Lewis4 Terrill New Hartford CT Records
Transcriptions by Conrad W. Terrill, June 2009
New Hartford CT records concerning Lewis Terrill (PDF, 50 KB)
The above link brings up transcriptions of New Hartford, CT, land and town records concerning Lewis4 Terrill (Josiah3, Thomas2) and wife Anna, and daughter-in-law Deliverance Terrill/Tyrrel and grandson Lewis Tyrrel Jr. ("Jr." was used back then to distinguish between two people in the same town who had the same—or in this case, nearly the same—name. An interesting aspect of these records is the documentation of a surname spelling mutation in this branch of Roger1's descendants.)
Lewis Terrill, of Bolton in Hartford County, purchased about 40 acres of land in New Hartford on 31 July 1788, for ?80, from Kanah Mills. The property butted that formerly belonging to Jacob Reed (and "now" under mortgage to Peletiah Allyn) to the west, that belonging to the heirs of Thomas Olcott (deceased) to the north, that of John Walling and that of Martin Roberts to the east, and that of Jacob Reed and that of William Steel to the south. A highway (perhaps the Albany Turnpike?) had been laid out through the property, but this right-of-way was not part of the 40 acres.
A little over a month later (on 8 Sept. 1788), Deliverance Terril, of New Hartford, purchased about six acres of land in New Hartford, for ?10, from Jacob Reed.
On 19 Sept. 1791 Lewis Terrill sold his 40 acre property to Lewis Tyrrel Jr. for ?80. On that same day Lewis Tyrrel Jr. leased and "farm let" (meaning to lease for rent) the same property back to his honored grandparents, Lewis and Anna Terrill, for ?80, for the full term of their natural lives. All concerned probably continued to live exactly where they had already been living. Lewis and Anna were in effect bequeathing their property to Lewis Jr., outside the probate system.
On 21 Dec. 1793 Deliverance Terrill leased and farm let her six acres to Lewis Terrill, of New Hartford, for ?10, for seven years. It may be that Deliverance left New Hartford at this time, perhaps to join her husband Thomas Tyrrel, wherever he might have been. Thomas is never mentioned in the New Hartford records. Lewis Jr. may too have left at this time.
On 15 Sept. 1794 Lewis Terrill took the Freemens Oath, in New Hartford.
On 1 Apr. 1796 Lewis Tyrrel Jr. and Deliverance Tyrrel, both of New Hartford, sold the entire property, now estimated to consist of about 47 acres (including the high way), to Nahum Benjamin, of East Hartford, for ?200. Lewis and Anna Terrill leased and farm let the same property to Nahum Benjamin on the same day, and quit all claim to it (apparently to legally forfeit their lifetime lease of it--no money was involved in this transaction).
There were no entries in the land record or town record indices for "Terrill" other than those described here, before the year 1800. Other Terrills (I have no idea how I might be related to them) moved into New Hartford in the late 1800s. My parents, in fact, lived in New Hartford from about 1967 to about 1979, on top of West Hill. I lived there summers, for a while. I don't know the location, exactly, of the property which Lewis Terrill once owned, but I'm sure I 've driven through it many a time.