USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Fairfield > Black Rock, seaport of old Fairfield, Connecticut, 1644-1870; > Part 1
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A Front VIEW of YALE-COLLEGE, and the COLLEGE CHAPEL; NEW-HAVEN,
YALE COLLEGE IN 1786
-as described by William Wheeler (page 38), with the students saluting President Stiles as he enters Chapel.
(From an old print reproduced by courtesy of the Yale University Library)
.
BLACK ROCK
Seaport of Old Fairfield CONNECTICUT 1644-1870
Pages of History Gathered by CORNELIA PENFIELD LATHROP Member, Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter, D. A. R., of Fairfield & The New England Historic Genealogical Society of Boston
Including the JOURNAL of WILLIAM WHEELER Graduate of Yale in 1785; resident in Black Rock, 1762 - 1845
With Maps, Illustrations & Genealogies Fully Indexed
THE TUTTLE, MOREHOUSE & TAYLOR COMPANY NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT 1930
COPYRIGHT, 1930 BY CORNELIA PENFIELD LATHROP ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
First Edition Published June, 1930 Printed in the United States of America
Southern Book Co- 10.
1162747
In appreciation of the glorious pages of our history written by the lives of Colonel Abraham Gold Thaddeus Burr and other devoted patriots of her family this volume concerning the seaport of their beloved Fairfield is dedicated to Annie Burr Jennings
-
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface
ix
Old Black Rock
1
William Wheeler 15
The Journal of William Wheeler
21-125
Preface
22
1630-1772
23
Revolutionary War
27
Four Years at Yale
38
The Collegian at Home
48
The Sentimental Schoolmaster
50
Homesteads
127
Wharves and Shipping
141
Appendix :
Roads
151
Lighthouses 153
Landmarks 153
The First Church 154
Educational Institutions 154
The Revolutionary Fort
155
Early Residents 156
Family Index
157
General Index
193
ILLUSTRATIONS
Yale College in 1786 Frontispiece Map of Black Rock, 1649-1700 . facing page 1
Sketch, Grovers Hill, 1820
page
1
The Sarah Jane .facing page 12
Sketch, Homestead of William Wheeler page 15
Facsimile of original title page of Journal
page
21
Sketch, Homestead of Ichabod Wheeler
page
23
Map of Fairfield, 1779 .facing page 30
The Isaac Jarvis-David Penfield homestead . facing page 54
The Joseph Silliman homestead facing page 63
The Gershom Sturges-Benjamin Penfield homestead .facing page 84
The Joseph Bartram homestead .facing page 106
The Nichols homestead facing page 117
Map of the Black Rock of William Wheeler page 126
Sketch, Fortified stone house of Thomas Wheeler page 127
The Perry homestead facing page 136
Sketch, The Upper Wharves, 1802 page 141
The Upper Wharves facing page 144
Sketch, Black Rock Lighthouse, 1808 page 151
Sketch, Ash Creek-Penfield Mills, 1772 page 157
The Thomas Bartram homestead . facing page 159
The Traveller facing page 178 Sketch, the first Black Rock Church page 193 Tailpiece facing page 214
Map of Black Rock in 1878 Endpapers
PREFACE
Beginning with a paper contributed to a meeting of the Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter of the D. A. R. in Fairfield, the contents of this book have evolved into an entire volume of history, much to the credit of William Wheeler, whose manuscript furnished the compiler with amusement, inspiration, enthusiasm, and much information, as well as the principal substance.
The casual reader will doubtless prefer to meet, forthwith, William Wheeler and not to ponder too long over the preceding and subsequent pages which are meant for the specialized interest of local historians and genealogists.
The Journal is presented precisely as it is written, with no effort to gloss over the spontaneous expression of the original manuscript. There is no discrimination made between the entries contributed by William Wheeler and by his daughter Eliza, although these are obvious in the Journal. There have been interpolated occasional quotations from other writings and essays which amplify short notes. These interpolations are indicated by the smaller type and indention. Spelling and punctuation have been followed in the copy, except that "the" has replaced "ye" throughout (in all but the few instances in which the older form flavors the content), and a few of the original dashes have been exchanged for other marks.
The genealogical footnotes and after-notes have been arranged to supplement the very complete "First Families of Old Fairfield" now in course of publication. Black Rock families are carried back to a Fairfield ancestor, and continued, insofar as has been practicable, from 1800 to 1850, during the period in which it is so difficult to trace genealogical data. A few families have been given special attention, since their several branches were most closely associated with the development of Black Rock for more than a century.
So many have been the sources and so generous the cooperation, that it is difficult to make due acknowledgment to everyone who has assisted in the compilation. Especially am I indebted to George Seymour Godard, Librarian, and the staff, of the Connecticut State Library; to Loretta Brundige Perry, Regent, and to other members of the Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution; to Aubrey D. Fuller, whose file of maps and surveys since 1835 has been of great service; to Kenneth Hall Kiefer, for the sketched chapter headings; to Henry Monroe Lathrop, for many constructive ideas in the presentation of the material; and to Helen Clingan Penfield, for very valuable editorial assistance.
x
PREFACE
For photographs, general information, and Bible records, the book owes much to Virginia Elizabeth Penfield, Henry F. Bunce, Hattie E. Noren, Capt. Charles H. Fancher, Susan Howes, Frances Howes, Mary Bartram Woodruff, Alice A. Bartram, Joseph Percy Bartram, Rensselaer W. Bartram, Ella Perry Allen, Mary Nichols Barber, Joseph Smith, Sarah Allen Smith, Lilian Gould Allen, Helen Lock- wood Mansfield, Viola Smith Hurlburt, Fannie Sturges Rodgers, M. Alice Gould, Helen Turney Sharps, Nellie Silliman Wilson, Bessie Smith Hubbell, Louie Hall Schneider, and Lida Burr,-also to the records deposited with the Fairfield Historical Society, to the note- book of Donald Lines Jacobus and to the courtesy of the Yale University Library.
Another valued contributor is the unfortunately anonymous photog- rapher (or photographers) who, in the late sixties and early seven- ties, recorded sympathetically so many of the old homesteads now forgotten or remodeled.
Bibliographical reference should be made to various genealogies printed and in manuscript, especially that of the Wheeler Family, "The Wakeman Genealogy" and "The Burr Family," which have supplied data for comparison with the original records and with new sources; "The Old Burying Ground of Fairfield, Conn.," by Kate W. Perry; "History of Fairfield, Conn.," by Elizabeth Hubbell Schenck; "An Old New England Town" and "A Country Parish," by Dr. Frank Samuel Child; "History and Genealogy of the Fami- lies of Old Fairfield," by Donald Lines Jacobus; "History of Strat- ford and Bridgeport, Conn.," by Samuel F. Orcutt; "History of Maritime Connecticut During the American Revolution," by Louis F. Middlebrook, published by The Essex Institute.
The chief sources of information, however, have been the probate and land records at the Fairfield Town Hall, and whatever accuracy and definiteness may give the ring of authority to topographical and genealogical statements must be attributed to the meticulous town clerks of the past, and to those who have indexed the records so efficiently.
It must be borne in mind that a Journal is not wholly dependable in fixing facts and dates. I have endeavored to check important state- ments and to add footnotes wherever William Wheeler's memoranda differ from the church or land records. Should other divergences be discovered, it might be well to consider that many of the entries were made a day, a week, or in some instances a few years, after the occurrence noted, or from inadequate information. The Journal is not presented as a didactic authority on contemporary names and dates : and after reading the first few pages, only the most captious statistician can question the occasional poetic and philosophic license in which William Wheeler indulged.
xi
PREFACE
The many changes during three centuries that have come to Black Rock may appear to be over-emphasized in the maps and notations : but to the editor it has been most interesting to trace the "lost villages" that were once also Black Rock. The vanished route across the creek from Fairfield is referred to in one deed as the "old Boston Road" -! and the Revolutionary village is so strange to modern readers that possibly they, like the editor, may enjoy comparing the ancient with the modern.
Concerning these notes and the maps, the editor, like William Wheeler, claims occasional indulgence. The authority of elder and more experienced historians and genealogists should be preferred in any question of accuracy. Concerning all names, dates, and rela- tionships, editorial statements are one and all "subject to correction if in error."
Black Rock
January 1930
C. P. L.
BLACK ROCK
In the Pioneer Days
Stratfield
Hallar
I Krig!
Kings Highway
Indian Field
Field
Pequanoch
Indian Fort
Greenleaf
Fairfield
Shipharbor Creeke
Trading.
Wakeman's
1649 Thomas Wheeler-
whart
Swamp
Break .
Seeley's Point
Uncoway
Field God 1692,
Plaine by Shipharbo
Island
1649-1700
Paul's Neck
Great
. Money Beach
Ship
by Thomas Wheeler &:
Heart
Has family Sneighbors
N
Ywith traditional names
- Seabea
-E
Black Rock was until 1720 an undeveloped wooded peninsula, with many swamps, ending in a remote hill, used for pasturage. The very roads shown on the map are unfamiliar nowadays. Neither north Brewster nor south Ellsworth Streets existed. The Fairfield road coincided with the present Post Road for only a short distance before branching north to the upper creek, where a long-forgotten route led north- west to King's Highway and Holland Heights, while another fork of the road led more directly to Stratfield. Along these rough roads lay a few scattered homesteads.
ofy Beach
BLACK ROCK
Parsonage Meadows,
.Harbor
with roads wfed
Har Sh
or Afh-house Creeke
Swans
GROVER'S
HILL - 1820
BLACK ROCK Seaport of Old Fairfield
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Fairfield owed much of its financial and political prestige to an excellent seaport. The seaport of Fairfield was old Black Rock.
To-day Black Rock is merely a section of Bridgeport. Air- planes zoom overhead ; real estate booms underfoot; and we must sketch our historical picture against a background of modern monuments.
Between the Orphan Asylum and the Socony filling station is the site of the Indian fort. Near the automobile graveyard and the city dump stood the mills that anciently ground out flour for the colonial countryside. Fire, careless remodeling, or neglect have ruined many of the old houses. The one survival of sea- trade is a rough sign: "Live lobsters for sale"-nailed, ironically enough, where the forgotten shipyard once launched a hundred ships, and where on the nearby wharves the rich cargoes of those same ships, returning, were welcomed by the busy pulleys and creaking windlasses of a dozen stores and warehouses.
The flotsam and jetsam of historical incident have been scat- tered across three centuries, yet we may still salvage stray anecdotes concerning the salty days when every house in the village was the home of a sea-captain.
Fortunately there lived in Black Rock for eighty-two years- from 1762 to 1845-a sympathetic historian. The record of harbor happenings during those bustling days was jotted down by William Wheeler briefly but delightfully, together with the pioneer legends of his family, and sage comment upon political, social, and personal matters.
2
BLACK ROCK: SEAPORT OF OLD FAIRFIELD
The Wheeler Journal, like history, is made up of the ridiculous as well as of the sublime. However we may revere our ancestors, it is always reassuring to those who in our turn may become ancestors, to learn that these forbears of ours were human and occasionally fallible-even as you and I. We should be grateful to William Wheeler, therefore, not only for his vivid account of the capture of General Silliman and of the defense of Black Rock Fort in 1779, but for not slighting the record that on the 15th of November, 1787, "Capt. Brewster's wife & child fell in the creek," that in 1807 three members of one family were "sick with bilious colic-rose from drinking cider that ran through a lead cock," as well as the sad tale of the young man who "after dancing, waiting on a Female home, wet his foot & not drying it before he left her, he was taken ill and lived only 7 days."
The history of Black Rock is thus made up of the heroic, the commonplace and the humorous,-a history written between the lines of church and probate records, in old deeds, in long-lost logs of the merchant ships, and supplemented at moments by the Wheeler Journal.
The pioneer story is a thrice-told tale, but we may give the incident new interest by recalling the geographical as well as the chronological positions of the original settlements in the vicinity of Fairfield.
Fairfield, established by Roger Ludlowe in 1639, is most import- ant. Northeast lies Stratfield (known in earliest days as Fayre- field Village and Fayreford). Fairfield and Stratfield were con- nected then as now, by a road long in use before being formally laid out in 1687 as King's Highway.
East of Fairfield and south of Stratfield another settlement was made at the tip of the peninsula formed by two creeks and the Sound. This settlement became known as Black Rock village,- named from the black rocks along the shore,- and was for three generations a family holding.
Thomas Wheeler, the elder, came from Concord with a company of other pioneers in 1644. His companions settled in Stratfield and in Greenlea,-as the section near Seaside Park in Bridgeport was then known. Thomas Wheeler separated from them and
3
HISTORICAL
established his home at the head of Black Rock harbor. Here he was a short distance across the waters of "shipharbour creeke" from his relatives and friends* at Greenlea, and not too far from Fairfield.
The first Wheeler homestead was surrounded on three sides by water and stood on a rise of ground overlooking the level plain to the west. Thomas built his house of stone with a strong plank roof, and upon this roof, to supplement the natural advantages of his location, he placed two small cannon. One pointed out down the harbor against possible Dutch invasion by sea: the other was directed toward the Indian fort that stood north of the little hill. The Indians were friendly and the Dutch were invisible, but Thomas Wheeler was a cautious man.
This Wheeler "homelot" at the "head of shipharbour" was the nucleus of Black Rock village. The village was for many years inhabited by Thomas Wheeler's grandchildren and their children almost exclusively. There were enough of them, however, to occupy the acres between the old homelot and Grover's Hill with their houses and pasturage, and to divide other lands with non- resident proprietors whose homesteads stood in Fairfield or Stratfield.
From the Thomas Wheeler homestead a road led northwest, meeting the Fairfield road at the present intersection of Brewster Street and Fairfield Avenue. The old Fairfield road, however, coincided with the modern Post Road only between Ash Creek and Ellsworth Street. At the latter point (near the Indian fort) the old road turned northeast (along the present line of North Ellsworth Street) to the upper creek. Here were two forks. One road led northwest across the upper creek to King's Highway and the Holland Heights Road. The other fork led to the Indian Field and thence to Stratfield.
For many years there was no direct route due east, and we moderns who are accustomed to speed along the Post Road must recall that there were only a few scattered farms between Strat-
* The earliest recorded settlers at Greenlea and Black Rock are: Ephraim Wheeler ; Thomas Wheeler; Thomas Wheeler, Jr .; William Odell; John Evarts; Joseph Middlebrook; James Bennet; Peter Johnson; and Benjamin Turney.
4
BLACK ROCK: SEAPORT OF OLD FAIRFIELD
field and Greenlea where Bridgeport now extends. Moreover, when roads were in the making, early surveyors followed a trail that avoided the old Indian fort. The cautious pioneer always gave his Indian neighbors as much room as possible.
This fort, garrisoned by two hundred Indians, had been palisaded against the tribes of the interior. North and east extended the Old Indian Field as it became known in early deeds. All of this land was sold by the Indians to the town of Fairfield in 1681, but during the preceding thirty years there were probably many dramatic incidents in the lives of the members of the Wheeler family .*
The purchase of the Indian Field ended Indian occupation in Black Rock. The Indians moved north and the new owners divided the field, as was customary, by a lottery. This method of apportionment satisfied contemporary landholders, but created many difficulties for latterday historians and genealogists. A pioneer whose landholdings were scattered from the Dan of SasquaNeck (Southport) to the Beersheba of Stratfield and who casually described his boundaries only by naming his neighbors provided many complications. When a boundary "east on John Wheeler" may mean east on John's homelot, on his Compo divi- dend, on his Long Lot, or on his share in the Indian Field, and when the north, south and west boundaries are defined only by the names of others who, like John Wheeler, held widely distrib- uted lands, it is difficult to reconstruct from the land records an accurate picture of the holdings.
Another baffling custom was the designation of a lot by the name of the original owner, even after several transfers, or the definition of a boundary by a landmark long since forgotten.t
* In addition to uncertainties of Indian temperament, colonial peace of mind had other menaces. During the witchcraft delusion, Goody Knap was hanged in 1651 at Try's Field (northwest of the Indian Field in Black Rock-near the present site of the Burroughs Home).
t "Briant's Field" in Black Rock is mentioned a century after Alexander Bryant terminated his few years of residence in Fairfield and moved to Milford. "Near old Hoit's land," and "land over the creeke" (which might mean any one of the three creeks on the Black Rock boundary) are exasperating examples.
5
HISTORICAL
Fortunately for the amateur topographer, there were few house- holders in Black Rock until after 1750. John Wheeler, son of Thomas the pioneer, married first Judith Turney, and second Elizabeth Rowland, succeeding to the Wheeler property in Black Rock and adding more lands by purchase from non-resident dividend holders.
John Wheeler had twelve children. Five of his sons settled in Black Rock. Another, Thomas, sailed from the harbor one day early in 1696. Weeks later his elder brother, John, received the following letter :
Barbadoes, July 19, 1696
... . Loving brother John,
these lines may inform you that I am aboard of a man of war called Play now bound for London and I think that she will saile very speedily. I am in no hopes of being cleared.
I desire you to take care of three barrels of Rum which I have aboard of Nicklas Inglesbee and I have three months wages down which is ten pounds ten shillings. The sloop is called the Dimon. She belongs to Rhode Island, but bound to New London. I have no loading for it.
I hope you will take care of it and let my honored mother have what she has occasion for and let my honored mother have half the crop of wheat which I have.
As for my lands I desire that my five brothers may divide them if I do not return again. I know not whether I shall be so happy as to see any of you again but I trust in God who is our presence.
Let us watch and pray one for another. No more at present but your loving brother,
Thomas Wheeler.
After eight years this pathetic message was admitted to probate in Fairfield as the last will and testament of the writer. The methods by which the English navy recruited men in early colonial days were already menacing homelife in the villages by the Con- necticut sea.
For another glimpse of the early Wheeler families, we have the romantic story told by William Wheeler of the wedding of Hannah, younger sister of the unfortunate Thomas. The stern brother ("my grandfather") who flourished the horsewhip on this occasion was the same "loving brother John" to whom the Bar-
6
BLACK ROCK: SEAPORT OF OLD FAIRFIELD
badoes letter was addressed. His responsibilities were many. His father, Sergeant John, after serving the town as representative for four terms, died in 1681, leaving twelve children, eight of them under age. John, the oldest son, assumed the family cares, and undeterred,-or perhaps fortified-by experience, married Abigail Burr, and reared thirteen children of his own. Of these, only three sons, Obediah, Jabez, and Ichabod,* continued the saga of the Wheeler family of Black Rock.
Other families came to share with the Wheelers the homesites by the harbor. The colonial names of Squire, Burr, Penfield, Bartram, Wilson, Chauncy, Osborn, Jennings, Silliman, Sherwood, and Sturges became prosperously identified with the port.
The sea which played so dramatic a rôle in the story of the earliest settlers in Black Rock continued to influence the develop- ment of the village. The number of ships that plied in and out of the harbor increased yearly.
After 1730 trade impetus along Ash Creek brought results remarkable in those leisurely days. In 1733 Peter Thorp and Ebenezer Dimon were given liberty to set a warehouse at the lower end of the creek. In 1750 Peter Penfield was authorized to establish his mill there, mills which were to continue for a century. In 1753 a new bridge was proposed and new roads planned to shorten the distance between Fairfield center and the ship harbor.
As the map shows, the early roads were almost as circuitous as their descriptions in the records .; The new thoroughfare was surveyed more directly,-almost due east from lower Benson Road, across an inlet by the Penfield mills, and along the shore
* There had been an elder, John, his father's favorite, who died in 1725. Shortly after his death was born a step-brother, mournfully christened Ichabod ("Thy glory is departed").
+ The most definite reads: "The highway on the east side of Uncaway Creek which lyeth on the northwest side of the swamps that lie on the northward side of the main highway or common road going out of said road from the south and runneth by and between the land of the said Nathan Gold and said John Wheeler until on the northeast or east it falleth into the highway or road in front of the land called Cable's Field."
7
HISTORICAL
of the creek to the new bridge. The stone foundations of this road are still plainly visible, as are the foundation piers of the bridge over which the road led to what is now Balmforth Street in Black Rock,-the short road that curves over the shoulder of Grovers Hill and joins Grovers Avenue now just as it did two hundred and seventy-five years ago. Grovers Avenue had existed long before the building of the new road, but merely as a farm road from the harbor to the hill pastures. There had originally been a field gate across it halfway between the turnpike and the Hill.
The opening of the shorter route immediately affected the pasture lands along Grovers Avenue. David Wheeler, 3rd, was first to profit thereby-and in a manner to interest our modern realtors. Taking over from his father ten acres of meadow, the progressive David deeded to the town two streets to lead from Grovers Avenue to the harbor, and dividing the land into lots, he pointed their advantages to seafarers whose homes lay incon- veniently far from shore. The first purchasers were Captain Joseph Silliman and Captain Thomas Holburton, and both imme- diately built where their families might overlook the Sound and sight their homing ships.
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