Richard Webb I (May 5, 1580 – July 1665) was a founding

settler A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settl ...

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since ...

and Norwalk,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. He served as a deputy of the General Court of the

Connecticut Colony The ''Connecticut Colony'' or ''Colony of Connecticut'', originally known as the Connecticut River Colony or simply the River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636 as a settl ...

from Norwalk in the session of May 1656. He came to America from England in 1626, and originally settled in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most ...

. He went to Hartford in 1636, with the congregation of

Thomas Hooker Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647) was a prominent English colonial leader and Congregational church, Congregational minister, who founded the Connecticut Colony after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was known ...

. His home was on the west aide of Main Street, near the present corner of Church Street. In Hartford he served as a grand-juror in 1643, as a townsman in 1649, and as a surveyor of highways in 1650. He was one of the signers of the agreement for planting Norwalk, June 19, 1650. He moved there soon after. He is listed on the Founders Stone bearing the names of the founders of Hartford in the

Ancient Burying Ground The Ancient Burying Ground (or Phinney's Lane Cemetery) is a historical cemetery at Phinney's Lane in Barnstable, Massachusetts. It is the oldest cemetery in the village of Centerville, and the only surviving civic element of its colonial or ...

in Hartford, and he is also listed on the Founders Stone bearing the names of the founders of Norwalk in the

East Norwalk Historical Cemetery __NOTOC__ Established in , the East Norwalk Historical Cemetery is Norwalk's oldest cemetery, and many of the area's first settlers are buried there. The cemetery is owned and maintained by the Third Taxing District, formally known as the East No ...

. Some researchers cite 1629 as the year that a Richard Webb (b. 1580) and his son Richard (b. 1610) arrived in Massachusetts. In all likelihood, it was either the younger Richard that followed the Reverend Hooker in the 1636 settlement of Hartford, Conn. or the Richard Webb in the company of an Elizabeth Webb who arrived in the 1630 Winthrop Fleet. The elder Richard may have died in 1646.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Richard 1580 births 1665 deaths American Puritans American surveyors Deputies of the Connecticut General Court (1639–1662) Founders of Hartford, Connecticut Founding settlers of Norwalk, Connecticut People from Warwickshire Burials in East Norwalk Historical Cemetery