On January 16, 1640, the Connecticut General Court empowered a committee to view land near Vnxus Sepus for settlement, and soon afterward a small group of families traveled nine miles west from Hartford over the hills to settle beside the Tunxis River. On December 1, 1645, the Court ordered that the plantation called Tunxis be called Farmington and set its boundaries. The original name, Tunxis Sepus, came from the Indian language and meant "at the bend of the little river." Once by far the largest town in the colony, Farmington contained more than 225 square miles and was divided into nine parishes. In 1775 it had the second largest tax list in the colony. By 1869, seven towns had been carved from it: Southington, Berlin, Bristol, Burlington, Avon, New Britain, and Plainville. Unionville, known since the era of the Farmington Canal as a center of industry, remained a vital part of the town. The canal began operating in 1828 and after 1835 carried passengers and freight between New Haven and Northampton until the railroad superseded it. Farmington took an active part in the Revolutionary War from the time its first company marched to Boston on May 18, 1775, after hostilities opened at Lexington. George Washington traveled through the town several times, and French troops under General Rochambeau encamped there on their way to and from the siege of Yorktown, Virginia. Farmington is also noted for its beautiful homes, including the Stanley-Whitman House, built in 1660 and now the Farmington Museum, for Miss Porter's School for Girls, founded in 1843, and for the Hill-Stead Museum of Art.