Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

of America, the Loyal Order of Moose,
the Hartford Lodge of Elks, and his med-
ical college fraternity, Phi Chi. Religi-
ously, he is a member of the Catholic
church.
SYMONDS, William Francis,
Merchant.
A native son of Connecticut, Mr.
Symonds is the scion of an early family of
Hartford county, originally established in
Massachusetts. The name is found under
various spellings in the earliest days of
New England. Among the settlers of
Plymouth Colony was a Dutchman whose
name was spelled Simons, who probably
became acquainted with the Puritans in
his native land. His descendants are
found under various names including
Simmons, and are scattered throughout
the country. The others were undoubtedly
of English descent, and the name
corresponds in meaning to Simon's son.
The contraction of this name readily
brought it to its present form. Many
members of the family herein traced spell
the name Simons, Simmonds, and other-
wise.
The founder of this family in America
was William Symonds, who settled in
Woburn, Massachusetts, about 1644.7 and
resided near Dry Brook, where he died
June 7, 1672. He married, January 10,
1644, Judith (Phippen) Hayward, widow
of James Hayward, who came in the
"Planter" in 1635 to America. She died
January 3, 1690.
Their fourth son, Lieutenant Benjamin
Symonds, was born March 18, 1654, in
Woburn, where he died September 21,
1726. His wife, Rebecca, died in April,
I7I3-
Their third son, Joseph Symonds, born
March 1, 1683, was among the early set-
tlers of Hartford, Connecticut. He lived
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
'IS
on the east side of the Connecticut river
in that part of the town which is now
Manchester, and purchased, March 28,
1732, one hundred acres of land from Timothy
and Abigail Woodbridge. This land
was bounded on the north by that of
Lieutenant Thomas Olcott, and on three
sides by undivided common land, indi-
cating that it was on the remote outskirts
of the settlement at that time. He
married, March 2, 1709, Abigail Spencer,
daughter of Samuel Spencer, and granddaughter
of Thomas Spencer. He owned
the covenant at the First Church of Hart-
ford, July 10, 1709. The baptisms of four
of his children are recorded there,
namely: Abigail, Joseph (died young),
Mary and Joseph.
Their third son, Samuel Symonds, was
baptized at the Second Church in Hart-
ford, November 20, 1715. He probably
formed other church relationships soon
after this. Records of his descendants
are found in the East Hartford Church.
His son, Samuel Simmons, was among
the proprietors of Hartford in 1754, and
received a lot in the distribution of common
lands, February 18, of that year.
This was lot No. 21, in the second tier
of lots south of the Farmington road,
west of the Connecticut river, and in-
cluded four acres, one rood, and thirty-
six rods. This he sold, April 17, 1783, to
Isaac Sheldon. He made his home on
the East Side, and several of his children
were baptized in the East Hartford
Church, from 1751 to 1763.
His third son and fourth child was
Ashnah Symonds, who was born August
2, and baptized August 14, 1757, in the
East Hartford Church, lived in that part
of East Hartford which is now Manchester,
where he died January 20, 1850. He
was a soldier of the Revolution, enlisting
first in December, 1775, for two months,
in Captain Jonathan Wells' company,