USA > Connecticut > New London County > Lebanon > Early Lebanon. An historical address delivered in Lebanon, Conn. > Part 1
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Gc 974.602 L48h 1550922
M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00075 1237
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/earlylebanonhist00hine
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AN
HISTORICAL ADDRESS
DELIVERED IN LEBANON, CONN.,
BY REQUEST, ON THE NATIONAL CENTENNIAL, JULY, 4 1876.
BY Rev. ORLO D. HINE.
PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH.
WITH AN APPENDIX OF
HISTORICAL NOTES, BY NATHANIEL H. MORGAN, OF HARTFORD, CONN.
HARTFORD, CONN .: PRESS OF THE CASE, LOCKWOOD & BRAINARD COMPANY. 1880. *
1550922
NATIONAL CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION AT
LEBANON, CONN., JULY 4, 1876.
OFFICERS OF THE DAY.
HON. GEORGE D. SPENCER,
PRESIDENT.
REV. GEORGE L. PUTMAN, .
CHAPLAIN.
WILLARD P. BARBER, M.D.,
Reader of the Declaration of Independence.
REV. ORLO D. HINE, ..
HISTORIAN.
LYNDE L. HUNTINGTON, .
. MARSHAL.
JAMES M. KINGSLEY, )
COL. ANSON FOWLER, ASS'T MARSHALS.
JACOB MCCALL,
CONTENTS.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Ancient Territory-Indian name-Sachem Uncas-Earliest land purchasers-Home lots set off-Church and Town privileges granted-Land titles in dispute: titles confirmed-Rapid growth of the town-High rank in population and wealth prior to Rev- olutionary war: higher in list in 1740 than Hartford or New . London-Anecdote of Trumbull and Parson Welles -- Military. enterprises in the old French wars. . p. ? to 24 Men and Times of the Revolution-Patriotic town action-Heroic
men, Trumbull and others-Distinguished position of the town as a great military center-Council of Safety here-Prominent part enacted here in the general conduct of that war-Wash- ington, Lafayette and other leaders of high renown here in consultation-Conclusion. 25-42
APPENDIX.
NOTE A. Town Street title-Original Proprietors-In whom title now vested, . p. 45
B. No Taxation without Representation-War cry of the Revolution, its origin, 48
C. Five-mile purchase-Title finally vested in 51 proprie- tors named. 51
D. Wheelock's Indian School-Samson Occom, Indian Funeral Sermon-Johnson, 54 . E. French Troops at Lebanon-Deserter Shot-Anna Hyde and the assassin, . 64
F. Trumbull House and War Office-Council of Safety- - Washington - Lafayette - Adams - Jefferson -. Franklin - Sullivan - Knox - Putnam - Rocham- beau, Lauzun, and others here in consultation, 68 G. Meeting-House war in 1804-The whole case stated, 71
H. Trumbull Family-Origin of name-American Ances- tors-First of the name in Lebanon-Jonathan, the " War Governor." and his six children; their biography and re- markable Revolutionary war record-Origin of the term "Brother Jonathan "-John and his paintings; anecdote of him and Indian Zachary-Trumble Tomb-A little story, 84 to 109 Governors-U. S. Senators and Representatives, natives of Leb- anon, p. 110-State " Assistants," and Senators. 111-Repre- sentatives, 112-19-Selectmen and Moderators, 120-31-Town Clerks and Treasurers, 131-Constables, 132-7-Church Organ- izations and Pastors, 138-Native Ministers, 139-College Grad- uates, 140-2-Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 143-176.
Illustrations.
Portrait of Trumbull, the " war Gov."-Frontispiece-Trumbull House and War Office, p. 67-Trumbull Tomb, 108.
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This glimpse of the past history of our town, was, from the necessities of the case, bastily prepared. for the special occasion stated on the title page; and after its delivery, the manuscript was deposited with the State Librarian. at Hartford, with others of a similar character, which had been delivered in several other towns in the State, on the same occasion; as had been requested by the National Centennial Commissioners of the State; and there it has remained.
A short time ago, Hon. N. H. Morgan of Hartford, formerly of this town, applied to the writer for permission to publish the manuscript; offering also to prepare and add an Appendix of Notes, etc., in further illustration of our history, with which he was already familiar, both from our own records, and from his extensive researches in other historical labors. His offer was therefore cordially ac- cepted; and since then, the Address has been re-examined. revised and considerable additions made. A large Ap. pendix has also been added.
It is now presented as only a sketch-a mere outline of such a history, full and comprehensive, as would be fitting for the former fame of the town, and of its many illustii- ous men; but it is hoped that even this glance at the worthy lives and noble achievements of our honored fore- fathers, will awaken as lively an interest in its study, as has been felt in its preparation; and that it will inspire the present generation, not only with a just pride in their memory, but with a warmer zeal and a nobler purpose to emulate their example.
LEBANON, AUG., 1880.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
The intrinsic interest of this occasion it would be difficult to over-estimate : the Centennial year and natal day of this Nation, which, one hundred years ago, consisted of thirteen feeble colonies, stretching along the Atlantic coast, with a population in the aggregate of less than 3,000,000, dependent on the mother country for many necessary supplies, and kept in dependence by her, and in danger of being subjected to her arbitrary power.
Now there is a consolidated Nation of thirty-eight states and 45.000,000 of people, extending from the. chain of lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and reaching across the continent to the western ocean; with a variety and richness of soil, mineral treasures, and means of communication then unknown. The cen- tury has been one of change and progress so marvel- ous, that if the future had been made to pass before the mental vision of the men of one hundred years ago, it would have appeared like the creations of a dream, and too grand to be possible in reality.
We do well to stop in this centennial year and look back ; noting the point from which we started; tracing our advance through the different stages ; measuring
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EARLY LEBANON.
the dangers and critical passes through which we have come, and the attainments we have made ; de- riving motives of gratitude to the Supreme Disposer- the God of our fathers who has led us thus far-felici -. tating ourselves on the position we have reached on all which distinguishes us as a nation, while we also take warning and incentive as to the future.
And we are assembled not merely as citizens of this favored nation, but also of this ancient town, which bore no obscure part in the struggle for independence, and which has had a note-worthy share in the progress and achievements which have since been made.
You appointed a committee to prepare a historical address for this occasion-historical, as they under- stood the language of the vote appointing them, as embracing facts in the history of this town; especially in relation to the war for independence. The com- mittee was appointed late and have not had adequate time to perform the service assigned them. They have done what they could with the opportunity and means at their command.
In order, intelligently, to present some main facts in the history of the town during the Revolutionary period, it will be needful-to do what we conclude you designed that we should do-to briefly sketch its early history. .
The territory which now constitutes the town of Lebanon, called by the Indians, as to its main part, Po-que-chan-neeg, was originally claimed by the Indian chief, Uncas. ' He belonged to the Pequot tribe, which had its seat in the present town of Stonington, near
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
the village of Mystic. He was of the royal family, and married a princess of the royal family of the same tribe. Aspiring to the leadership of the tribe by means decidedly crooked and summary, and fail- ing in his rash purpose, he was obliged to secede. and with a few adherents withdrew across the Pequot, now the Thames river, where he established himself on lands which have since been held by the remnant of Indians, in the present town of Montville. Here he set up a claim to a territory twenty-two miles wide, bounded on the east by the Thames river, and on the west by the Connecticut, and extending from the sea shore north indefinitely ; embracing large por- tions of the present territory of Tolland and Windham counties. This included the tract which formed this town.
After the destruction of the Pequot fort at Mystic by Major Mason, in 1637. Uncas seems to have been so impressed by the bravery and power of the English, and to have felt so strongly that if he had their friend- ship, they could defend him against any enemy, he ceded, from time to time, to his many friends among the white settlers, and to the colony of Connecticut, all his lands and possessions, reserving to himself certain rights and privileges.
The first proprietor of land within the limits of this town, was Major John Mason. In 1663 the General Assembly of the colony gave him for meritorious services, five hundred acres of land, which he might take, as he should choose, in any unoccupied territory in the colony. Norwich had then purchased to the
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EARLY LEBANON.
line which now divides Franklin and Lebanon. Mason came just across that line, and selected his five hun- dred acres in the southwestern part of the town. in what is now the society of Goshen; that section being called by the Indians Pomakuk. This land was sur- reyed and formally conveyed to him in 1665.
In 1666 the General Assembly gave Rev. James Fitch, who came from Sarbrook to Norwich and was the first pastor of the church there, and son-in-law of Mason, one hundred and twenty acres of land adjoin- ing Mason's tract. Subsequently Oweneco, son and successor of Uncas, gave to Rev. Mr. Fitch, for favors received, a tract five miles long and one wide, which is described as extending from the southwestern corner of the town, next to the tracts already mentioned, along the Franklin line to near the Willimantic river. According to this description, it was nearer seven than five miles long ; but surveys had not then been made, and boundaries were very loosely drawn. This is familiarly known as "Fitche's, or Mason and Fitche's mile."
In 1692, Oweneco, who still claimed a sort of ownership in unoccupied lands here, sold and conveyed to four proprietors, Capt. Samuel Mason and Capt. John Stanton of Stonington, and Capt. Benjamin Brewster and Mr. John Birchard of Norwich, a tract called the five mile purchase adjoining, and north- west of " Mason and Fitches mile," so called. The General Assembly of the colony in 1705 confirmed this deed of Oweneco ; and at the same time and by the same instrument, confirmed a deed from these
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
four proprietors, conveying all their rights and inter- ests in this tract and all that pertained to it, to fifty- one persons named, who had taken lots ; most of whom were inhabitants here.
Adjoining this on the north and northwest, was the Clark & Dewey purchase, made by William Clark of Saybrook, and Josiah Dewey of Northampton, Mass., in 1700, of Oweneco and Abimelech, Indian chiefs, claim- ing the rights which Uncas had had ; and the deed was also signed by English persons who had gained titles of some sort to portions of the tract. This purchase embraced the northern portion of this town, as it now is, and a part and perhaps the whole of Columbia.
These several tracts, with two smaller sections, one called the gore, and another, the mile and a quarter propriety, constituted the original territory of this goodly town of Lebanon, which one hundred and eighty years ago was a wilderness.
The four proprietors, Mason, Stanton, Brewster, and Birchard, evidently designed that the " Five mile purchase," and " Mason & Fitche's mile," should form the main part of a plantation, and that this street, since called Town street, should be the center, and under their direction the street was laid out, and the land adjoining it allotted.
Having in view the earliest establishment, and most efficient maintenance of the worship of God, and the means of education, the land along the street was di- vided into home-lots of forty-two acres each, and there were second and third lots lying back of these, and in other parts of the town. Every one taking a home-lot was entitled to a lot of the other divisions. In this
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EARLY LEBANON.
they seem to have had in view access to water in the streams running each side of this ridge, and the pos- session of meadow land in the valleys. The second and third divisions, taken from unoccupied land in other parts of the town, were assigned by lot, and hence were, literally, lots.
This broad street and open common, which became so marked a feature of the place, seems to have been formed in this way. Originally, it was a dense alder swamp. When the settlers came to build their houses, they would of course set them on the dryer ground of the edge of the slopes extending back on each side. Thus, between the lines of dwellings there was left this swampy space, varying in width, but in general some thirty rods wide. Of course, it was owned by the original fifty-one proprietors of the five mile pur- chase.
They were organized, had their officers, meetings. and records. They performed acts of ownership of the land in this street, as of other common undivided land in the purchase ; and in 1808, (by William Wil- liams and the second Governor Trumbull, as their . representatives, ) gave to Dea. Samuel Buckingham a deed of a portion of the common in front of his prem- ises, and received of him forty dollars as the price. They had meetings at a still later date .*
The actual settlement of the plantation began in 1695, and its increase appears to have been rapid, the number of grants and allotments bearing date Novem- ber of that year being more than fifty. The five mile purchase evidently came then to be fully open for oc-
* See Note-Town Street Title-Appendix.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
cupancy, and settlers rushed in. They came from different quarters ; some from Norwich, others from Northampton, still others from other places in this colony and in that of Massachusetts.
Lebanon has been spoken of as originally a depend- ence of Norwich. No part of its territory was ever embraced in the nine mile square, which constituted the territory of Norwich, or was ever under the juris- diction of Norwich. ' And there is no evidence that a majority of the early settlers came from that town. The Clarks, the Deweys, the Trumbulls, the Strongs, came from other places.
The inhabitants held a meeting in 1698, and the earliest record of the town, or settlement as it was properly called, was then made.
In 1697, under the direction of the first four pur- chasers and proprietors, a lot was set apart for a minister, to be his, when in an orderly way, he should be settled among them, and, as worthy of note, it was one of the best lots through the whole length of. the street; near, and directly opposite the spot which had been selected as the site of the meeting-house. It was the land which the Lyman family, and Mr. Asher P. Smith now occupy. And in a house which stood a little south of Mr. Smith's dwelling, the first minister, Joseph Parsons, from Northampton, Mass., is supposed to have lived.
The first inhabitants of course had to struggle with the inconveniences and hardships of a new country. Where these dwellings, and gardens, and farms now are, all was forest, and as we infer from the moisture of the soil, and from other evidence, with a thick undergrowth.
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EARLY LEBANON.
It serves to indicate their condition, that in 1700 they took action in reference to a grist-mill. And the plantation offered Mr. Joseph Parsons of Northampton, afterwards of Norwich, as we infer, the father of the minister, as an encouragement to build such a mill, one hundred and twenty acres of land, provided he would maintain it ten years. From the fact that the road running west from the brick church was cut to this mill, the conclusion is warranted, that it was built near where the present mill on that road stands. The first saw-mill was built a little below where Hinckley's mill now is-in a tract called " Burnt Swamp."
In 1699, four years after the settlement of the plant- ation really began, the General Assembly at its May session " ordained and appointed a committee to view the lands at Lebanon, and to consider what quantity may be allowed for a plantation there, and to make return to the General Court in October next." There were various "lands "-not a few tracts here-held under different titles and with uncertain boundaries. Though the inhabitants had met to consider their inter- ests, and had their officers, they had not been legally organized, and had not been recognized as a town.
At the fall session of the General Court, there is made a record of this sort, " Whereas, differences be- tween Lebanon and Colchester hath proved much to the predjudice of both places, and impedimentall to their comfortable proceedings in the settlement thereof, these proposals are the nearest that can be agreed . unto which here follow." The bounds are then given as agreed upon by Joseph Parsons for Lebanon, Na- thaniel Foot and Michael Taintor for Colchester.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
The line thus determined was "approved and con- firmed to be the standing divident line between the above-named towns. The rest of the bounds to be ac- cording to the return of the committee in 1699."
And further, " This Assembly doth grant to the in- habitants of the town of Lebanon all such immunities, privileges, and powers as generally other towns within this colony have, and doe enjoy." There is then, an order as to the rates for defraying the local charges in the town, and the record proceeds: "Free liberty is by this Assembly given to the town of Lebanon to em- body themselves in church estate there, and also to call and settle an orthodoxe minister to dispense the ordinances of God to them, they proceeding therein with the consent of neighbour churches as the lawe in such cases doth direct."
The people acted on these grants of privilege, and the town was formally organized in 1700. The church was embodied November 27th of the same year, and Mr. Joseph Parsons was ordained pastor of the church, . and minister of the town. A military company called a " train band" was also formed, yet I find in the public records no mention of any officers commissioned until the May session of 1702, when Lieut. John Ma- son is appointed Captain of the " train band " in Leba- non, Ensign Jeremiah Fitch to be their Lieutenant, and Mr. Joseph Bradford to be their Ensign, and to be commissioned accordingly. In 1708 there was a sec- ond train-band here, I conclude in that part of the town now called Goshen.
It is worthy of notice, that though the town was organized in 1700, and invested with all immunities,
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EARLY LEBANON.
privileges, and powers of other towns, it did not send deputies to the General Assembly until the May ses- session of 1705, the reason being, doubtless, that it had not been required by the colonial government to bear any portion of the public expense until a tax was levied on the inhabitants for that purpose, at the Octo- ber session, 1704. It was at that time a distinctly recognized and a cherished principle that representa- tion should accompany taxation, and "no taxation without representation " at length became the war-cry of the Revolution .*
Though the town was now fully organized, with church and minister, and train-band, and about to take its place by its deputies in the General Assem- bly with the other towns of the Colony, its settlement was hindered. The bounds and titles to lands were in a very unsettled condition, and, growing out of this were uncertainties and controversies and frequent ap- peals to the Assembly for relief. In 1704, the public records say, " there were great difficulties and trouble among the inhabitants of Lebanon, through the unset- tledness of their lands," and they appointed a surveyor to run the south or southerly line of the five mile square purchase. The boundary between this town and Colchester was not yet settled. And in 1705, several of the inhabitants of the town of Lebanon made complaint of sundry difficulties and inconven- iences, under which they were laboring, respecting the purchasing of a tract of land five miles square of Oweneco and the four proprietors.
It is not surprising that there was this uncertainty
* See Note-No taxation without representation-Appendix.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
as to bounds and titles, when we consider that gifts and cessions were made by Indian chiefs, and Sir Ed- mond Andros said their deeds were so indefinite and contradictory ; as " to be worth no more than the marks of a cat's paw," and that these chiefs, as to ownership, were in controversy among themselves, while the set- tlers had gained a variety of titles from them. In 1705 the General Assembly passed a broad healing act. Referring to the deed of Oweneco to the four pro- prietors, Mason, Stanton, Brewster, and Birchard, and to the deed of these proprietors to fifty-one proprietors, most of whom were residing there, the Act is to this effect : " And the same recited deeds or conveyances, and the grants, sales, and bargains therein contained, are hereby allowed, approved, and confirmed to be firm and effectual to all intents and purposes, accord- ing to the true meaning and intent thereof, as shall be construed most favorable on the behalf, and for the best benefit and behoof of the grantees and purchas- ers (heretofore named), their heirs and assigns for- ever." And by this Act a degree of satisfaction and quiet seems to have been established .*
At the May session of the Assembly, 1705, Mr. Wil- liam Clark was deputy from this town to the General Assembly, the first whom it sent: at the October ses- sion, Mr. Samuel Huntington was deputy. Lebanon was " listed," i. e., the property was put into the grand list to be taxed for general purposes, for the first time in 1704. In the roll of persons and estates presented to the General Assembly in 1705, embracing thirty- three towns, Lebanon is rated at £3,736, and is the
* See Note-Five mile purchase-Appendix. 2* .
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EARLY £
LEBANON.
twenty-first in the list ; it has ninety taxable inhabit- ants, perhaps indicating a population of 350. The next year it stands £4.390, and 105 taxable persons. And this year, this town sent two deputies, viz : En- sign John Sprague, and Mr. William Clark. The town sent as deputies the same persons repeatedly ; the number from which selections were made from year to year being small, in strong contrast to the present practice of rotation, and never more than one term for the same person.
The next year, 1707, Lebanon stands £5,179, and 135 taxable persons. For a few years the settlement of the town appears not to have been rapid. Priva- tions and hardships must have been endured by those who came here ; their dwellings must have been log- houses among the trees and bushes, with here and there a clearing, and all uncertainty as to the bounds and titles of lands had not ceased to perplex and em- barrass.
That there was a great amount of danger or annoy- ance from the Indians does not appear, the Indians of this section being friendly to the English, in league with them, and very much dependent on them.
There is a tradition that some Indians of a tribe at war with the Mohegans-perhaps from a remnant of the Pequots-possibly from the Narragansets, still further east in Rhode Island, took a Mohegan child from the house of Mr. Brewster, who lived on the Brewster place, near where Hon. Edwin M. Dol- beare now resides, and killed it, dashing its head against the garden fence. This tradition comes, reli- ably, from one who lived near the time of the alleged
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
«vent, and who spoke of it, as a fact well known. There is also a tradition that the Abel house, which stood where Mr. Robert Peckham's house now stands, was a sort of fort, (stockaded, I conclude,) to which the inhabitants fled in times of danger.
If the Indians did not seriously trouble the settlers, the wild animals did. So late as 1730 the town offered a bounty of £10 for every full grown wolf that should be killed. Col. James Clark, of Bunker Hill celebrity, who died Dec. 29, 1826, ninety six-years of age, used to relate to his grand-children who are now living, that in his boyhood, as coming from Norwich in the evening, he reached the low ground near where Mr. Jeremiah Mason now lives, he drew his feet up upon the saddle to protect them from the wolves, which he often heard barking and howling in the thickets on each side of the road. Deer and wild turkeys were abundant. The first settlers had common corn-lots, which they joined in clearing, fencing, and guarding. I have queried whether they had the fever and ague ;. and I am sure they had, and must have shook soundly with it; but probably it did not frighten people away; for it must have prevailed in all the new settlements. . After about 1707 the number of taxable persons ceases to be given in the public records, and only the property list is noted. The list continued steadily to increase, and to gain on the lists of other towns in the colony. In 1730 it was £19,972; in 1733, £23,- 803 ;. and was, in amount, the eighth in the colony: in 1740 it was £31,709, and was the fifth among the forty-eight towns in the list, and more than that of Hartford or New London. In 1748, £35,570.
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