ABSTRACT

The colonial pattern of divisibility and shared rights suited communities characterized by rough equality among heads of household and dependency for all others. The towns were chosen because they represent well the commonalities and contrasts between Connecticut’s valley and upland areas. This chapter draws on data from a larger study that compares inheritance practices in four towns located in the upland and interior of eastern Connecticut with those in Wethersfield, a minor port town on the Connecticut River just Hartford. Chesebrough was fighting an uphill battle; advocates of partibility were more in tune with the practices of colonial landholders. Straightforward egalitarian practices were not the rule among Wethersfield and upland probates. The unusual practices of one testator illustrate the exception that proves the rule. Pre-Revolutionary inheritance practices provided a material foundation for patriarchal households. Household heads used their wills to limit the number of children or siblings who inherited ownership of their main estates.