From “The Bliss Family of New England” in Duane Wilson’s “The Messenger Family of New England”:
The Bliss famliy arrived in Hartford about the same time as the sixty people led by Reverend Thomas Hooker from Cambridge, Massachusetts and they very well may have been members of that party. Thomas Bliss was assigned lot No. 128 in the first allocation of common land in Hartford. The property is just west of the present Lafayette Street and lies within the Connecticut State Library grounds.
Thomas Bliss proceeded to acquire several additional parcels of land but died suddenly and unexpectedly about 1650. The inventory of his estate dated 14 February 1650 totalled some £86 and administration was awarded to widow Margaret Bliss ‘for her use, and the educatoin of her children during her natural life adn after her death, to be divided amongst the children whose names are in the margent [margin]...’ with the proviso ‘except the older children can give just grounds and reasn that they should come in with the younger children for a proportion of the Estate.’ Children named in the margin were Lawrence, John, Samuel, Hester, Elizabeth, Hannah, and Sarah.”164

“After the death of Thomas Bliss, his widow Margaret, then nearly if not more than 50 years of age, took upon herself the management of the business affairs of the family, as well as the care of her younger children....Of her antecedents nothing whatever is known, not even her famliy name. ...But she must have come of good stock, for her life furnished abundant evidence of her native ability, courage, efficiency, and sterling character.
Soon after their father’s death the older sons, with the exception of Thomas, who went to Saybrook, decided to move to the new settlement of Springfield. Margaret sold her property in Hartford, gathered her household goods and cattle together, and in 1646 with her eight children made the thirty-mile journey through the forest in about five days. Her second and fourth sons, Nathaniel and Samuel, had been there before, and a dwelling had been prepared there for the family on its arrival. ...
Margaret had acquaintences in Springfield, it is said, whom she had known in England, and she settled there for the rest of her life. It is said that she nought a tract of land in Springfield one mile square on the south part of the town that is now Main St., and bordering on the Conn. River....One of the streets laid out was named ‘Margaret’ and another ‘Bliss Street.’ These names have never been changed. About eight years after her removal to Springfield, Margaret’s son Nathanial died, and in additoin to her other duties she took upon herself the care of his young children. With the exception of her daughter Hannah, who died when about 21, she lived to see all of her children married and established in homes of their own.”164

“The Bliss home was apparently one of the larger houses in Springfield for it was one of the three that were garrisonede for refuge during King Philip’s War in 1675. Another was the house of Hugh Parsons and the third was William Pynchon’s mansion which was built of brick in 1659 and long known as ‘The Old Fort.’ The Bliss house stood for over two hundred years until it was demolished in 1873.
Margaret Bliss participated actively in civic and church affairs in Springfield for nearly forty years. During that time she acquired additional property and increased the value of her inheritance of £86 to a value of some £278 at her death.
....Courage was certainly one of the strongest of her many virtues....It is said that she once brought and relentlessly pressed suit against John Pynchon, the grasping rich man of the town, after he had built a corn-mill on the town brook south of the present York St., which caused water to flood and damage her land. There is ample evidence that only a person with great courage would have dared opposed a Pynchon.
Margaret Bliss’s will was dated 25 June 1684 and proved 30 September 1684 on the County Court of Springfield. She left all of her property to four of her children and two of her grandchildren. No mention is made of the others but it is likely that she had made bequests to them before her death.”