John Webster was one of the first settlers and founders of the State of Connecticut. In addition to being the 8th great-grandfather of my great-grandmother, Mary (Harvey) Reese Gaul (click here to learn more about John Webster and his genealogy), he was also an ancestor of three U.S. Presidents, including Rutherford B. Hayes, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush. A few of his other notable descendants include Johnny Carson (the celebrity, 1925-2005), Emily Dickinson (the poet, 1830-1886), Katherine Hepburn (the actress, 1907-2003), and Janis Joplin (the singer, 1943-1970).
He died in 1665 and rests in Old Hadley Cemetery in Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. A memorial erected in his honor, shown below, is engraved as follows:
"To the memory of John Webster, Esq., one of the first Settlers of Hartford in Connecticut, who was many years a Magistrate or assistant & afterwards Deputy Governor & Governor of that Colony & in 1659 with three sons Robert, William, & Thomas, associated with others in the purchase of a settlement in Hadley where he died in 1665, this monument is erected in 1818 by his descendants."
Sources:
History and genealogy of the Gov. John Webster family of Connecticut, by William H. Webster [Link]
List of colonial governors of Connecticut. (2017, December 22). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colonial_governors_of_Connecticut
John Webster (governor). (2017, December 22). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Webster_(governor)
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