Land Owned by Thomas Pell and His Wife in New Haven, Connecticut in the Mid-17th Century

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In 1888, New Haven, Connecticut celebrated the 250th anniversary of its settlement. In connection with that celebration, the Town published a booklet on its history "Prepared for the use of the Children in the Schools of New Haven, many of whom it is hoped may be active in the observance, fifty years hence, of the third Centennial of its history". A citation to the booklet as well as a link to a digitized copy of the entire publication appears immediately below.

Proceedings In Commemoration of the Settlement of the Town of New Haven (New Haven, CT: Privately Printed Apr. 25, 1888).

The booklet reproduced, among other things, a very early map showing the original streets of the early settlement of New Haven keyed to locations of note. A higher quality view of that same map appears immediately below.



According to the booklet, the solid lines of the map "indicate the original streets of the town; the dotted lines, the additions made in two centuries, down to 1838". Id., p. 10. In addition, numbers that appear on the map depict the locations of famous events or of lots owned by early settlers. Interestingly, according to the booklet, the lot marked by the number "10" on the northeast corner of the intersection of Elm Street and College Street was owned by Thomas Pell's wife, Lucy Brewster Pell. Pell was Lucy's second husband. Before marrying him she was the widow of Francis Brewster, the original owner of the lot marked with a "10" on the map. He was lost at sea in the famed "Lamberton's Ship". For the "10" noted on the map, the booklet says:

"10. Thomas Pell, surgeon at Saybrook fort and in the Pequot war, married the widow of Francis Brewster, the original owner of this lot, who was lost at sea in Lamberton's ship. He purchased Pelham Manor in Westchester County, N. Y., and died at Fairfield, Conn., in 1669."

Id., p. 13.

Satellite imagery seems to indicate that a church building now stands on the site where Thomas Pell likely trod nearly 370 years ago. Click here to see such an image.


Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.