Thomas Rockwell, son of John of Stamford, d. 1712 in Norwalk

As with his father, there is some mystery about Thomas's birth. As explained in the book, my analysis of the first record of him (when he was coming of age in Norwalk) suggests to me that he was the youngest son, born ca. 1672, likely in Rye. But given that John moved back to Stamford temporarily during the troubles of 1673, it is possible that Thomas was born there.

We know that Thomas purchased a whole right in the Town of Ridgefield in 1711, then died in 1712. Some records later refer to him as "late of Ridgefield," others as "late of Norwalk," so it is uncertain whether he actually made the move to Ridgefield. Given that some of his children settled in each leaves it ambiguous. We know that his widow, Sarah (Rusco) Rockwell, later married a Ridgefield settler, Richard Osborn, so that's a point in favor of the move.

Their daughter Sarah married Joseph Hobart. He purchased a half-right in Ridgefield from Henry Dwight in 1722. No record of their deaths has been found, through either probate records or cemetery records. The Ridgefield vital records list 6 children (the ones I put in my book), but a recent analysis of the Ridgefield land records indicates five more who were not recorded at Ridgefield. Furthermore, these deeds help us to identify the husbands of three daughters. This is possible because several individuals were selling their share in two parcels of land during the period 1755 to 1761. A revised list of the children of Joseph and Sarah (Rockwell) Hobart is as follows:

  1. Joseph Hobart, born at Ridgefield on 7 July 1724. He was living at Danbury when, on 16 January 1755/56, he sold his share in a Ridgefield property to Jabez Rockwell, a maternal uncle. He married, on 3 January 1748/49, Ruth Parry. They may have had at least four children, including Abiah, if the common estimates for her birth year are too early. Alternatively, Joseph may have married young, to a woman who died after giving birth to Abiah. She and husband Jonathan Wildman sold her share in the 35-acre Rockwell-Hobart tract at Ridgebury that Joseph did not sell, and her share was 1/28 of the total--suggesting three siblings who held another 3/28. The land records do not record their disposal of their share.
  2. Sarah Hobart, born at Ridgefield on 27 July 1725. She was the Sarah (maiden name unknown) who married Jonathan Brooks at Ridgefield on 9 April 1744. They lived in Ridgefield in 1755 and 1756 when they sold her shares in the Rockwell-Hobart parcels in Ridgefield. Another interesting deed is the one dated 29 February 1739/40, in which Ebenezer Brooks of Ridgefield gave his son Jonathan a 23-acre parcel in the �New Purchase,� which bordered on two sides the land of Richard Osborn. Osborn was the second wife of Thomas Rockwell�s widow Sarah, so it is possible that Jonathan Brooks� proximity to the grandmother of his future wife facilitated their meeting.
  3. Rebecca Hobart, b. at Ridgefield on 13 Nov. 1726. No further record.
  4. Phebe Hobart, born at Ridgefield on 25 February 1728. She married at Stamford (Darien area), on 27 May 1751, James Green. They were living at Stamford in April of 1756 when they sold her shares in the Rockwell-Hobart parcels in Ridgefield.
  5. Hobart, born at Ridgefield on 6 August 1729. No further record.
  6. Jeremiah Hobart, born at Ridgefield on 29 December 1730. No further record.
  7. Elizabeth Hobart. Her birth is not on record, so her exact birth order is unknown, but she was married by March of 1756 and living at Woodbury, Conn., when she and her husband, Bushnell Benedict, sold her share in a Ridgefield parcel. Benedict was born in 1734, according to the Benedict genealogy, which gave no further details; and he was an early settler of Woodbury. Online postings of him and family give no indication that even the first name of his wife was known, so the Ridgefield deed is a real sledge hammer to that "brick wall!"
  8. Hezekiah Hobart. He is likely that Hezekiah, son of Joseph �Hubbard,� born at Ridgefield on 3 November 1733. This birth record from Danbury was probably recorded decades after the fact. Danbury�s vital records for this period were lost to fire during the British raid of April 1777, but some pre-war records were written down later. Evidence that this was a reference to the Hobarts comes from another Ridgefield deed dated 4 May 1761, in which Joseph Hobart of Danbury gave to his son Hezekiah, �now living at Ridgfield,� all claims to lands in Ridgefield. This was the last record of him, so perhaps he died soon.
  9. John Hobart. His birth is not on record, so his exact birth order is unknown, but he was living in Ridgefield in 1756 when he sold his share in the Rockwell-Hobart parcels in Ridgefield. He may have been the John Hobart of Woodbury, Litchfield County, whose widow, Mary, became the administrator of his estate along with Comfort Hubbell of Newtown, Fairfield County, on 8 April 1783. An inventory of his estate was displayed on 26 May 1783.
  10. Martha Hobart. Her birth is not on record, so her exact birth order is unknown, but she was married by 1759 and living at Woodbury when she and her husband, William Tiff, sold their share in a Ridgefield parcel.
  11. Ruth Hobart. The last to appear in the record (and thus perhaps the youngest), she sold her right to a 37.5-acre parcel in 1761. She was evidently unmarried and living in Woodbury, perhaps with her brother John.
Details on the Hobart family are more fully discussed in my articles in Connecticut Ancestry, vol. 53, no. 2 (Nov. 2010).