Windham County

The township of Plainfield lies in the southeastern part of the county, adjoining Griswold and Voluntown in the county of New London. It is about nine miles long from north to south and four to five miles wide. It has Canterbury on the west, also Brooklyn on the northwest, Killingly on the north, and Sterling […]

Town organization was secured with less than customary controversy. In many respects the parish had enjoyed unusual privileges, and its local interests were quite distinct from those of the mother town. In 1761 the vote was carried ” that Thompson Parish be set off as a town-Jacob Dresser, Esq., agent for preferring a memorial; ”

William Preston Aldrich was born in 1836 in Thompson. He is a son of Jonathan, and grandson of Jonathan, whose father, Levi, was a son of Levi Aldrich. His mother was Abigail, daughter of Samuel Darling. He is a stone mason by trade, although he and his brother have a farm where they live. He

With all this growth, and bustle and hurry, there was inevitable clashing and jangling. Nothing could have been more complex and unmanageable than this cluster of villages, belonging to three distinct, independent towns, with no central authority to bring and hold them together, and legislate for their best interests. That so much order and harmony

The first town meeting in Killingly of which there is existing record was held November 25th, 1728. But forty-four regularly admitted freemen were then reported, not half the adult male residents. Justice Joseph Leavens was moderator of that meeting. He was also chosen town clerk and first selectman. Eleazer Bateman, Isaac Cutler, Joseph Cady and

The first recorded public recognition of the Mashamoquet settlement was in 1708, when its inhabitants were invited to join with the selectmen of Woodstock and Killingly in petitioning for a road to Providence, and were also ordered by the general assembly to send in their list of polls and estates, that they might bear their

Colonel William L. Jillson and Captain John H. Capen early associated themselves as partners in business, under the firm name of Jillson & Capen, for manufacturing cotton-making machinery. They carried on the business to a large extent, giving employment to a large number of mechanics, and thus adding to the prosperity of the village. In

Thompson’s manufacturing interests are of much value and importance, having been the main factor in its continued prosperity and good standing. The opening of Mr. Smith Wilkinson’s cotton spinning factory in 1807, near the southwest corner of Thompson, excited much interest, giving employment to many women and children, and furnishing a nearer market for farm

The town of Windham takes the lead in being the first in the county to send out that great modern educator, the newspaper. The first effort of this kind was made in 1790. During that year John Byrne, of Norwich, set up a printing press in the lower room of the court house in Windham

The town of Killingly lies in the eastern central part of Windham county, on the Rhode Island border. In terri tory, population and business importance it is one of the largest towns of the county. Its territory, which originally em braced the whole northeast corner of Connecticut east of the Quinebaug and north-of Plainfield, has