Joseph Talcott (1669 - 1741)

Born 16 Nov 1669 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 11 Oct 1741 at age 71 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut

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Disputed Origins

Some claims have been made that he was son of John Talcott and Dorothy Mott but sources says his parents were Lt Col John Talcott & Helena Wakeman.^[1]

Also Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633 lists only 3 children of Talcott & Mott - namely John, Mary, Samuel - no Joseph.^[2]

Biography

Colonial Governor. He was Governor of Connecticut from 1724 to 1741. He was the first Connecticut governor to be born in the state. He held a number of city and state offices, was a judge of the Superior Court of Hartford, and starting in 1710, was a Major in the First Regiment of the Colony of Connecticut. He owned property in several Connecticut towns. Talcott Street in Hartford bears his name. (bio by: Jan Franco) Joseph Talcott was born on November 16, 1669 in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel John Talcott and his wife, Helena Wakeman, whose father was once treasurer of the Colony of Connecticut. Joseph was the eighth of nine children born to this marriage, and the first governor of Connecticut to be born in the colony itself. His mother died in 1674, when he was four. His father remarried in November of 1676, and Mary (Cook) Talcott was the mother who raised him. Five more children were born to the second marriage.

Joseph's grandfather, also named John, had immigrated from England to Newtown, Massachusetts about 1632, and had been among the first twelve men to buy lots in Hartford in 1635. The lot the senior Mr. Talcott purchased was at the corner of what is now Main Street and Talcott Street, the site of the G. Fox & Co. department store. A basic house and barn were built on this lot in December of 1635, making each the first of its kind built in Hartford (see E. Negus and others). John Talcott, Senior had been a treasurer of the Colony of Connecticut, and his son, Lt. Col. John Talcott, had also served as Treasurer of the colony from 1660-1676, resigning to command troops in an Indian war.

This family background meant that Joseph Talcott would have grown up in a household in which government officials often visited. His education was probably at home, with tutors, as Hartford did not have a traditional grammar school until the mid-1670's. There is no record of him attending college, but in those days it was possible to apprentice oneself to a profession. Joseph is referred to in later years as a lawyer, so he probably "read for" the law, beginning in his mid-teens, a common pattern for those days.

Joseph's father died intestate (without a will) in 1688, and in 1691, Joseph claimed the whole of his father's real estate under English law, as the oldest surviving son. Although he was only 22 years old, his inheritance perhaps helped him to be chosen as a townsman of Hartford in 1692. A man could only become a townsman if he was of good character and had property.

In 1693, Joseph Talcott married Abigail Clark, daughter of Ensign George Clark of Milford, Connecticut. The couple had three sons before she died in 1704. A year or two later he married Eunice, the daughter of Col. Mathew Howell, of South Hampton, Long Island and widow of Samuel Wakeman. There were five more children by this second marriage.

Once Joseph had been made a townsman, he held offices in the town government and began to advance in responsibility. He was made an officer of the local "train-band", the local militia. His law background caused him to be chosen as a justice of the peace in 1705 and a Justice of the Quorum in 1706. His responsibilities advanced to the colony level when he was chosen as a deputy to the General Assembly of Connecticut from Hartford in 1708. The year of 1710 saw him appointed as Speaker of the lower house for the May session, and also as Major of the First Regiment of the Colony of Connecticut. In 1711, he was chosen as an Assistant to the General Court. It would have been in this capacity that he served that year as a member of the committee to lay out the town of Coventry.

In May of 1714, he was appointed as a judge of the Hartford County Court and also as Judge of the Hartford District Probate Court. He was advanced to the position of Judge of the Superior Court of Hartford in May 1721.

He is buried at the Ancient Burying Ground, Hartford County, Connecticut.^[3]

Family

1st wife: Abigail Clark Talcott (____ - 1705)*

Children:

1. John Talcott (1699 - 1771)*
2. Joseph Talcott (1700 - 1780)*

2nd wife: Eunice (1678 - 1738 )daug of Col Mathew HOWELL of Southhampton, Long Island and widow of Samuel WAKEMAN

Children: Abigail, Eunice, Mathew, Samuel, Jerusha, Helena

Sources

1. ↑ Joseph Talcott - Governor of the Colony of Connecticut, 1724-1741, Connecticut State Library (accessed 8 August 2014)
2. ↑ Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Boston, MA: NEHGS (1995), p 1794-1797
3. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 27 January 2021), memorial page for Joseph Talcott (16 Nov 1669–11 Oct 1741), Find A Grave: Memorial #16666109, citing Ancient Burying Ground, Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave .

• Talcott Pedigree in England and America from 1558 to 1876 by S. V. Talcott, 1876, Albany online at archive.org note: p 39-51
• Hale, House and related families by Donald Lines Jacobus and Edgar Francis Waterman, 1952, Connecticut Historical Society, p 751-2
• Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College (Holt, 1885) Vol. 1, Page 383.
• Wakeman, Robert Peel. Wakeman Genealogy, 1630-1899 (Journal Publishing Co., Meridan, Conn., 1900)
• Wikipedia: Joseph_Talcott
• Talcott Papers, Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society (The Society, Hartford 1892) Vol. 4 & Vol. 5.