Volume 6 Issue 2 Summer 1999

Symbol of the Eno Foundation for Transportation

Something new has been added to the Simsbury Free Library building this summer. A five-foot square plaque is now attached to the southeast corner of the building facing the parking area. This impressive high relief sculptural piece depicts the seal of the Eno Foundation for Transportation.

Volume 6 Issue 1 Spring 1999

Gravestones in Simsbury Center Cemetery

One of the early gravestone carvers in Simsbury was James Stanclift Jr. His grandfather James Stanclift, who was born near the town of Halifax in Yorkshire, England, came to Connecticut about 1684. He eventually founded the Stanclift Brownstone Quarry.

Volume 5 Issue 4 Winter 1998-99

Extensive Research Project Begun

Some of us at the Simsbury Genealogical and Historical Research Library have long been aware of the existence of numerous account books kept by Simsbury citizens in the 1700s. After analyzing one for a graduate school paper, I realized that these ledgers, written with quill pens in quaint scribbles and flourishes, are an almost untapped source of much information about the town’s colonial citizens. Now SGHRL researchers under my direction have begun a formal study of these invaluable relics of the 18th century.

Volume 5 Issue 3 Fall 1998

“Some 30 million American can validly claim to be descended from the 23 families who lived through the first winter after the Mayflower landed.” This intriguing statement, attributed to Mr. Tweed Roosevelt, can be found in the June/July issue of Civilization, the magazine published by the Library of Congress.

How many persons alive today do you think are descended from the first settlers of Simsbury? A brief survey of A Record and Documentary History of Simsbury by Lucius I. Barber yielded 53 different surnames among the 74 heads of households known to have settled within the ancient town boundaries between 1664 and 1700. Not surprisingly, many of the people from all over the United States who come into this library to research their family history begin by saying, “My ancestors came from Simsbury.”