The following text is excerpted from the book, pp. xii-xiv.

Reliable information about Nicholas and his family is scarce. Inaccurate information, however, is not and floods internet sites with unfounded conjecture and some purported “facts” that cannot possibly be true. This volume attempts to sort through what can be verified and what not to provide a more reliable picture of a remarkable ancestor. The summary below is based on as much fact as is available, supplemented by research into the history and culture of the time—which helps determine what might be true and what not. The details behind this summary are the focus of the book.

Nicholas Ackley was born about 1630 to Puritan parents who most likely were from the east of England, probably County Essex. Nothing is known of his childhood. No record of his immigration has yet been found and it is not impossible that he was born in the colonies or arrived as a child early on. However, since no Ackley of any spelling has been found in early colonial records to date, this is unlikely.

Sometime between about 1650 and 1652, at about age 20 or 21, Nicholas arrived in Hartford, Connecticut. He would have been one of only 4,000 colonists in all of Connecticut at the time and one of only 800 in Hartford.

Nicholas most likely was firmly middle class, as were most of the early settlers. Records suggest he could sign his name so possibly could read and write. He likely emigrated to escape horrible economic conditions in England, continuous fighting internally between those who favored keeping the monarchy and those who opposed it, and possibly also religious strife. He was not a poor man who arrived as a servant, despite what some online sites claim.

Not long after his arrival, Nicholas moved into the homestead at Lot 42 on Trumbull Street, either as a renter or as an owner. This homestead abutted that of William Wadsworth, another Essex native and one of the founders of Hartford. By law, to live alone as an unmarried man, Nicholas would have needed the approval of the town, based on the recommendation of a trusted leader. The latter might have been Wadsworth, who was about 30 years older than Nicholas, or it might have been one of the other early settlers who possibly knew Nicholas’s parents from England.

In 1653 Nicholas was one of 24 men who sought and received permission from England to establish a new town to the north—Nonotuck, now known as Northampton, Massachusetts. Like 16 of the other petitioners, however, Nicholas did not leave Hartford for Nonotuck.

In 1655, at about age 25, Nicholas married Hannah, whose last name is lost to history. She was born about 1634, most likely in England. That same year, Nicholas applied and was officially “accepted as an inhabitant” in Hartford, which conferred certain rights and duties.

In 1655 or 1656, Nicholas bought another property in Hartford, a plot where he could grow crops and keep his livestock. Within a year or two, children began to arrive: Hannah, Sarah, John, Nathaniel and possibly Nicholas Jr. In 1662, Nicholas was appointed the town chimney viewer (inspector), an important office in local government. But one more adventure called. Nicholas was one of a group of 28 men in 1662 who bought a large plot of land at Thirty Mile Island, a wilderness thirty miles south of Hartford that was as yet unsettled by Europeans. By 1663, the new town was named Haddam.

Many of the settlers moved to the Thirty Mile Island site within a year or so, but Nicholas tarried in Hartford, which was counter to the agreement he had with the other men. In 1666, Nicholas signed a promise to build on his land and move his family there by the end of October 1667 or pay a hefty fine. He did meet that deadline. Why he waited to move is unknown but this was not unusual for the time.

In 1668, Haddam was officially established as a town in Hartford County. In 1669 Nicholas appears on the official list of “freemen,” that is, he had the right to vote and participate in the governing of the town and the Colony of Connecticut.

In 1670, more children began to arrive in rapid succession: Samuel, Lydia, Mary, Thomas, Elizabeth, James and possibly Benjamin. Hannah died probably about 1686 or 1687 and Nicholas remarried, about 1688, to a widow named Miriam, age and surname unknown. She outlived Nicholas, who died on 29 April 1695 in Haddam at about 65 years old. His estate was divided in keeping with the custom at the time: a double portion went to the eldest surviving son, a portion to each of the others, and a generous amount to Miriam. She and some of the sons likely lived in the Haddam homestead until it was sold in 1698 (the daughters were all married).

That Nicholas was a valued member of the community is clear, from shortly after arriving in Hartford to his death nearly half a century later. He held positions of authority in both Hartford and Haddam; he was known in Haddam as “Goodman” Ackley, a title of respect. At the time of his death, his estate had a net value of £173, which was not large but still substantial. His burial place is unknown, but almost certainly is somewhere in Haddam.