The Rockwells of Ridgefield Connecticut

Yes. The new screenshot makes the Rockwell connection much clearer, and I think there is a real, documentable Ridgefield connection here. But there is also one important correction to the tree that we should make before treating every link as proven.

The promising part

Your screenshot shows this branch:

John Rockwell + Elizabeth Weed

→ Jonathan Rockwell (1665–1731) + Abigail Canfield

→ David Rockwell (1708–1788) + Elizabeth Hyatt

→ Thomas Rockwell (1745–1812) + Ruth Whitlock

→ Thaddeus Rockwell

→ Polly Rockwell

→ Hiram Smith (1816–1904)

→ Hiram Jay Smith (1844–1919)

→ your Smith line

There is excellent independent evidence for the early portion of that Rockwell family and its connection to Ridgefield.

For example, the genealogy of the Stamford Rockwells identifies Jonathan Rockwell, born about 1665 in Stamford, as the son of John Rockwell and Elizabeth Weed. Jonathan married Abigail Canfield and subsequently moved to Ridgefield, where he died June 19, 1731.

And David Rockwell, born October 8, 1708, is specifically identified as Jonathan and Abigail’s son. He married Elizabeth Hyatt in Ridgefield in 1731 and died in Ridgefield in 1788.

Even better, the Ridgefield vital-record evidence identifies David Rockwell and Elizabeth Hyatt’s family and their children, while the older Rockwell genealogy places this family squarely in the Ridgefield/Norwalk area.

And Thomas Rockwell is definitely a Ridgefield person

There is an especially nice primary-ish record here.

Thomas Rockwell, born January 16, 1745/46 at Ridgefield, is documented as the son of Thomas Rockwell and Ruth Benedict. He eventually died in Cincinnatus, New York, in 1812.

The older Rockwell genealogy also explicitly discusses the children of Thomas and Ruth Benedict Rockwell and their subsequent movements into New York.

So there is no question that this particular Rockwell family was rooted in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

There’s an even stronger piece of evidence for your family

We can independently document that your Hiram Smith’s wife was Polly Rockwell, daughter of Thaddeus Rockwell and Polly.

The 1879 History of the Firelands says:

Hiram Smith married Polly Rockwell December 31, 1840.

And identifies her as the daughter of Thaddeus Rockwell and Polly, formerly of New York.

A later Huron County historical source says the same thing: Hiram Smith married Polly Rockwell, daughter of Thaddeus and Polly Rockwell.

And the Huron County Pioneer Ladies database gives the marriage entry:

Polly Rockwell + Hiram Smith — Greenfield — 1840, with her parents listed as Thaddeus Rockwell / Polly and her birthplace as Taylor, NY.

That is a very good bridge between your genealogy and the historical records.

But here’s the part I’d be careful about

I don’t yet have sufficient evidence to say that the Thaddeus Rockwell born about 1782 and dying 1874 in your screenshot is definitely the son of the Thomas Rockwell/Ruth Whitlock shown above.

In fact, the older Rockwell genealogy contains multiple Thaddeus Rockwells, which makes this exactly the sort of place where an apparently perfect online tree can accidentally join two different men.

So I’d currently draw it like this:

             RIDGEFIELD, CONNECTICUT

John Rockwell

      │

Jonathan Rockwell (c.1665–1731)

      │

David Rockwell (1708–1788)

      │

Thomas Rockwell (1745/46–1812)

      │

      ?

      │

Thaddeus Rockwell

      │

Polly Rockwell (1820–1904)

      │

Hiram Smith (1816–1904)

      │

Hiram Jay Smith (1844–1919)

      │

Roy Blackman Smith

      │

Lyle Roy Smith

      │

David

The solid part is already substantial. The missing piece is essentially:

Which Thaddeus Rockwell was Polly’s father, and exactly who were his parents?

That’s the piece I’d attack next.

And there’s a fascinating clue

Your Huron County record says Polly was born in Taylor, New York, August 1, 1820, and came to Greenfield Township, Ohio, with her parents in 1836.

That means we have a very specific trail:

Ridgefield CT → New York → Taylor NY → Greenfield OH

That’s much better than trying to connect two people merely because their names match.

And the older Rockwell genealogy shows several members of this Ridgefield Rockwell family moving into New York, including South Salem and surrounding communities.

So I think we have a very worthwhile next step

I’d like to specifically research:

Thaddeus Rockwell + Polly, Taylor NY → Polly Rockwell (b. Aug. 1, 1820) → Hiram Smith

and work backward from Polly’s documented birth/migration, rather than forward from the famous Ridgefield Rockwells.

If we can find a New York census, church record, probate record, land deed, or family history naming Polly as Thaddeus’s daughter and identifying Thaddeus’s parents, we may be able to turn that dashed line into a solid connection all the way back to the Ridgefield Rockwells.

And if that succeeds, it would mean the Rockwell branch in your tree isn’t merely “some Connecticut Rockwells”—it could give you a documented line through the early Stamford/Ridgefield settlement of the 1600s.