Welcome to the Colorado Hartford Family

My grandmother's name was Anna Catherine Hartford.  She died 3 July 2002 at the tender age of 97, and it wasn't until then that I started to research her family and learn a bit about the history of many of the branches.  Her father's family originated in Dublin, Ireland, immigrated to Canada in the late 1820's and eventually came to Saint Lawrence County in New York during the 1850's. It appears that my part of the family ended up in Colorado sometime in the late 1800s.  What I've learned about the family so far is very interesting. 

The beginnings of the Colorado Hartford Clan can be traced to Dublin Ireland  sometime in the late 1820s to early 1830s.  Richard Hartford with his wife (Nancy Kelly) and three sons Thomas, James, and Dennis made the decision to leave Ireland and immigrate to Canada.  According to son James' obituary, the family immigrated when he was four years old to Montreal and then to Phillipsburg, Quebec.  Since James was born in 1828, the date of immigration would be sometime in 1832.  The only member of the family I have been able to locate in Canadian sources is Thomas.  Look on lines 43-46 to see the details of the census. 

The Hartford family, at this time, can be characterized as hard working common people.  There occupations were Civil War soldiers, farmers, something called a moulder, undertakers, miners and many others.  Another interesting fact about this part of the Hartford Family (at least the part that I've discovered) is that they tended to live into their late 80s to early 90s.  What I'm going to try to do with this blog is to tell the story of the Hartford family through documents and photos I've collected over the last few years.  What I really hope is that other members of the Hartford family read this and contribute their own information.

Comments

[Rolf Ericson]

Hello!
My name is Rolf Ericson, Borensberg, Sweden. I want to know if you will link my genealogy website to your excellent site.
My URL-address is:
http://www.rolferic.se

Kindly
Rolf Ericson

[Christina Hartford]

I think it is really cool you made this i will do any thing to help!!

[christina hartford]

Hi i am christina I live in Bailey colorado with twenty other Hartfords in our small comunity. I am one of 8 i have 2 brothers and 5 sisters. i would like to know more about your side of the Hartford family and iam shur i could tell you more about what i know about the hartfords.

[Michael W. Hartford]

Tim, my name is Michael Hartford, I live in Woodbridge, VA. My father, born Robert Hartford was born in Denver, CO in 1921, son of Norman J. Hartford and Georgia Stewart. Norman,s parents are Richard Hartford and Laura Judd of Massena, NY, We must be related. I seem to think that you live in the DC area. I would like to converse with you. If you email I will furnish a phone number.
.

[Michael W. Hartford]

Tim, Mike Hartford again. We should be third cousins. Thomas Hartfordi is my GG Grandfather as well.

[Kathleen Aughey]

Hi, my great grandfather was Thomas Hartford of Brooklyn, NY. He married Catherine Nolan and they had sons Michael, James, Thomas (my grandfather, born 1915 in NY, died 1962 in NJ), and daughters Florence, Mildred, and Jane. I have just started looking for more information and have not been able to find anything. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Patricia Hartford]

Hello all!
My name is Patricia Hartford. I was born in Denver, Colorado in 1954 to Edward Joseph Hartford.
Edward was born in 1916 in Goldfield, Colorado too Joseph Thomas Hartford and his wife Margret (Margaret) Mary Sullivan Hartford (I think I have the only surviving photo of her).
Joseph and Margret had a total of 4 sons - Edward Joseph (middle name from his father), Thomas Michael (from the middle name of his father and first name of his mother's father - Michael Sullivan), William Dennis and James.
Margret Mary died in 1927 (I believe from complications in childbirth) and is buried in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She was an only child to Michael and Annie Sullivan.
After her death, Joseph moved his sons to Denver were they lived with him and various relatives until Joseph remarried (no children resulted from this second marriage). Joseph died in 1948 of "miners black lung" and is buried in Fairmount Cemetary in Denver, Colorado.
My father died in 1965 and is buried in the Fort Logan Cemetary in Denver.
My fathers brother Tom died in 1960 in Hayward, California and is buried at the Mt. Eden Cemetary.
After my fathers death, my mother, sister, brother and myself lost track of William and Jimmy.
I have never met any other Hartford family members so I would be happy to hear from any of you.
Sincerely,
Patricia

[Pat Weidner]

Hello Patricia,
My name is Patricia Anne Hartford Weidner, ( I go by the name of Pat). My father was Thomas Michael Hartford, brother to Ed, James and Bill. I was born in Hayward, Ca, on 10-10-1954, so we are first cousins, born in the same year!!

My father died on August 17, 1960, at the young age of 40 from kidney failure, only two days after my mother’s birthday.

Neither I, nor any of my siblings have ever met any of my father’s family. We know that he came from Colorado, had 3 brothers and that his father was Joe Hartford and his mother was Margaret Mary, but that was pretty much it.

My father and mother had 4 living children when my father passed away, ages 16-14-8-6. Leaving my mother a widow at the age of 40. I was not quite 6 years old.

My older sister (born 5-8-1944), was my father’s first born child and named Margaret Mary, she was killed in an auto accident on Sept 23, 1985, at the age of 40. This caused my brother to be concerned, thinking that none of us would live past 40!! But we have all made it past that age, except for Margaret. I was comforted to see that a Hartford does have a long life span.

My second sister, Barbara JoAnne was born on April 20, 1946, now living in Gardnerville, NV. My brother, the only son, is named Dennis Michael Hartford and lives in Hayward, Ca.. I was the baby, born on 10-10-1954, and live in Castro Valley, CA a town right next to Hayward. My mother died at the age of 84 back in 2004, she had Alzheimer’s and so did all of her siblings, so I am hoping that the Hartford line does not have this DNA issue, otherwise we all know what is ahead of us. Not a comforting thought at all.

Margaret & husband Jerry Gomes gave birth to a son and two daughters. My sister did not live to see her 4 grand kids and two great grands.
Barbara and husband Bill gave birth to two daughters, and now have three grandkids.
Dennis and wife Norma gave birth to two daughters, no grandkids.
I and my husband Chuck Weidner, gave birth to two sons, now ages 32 & 29, Matthew Thomas and Nathan Charles, no wives -no grandkids.

All of these years I have wondered about my fathers family, and not understanding why there was never any contact. Colorado and California are not really that far apart. But I just recently I found out that the family was fractured when Grandmother Margaret died. Times were different back in the 40's and 50's, people went in different directions. With my father dying so young, caused the connection to be severed.

It was a shock to me when I pulled up this web site and saw what could only be a family member based on all of the information you noted. When I saw another Patricia Hartford born in 1954, it blew me away and when I read that the grandparents had the same name as mine and when I saw that you had uncles named the same as mine and when you noted Thomas Hartford died in 1960 and buried at Mt Eden Cemt. I knew for the first time that I had a cousin out there, one that I never knew anything about!!

I am not a Facebook person, have no desire to be one, but I just had to respond to you. I hope this message gets through to you.

May God Bless you and your family, I believe that the Lord’s hand was on me finding the Hartford Family website.

Sincerely,
Pat Hartford Weidner,
Sending greetings from California to any Hartford family connected to Thomas Michael Hartford.