From Wintonbury to Bloomfield

Thank you to the Bloomfield Journal for letting us reprint this first article in a series
published in Volume 32, Issue 39
Friday, September 26, 2008

Can you answer these Trivia Questions about Bloomfield?
1. What business did the Eggleston family found in 1775?
2. What king is purportedly buried on Talcott Mountain?
3. What road crosses Bloomfield’s border four times?
4. What unusual dwelling off Juniper Road was occupied by a Mr. White?
5. Where was the old Prosser Library located before the present building was built?

FROM WINTONBURY TO BLOOMFIELD

This month, Windsor is celebrating its 375th birthday. Some colonists from the Puritan settlement of what is now Dorchester, MA, migrated, at the invitation of an Indian chieftain, to form the colony of Windsor in 1633. Soon the western area of Windsor, known as Greenfield, was explored, and it was reported that there was good land that could support three families. In the early 1640s, an area known as Messenger’s Farm was settled. This was located at the eastern end of what is now Park Avenue in Bloomfield.  By 1734, the population of this outlying area of Windsor had grown and a petition requesting ‘winter privileges’ was presented to the Connecticut Assembly. This would release them from the obligation of traveling long distances to attend church during the difficult winters.  And in 1736, 31 persons in Windsor, 8 in Farmington and 12 in Simsbury petitioned for ‘parish privileges’ to organize their own church.  This occurred in 1738 with Reverend Hezekiah Bissell being ordained to serve as its first pastor.  The parish was called Wintonbury, the name taken from parts of the names of the three towns from which it was formed.  About seven-tenths of the land was in Windsor, about two-tenths in Simsbury and the remainder in Farmington.  The Town of Bloomfield was formally incorporated in 1835 and additional land was annexed in subsequent years to form the present day Bloomfield.

by Ralph Schmoll
Wintonbury Historical Society