The Story of Bristow

The Story of Bristow

Thursday, February 19, 2026
6:00 p.m.


Bristow, sometimes spelled Bristol, was a resident of the West Division of Hartford (now West Hartford) in the mid to late 1700s. Regarded for his agricultural knowledge, he was enslaved by the Thomas Hart and Sarah Whitman Hooker family until 1755. Hooker family lore maintained that he was granted his freedom, but his manumission papers show that he purchased his freedom from Thomas Hart Hooker. Bristow lived with his former enslaver, Sarah Whitman Hooker, in his later life and rests in Old Center Cemetery on North Main Street, West Hartford. In 2004, West Hartford named its third middle school after Bristow, a colonial era resident of what is now West Hartford.

This program is co-hosted by the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society, West Hartford 250, and the West Hartford Town Historian.

About The Presenters:
This lecture will be presented by Booker & Elena DeVaughn.

This America250 presentation is supported by Eversource Energy & The Rotary Club of West Hartford.