Origin of the name of Darien, Connecticut

[Colibri]

I’ve just been reading several accounts of the failed Scottish colony that was attempted on the Darien coast of Panama. From 1698-1700, Scotland (still politically independent of England) sent two expeditions to establish a settlement there. The attempt was a complete disaster due to disease (more than 70% of the colonists died either in Darien or on the sea voyages en route) and terrible organization. The colonists were finally driven out by the Spanish. Some of the refugees ended up in New York, where many deserted the ships. Only a few hundred of the original 2400 colonists ever made it back to Scotland.

I have seen it asserted that the town of Darien, Connecticut, owes its name to the fact that it was settled by some of these refugees. However, I have not been able to find any definite documentation of that fact. The Encyclopedia Brittanica says the town was settled in 1641 and incorporated in 1820, and that the area was named because it “resembled the isthmus of Darien.” However, it is not clear exactly when the town was named Darien. (It could have been settled under a different name, and renamed by the Scots subsequently.)

Any New England historians have some insight on this? What relationship, if any, is there between Darien, Connecticut, and Darien, Panama?

[friedo]

Here is a page from Darien’s official website. It says in part:

Originally part of Stamford, the area we know as Darien became Middlesex Parish in 1737. It was incorporated as the Town of Darien in 1820. The first planters, as they were called, took title to the land in 1640, when the New Haven Colony bought from the Indians a tract of wilderness where the Rippowam River met the waters of Long Island Sound.
…
In 1820 Middlesex Parish was finally granted independence from Stamford and renamed Darien.

So it seems it was named Darien when it was incorporated in 1820. But that page doesn’t say anything about the name.

[Jackknifed_Juggernaut]

I’ve laways wondered about the name as well. Not the origin of it, but why Connecticut residents pronounce it “Dairy Ann” as opposed to the way it’s spelled.

[Phlosphr]

I drove through Darien (Dairy Ann) today. I live in the southeast part of CT, Stonington. Darien was name by a sailer returning from the Ithsmus of Darien (Panama), and he thought it looked quite similar…

According to Town of Darien: Founded 1641, Incorporated 1820 written by Henry Jay Case and Simon W. Cooper (1935), “Many residents wanted to call the new town Bell Town [in 1820]. The name Darien, which was chosen, is a heritage of the early shipping industry along its shore, and undoubtedly came from some sailor man’s fancy.” (p.6)

According to Darien Our Town: A Handbook for Residents compiled and published by the League of Women Voters of Darien (1978), “During the post-Revolutionary War period inhabitants of Middlesex Parish petitioned repeatedly for complete independence from Stamford. Thaddeus Bell, their state assemblyman, carried a petition for separation to eight successive legislative sessions. Finally, in 1820, the General Assembly passed an act which created a separate town. Grateful residents wanted to name the new town “Bellville,” in honor of Mr. Bell. He opposed the idea. As Moderator of the first Town Meeting he was asked to choose another name. Allegedly his visiting sailor friend, who had recently returned from the Isthmus of Darien (called now the Isthmus of Panama), saw a similarity between the two sites. The Isthmus of Darien lay between two oceans. The Town of Darien lay between the larger towns of Norwalk and Stamford.”

[Colibri]

@Phlosphr

I drove through Darien (Dairy Ann) today. I live in the southeast part of CT, Stonington. Darien was name by a sailer returning from the Ithsmus of Darien (Panama), and he thought it looked quite similar…

Having been both places, the similarities between them are quite elusive to me, even as they might have been in the 1820. For one thing I don’t recall any lush tropical forests or coral reefs in Connecticut, and there is a notable lack of howler monkeys and jaguars.

Here’s an example of a site which makes the link between the Scottish colony and Darien, Connecticut (end of third to last paragraph.) A pity that it seems to be bogus.

[samclem]

Gotta run play pinochle, but just to add a wrinkle–

There was the town of “Darien,Georgia” in 1818. Connected?

[SmackFu]

Hey, that’s where I get the train to New York!

I got nothing else, other than that it is definitely pronounced like Darian.

[Colibri]

@samclem

Gotta run play pinochle, but just to add a wrinkle–

There was the town of “Darien,Georgia” in 1818. Connected?

One of the reasons the link between the Scottish colony and the Connecticut town seemed plausible is because many of the survivors (of the first expedition, 1698-1699) ended up in New York.

Some of the survivors of the second expedition (1699-1700) ended up in the Carolinas when two of the ships went down in a hurricane. One was lost with all hands, but some of those from the other ship made it ashore. However, I am not aware of any direct connection to Georgia.

[APB]

According to this site, Darien, Georgia is named after the failed Scottish colony in Panama.

[TellMeI_mNotCrazy]

Hm, I don’t pronounce it Dairy Ann, I say “Darienne”. But of course, I called Worcester, Mass. Wor-cess-ter for… and embarassingly long time.

[SnakeSpirit]

@friedo

So it seems it was named Darien when it was incorporated in 1820. But that page doesn’t say anything about the name.

Not necessarily. Towns in Connecticut (at least) are overflowing with named, unincorporated ‘townlets’ with their own names. Darien was probably called Darien from the first time someone decided to call it that, and when incorporated just officialized the name.

For example: The incorporated town of Greenwich, Connecticut has townlets or sections called:
Riverside, Cos Cob, Millbrook, Round Hill, Banksville, Chicahominy, Old Greenwich, Diamond Hill, Riversville, North Greenwich, Dolphin Cove, Glenville, Rock Ridge, Mianus, Byrum, North Mianus, Belle Haven and Stanwich as far as I recall. I may have missed some. All use Zip Code 06830.