticut" is derived from various anglicized spellings of "Quononoquett" (Conanicut), a Mohegan-Pequot word for "long tidal river".
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the 2010 United States census have indicated that Hartford is the fourth-largest city in Connecticut with a 2020 population of 121,054, behind the coastal cities of Bridgeport, New Haven, and Stamford.
Lebanon is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 7,142 at the 2020 census. The town lies just to the northwest of Norwich, directly south of Willimantic, 20 miles (32 km) north of New London, and 20 miles (32 km) east of Hartford. The farming town is best known for its role in the American Revolution, where it was a major base of American operations, and for its historic town green, which is one of the largest in the nation and the only one still used partially for agriculture.
West Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, 5 miles (8.0 km) west of downtown Hartford. The population was 64,083 at the 2020 census.
The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut. Its 350-acre (1.4 km2) main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. The university attracts students from 48 states and 43 countries. The university and its degree programs are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (EAC/ABET), the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), and the New England Commission of Higher Education.
The Charter Oak was an unusually large white oak tree growing on Wyllys Hyll in Hartford, Connecticut in the United States, from around the 12th or 13th century until it fell during a storm in 1856. According to tradition, Connecticut's Royal Charter of 1662 was hidden within the hollow of the tree to thwart its confiscation by the English governor-general. The oak became a symbol of American independence and is commemorated on the Connecticut State Quarter. In 1935, for Connecticut's tercentennial, it was also depicted on both a commemorative half dollar and a postage stamp.
Mary Carolyn "Jodi" Rell is an American former Republican politician and the 87th governor of Connecticut from 2004 until 2011. Rell also served as the state's 105th lieutenant governor of Connecticut.
Jeremiah Wadsworth was an American sea captain, merchant, and statesman from Hartford, Connecticut who profited from his position as a government official charged with supplying the Continental Army. He represented Connecticut in both the Continental Congress and the United States House of Representatives.
Kevin B. Sullivan is an American politician. A Democrat, he was the 106th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, from 2004 to 2007. He was elected to the Connecticut State Senate in 1986 and served as Senate President Pro Tempore from 1997 to 2004.
Roger Ludlow (1590–1664) was an English lawyer, magistrate, military officer, and colonist. He was active in the founding of the Colony of Connecticut, and helped draft laws for it and the nearby Massachusetts Bay Colony. Under his and John Mason's direction, Boston's first fortification, later known as Castle William and then Fort Independence was built on Castle Island in Boston harbor. Frequently at odds with his peers, he eventually also founded Fairfield and Norwalk before leaving New England entirely.
Thomas Welles is the only person in Connecticut's history to hold all four top offices: governor, deputy governor, treasurer, and secretary. In 1639, he was elected as the first treasurer of the Colony of Connecticut, and from 1640 to 1649 served as the colony's secretary. In this capacity, he transcribed the Fundamental Orders into the official colony records on 14 January 1638, OS,. He was the magistrate during the first witch trials, the Hartford or Connecticut Witch Trials.
The Governor's Guards of Connecticut are four distinct units of the Connecticut State Guard, a part of the organized militia under the Connecticut State Militia. There are two foot guard units and two horse guard units. All four units are formed fully of volunteers and serve under the authority of the Connecticut Adjutant General and the Governor of the State of Connecticut, who serves as the Guards' Commander-in-Chief.
William Wadsworth was an early pioneer of New England, a founder of Hartford, Connecticut and the patriarch of numerous and prominent Wadsworth descendants of North America, including the poet Ezra Pound.
The First Church of Christ and the Ancient Burying Ground is a historic church and cemetery at 60 Gold Street in Hartford, Connecticut. It is the oldest church congregation in Hartford, founded in 1636 by Thomas Hooker. The present building, the congregation's fourth, was built in 1807, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The adjacent cemetery, formally set apart in 1640, was the city's sole cemetery until 1803.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Hartford, Connecticut, USA.
Philip Wadsworth was an American dry goods merchant, politician, and military leader. Born to the prominent Wadsworth family in New Hartford, Connecticut, he attended private academies until he was sixteen, when he entered the dry goods trade. In 1853, he moved to Chicago, Illinois to join his brother in his dry goods operation, eventually rising to become president of Philip Wadsworth & Co., a clothing store. Wadsworth was also interested in the military, and although he never officially served, he maintained a military company where soldiers could train in advance of the Civil War. Later in his life he returned to Connecticut where he served a two-year term in the Connecticut House of Representatives.
Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin is an American academic and professor specializing in African-American literature. She is William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African-American Studies, chair of the African American and African Diaspora Studies Department, and Director Elect of the Columbia University Institute for Research in African American Studies at Columbia University.
James Mars was an American slave narrative author and political activist. Born into slavery in Canaan, Connecticut, he gained his freedom in 1811. In 1864, he published his memoir A Life of James Mars, a Slave Born and Sold in Connecticut, Written by Himself—a notable example of the slave narrative genre. His grave is a stop on the Connecticut Freedom Trail. In 2021, Governor Ned Lamont declared May 1 to be James Mars Day in Connecticut.
Wilfred Xavier Johnson was an American politician who in 1958 became the first African American elected to the Connecticut General Assembly. A Democrat, he represented Hartford's heavily African American North End in the state's House of Representatives from 1959 to 1967. He was also the first African American bank teller in Connecticut.
Greensbury Washington Offley was an American slave narrative author and minister. Born into slavery in Maryland and eventually freed, Offley wrote A Narrative of the Life and Labors of the Rev. G. W. Offley, a Colored Man, Local Preacher and Missionary (1859), one of only six slave narratives published in Connecticut.