Richard Treat, who came from England, has many notable descendants including: both Presidents Bush, John P. Morgan, Treat Williams, Tennessee Williams, and Thomas Edison. Treat, born in 1584, immigrated to Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut with his wife, the former Alice Gaylard, and their ten children. There has been much written about the Treat family and one predominant book is The Treat Family: A Genealogy of Trott, Tratt, and Treat for Fifteen Generations, and Four Hundred and Fifty Years in England and America, Containing More Than Fifteen Hundred Families in America by John Harvey Treat and published by the Salem Press Publishing and Printing Company in 1893 which is found online through Google Books.
Although, some online genealogies mention that Richard Treat was married to someone named “Joanna” prior to his marriage to Alice Gaylord on April 27, 1615 in Pitminster, England, there has been no documentation to support that. My ancestor, daughter Joanna Treat, was born just a few years after the marriage of Richard and Alice. Alice was still living at the time Richard’s will was proved in March 1669.
Wife, Alice, was the daughter of Hugh. Her surname at baptism was spelled Gaylaud and her father’s name is reported as Gaylard according to John Harvey Treat’s book. It has also been reported as Gaylord over time. Find a Grave lists her burial location by Richard in the Wethersfield Village Cemetery although a stone has not been located.
The photo above (Attribution: Derek Harper [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons) is of the church in Pitminster, Somerset, England where all of the children of Richard and Alice, including my ancestor, Joanna, were baptized.
Descendants of my 9th great-grandparents, Richard Treat and Alice Gaylard:
- Honor Treat b. 1616
- Joanna Treat b. 1618
- Sarah Treat b. 1620
- Richard Treat b. 1622
- Robert Treat b. 1624
- Elizabeth Treat b. 1627
- Susanna Treat b. 1629
- Alice Treat b. 1631/32
- James Treat b. 1634
- Katherine Treat b. 1637
My ancestor, Joanna Treat, was married to John Hollister in Hartford, Connecticut and had eight children who were all born in Wethersfield. Their oldest son, John Hollister Jr., was my ancestor. Joanna Treat Hollister died in Wethersfield in October 1694. Her grave just like her husband’s is unknown although I’m sure it is somewhere in the Wethersfield area.
I’m excited that the church where my eighth great-grandmother was baptized is still standing. Perhaps someday I’ll be able to travel to England to visit this building and walk among the stones in the graveyard and pay my respects to other ancestors who are buried there.
All My Branches Genealogy 
great work!!
It was nice to find this post – I’m descended from Joanna’s brother Robert, who was the governor of Connecticut for many years, and was involved in the Charter Oak legend. Robert’s son, Rev. Samuel Treat, was a well-known minister on the Cape. One of Robert’s great-grandchildren, Robert Treat Paine, signed the Declaration of Independence.
Wonderful family info. My last name is Condit and I am descended from Governor Robert Treat who led my ancester’s (Harrison’s, Crane’s, Campfield’s,and Pierson’s amongst others) from Milford and Guilford CT, to found the city of Newarks, NJ in May of 1666. Newark was the last town founded bu the Puritans in what is now the U.S.