The town records covering the first ten years after incorporation were accidentally burned in 16. The precise origin of the name of the town is not known for certain. This area includes the township Simsbury as well as Granby and Canton, which would later separate from Simsbury in 17, respectively. The northern border, subject to dispute with Massachusetts, was left to be resolved later. The boundaries at that time were Farmington on the south and Windsor on the east, with the extent of Simsbury running 10 miles (16 km) north of Farmington and 10 miles (16 km) west of Windsor. On May 12, 1670, the General Court granted the petition, and ordered that the plantation should be called "Simmsbury". In 1670, John Case, along with Joshua Holcomb & Thomas Barber, presented a petition to the General Court, requesting that Massacoe become a town of the colony of Connecticut. This is the first recorded civil office held by residents of the area. One of those residents, John Case, was appointed to the position of constable. In 1669, a survey found that there were thirteen permanent residents of Massacoe. A deed description from 1664 indicates he had become a permanent inhabitant. The General Court awarded a land grant of two hundred acres to John Griffin in 1663. The settlement of Massacoe continued in the late 1660s. Aaron Cook built one of the early homes in the area established c.1660 as Terry's Plain, and John Griffin also built a home, possibly in 1664-the date associated with a deed to land in Massacoe. Settlers did not build permanent settlements until the following decade. In 1653, the General Court granted 50 acres (200,000 m 2) of meadowland to Lieutenant Aaron Cook, 60 acres (240,000 m 2) to John Bissell and 50 acres (200,000 m 2) to Thomas Ford, all in Massacoe. The deed was agreed to by Manahanoose as well as other Indians, identified as "the proprietors of Massaco". To avoid this, he instead delivered a deed to the land at Massacoe. As he was unable to pay this amount, Manahanoose was instead ordered by the Court to either serve Griffin or be exchanged for Black slaves. The Court ordered the payment of "five hundred fathom of wampum" as compensation. A few years later, a Massaco Indian named Manahanoose started a fire which destroyed tar belonging to Griffin. In 1643, John Griffin and Michael Humphrey started a tar and turpentine business in Windsor. The Court thinks fitt that Massacoe be purchased by the Country, and that ther be a Committee chosen to dispose of yt to such inhabitants of Wyndsor as by the shalbe judged meet to make improuement therof.īut there is no record of land grants arising from this order. Five years later the General Court issued another order: Heynes shall have liberty to dispose of the ground uppon that parte of Tunxis River cauled Mossocowe, to such inhabitants of Wyndsor as they shall see cause.ĭespite this order, there is no record that any settlements immediately ensued. In 1642, the General Court of the colony of Connecticut ordered that: For some time, the area of Massaco was considered "an appendix to the towne of Windsor." Settlers in Windsor forested and farmed in the area, but did not settle in Massaco permanently for a number of years. In 1633, Windsor was the second town in Connecticut settled by Europeans and the first English settlement (the first European settlement being Huys de Goede Hoop, established by the Dutch in the Hartford area as a frontier settlement for the New Netherland Colony ten years earlier). The term Massaco (pronounced Mas-saco) may refer to the indigenous peoples, the river itself, the village occupied by the indigenous peoples, and the land adjacent to the river. The river was called the Massaco by the native inhabitants. One of the Wappinger bands, the Massaco, lived near, but mostly west of, what became known as the Farmington River, in the area that would became known as Simsbury and Canton, the latter as of 1806. The Wappingers were one of the Algonquian peoples, a linguistic grouping which includes hundreds of tribes. These bands lived between the Hudson and Connecticut rivers. The Wappinger were one of these groups, composed of eighteen bands that were organized not formally as a tribe, but more akin to an association, like the Delaware. At the beginning of the 17th century, the area that would become known as Simsbury as of 1670 was inhabited by indigenous peoples.
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