History and Genealogy Contacts Stratford, Connecticut The town of Stratford,

History and Genealogy
Contacts
Stratford, Connecticut
When grass grew on Main Street, wineglass elms shaded downtown
Stratford. When the trolley line arrived in 1894 the town’s long sleep
was about to end.
Barbara Blosveren
Director of Stratford Library Association
compiled by
Mary–Ellen Mohring
Assistant Reference Department Head
Jim Duffy
Illustration and layout design
Revised Oct. 15, 2007
2203 Main Street, Stratford, CT 06615, (203) 385-4164, http://www.stratfordlibrary.org
The town of Stratford,
Connecticut was organized in 1639 and lies
along the Housatonic
River and Long Island
Sound. Stratford is the
easternmost town in
Fairfield County and
formerly encompassed
Shelton, Trumbull and
parts of Bridgeport.
Woodbury, Connecticut was also originally
settled by people from
Stratford.
Libraries, Museums & Archives in Stratford
Stratford Historical Society
(Judson House)
Captain David Judson &
Catherine B. Mitchell Museum
967 Academy Hill
P.O. Box 382
Stratford, CT 06615
Phone: (203) 378-0630
www.stratfordhistoricalsociety.com
Library & Office hours:
Tue & Th 9-2:30
Museum hours (Jun-Oct):
Wed, Sun Noon - 4PM
18th century house museum,
Stratford history & genealogy,
manuscripts, photographs, town
government archives, land records,
Barbour Index, alphabetical index
to Christ Episcopal Church and
more. Answers correspondence.
The Stratford Historical Society maintains the 18th-century Captain David Judson
House and Catherine B. Mitchell Museum on Academy Hill, the site of one of the earliest house lots in Stratford. Founded in 1925, the society continues to preserve and share
artifacts and history of the town of Stratford.
The Stratford Library Association acknowledges with thanks,
the use of photographs and/or text by:
•Lewis G. Knapp
•Teresa Neville
•Lynne Perrigo
•Stratford Historical Society
Boothe Memorial Park Museum
Main Street, Putney
Mailing address:
Friends of Boothe Park, Inc.
P.O. Box 902
Stratford, CT 06615
Phone: (203) 381-2046
Museum hours (June-Nov):
Tue-Fri 11am-1pm, Sat-Sun 1pm-4pm
Boothe Family homestead 1663-1955. Letters,
bills, receipts, family Bibles and books originally
owned by the Boothe family, genealogies. Call
for appointment to use the library.
Probate Office
Birdseye Municipal Complex
468 Birdseye Street
Stratford, CT 06615
Phone (203) 385-4023
Probate records 1840 - present.
For 1800 - 1840 contact Probate
Office in City of Bridgeport. For
1700 - 1800 contact
Fairfield Probate Court.
Mon–Fri, 9:30 am – 4:30 pm
Stratford Library Association
Historical Reference Collection
2203 Main Street
Stratford, CT 06615
Phone: (203) 385-4164
Website: www.stratfordlibrary.org
Stratford history & genealogy, city directories,
high school yearbooks, Stratford newspapers
1873-present, Stratford newspaper clipping
file, local authors collection, town reports,
census microfilm loan program, genealogy
databases, Sanborn fire insurance maps,
Ancestry.com, HeritageQuest.com.
Birdseye Blakeman, a descendant of Rev. Adam
Blakeman, the first minister of Stratford (1639),
and of Deacon Birdseye, was a publisher of school
books and the president of the American Book
Company in New York City. He never forgot his
native town and his generosity made possible a
magnificent library in 1896.
Vital Records Information
The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records
at the Connecticut State Library (see “Other Contacts”) is a major source of vital records for all of
Connecticut. It abstracts births, marriages & deaths
in Connecticut towns 1639-circa 1850 and is arranged
alphabetically by surname within each town. The
Stratford Library owns many volumes.
The Town Clerk’s office and the Stratford Historical Society (see “Libraries, Museums & Archives in
Stratford”) both own the Barbour Index, citation of
which is usually acceptable proof that a record exists.
The Stratford Town Clerk’s office has Stratford’s vital
records 1639-present.
Connecticut vital records July 1, 1897-present are
also available at the Connecticut Department of
Public Health - see “Other Contacts”.
This early
view of the
Sterling House
shows plantings
done by the firm
of Frederick Law
Olmstead, designers
of Central Park in New
York City. In 1932 the
Sterling House Community Center, left
to the town by Miss
Cordelia Sterling in
her will, began to
fill a need.
Land, birth, marriage & death records 1639
to present. For the policy regarding birth
certificates, please call the office.
Connecticut vital records July 1, 1897-present are also available at the Connecticut
Department of Public Health (see “Other
Contacts”)
Photographic history of the helicopter,
illustrated by many models.
Stratford probate records
1800 - June 4, 1840.
Library open to the public. Membership benefits include full access to town clerk vital records.
Town Clerk’s Office
Stratford Town Hall
2725 Main Street
Stratford, CT 06615
Mon. – Fri., 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
Phone: (203) 385-4020
National Helicopter Museum
2480 Main Street
(eastbound railroad station)
Mailing address:
Ruth Lebowitz
490 Sherwood Place, Apt. C12
Stratford, CT 06615
Phone: (203) 375-5766
Hours: Wed-Sun 1pm-4pm (Memorial Day through Oct)
Free Admission/Special Tours
Arranged
Probate Court
City of Bridgeport
202 State Street
Bridgeport, CT 06604
Phone: (203) 576-3945
Fax: (203) 576-7898
Connecticut Society of Genealogists
175 Maple Street
East Hartford, CT 06118
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 435
Glastonbury, CT 06033-0435
Phone (860) 569-0002
Website: www. csginc.org
Connecticut Historical
Society
1 Elizabeth Street
Hartford, CT 06105
Phone: (860) 236-5621
Website: www.chs.org
New Haven Museum
and Historical Society
114 Whitney Avenue
New Haven, CT 06510
Phone: (203) 562-4183
Fairfield Museum and
History Center
636 Old Post Road
Fairfield, CT 06430
Phone: (203) 259-1598
Genealogies available for loan
to members. Answers correspondence for a fee.
Fee charged for research
services.
Answers correspondence for
a fee.
Other Contacts
Stratford United Methodist Church
Historical Committee
2600 Main Street
Stratford, CT 06615
Phone: (203) 375-5851
Local and regional Methodist history, including
church records. Access to historical collection
by appointment. Correspondence is answered.
Connecticut State Library
History and Genealogy Unit
231 Capitol Avenue
Hartford, CT 06106
Phone: (860) 757-6580
Website: www.cslib.org/handg.htm
On September 14, 1939, a new age in flight began when
Igor Sikorsky lifted off his VS-300. It flew for only seconds and it shook and wavered, but it ushered in the age
of the helicopter.
Major genealogy resource for the state.
Barbour Collection of Vital Records, Hale
Collections of Cemetery Inscriptions and
Marriage & Death Notices, church records,
family Bibles, land records, genealogies,
court records, etc. CSL offers a limited
genealogical index search for a fee.
State of Connecticut
Department of Public Health
Vital Records Section
410 Capitol Avenue
P.O. Box 340308
MS#, 11VRS
Hartford, CT 06134-0308
Phone (860) 509-7700
509-7897
Website: www.dph.state.ct.us/
pb/hisr/vital_records.htm
David and Steven Boothe spent years adding structures to their 30-acre homestead.
Their “technocratic cathedral,” built in 1933, was a monument to the Great Depression according to David. It was built with flat timbers (like Depression finances)
and redwood (like Depression ledgers). The multi-sided blacksmith shop has been
operable since 1935. The clock tower was added to the carriage house in 1913 and
has recently been refurbished.
Connecticut vital records July 1, 1897present, available for a fee.
The 1859 Congregational
church at the Center was the
work of architect Leopold
Eidlitz, one of the architects of
the New York state capitol building. Like the Episcopal church,
this picture shows it painted in
the natural colors intended to
match its Gothic architecture.
In the twentieth century it was
altered and painted white.
Bridgeport Public Library
Historical Collections
925 Broad Street
Bridgeport, CT 06603
Phone: (203) 576-7417
Website: www.bridgeportpubliclibrary.
org/hc/default.php
Strong historical collection. Owns Bridgeport/Connecticut Post (the daily newspaper
for Stratford area) 1899-present, city directories 1855-1990, and more.
Stratford History Specialists
Lewis G. Knapp
88 Notch Hill Rd, Unit 131
N. Branford, CT 06471
Phone: (203) 488-8939
Peter A. Tarasovich
831 Milford Point Road
Milford, CT 06460-5123
Phone: (203) 878-3967
Stratford Town Historian. Author of In Pursuit
Chairman of committee researching the “Holof Paradise: History of the Town of Stratford, Connecti- lister Heights” area of Stratford. Answers
cut. Answers correspondence.
correspondence.
Saint Joseph’s Polish National Catholic Church Cemetery
1300 Stratford Road
Stratford, CT 06615
Phone: (203) 377-9901
Established in 1907. The name of the
deceased and the approximate year of death is
needed to obtain headstone inscriptions.
Cemetery Information
and
Stratford Cemeteries
The Hale Collection of Cemetery
Inscriptions at the Connecticut
State Library (see “Other Contacts”)
has data from about 2000 Connecticut cemeteries 1640s-circa 1934. It
has an alphabetical name index to
locate graves and includes dates of
birth & death and sometimes ages,
relationships and war data.
www.cslib.org/halecol.htm
History of Stratford, Connecticut,
by William Howard Wilcoxson has
general information about many
Stratford cemeteries in Chapter
16: “Ancient Burying Grounds in
Stratford.” Stratford cemeteries
will release information from their
records when provided with specific
names and death dates.
“Old Congregational Burying Ground”
(behind Stratford Library and Sterling
House)
Mailing Address #1:
First Congregational Church
2301 Main Street
Stratford, CT 06615
Phone: (203) 375-3569
Mailing Address #2:
Carol W. Lovell
Cemetery Secretary
5364 Main Street Putney
Stratford, CT 06614
Established in 1678. The cemetery secretary has
a finding list that is alphabetical by surname. A
numerical list by headstone with corresponding
map, updated in 1991 by John S. Richardson, is
available at the Stratford Historical Society and the
Stratford Library Association. An original map
hangs in the church. The inscriptions list is in A
History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of
Bridgeport, by Samuel Orcutt.
St. Michael’s Roman Catholic
Cemetery
2205 Stratford Ave.
Stratford, CT 06615
Phone: (203) 378-0404
Headstones from 1885, records 1906present. Name of deceased and approximate date of death is needed to obtain a
map to the grave site.
Union Cemetery Association
23 Temple Court
Stratford, CT 06615
Phone: (203) 375-4932
Stones date from circa 1820. File card
system by name for finding lot numbers
of grave sites.
Putney Cemetery Association
5936 Main Street
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 902
Stratford, CT 06615
Phone: (203) 381-2046
Established in the early 1800s as the Boothe
family cemetery. From 1850, residents of the
Oronoque & Putney sections of Stratford have
been buried here.
Saint John the Baptist Greek
Catholic Cemetery Association
2610 Nichols Avenue
Mailing address;
50 Paradise Green Place
Stratford, CT 06614
Phone: (203) 375-4410
Established in 1914. Call or write for
information about research services.
Christ Church Episcopal Burying
Ground - Monument Place
(Rear of Saint James Catholic Church)
Mailing address:
Christ Episcopal Church
2000 Main Street
Stratford, CT 06615
Phone: (203) 375-4447
Established in 1723. Last burial,1913. Volunteers answer correspondence about the cemetery and other records. The inscriptions list
is in A History of the old Town of Stratford and
the City of Bridgeport, by Samuel Orcutt.