Roster of Connecticut Governors - Finding Aids
With Links to Biographical Sketches, Portraits, and Guides to Archival Records of Connecticut Governors
State Library staff have created brief biographical sketches and bibliographies of many of the governors. This is an ongoing project, and we hope to have sketches of all of the governors completed in the future. The currently available sketches, portraits, and guides to archival records are linked from the governor’s name. The Official Governor’s Portraits Collection may be seen at the Museum of Connecticut History.
Additional biographical resources, and more information about archival records can be found on the Governors of Connecticut: Resources and Publications page.
Biographies/Portraits | When_Served | Town of Residence | Political_Party | Guide_to Archival_Records |
---|---|---|---|---|
John Haynes | 1639 | Hartford | None known | |
Edward Hopkins | 1640 | Hartford | None known | |
John Haynes | 1641 | Hartford | None known | |
George Wyllys | 1642 | Hartford | None known | |
John Haynes | 1643 | Hartford | None known | |
Edward Hopkins | 1644 | Hartford | None known | |
John Haynes | 1645 | Hartford | None known | |
Edward Hopkins | 1646 | Hartford | None known | |
John Haynes | 1647 | Hartford | None known | |
Edward Hopkins | 1648 | Hartford | None known | |
John Haynes | 1649 | Hartford | None known | |
Edward Hopkins | 1650 | Hartford | None known | |
John Haynes | 1651 | Hartford | None known | |
Edward Hopkins | 1652 | Hartford | None known | |
John Haynes | 1653 | Hartford | None known | |
Edward Hopkins | 1654 | Hartford | None known | |
Thomas Welles | 1655 | Hartford | None known | |
John Webster | 1656 | Hartford | None known | |
John Winthrop Jr. | 1657 | New London | None known | |
Thomas Welles | 1658 | Hartford | None known | |
John Winthrop Jr. | 1659-76 | New London | None known | |
William Leete | 1676-83 | Guilford | None known | |
Robert Treat | 1683-98 | Milford | None known | |
Fitz-John Winthrop | 1698-1707 | New London | None known | |
Gurdon Saltonstall | 1708-24 | New London | None known | |
Joseph Talcott | 1724-41 | Hartford | None known | |
Jonathan Law | 1741-50 | Milford | None known | |
Roger Wolcott | 1750-54 | Windsor | None known | |
Thomas Fitch | 1754-66 | Norwalk | None known | |
William Pitkin | 1766-69 | Hartford | None known | Finding Aid |
Jonathan Trumbull | 1769-84 | Lebanon | None known | Finding Aid |
Matthew Griswold | 1784-86 | Lyme | Federalist | Finding Aid |
Samuel Huntington | 1786-96 | Norwich | Federalist | Finding Aid |
Oliver Wolcott | 1796-97 | Litchfield | Federalist | Finding Aid |
Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. | 1797-1809 | Lebanon | Federalist | Finding Aid |
John Treadwell | 1809-11 | Farmington | Federalist | Finding Aid |
Roger Griswold | 1811-12 | Lyme | Federalist | Finding Aid |
John Cotton Smith | 1812-17 | Sharon | Federalist | Finding Aid |
Oliver Wolcott, Jr. | 1817-27 | Litchfield | Jeffersonian Republican | Finding Aid |
Gideon Tomlinson | 1827-31 | Fairfield | Jeffersonian Republican | Finding Aid |
John S. Peters | 1831-33 | Hebron | National Republican | Finding Aid |
Henry W. Edwards | 1833-34 | New Haven | Democrat | Finding Aid |
Samuel A. Foot | 1834-35 | Cheshire | Whig | Finding Aid |
Henry W. Edwards | 1835-38 | New Haven | Democrat | Finding Aid |
William W. Ellsworth | 1838-42 | Hartford | Whig | Finding Aid |
Chauncey F. Cleveland | 1842-44 | Hampton | Democrat | Finding Aid |
Roger S. Baldwin | 1844-46 | New Haven | Whig | Finding Aid |
Isaac Toucey | 1846-47 | Hartford | Democrat | Finding Aid |
Clark Bissell | 1847-49 | Norwalk | Whig | Finding Aid |
Joseph Trumbull | 1849-50 | Hartford | Whig | Finding Aid |
Thomas H. Seymour | 1850-53 | Hartford | Democrat | Finding Aid |
Charles H. Pond | 1853-54 | Milford | Democrat | Finding Aid |
Henry Dutton | 1854-55 | New Haven | Whig | Finding Aid |
William T. Minor | 1855-57 | Stamford | American | Finding Aid |
Alexander H. Holley | 1857-58 | Salisbury | American Republican | Finding Aid |
William A. Buckingham | 1858-66 | Norwich | Republican | Finding Aid |
Joseph R. Hawley | 1866-67 | Hartford | Republican | Finding Aid |
James E. English | 1867-69 | New Haven | Democrat | Finding Aid |
Marshall Jewell | 1869-70 | Hartford | Republican | Finding Aid |
James E. English | 1870-71 | New Haven | Democrat | Finding Aid |
Marshall Jewell | 1871-72 | Hartford | Republican | Finding Aid |
Charles R. Ingersoll | 1873-77 | New Haven | Democrat | Finding Aid |
Richard D. Hubbard | 1877-79 | Hartford | Democrat | Finding Aid |
Charles B. Andrews | 1879-81 | Litchfield | Republican | Finding Aid |
Hobart B. Bigelow | 1881-83 | New Haven | Republican | Finding Aid |
Thomas M. Waller | 1883-85 | New London | Democrat | Finding Aid |
Henry B. Harrison | 1885-87 | New Haven | Republican | Finding Aid |
Phineas C. Lounsbury | 1887-89 | Ridgefield | Republican | Finding Aid |
Morgan G. Bulkeley | 1889-93 | Hartford | Republican | Finding Aid |
Luzon B. Morris | 1893-95 | New Haven | Democrat | Finding Aid |
O. Vincent Coffin | 1895-97 | Middletown | Republican | Finding Aid |
Lorrin A. Cooke | 1897-99 | Winsted | Republican | Finding Aid |
George E. Lounsbury | 1899-1901 | Ridgefield | Republican | Finding Aid |
George P. McLean | 1901-03 | Simsbury | Republican | Finding Aid |
Abiram Chamberlain | 1903-05 | Meriden | Republican | Finding Aid |
Henry Roberts | 1905-07 | Hartford | Republican | Finding Aid |
Rollin S. Woodruff | 1907-09 | New Haven | Republican | Finding Aid |
George L. Lilley | 1909 | Waterbury | Republican | Finding Aid |
Frank B. Weeks | 1909-11 | Middletown | Republican | Finding Aid |
Simeon E. Baldwin | 1911-15 | New Haven | Democrat | Finding Aid |
Marcus H. Holcomb | 1915-21 | Southington | Republican | Finding Aid |
Everett J. Lake | 1921-23 | Hartford | Republican | Finding Aid |
Charles A. Templeton | 1923-25 | Waterbury | Republican | Finding Aid |
Hiram Bingham | 1925 | New Haven | Republican | Finding Aid |
John H. Trumbull | 1925-31 | Plainville | Republican | Finding Aid |
Wilbur L. Cross | 1931-39 | New Haven | Democrat | Finding Aid |
Raymond E. Baldwin | 1939-41 | Stratford | Republican | Finding Aid |
Robert A. Hurley | 1941-42 | Bridgeport | Democrat | Finding Aid |
Raymond E. Baldwin | 1943-46 | Stratford | Republican | Finding Aid |
Wilbert Snow | 1946-47 | Middletown | Democrat | Finding Aid |
James L. McConaughy | 1947-48 | Cornwall | Republican | Finding Aid |
James C. Shannon | 1948-49 | Bridgeport | Republican | Finding Aid |
Chester Bowles | 1949-51 | Essex | Democrat | Finding Aid |
John Lodge | 1951-55 | Westport | Republican | Finding Aid |
Abraham Ribicoff | 1955-61 | Hartford | Democrat | Finding Aid |
John Dempsey | 1961-71 | Putnam | Democrat | Finding Aid |
Thomas J. Meskill | 1971-75 | New Britain | Republican | Finding Aid |
Ella T. Grasso | 1975-80 | Windsor Locks | Democrat | Finding Aid |
William A. O’Neill | 1980-91 | East Hampton | Democrat | Finding Aid |
Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. | 1991-95 | Greenwich | A Connecticut Party | Finding Aid |
John G. Rowland | 1995-2004 | Waterbury | Republican | Finding Aid |
M. Jodi Rell | 2004-2011 | Brookfield | Republican | Finding Aid |
Dannel P. Malloy | 2011-2019 | Stamford | Democrat | Finding Aid |
The laws of Connecticut did not allow governors to serve consecutive terms until 1660. In 1875, voters approved an amendment to the State Constitution increasing the term of the governor to two years. The 1965 State Constitution increased the term from two to four years.