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Wethersfield is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, USA, immediately south of Hartford along the Connecticut River and Interstate 91. Many records from colonial times spell the name "Weathersfield", while Native Americans called it "Pyquag".〔(Connecticut Towns in the Order of their Establishment ), Secretary of the State of Connecticut. Retrieved December 8, 2013.〕 The town's motto is "Ye Most Auncient Towne in Connecticut",〔(Official Web Site of the Town of Wethersfield )〕 and its population was 26,668 in the 2010 census.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Wethersfield town, Hartford County, Connecticut )〕 The neighborhood known as Old Wethersfield is the state's largest historic district, spanning two square miles and 1,100 buildings, dating back to the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. ==History== Founded in 1634 by a Puritan settlement party of "10 Men" including John Oldham, Robert Seeley and Nathaniel Foote, Wethersfield is arguably the oldest town in Connecticut,〔Clark, George Larkin (1914). A History of Connecticut: Its People and Institutions. G.P.Putnam's Sons.〕〔(Town Profile: Wethersfield ). The Connecticut Economic Digest, Connecticut Department of Labor, January 2004〕 depending on one's interpretation of when a remote settlement qualifies as a "town". Along with Windsor and Hartford, Wethersfield is represented by one of the three grapevines on the Flag of Connecticut, signifying the state's three oldest European settlements.〔(Virtual Tour of the Connecticut Supreme Court Courtroom ). Retrieved December 22, 2013.〕〔(Historically Speaking: Stonington-born woman helped create flag ), The Bulletin (Norwich), August 27, 2008〕 The town took its name from Wethersfield, a village in the English county of Essex. During the Pequot War, on April 23, 1637, Wongunk chief Sequin attacked Wethersfield with Pequot help. They killed six men and three women, a number of cattle and horses, and took two young girls captive. They were daughters of Abraham Swain or William Swaine (sources vary) and were later ransomed by Dutch traders.〔Konstantin, Phil (2002). This Day in North American Indian History. Da Capo Press, pp. 99-100.〕 Four witch trials and three executions for witchcraft occurred in the town in the 17th century. Mary Johnson was convicted of witchcraft and executed in 1648, Joan and John Carrington in 1651.〔(List of New England witchcraft cases )〕 Landowner Katherine Harrison was convicted, and although her conviction was reversed, she was banished and her property seized by her neighbors.〔(Another list of New England witchcraft cases )〕〔(Brief summary of Katherine Harrison case )〕 Silas Deane, commissioner to France during the American Revolutionary War, lived in the town. His house is now part of the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum. In May 1781, at the Webb House on Main Street, General George Washington and French Lt. Gen. Rochambeau planned the Siege of Yorktown, which culminated in the independence of the then rebellious colonies. The Wethersfield Volunteer Fire Department was chartered by the Connecticut Legislature on May 12, 1803, making it the first formally chartered fire department in Connecticut, and is one of the oldest chartered volunteer fire department in continuous existence in the United States.〔(Wethersfield Volunteer Fire Dept )〕 Wethersfield was "for a century at least, the centre of the onion trade in New England", during the late 1700s and early to middle 1800s.〔(A Great Trade Vanished. How Connecticut's Onion Monopoly Was Lost ), New York Times, June 2, 1889〕 "Outsiders dubbed the Connecticut village 'Oniontown,' with a crosshatch of affection and derision, for this was home of the world-famous Wethersfield red onion."〔(Wethersfield, CT, and Onions ), Yankee Magazine, August 1993〕 In addition, the town was home to William G. Comstock, a well-known 19th century gardening expert and author of the era's most prominent gardening book, ''Order of Spring Work''. In 1820, Comstock founded what would become Comstock, Ferre & Company,〔(Connecticut seed company Comstock, Ferre & Co. returns to its roots ), Boston Globe, October 16, 2011〕〔(Comstock, Ferre & Co )〕 currently America's oldest continuously operating seed company, pioneering the commercial sale of sealed packets of seeds as he had learned from the Amish. Other nationally prominent seed companies in and around the town are the offspring of this agricultural past.〔〔(Wethersfield: The Cradle of American Seed Companies ), Wethersfield Historical Society, January 23, 2012〕 A meteorite fell on Wethersfield on November 8, 1982. It was the second meteorite to fall in the town in the span of 11 years, and crashed through the roof of a house without injuring the occupants, as the first Wethersfield meteorite had also done. The 1971 meteorite was sold to the Smithsonian, and the 1982 meteorite was taken up as part of a collection at the Yale Peabody Museum.〔(The Wethersfield Meteorite ), Yale Peabody Museum. Retrieved August 21, 2013.〕〔(The Wethersfield Meteorites ), Wethersfield Historical Society, October 24, 2011〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wethersfield, Connecticut」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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