The Tavern of John Chester on Broad Street in Wethersfield was built in the 1730s. In 1765, the Connecticut Sons of Liberty, reacting to the Stamp Act, intercepted the Stamp Master Jared Ingersoll below Wethersfield to prevent his reaching Hartford. This may have been the tavern in which Ingersoll took refuge before eventually being forced to resign his office. John Chester was an officer in the militia that went to fight at Lexington. He became a colonel in 1776 and served throughout the Revolutionary War. His house stood further south on Broad Street, on the other side of the Broad Street Green. It survived to 1869. Chester’s grandchildren split the tavern building, moving the north half to nearby Garden Street in Wethersfield.
John Chester Tavern (South Half) (1735)
This is very interesting but confusing as well. This tavern was likely built by the first Colonel John Chester who was the one who gave refuge to Jared Ingersol. His eldest son, also Col. John Chester, to which you refer above, is probably the one whose house burned down in the 19th century. He served at Bunker Hill through the Battle of Princeton in January 1777before returning home to Wethersfield for personal family reasons (the nature of which I do not know). I currently represent him in The Society of the Cincinnati as his fourth great grandson.
George Chester