USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Branford > A history of the First church and society of Branford, Connecticut, 1644-1919 > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11
Gc 974.602 B73s 1515272
M.L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01068 5201
n
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historyoffirstch00simo_0
CHURCH AUDITORIUM, EASTER, 1919
A HISTORY 1
OF THE
FIRST CHURCH AND SOCIETY
OF
BRANFORD, CONNECTICUT
1644-1919
5
BY
1
J. RUPERT SIMONDS
THE TUTTLE, MOREHOUSE & TAYLOR CO. NEW HAVEN, CONN.
1515272
TO HIS MANY BRANFORD FRIENDS, IN RECOGNITION . OF THEIR REPEATED KINDNESSES DURING THE PERIOD WHEN IT WAS HIS PRIVILEGE TO OCCUPY THE PULPIT OF THEIR HISTORIC CHURCH, THE AUTHOR WOULD GRATE- FULLY DEDICATE THIS RECORD OF THEIR UNUSUAL AND GODLY HERITAGE
CONTENTS
Dedication
iii
Foreword vii
"The Place of the Tidal River" I
The Pioneer Days of John Sherman 7
Abraham Pierson, Pilgrim and Apostle 19
John Bowers and the Years of Famine 35
In the Days of Samuel Russell 43
Philemon Robbins-"Persecuted for Righteousness'
Sake" 69
Two Minor Prophets II2
The Ministry of "Father" Gillett 124
Jacob, G. Miller-An Interlude 148
A Variety of Leaders 150
I. Elijah C. Baldwin 150
II. C. W. Hill 158
III. Rev. Cyrus P. Osborne I60
IV. Rev. Henry Pearson Bake 163
I68
V. Rev. Thomas Bickford
The New Century 172
Thru Troubled Waters 179
War Records: There and Here 184
Appendix
189
FOREWORD
It is always an interesting experience to endeavor to relive the days which are long since gone, and it has been an unusually fascinating one, to the author, to follow thru, in spirit, the growing life of this historic church. Never a dull page has he found in its annals, and it will be the fault of the raconteur, and not of his material, if there be dull pages in this little book. He has endeavored simply to retell the story which unfolded itself to him as, day by day, he thumbed the pages of the ancient records, and supplemented their narrative with stray details, gathered from scattered books. It is his hope that, in weaving the tale together and in striving to give sequence to its chronology, and perspective and emphasis to its body, that he may not have deprived the reader of too much of its original romance. The shaping of the tale has been a work of love, and the sole prayer of the author is that the reader may see what he has seen, and may realize the preciousness and the inspira- tion of his heritage. May his imagination be touched, and may he find, in these pages, no dull chronicle of unfamiliar men and days, but a living presentation of the deeds and characters of his own fathers.
In offering this story to the Branford people and their friends, the writer makes no apology for his wholesale borrowing of former material, nor even for using the veritable language of others.
1
viii
Wherever he has found any fact of interest, he has incorporated it shamelessly in his narrative. Gladly he offers the only restitution possible, his gratitude, to those to whom he has thus become a debtor. Especially does he desire to express his apprecia- tion of and indebtedness to a former pastor of this church, the Reverend Elijah C. Baldwin, for his scholarly researches and labors, without the results of which much of this book could never have been written.
In concluding this word of introduction, the writer would congratulate the church in Branford, upon this, their Two Hundred Seventy-Fifth Anni- versary, and express his sincere prayer that the Great Head of the Church would crown their rich heritage, of years gone by, with many a future year of richest blessing. 1 J. RUPERT SIMONDS. May 16, 1919.
"THE PLACE OF THE TIDAL RIVER"
Nearly three centuries ago, there dwelt in this portion of New England a strong and numerous tribe of Indians, known to the early settlers as the Mattabesecks. Their chief was the mighty Sachem Sowheog who lived in an Indian fortress, on the top of a high hill, in the region known to us as Middletown. About him dwelt a powerful band of some five hundred warriors, whom he could sum- mon instantly to do his bidding, by a blast upon his whistle. Now Sowheog had a son called Monto- wese, and it fell to his lot to be petty chieftain over the southwestern portions of his father's domin- ions; a region beautiful for hills and rock-bound bays, and famous for its hunting and its shellfish, and named, by the stream which alternately carries down fresh water from the hills, and floods back salt water from the Sound, Totokett-"place of the tidal river."
Totokett was not densely populated in those days, and Montowese was ruler over but ten warriors and their families. But, tho the resident popula- tion was so scant, the place was even then a shore resort, and Indians from far and near came often for short sojourns, that they might fish and gather shell-fish. Sometimes these visitors were far from friendly, and hostile raids were not at all uncom- mon. To withstand these raids an Indian fort was built at Indian Neck, and in the repulsing of them we know that at least one sanguinary battle was
1
2
fought. So it may well be that Montowese was by no means sorry to receive, in December 1638, an offer for Totokett from the English Colony at New Haven. He appears to have regarded the sale not merely as a commercial transaction but also as binding to him, in a defensive alliance, the white men with their potent weapons. So the sale was made, the price being between twelve and thirteen pounds, and the deed given; Montowese affixing a bow and arrow and Sausounck a small tomahawk as signatures. And it is a happy thing to be able to record that neither then nor in any future time was there other than cordial friendliness between the settlers and the men of Montowese.
Totokett was now English property but not for some time was it much inhabited by English people. The inhabitants of New Haven came and went, hunted and fished, as had the Indians, but not yet were they sufficiently crowded in their own settle- ment to be thinking of moving elsewhere. The effort appears to have been to settle the new lands by inducing other colonists to come there from a distance rather than to people them by mere expan- sion. The first endeavor was to gain new settlers from England to become their neighbors. Accord- ingly we find upon their records: "Att a Genrll Court held the It of the 7t Moneth 1640. The plantatio of Totokett is granted to Mr. Samuell Eaton for such friends as he shall bring ouer from olde Englend, and vpō such tearmes as shall be agreed betwixt himselfe & the comitty chosen to
3
that purpose, (namely) Mr. Eaton and the 4 deputyes." Samuel Eaton was the brother of The- ophilus Eaton, New Haven's governor. He went to England with the intention of arousing interest in the proposed colony but was persuaded to remain there and preach, settling at Durbenfield and Stock- port. Thus this venture came to nought, tho it was not for some time that hopes of his return were given up and, at the General Court March 25, 1644, "Itt was ordered thatt they to whome the affayres of the towne is intrusted shall dispose of Totokett according as in their wisdome they see cause."
Meanwhile a certain Thomas Mulliner, or Moul- liner, had assumed squatter's privileges at Mul- liner's Neck, now Branford Point; and a Thomas Whitway had located in that part of the district known now as Foxon. Mulliner may have settled even before the land was sold by the Indians and have made a separate bargain with them; we do not know. At any rate his right to remain was not contested, tho we suspect the New Haven people would have been glad to see him go, for he proved a troublesome neighbor and was summoned before the General Court several times for disorder, for contempt, and for breach of peace, as well as being a constant disputant concerning the boundaries of his lot. Whitway, on the other hand, appears to have been peaceable and of good conduct.
Some time in the year 1644, the date is most unfortunately not a matter of history, the follow- ing entry was made upon the records of the New
1
4
Haven Colony: "Totoket, a place fit for a small plantation, betwixt Newhauen and Guilford, & pur- chased from the Indians, was granted to Mr. Swayne & some others of Weathersfield, they repaying the chardge, wch is betwixt 12 & 13£, & joyning in one jurisdiction wth Newhaven & the forenamed plantations, vppon the same fundemen- tall agreement setled in Octobr, 1643, wch they, duely considering, readjlye accepted." We now turn to the events leading up to this entry.
Ten years before the making of this record, a few adventurers, from Watertown, Massachusetts, settled at Wethersfield, near Hartford. A church was organized there in 1635. This church was at first without a pastor and, there being no settled minister, contentions arose concerning the filling of this important position. These contentions led to the formation of several parties in the church, each of which had its own candidate for the office. This divided state of affairs, having continued for sev- eral years, and matters constantly becoming worse, so that the whole settlement was divided into hostile factions, an appeal was made to Mr. Davenport, and the settlers of New Haven, for aid in reconciling their differences. Davenport and several others went to Wethersfield, where they soon perceived that the only hope of peace lay in a separation of the contending factions. Accordingly they advised that one or more of the parties should remove and form a separate settlement. Acting upon this advice, one group removed to Stamford, while
5
another and larger group decided to remove to Totokett. Undoubtedly they had been urged to locate there by the New Haven authorities, who saw in them the settlers whom they had long sought for their untenanted lands. At any rate the deci- sion to locate there was a happy one for all, offering to the emigrants a new home close to an established settlement, and, at the same time, solving the prob- lem which had existed, for the New Haven Colony, since the failure of Samuel Eaton to bring over colonists from England.
. The new settlement was, by the terms of the sale, to be subject to the same laws and civil government as Stamford, Milford and Guilford, the other daughter settlements of New Haven. The out- standing feature of this political system was the absolute limitation of the franchise to such men of the community as were members of the recognized church. In the Hartford Colony, on the contrary, there was no such sharp limitation, and this differ- ence in qualifications for the suffrage is the key to the understanding of the difficulty which long stood in the way of the union of the two colonies, and also to an intelligent interpretation of important subsequent events in the story of the Branford Church.
The boundaries of Totokett were fixed as fol- lows: on the South, Long Island Sound; on the West, Stony River and the Great Pond (Lake Saltonstall), and thence north to the Wallingford line; on the North, a line about ten miles back
1
6
from the shore; and on the East, a line commenc- ing ten miles east of the Quinnipiac River, and running due north to the Wallingford line, which it met in the center of Pistepaug Pond. These boundaries have remained practically unchanged to the present time.
THE PIONEER DAYS OF JOHN SHERMAN
The larger part of the Wethersfield people undoubtedly came to Totokett by water, journey- ing down the Connecticut River and along the shores of Long Island Sound. Some few, how- ever, must have come overland, thru the wilderness, driving before them the flocks and herds. We do not know the time of their arrival. It may have been as early as the autumn of 1643; it may have been as late even as the early fall of 1644. Were it not for one troublesome court record we should feel certain that they first saw Totokett in the late spring, or early summer, of 1644. But that record appears as a considerable obstacle to this theory. Under the date of February 3, 1644, we read that the always troublesome Thomas Mulliner was bound over to keep the peace, "especially toward the inhabitants of Totokett." Now we have no record of there being any inhabitants of Totokett, other than Thomas Whitway and the Indians, and the latter would hardly seem to have been meant by the word, in this instance. Accordingly this record is strong evidence that the Wethersfield people were in Totokett in February. But, if this be true, they must surely have arrived sometime the pre- vious autumn, for it seems quite incredible that the long journey from Wethersfield would have been undertaken after the setting in of the New England winter.
But such a supposition is not only unsupported
1
8
by any other evidence, but seems also at variance with such later records as do exist; which records deal with such matters of land allotments and preliminary organization as must have been the concern of a very new settlement, rather than of one more than a year old. The first entry on the town books is under date of June 18, 1644, and reads as follows, "This dai it is ordered that the meadow in this plantation shall be divided into 4 parts, and then divided by lott, viz : all the meadow that lyeth on the right hand side of the town that is earliest settled shall be in the first dividend, and all the meadow that lyeth by the river on the left side and all upwards from that place where it is considered a bridge must be, for the 2nd dividend ; Also 3dly all the meadow that lyeth downe the river from the place where it was considered a bridge must be, and all that lyeth within the compass of that piece of ground called the plaine shall be in the 3rd dividend. 4thly all the meadow left beside in the towne that is knowne shall be in the 4th divi- dend. This meadow is to be bounded and prized by Robert Rose, William Palmer, Samuel Swaine, John Horton, Richard Harrison and Thomas Blatchley, with all convenient speede, and then the lott is to be cast."
The more plausible theory would seem to be that the little band of settlers set out from Wethersfield in April or May of 1644, and arrived in Totokett the latter part of May, or early in June. The court record, quoted above, would seem to refer either
9
to other squatters, like Mulliner and Whitway, or else, possibly, tho this seems unlikely, to a small group of pioneers which may have preceded the main body of settlers for the purpose of clearing some ground and preparing for the coming of the others.
Upon their arrival, the first work was to divide the land equably among the settlers. This was done by casting lots, according to the precedent of Hebrew custom, a practice often followed in New England town life. The Wethersfield people located almost entirely upon the west side of the river, leaving the lands upon the east for the use of the Indians.
It is interesting to recall the names of these first settlers of what is now the town of Bran- ford, for many of them have been perpetuated, , and will still be found in the Branford of to-day. These names were as follows: Samuel Swaine, William Swaine, John Plum, Richard Harrison, Thomas Blatchley, Robert Rose, John Linsley, Frances Linsley, William Palmer, Richard Mather, Sigismond Richalls, Thomas Sargent, Roger Betts, William Merchant, Thomas Lupton, Robert Abbott, Edward Tredwell, Jasper Crane, Lawrence Ward, Thomas Morris, Samuel Nettleton, John Norton, George Ward, John Hill, John Ward, Luther Brad- field, Thomas Fenner, Daniel Dod, Thomas Rich- ards, Jonathan England, Richard Williams, John Edwards, Edward Frisbie, Robert Meeker, John Horton, Thomas Whitehead, and Richard Law-
IO
rence. It is barely possible that John Sherman, who first ministered to them of the things of God, may also have been of this number, tho the appar- ently more trustworthy tradition is that he left Wethersfield some years earlier, in 1640, and went first to Milford, joining the Branford colony a few months after their arrival. Jasper Crane and the Wards came from New Haven.
John Sherman was Totokett's first minister. He was born in Dedham, Essex County, England, December 26, 1613. Having entered Emanuel College, of the University of Cambridge, he left it at an early age, because of Puritan tendencies. He came to New England, in 1634-5, and preached at Watertown, Massachusetts, as an assistant to Rev. George Philips. He was a famous preacher, a man of marked intellectual gifts; was the fore- most mathematician in the colonies, and left many learned contributions to the astronomical sciences. His first sermon was preached at Watertown, for Mr. Philips. It was a Thanksgiving Day sermon, and was preached under a large tree. Several ministers heard it, and "wondered exceedingly to hear a subject so accurately handled by one who had never before performed any such public ser- vice." He soon removed to Connecticut, probably with the party which founded Wethersfield, and remained there a few years, impressing all who heard him with his marked ability. Thomas Hooker and Mr. Stone, the ministers in Hartford, said, in a clerical gathering, "Brethren, we must
II
look to ourselves and our ministry; for this young divine will outdo us all." Besides preaching he served as a magistrate and assisted in the organiza- tion of several towns and churches. He was mar- ried twice, his second wife being a Mary Launce, whom he met in the family of Governor Eaton of New Haven.
Although he lived in the third century before the promulgation of Rooseveltian theories, Sher- man would have delighted the heart of that great American, for, in the fullness of time, he became the father of twenty-six children. Unfortunately V infant mortality was so great in those days that it is highly probable that this generous family were never gathered about the table at one time. Or it may be that this was fortunate, for one won- ders, seeing that ministerial salaries were smaller then even than now, how it would have been pos- sible to provide the food wherewith to furnish so large a table. Moreover it would have been a somewhat difficult task to have transported a family of such proportions thru the New England wilder- ness as frequently as would have been necessitated by his migratory existence. John Sherman was at Totokett in the interval between the death of his first wife and the acquisition of his second. Conse- quently his courtship to Mary Launce may well have been the first romance of old Branford.
Mr. Sherman remained in Totokett two or more years, and then removed to his former home in Watertown and was minister to that church until
12
his death, at the age of seventy-two, in 1685. His first wife had died in New Haven, September 8th, 1644; his second survived him, living until the year 1710. His great-grandson, Roger Sherman, was one of the signers of our Declaration of Inde- pendence.
We know neither the exact date when John Sherman came to Branford, nor that of the organ- ization of the church. The evidence would seem to indicate that Sherman came in the late Septem- ber of 1644; very likely shortly after the death of his first wife. The first actual record of his presence, or of the existence of a church in Toto- kett, is found in the second entry upon the town records, which reads, "This dai it was ordered that Mr. Sherman should be allowed a year, to begin from the first of October, 1644." The word "allowed" is somewhat illegible, because of age, and the word which follows is entirely lost, but there can seem to be no reasonable doubt that what we have here is the record of a vote fixing the minister's salary, and that his period of service began on the date mentioned. Altho we can but conjecture as to the precise time when the settlers actually joined, by a common covenant, in a defi- nite and organized Church, it is practically certain that at no time were they without some sort of public worship. The same spirit which moved the Plymouth Pilgrims to rest from their explorations, both on their first Sabbath in the harbor of Provincetown, and on that other Sabbath, on Clark's
13
Island, in Plymouth Harbor, would have made it impossible for the pilgrims to Totokett to have been for any time without the gathering of them- selves together to worship God. The balance of probability appears to be in favor of the church having been formally organized very early in the life of the settlement, perhaps in the summer of 1644.
Very soon after their arrival the settlers set apart two plots of ground; the first for a Meeting House, and the other as the site of a house for a minister. Shortly after, the first Meeting House was erected, standing in what is now the south-west portion of the cemetery, probably in the large space which has been ever bare of stones. It was a small, unpretentious building, such as were com- mon in those first days in the wilderness, and utterly unlike even the oldest churches of our time. Rough-hewn logs formed its walls, while the roof was thatched with the coarse sedge-grass from the
river banks. In form it was "foursquare" like John's holy city, tho scarcely of the celestial dimen- sions. Possibly it may have been as much as thirty feet long and twenty wide, and four feet high; hardly a cathedral, yet no less, we may believe, a House of God. The floor was the bare, hard earth, the roof a simple pyramid of straw. Whatever windows there may have been were empty of glass, either stained or plain, tho possibly covered with glazed paper in effort to keep out the snow and wind of winter, and to keep in the vision of such
14
as might, conceivably, prefer the green of fields and trees and the summer sun to the dusty bareness of crude, dark walls. For pews, there were some few rude benches, each one a length of log supported at either end by stakes; for pulpit, a square, inornate box of boards.
The building was surrounded with a palisade of logs, six feet high, and bored at regular intervals, at the height of a man's head, with loop-holes for the muskets. During service one man always stood sentinel, at the entrance to the enclosure, while the other men of the congregation never had their muskets far from hand. The neighboring Indians were quite friendly but tribes from afar often made raids upon Totokett, and were inimical to the friendly Indians and to the English alike. Of all these hostile tribes the Mohawks were most dreaded. Later on a "trayned band" was organ- ized, being a sort of militia company, in which every able-bodied man was obliged to serve. The members of this band wore a strange sort of armor, as a protection against the arrows of the Indians, a sort of cotton doublet padded like a quilt. It could hardly have given a military appearance to the company, but it was undoubtedly efficient. On April 5, 1687, the town presented the "trayned band" with a silk flag and, at the same time, gave them a negative encouragement by voting a very heavy fine for those guilty of non-attendance at drill.
I5
There were no church bells in those days and, for that matter, no steeples in which to hang them. The hour for worship had, therefore, to be announced by other means. In some places in New England a conch shell was blown, in others a gun was fired, but at Totokett the people were called to church by the beating of a drum in the streets of the town; and one of the early town records deals with the expenditure of three shil- lings for a pair of drumsticks, while a later one records that George Baldwin was chosen for Con- stable "and to beat the drum on the Sabbath." He was granted a salary of thirty shillings.
When the old palisade was removed, some of the posts were used, by Samuel Russell, as fence posts. A few of them are still in existence. One was on exhibition in the church at the time of the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of its reorganization. Some others may still be seen about the town. A pair of goblets, carved from one of these timbers, was formerly in the posses- sion of Mr. Plant.
Late in the year 1646, for the better protection against Indians, and to keep the cattle from stray- ing, it was voted to build a five mile fence, enclosing the town. The fence was to be of logs, four feet and two inches high, and was to be completed by May first, of the following year. At the same time Frances Linsley was appointed "heard of cows and heifers," it being his duty to take all of the cattle
1
16
of the community out to pasture, each morning, and to collect them and bring them back each evening.
In the second entry on the town books, being the same as that recording the allowance to John Sherman, we read, "this dai it was ordered * that John Plum shall keep the town's books." He, then, was the first town clerk, serving until his death, in 1648. He was followed by Michael Taintor who, in turn, was succeeded by John Wil- ford. Eleazer Stent was chosen in 1673 to assist Wilford. Stent collected the previous records, and copied them, and the first volume is in his hand- writing.
It has been commonly believed that the ear- liest records of the Branford church are lost. This is probably, at most, only partly true. In the early days the records of church and town had no separate existence. The church was the town, and the same body which determined the conduct of church affairs determined also those of the com- munity. The early town records, we have; and that they do not include more details concerning what occurred within the church may rather be because of omissions, due to the strenuous life of those days, than because of the loss of any manuscripts. When one pauses to consider, there are a multitude of important matters with which we should expect the town records to deal, matters concerning the purely secular aspects of town life, on which the records are equally fragmentary and vague. We
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.