The Hawley Society was organized in 1923 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, by descendants of Joseph Hawley (1603-1690), believed to be one of the first Hawleys to settle in the new world. We exist to preserve the memory, records and history of the Hawley Family, and to promote friendly acquaintance and sociability among our members.

 

We were incorporated in Connecticut in 1927 and are a corporation managed by an Executive Committee who serve as volunteers. There are no employees on payroll. Membership dues help fund the ongoing operations. Two of our primary missions are continuing the search to find our English antecedents and to update and republish THE HAWLEY RECORD, 1890.

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86th Hawley Reunion Wrap Up

Windsor, Litchfield Hills and Lyman Beecher:

we came, we saw, we learned.

Another great Hawley Society Reunion thanks to Barbara Hawley and Janet Hawley Sosnicki, sisters and our local co-chairs.

We toured the New England Air Museum, had a walking tour of Windsor, After a lunch break (on one of the first official settlements in Connecticut

A bus tour to Litchfield Hills in northwestern Connecticut landed us at the Litchfield Historical Society for a guided walking tour of the important sites in town, focusing on the Lyman Beecher family who lived in Litchfield while Lyman was pastor of the Congregational Church.

Bussed on to Norfolk and a private tour of the Battel Chapel, known for its stained glass windows, some of which were designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Next, the Pond Town cemetery where the Austin Hawley family is buried. On to Colebrook, and the “Church in the Wildwood” and Colebrook General Store, known as the oldest continuously operating general store in Connecticut.

On the trip back we stopped at the scenic Barkhamsted Reservoir for photos.

The final day was the annual meeting in Matthies Hall at the Oliver Ellsworth Homestead in Windsor.  Genealogist Trudy Hawley provided a presentation on Lyman Beecher and family and the Harriet Beecher Stowe connection to the Hawley family. The Connecticut DAR guides took us through the Oliver Ellsworth home.  Plans are for the next reunion in Fairfield County, CT in the area where Joseph Hawley settled in the 1630s.

The best part of the reunion is, of course, getting to meet and renew new and old family members from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, Illinois, Arizona, Washington, California, Texas,  Minnesota, Oregon, and Ontario, Canada.

 

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