John Bissell

Born Abt in Huntington, Somersetshire, England. 1628/1638: Arrived in Plymouth Colony. He died October 3, 1677, at the home of his son Nathaniel in East Windsor, Connecticut.

Windsor's First Ferryman

John Bissell was born around 1591 in Huntington, Somersetshire, England, and emigrated to Plymouth Colony, settling in Windsor, Connecticut, by 1640 as the first settler to live on the east side of the Connecticut River there. He served repeatedly as a Hartford juror through the 1640s and as a deputy to the Connecticut General Court in 1648, the same year he established Bissell's Ferry across the river between Windsor and East Windsor — a crossing his family would operate for generations. John later served in Connecticut's first cavalry militia in the late 1650s. He died October 3, 1677, at the East Windsor home of his son Nathaniel.