Weather: Isolated Thunderstorms, 65/84F
Route: From Albany 151 miles SSE on I-90 E and I-91 S.
Population: 130,250 (2019)
Genealogy: As I wrote in my Newark post - learning that I have any relatives who emigrated to America in the 1600's was news to me when I started researching my ancestry. This was where the Ward's emigrated to prior to moving to Newark, NJ. The New Haven colony was relatively strict - even by Puritan standards. One thing to keep in mind that it's not like the Puritans just fled England - there were many Puritans who remained in England. And their ideas weren't just felt in the colonies - there were major changes happening in England's politics that wouldn't have been possible without the influence of the Puritans. For example, Charles I was in many ways a typical King. He might have gone a little long calling parliament (11 years), but he wasn't any more tyrannical than most kings. However, his rule came at a time when the ideas of the Puritans were calling all things into question - even whether the King was God ordained. The result was the English Civil War - that pitted the Royalists vs. Parliament. The outcome was that Parliament and Oliver Cromwell won and Charles I was actually beheaded in 1649 - the same year my ancestors came to America. At his trial there were 59 judges who would eventually sign his death warrant - they were known as the regicides.
Oliver Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector for 5 years from 1653-1658, when he died at the age of 59. His son was installed as ruler, but only lasted about 18 months. Charles I's son Charles II eventually was reinstalled as King in 1660. Among many things on his mind, the first was revenge. He wanted justice for his father, which meant finding those 59 regicides and making them very sorry that they had signed that warrant. He didn't let the fact that some of them had died get in the way of their punishment. He even dug up Cromwell and put his head on a pole outside Westminster Hall.
Three of these regicides fled to the American colonies - and two of them were actually hidden in New Haven at a place now called Judges Cave. This hiding of the judges caused the England to not give the New Haven colony the same rights as other colonies. They forced the New Haven colony to merge with the less holy (as the New Haven folks saw it) Connecticut colony. Which then led a group, including my ancestors, to go start over in what became Newark, NJ.
And yes, I guess I should mention New Haven is probably best known for being home to Yale University.
Image:
Yale campus (from news.yale.edu)
No comments:
Post a Comment