We spent the first week in September in New York and Rhode Island where I celebrated a birthday at son David's home. On the 5th, he took the day off and we drove over to Connecticut to follow up on the Philip Strong lead and search a couple of towns which were known to have several Strong families. One reference had Philip born in 1760 in Hebron, Tolland Co, CT. The Tolland County website listed the town of Tolland as the county seat and as the place where documents could be found, so we set off with that as our destination. It is only 65 miles from Warwick, RI to Tolland and a scenic drive through wooded landscape and rolling hills. We passed by Hartford on the freeway and Windsor is not far off, where Elder John Strong the patriarch of the family settled. We arrived at the courthouse in Tolland and were directed across the street to the historical society only to discover that the early records in this county are stored at each of the town's courthouses rather than being centralized. The Philip Strong who died in Scipio, NY was listed as born in Hebron but his parents and other sibs were born in Warren, Litchfield CO, CT. Since we didn't have the time to travel further west, we decided to go to Coventry, just to the south of Tolland, where many of the Jedediah Strong family settled. We know from DNA studies that we are likely descended from either Jedediah (1637-1733) or John Strong Jr.(1626-1697). Furthermore, Coventry is known for being the birthplace of Nathan Hale, the patriot of the Revolutionary War, who was hanged as a spy. Nathan's mother was Elizabeth Strong (1704-1792), a great granddaughter of Jedidiah and from Northampton, MA. Her father was Joseph Strong Jr (1701-1773) (from Joseph Strong Sr - Thomas Strong) and her mother was Elizabeth Strong (1704-1792) (from Preserved Strong - Jedediah), second cousins.
We found the courthouse of Coventry, a small modern building along the main highway. A brief search of records brought us to a page in the log book with handwritten entries of the marriages, births and deaths of many of the Strong family members. Most of Joseph Strong's family are listed and are buried in Coventry along with Jedediah. We paid $10 to make a copy of the page from the log book. Unfortunately, there was no listing for Philip Strong and the dates ranged from 1728 to 1775.
After a quick lunch, we drove on a two lane road in the countryside to the home of Richard Hale and Elizabeth Strong which is now an historical site. We took a tour of the home which is preserved along with the other farm buildings and fields. It is a typical home of its time as you can see from the picture of the Strong home, a two story frame building, painted red. There are pictures of the Hales on the walls. At one point Richard and Elizabeth shared the home with their son Richard Jr., each living in half of the house and sharing the kitchen and dining areas. The Strong family had a similar home just down the road about a 1/2 mile which we also toured, thanks to the custodian who is living in it.
Although we were unable to make any connections to Reuben Strong on this trip, we likely eliminated Coventry as his family homestead. It is always interesting to visit these areas and picture where and how these early settlers lived.
