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Hartford County was one of four original counties in Connecticut that were established on May 10, 1666, by an act of the Connecticut General Court. The act establishing the county states:

This Court orders that the Townes on the River from ye
north bounds of Windsor wth Farmington to ye south end of
ye bounds of Thirty Miles Island shalbe & remaine to be one
County wch shalbe called the County of Hartford. And it
is ordered that the County Court shalbe kept at Hartford on
the 1st Thursday in March and on the first Thursday in September yearely.

As established in 1666, Hartford County consisted of the towns of Windsor, Wethersfield, Hartford, Farmington, and Middletown. The "Thirty Miles Island" referred to in the constituting Act was incorporated as the town of Haddam in 1668.  In 1670, the town of Simsbury was established, extending Hartford County to the Massachusetts border. In the late 17th to early 18th centuries, several more towns were established and added to Hartford County: Waterbury in 1686 (transferred to New Haven County in 1728), Windham in 1694 (transferred to Windham County in 1726), Hebron in 1708 (transferred to Tolland County in 1785), Coventry in 1712 (transferred to Windham County in 1726), and Litchfield in 1722 (transferred to Litchfield County in 1751).

In 1714, all of the unincorporated territory north of the towns of Coventry and Windham in northeastern Connecticut to the Massachusetts border were placed under the jurisdiction of Hartford County. Windham County was constituted in 1726 resulting in Hartford County losing the towns of Windham, Coventry, Mansfield (incorporated in 1702), and Ashford (incorporated in 1714). Northwestern Connecticut, which was originally placed under the jurisdiction of New Haven County in 1722, was transferred to Hartford County by 1738. All of northwestern Connecticut was later constituted as a new county, Litchfield County, in 1751. In 1785, two more counties were established in the now U.S. state of Connecticut: Tolland and Middlesex. This mostly resulted in the modern extent of Hartford County. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the establishment of several more towns resulted in minor adjustments in the bounds of the county. The final adjustment resulting in the modern limits occurred on May 8, 1806, when the town of Canton was established

Cities, Towns, and Villages

Adjacent Counties Hampden County, Massachusetts (north) Tolland County (east) (formed 1785 from Windham) New London County (southeast) (formed 1666 – an Original County) Middlesex County (south) (formed 1785 from Hartford, New Haven & New London) New Haven County (southwest) (formed 1666 – an Original County) Litchfield County (west) (formed 1751 from Fairfield & Hartford)     This webspace is generously provided by our sponsors Thank You! Genealogy Village and Access Genealogy

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