Joshua Terrill

Joshua Terrill was born on 18 December 1725 in New Milford, Connecticut, a town then under the jurisdiction of Hartford County. He was the son of Roger Terrill and Patience Holly. Joshua was raised in a family of early proprietors who had moved from Stratford to help establish the New Milford settlement. He was baptized in the New Milford First Congregational Church on 2 January 1726, just weeks after his birth. As a young man, Joshua moved south into New Haven County, settling in the town of Waterbury. On 4 May 1748, he married Sarah Merrill. The union brought together two established Connecticut families, but their life together was tragically brief. The couple resided in Waterbury for the duration of their marriage during a period of relative peace before the escalations of the French and Indian War. Joshua died in 1750 in Waterbury at the age of twenty-four. His death occurred within two years of his wedding, leaving his young wife a widow. The brevity of his life is reflected in the fact that he appears sparingly in civil records, primarily through his marriage and the subsequent probate of his small estate. Following his death, his widow Sarah remarried Daniel Brown in May 1750, a common practice for young widows in the colonial era to ensure the stability of the household. - Jacobus, Donald Lines. "Families of Ancient New Haven." - New Milford Vital Records, Barbour Collection. - Waterbury Vital Records, Barbour Collection.