In December of 1880, Charles and Augustus Storrs offered 170 acres of land with buildings and $5,000 in cash to the State of Connecticut to start an agricultural school. Both Augustus and his brother Charles were of farm stock, but ended up as successful Victorian-era businessmen. They were sixth-generation descendants of Samuel Storrs of Nottinghamshire, England, who emigrated to Barnstable, Massachusetts, in 1663. In 1698, Samuel Storrs moved to Mansfield, Connecticut, and established the family farm on which much of UConn's main campus is now located. Augustus continued to spend his summers in Mansfield, maintaining and supervising the family farm. He died there in 1892, still a neighbor of the school he helped found.
Augustus Storrs and his wife, Antoinette Charlotte Abbe had two daughters, Marie Antoinette Storrs and Harriet Fitch Storrs . Marie and her husband, Benjamin Eyre Valentine II, were the parents of five daughters: Antoinette, Ethel, Elizabeth, Marguerite and Hattie.
Biographical information on the Storrs brothers can be found in "A Piece of UConn History" by Mark Roy . The geneaological information was provided by the donor.
From the guide to the Storrs Family Photograph Collection., undated, 1949, 1967., (Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Center .)
