Hello! I am wondering if you have ever heard of an area known as the Meadow Lands either in the Connecticut River Valley area of either Vermont or Connecticut? I am researching my 3rd ggrandparents Simeon Williams and Tirzah (Knight?), hoping to find a marriage record and to determine Tirzah's maiden name. Simeon Williams was born in Stonington CT in 1763 to Samuel Williams and Lois Allyn. This family migrated to Hartland, Windsor County VT around 1780. Samuel's name is on the charter of Hartland and he and Lois are buried in the Center Cemetery in Hartland. Because Simeon's oldest child was born about 1786 in Vermont, I assume they married there but I have found no record of that or their children's births with the town clerk or at the Church of Christ in Hartland, which Tirzah joined in 1787. According to an 1896 family letter, "The Williams family ancestors were English, came early to America and located in Connecticut on the Connecticut River near Hartford, owned a large landed property in the Valley knows as Meadow Lands. They soon became numerous, wealthy and influential. Simeon (Dyer's father) was, I believe, the youngest son in his father's family. He married Tirzah Knight, the daughter of a wealthy neighbor, also an influential family, some of whose brothers held high judicial offices in Connecticut." I have not found any Knight families in that part of CT in that time frame. I have checked out several Knights in VT, some who held judicial office but cannot tie Tirzah to any of these families. I don't know if the letter writer who was 80 in 1896 confused Hartford CT with Hertford/Hartland VT or if there might have been a transcription error. I have investigated a few properties in CT with similar names like the Meadow Lands in Darien and Meadow Woods near Essex CT but these areas do not have the right families living there. Can you tell me if the description in the 1896 letter sounds like anyone or anyplace you know? Thanks so much Kate

Are you aware that Samuel & Lois Williams gravestones are online at www.hartlandhistory.org -----

It refers to Samuel as being from Stonington, CT, in my copy of the Hartland Cemetery Records. That might be a clue for you. -----

Greetings Kate, You might try The Newbury area in Orange County Vermont. "Along the Connecticut River which girds the Eastern Boundary are some of the finest tracts of interval in the State.The Meadows are Oxbow Meadows, called also The Great Ox Bow containing 450 acres, and Cow Meadow in the bend of the Connecticut, Musquash Meadow south of the mouth of Harriman's brook. The Upper Meadow in the North part of the Township, containing about 300 acres, Sleeper's Meadow of 160 acres named after the first settler in town, who located here, Kent's Meadow, containing about 200 acres, where Isaac Kent ............, Hall's Meadow of 250 acres, named after its first..............., and Musquash Meadow, which retained its Indian name,.............., was born in Newbury. This Town might not have been inappropriately called The Land Of Meadows" Volume II , Abby Maria Hemingway, The Vermont Historical Gazetteer. Newbury; about 47 miles Northeasterly from Windsor, and close to the River just like Hartland. Regards PATRICK ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kate Renner" <k8ren@comcast.net> To: <VTWindso-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 2:13 PM Subject: [VTWINDSO] Meadow Lands area Hello! I am wondering if you have ever heard of an area known as the Meadow Lands either in the Connecticut River Valley area of either Vermont or Connecticut?

Kate, In your third paragraph the letter indicates that they were in Hartford, CT. The north end of Hartford, CT is known to this day as the Meadowlands. It now houses a Theater, Convention Center, and a few dozen car dealerships. This is probably the area that the letter referred to. Steve -----Original Message----- From: vtwindso-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:vtwindso-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Kate Renner Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 5:13 PM To: VTWindso-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [VTWINDSO] Meadow Lands area Hello! I am wondering if you have ever heard of an area known as the Meadow Lands either in the Connecticut River Valley area of either Vermont or Connecticut? I am researching my 3rd ggrandparents Simeon Williams and Tirzah (Knight?), hoping to find a marriage record and to determine Tirzah's maiden name. Simeon Williams was born in Stonington CT in 1763 to Samuel Williams and Lois Allyn. This family migrated to Hartland, Windsor County VT around 1780. Samuel's name is on the charter of Hartland and he and Lois are buried in the Center Cemetery in Hartland. Because Simeon's oldest child was born about 1786 in Vermont, I assume they married there but I have found no record of that or their children's births with the town clerk or at the Church of Christ in Hartland, which Tirzah joined in 1787. According to an 1896 family letter, "The Williams family ancestors were English, came early to America and located in Connecticut on the Connecticut River near Hartford, owned a large landed property in the Valley knows as Meadow Lands. They soon became numerous, wealthy and influential. Simeon (Dyer's father) was, I believe, the youngest son in his father's family. He married Tirzah Knight, the daughter of a wealthy neighbor, also an influential family, some of whose brothers held high judicial offices in Connecticut." I have not found any Knight families in that part of CT in that time frame. I have checked out several Knights in VT, some who held judicial office but cannot tie Tirzah to any of these families. I don't know if the letter writer who was 80 in 1896 confused Hartford CT with Hertford/Hartland VT or if there might have been a transcription error. I have investigated a few properties in CT with similar names like the Meadow Lands in Darien and Meadow Woods near Essex CT but these areas do not have the right families living there. Can you tell me if the description in the 1896 letter sounds like anyone or anyplace you know? Thanks so much Kate ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to VTWINDSO-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message