Richard Treat

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Richard Treat (1584–1669): Early Connecticut settler and Charter patentee

Richard Treat (also written Trott) was born on August 28, 1584, in Pitminster, Somerset, England, the son of Robert and Honoria Trott. He married Alice Gaylord on April 27, 1615, in Pitminster, and they had 11 children. One son, Robert Treat, later served as governor of Connecticut (1683–1698). Among their daughters were
- Joanna, who married Lieut. John Hollister
- Susanna, who married Robert Webster (son of Governor John Webster)
- Honor, who married Puritan leader John Deming
- Sarah, who married Matthew Camfield, an early settler in New Haven Colony and founder of Newark, New Jersey

Treat emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 and soon settled in Wethersfield, Connecticut, where he became a prominent landowner, owning more than 900 acres. He represented Wethersfield in the first general court in 1637 and, in 1642, helped supervise shipbuilding and raise revenue for it.

He held many public roles: juror (1643), grand juror (1643), deputy (1644–1657), and assistant magistrate (1658–1665). He was named in the Royal Charter of 1662 as one of the original patentees of the Connecticut Colony. In 1644, he and Mr. Wells were revenue collectors for a Fenwick tax fund to support students at Cambridge University. In 1654, he helped lay out lands granted by the town, and in 1660 he was elected a townsman (a precursor to today’s selectmen).

Richard Treat died on April 27, 1669, in Wethersfield, Connecticut. His descendants number in the thousands today.