George Wyllys

George Wyllys or Wyllis George (* 1590 in Warwickshire, England; † 9 März 1644/1645 in Hartford, Connecticut) had in 1642 for a term held the office of Governor of the Colony of Connecticut.

Career

George Wyllys, son of Richard and Hester (Chambers ) Willis, was born in 1590 on the estate of Fenny Compton in Warwickshire. He attended several universities, but there is no mention that he had graduated from a. He was a Puritan well in his years of study.

Wyllys was married in first marriage to Bridget Young, whom he later married in the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford- upon- Avon on November 2, 1609. They had three children before she died in 1629. Then he married again in 1631, and although Mary Brisbey, with whom he then had a son. The family emigrated in the early 1630s to New England. From 1634 Wyllys worked as an Assistant to the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Wyllys 1636 sent his overseer William Gibbons along with 20 domestic workers and indentured labor with the mission to Hartford to buy land and to supervise the construction of the house there. The house was among the early settlers, the largest home in Hartford to 1680 and one of the largest in Connecticut. The famous Charter Oak ( exceptionally rare White Oak ) stood on the property. Furthermore Wyllys held there later slaves.

In the same street next to the house of Wyllys were also the homes of the future governors Webster, Welles and Hopkins, so that the street was named Governor Street until its name was later changed to Popieluszko Court.

It took until 1638 until the Wyllys family arrived in Hartford. Then he was soon elected as one of six assistants of the General Court, where he served 1639-1641. He was then Deputy Governor in 1641 and 1642 for a term (one year) governor of the colony. He then worked as Assistant to the General Courts again in the years 1643 and 1644.

Rumors that the Narragansett would form an alliance with some other tribes to destroy the English settlers, spurred Wyllys and the General Court to to send two delegates to a conference in Boston, which the Articles of Confederation, between the colonies Massachusetts Bay New Haven and Connecticut result, had a contract which provided for cooperation in the case of defense of the colonies.

In December 1642 the General Court passed the first colonial Penal Code (English penal code), what has been called the twelve felony.

After his term of office had expired as governor, Wyllys 1643 was selected to represent the Colony of Connecticut as a Commissioner in the Union Colonies of New England.

Wyllys died on March 9, 1644 or 1645 on his property in Hartford. He was then buried in the Ancient Burying Ground in Hartford and his name appears on the Founders Monument.

The Wyllys house in Hartford was demolished in 1827. Furthermore, the Wyllys Street in Hartford was named after him. One of his direct descendants was the architect Frank Lloyd Wright.