Rev Henry Whitfield

• English

Henry Whitfield was a notable Puritan minister and the primary founder of Guilford, Connecticut. Born in Mortlake, England, and educated at Oxford University, he served as vicar of St Margaret's Church in Ockley, Surrey, before increasing religious pressure under Charles I led him to resign his post. In 1639 he fled persecution, organizing and leading twenty-five families from Surrey and Kent to New Haven Colony. Whitfield negotiated the purchase of land from the Menuncatuck band of the Quinnipiac, establishing the settlement that became Guilford. His fortified granite house remains the oldest surviving stone house in New England and today forms the core of the Henry Whitfield State Museum. - AsNotedIn