colony · North America and Oceania
New Haven Colony
Origins
In 1638 the London minister John Davenport and the merchant Theophilus Eaton led a wealthy company of Puritans to Quinnipiac on Long Island Sound, buying land from the local people. They laid out New Haven on a grid of nine squares, and settlements at Milford, Guilford, Stamford, Branford and Southold on Long Island later joined them.
Rule and society
Only church members could vote or hold office, and the colony based its laws closely on scripture, doing without trial by jury. Eaton served as governor until his death in 1658. The founders hoped for a great trading port, but their richly laden ship sent to England in 1646 vanished at sea. In 1661 the colony sheltered the regicides Edward Whalley and William Goffe from royal agents.
Decline and legacy
Without a royal charter, New Haven was included in Connecticut's charter of 1662 and, after resistance, accepted union with the Connecticut Colony in 1664 to 1665. New Haven remained a co-capital of Connecticut until 1875.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →More states of North America and Oceania →
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). New Haven Colony. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/new-haven-colony
- MLA
- “New Haven Colony.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/new-haven-colony. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “New Haven Colony.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/new-haven-colony.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘New Haven Colony’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/new-haven-colony (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻