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Gc 974.602 F161ch 1770205
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
F
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01148 6914 E
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/fairfieldancient00chil 0
1639
Franfuld bonn, f June 1. 1911) 1909
Fairfield
Ancient and Modern
A BRIEF ACCOUNT, HISTORIC AND DESCRIPTIVE
A Famous Connecticut Town OF
PREPARED IN COMMEMORATION OF THE
Two Hundred and Seventieth Anniversary OF , The Town's Settlement BY
FRANK SAMUEL CHILD
President of the Fairfield Historical Society
ILLUSTRATED
Fairfield Distorical Society
1909
-
1
1770205
A MONUMENTAL BOULDER ON THE GREEN
F 84616 .158
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Child, Frank Samuel, 1854- 1332 .
... Fairfield, ancient and modern; a brief account. his. torie and descriptive, of a famous Connecticut town, pre- pared in commemoration of the two hundred and seven- tieth anniversary of the town's settlement. by Frank Samuel Child ... Fairfield. Com. Fairfield historical so- ciety, 1909.
-
75. thi p. front., 30 pl. 20}"". Bibliography : p. 71-73.
1. Fairfield, Conn.
9-9263
176138
Library of Congress
CHELF CAD/ F104. F2C46 Copyright :
INTRODUCTION.
Thanks are due Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright, Mr. Milton S. (Lacey and Dr. Frank S. Child, jr., for the illustrations which "adorn this handbook.
Thanks are also due Mr. J. Sanford Saltus and other loyal members of the Fairfield Historical Society for their financial : assistance in the preparation of the volume.
CONTENTS
A Summary of Dates, Page 9 Uncoa, The Great Swamp Fight, 15-The Town, 16-Village Green, 17.
The Academy, 23-The Old Burying Ground, 24-Ward Monu- ment, 25-Eunice Dennie Burr, 26-The East Cemetery, 27 -Oaklawn, 28.
Benson Tavern, 28-The Powder Honse, 28-Railroad and Trol- ley, 29.
Black Rock Harbor, 29-The Beach, 30-Grover's Hill, 30-Ash Creek, 30-The Marshes, 31-Penfield Reef, 31-Southport Harbor, 32.
The Burning of Fairfield in 1779, 33-General Washington in Fairfield, 35.
Names of Distinguished Citizens :- Roger Ludlow, Lieutenant- Governor Gold, Chief Justice Burr, Judge Ebenezer Silli- man, Col. Andrew Burr, General Silliman, President Aaron Burr, Dr. Caner, Jonathan Sturges, Judge Samuel Burr Sherwood, Morris K. Jesup, Dr. Bronson, President Timothy Dwight, Governor Tomlinson, President Sereno Dwight, Judge Hobart, Judge Roger M. Sherman, Dr. Nathaniel Hewit, President Heman Humphrey, Father Augustus Hewit, Joseph E. Sheffield, Frederick Marquand and others, 36.
A Village of Pleasant Homes, 41-The Intellectual Atmosphere, 42-Historic Sites, 43.
Noteworthy Houses-The Burr Homestead, 44-The Silliman House, 46-Professor Silliman's story of his father's capture, 47-Sherman Parsonage, 47-The Gould Homestead, 48- Waldstein, 49-The Rowland Homestead, 50-Round Hill, 50-Mailands, 51-Greenfield Hill, 51-Verna Farm, 51-
· Holland Heights, 52-Mill Hill, 52-Witch Hill, 53-The First Work of the Landscape Gardener in Town. 53.
The Churches, 54-Fairfield East Parish, 56-West Parish of Fairfield, 56.
Fairfield Fresh Air Home, 57-A Convalescent Hospital in 1898,
58-American National Red Cross, Fairfield Branch, 58- Auxiliary No. 29, 59.
The Dorothy Ripley Chapter-Daughters of the American Revo- lution, 60-The Fountain, 60.
Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter-Daughters of the American Revo- lution, 61.
Fairfield Memorial Library, 62
Fairfield Bathing Pavilion, 63
Pequot Library, Southport, 64
Sasquanaug Association, Southport, 65
The Village Improvement Society, Fairfield, 65
The Country Club, Greenfield Hill,
66
The Grange, Greenfield Hill,
67
The Consumers' League,
Audubon Society of the State of Connecticut,
68
The Gould Homestead Summer Home for Women,
69
Fairfield Historical Society, 69
Bibliography,
7I
Letter of Rev. Andrew Eliot, .
74
"Fairfield," Extract from Dr. Dwight's "Greenfield Hill", 75
67
ILLUSTRATIONS
A Monumental Boulder on the Green Frontispiece.
Main Street
8
The Pequot Monument 15
Town Hall-Old Whipping Post in the foreground 17
The Sixth Sanctuary of the Prime Ancient Society 20
St. Paul's Church .
22
Lich-Gate at the Ancient Burying Ground
24
Ward Monument . 26 . .
The Powder House 28
Fairfield Beach-Grover's Hill in the distance
30
Southport Harbor-from the Lawn of Mr. W. H. Perry Beach Lane, up which the British marched in 1779
32
The Sun Tavern .
36
Sherman Parsonage
Arching Elms .
38 41
A Colonial House on the Green .
43
The Burr Mansion
44 47
Pulpit Rock
49
The Southport Congregational Church
52
Trinity Church
54
St. Thomas' Church
56
Fairfield Fresh Air Home . ·
.
58
Memorial Fountain-Southport
60
Fairfield Memorial Library
62
Pequot Library-Southport
64
The Fairfield Fountain
66
The Gould Homestead
69
Mill River Ford
70
Saved from the Burning in 1779
72
A View on Mill Plain ·
74
A Garden View of Sherman Parsonage
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MAIN STREET
A SUMMARY OF DATES.
The Great Swamp Fight, which ended the Pequot War,
July 13th, 1637
The settlement of Uncoa by Roger Ludlow and other ad- venturers, 1639
Court established at Uncoa, 1640
First Meeting-house-a log structure-probably erected, of91
Magistrates appointed for Uncoa, 1643
Rev. John Jones and a company from Concord join the Plantation, 1644
Name of settlement changed to Fairfield. 1645
First Mill built-the miller being Henry Jackson, 1648
The First Probate Records, 1648
The First Land Records (the first twelve pages being lost ) William Hill being Recorder. 1649
Roger Ludlow's Code for Connecticut completed, 1650
The trial and execution of "Goody Knapp" for Witchcraft, 1653
Fairfield raises troops and declares war against the Dutch, Ludlow being appointed Commander-in-chief of the mili- tary forces, 1653
Ludlow returns to England and serves under Cromwell on the First Irish Commission. 1654
Meeting House rebuilt, 1663
County of Fairfield established, and Fairfield chosen as the Shire town, County buildings being erected and Courts
held on the second Tuesday in March and the first Tues- day in November each year, 1666
Fairfield Probate Court created for the County, 1666
Major Natlian Gold appointed by General Court Com-
1
mander-in-chief of militia in Fairfield County, 1672
A Town Magazine ordered, 1674
Voted by the Town to build a stockade around the principal part of the settlement, 1675
A new Prison erected on the Meeting House Green, 1679
The Town orders a Stone Fort to be built on the Green, 1681
The Town votes that a stockade be constructed around the Meeting House, the School House and the Parsonage, 1689
Parish of Pequonnock (Stratfield) set off, 1691
Four Trials for Witchcraft, viz., Mrs. Staples, Goody Miller,
Elizabeth Clawson and Mercy Desborough. The last
named was convicted, but finally pardoned. The others were acquitted, 1692
Grammar School started, 1693
Death of Major Nathan Gold, "A Pious and Worthy Magistrate," 1694
New School House on the Green, 1695
The new Meeting House, forty-five feet square, 1698
Rev. Joseph Webb joins with nine other ministers in found- ing Yale College, 170I
Fairfield made a Port of Entry, I702
Nathan Gold (the second) elected Lieutenant-Governor of Connecticut, continuing in office sixteen years, 1708
The Parish of West Farms (Green's Farms) set off, 17II
The new County Court House, Prison and Jailer's House erected on the Green, 1718
The Parish of Greenfield Hill set off, 1725
First House of Worship erected by Church of England people on Mill Plain, 1725
The Parish of Redding organized, 1729
Church of England people build their second house of wor-
ship on the King's Highway, west of the Meeting House Green, 1738
The Town orders a new Meeting House for the members of the State Church. The edifice is built on the site of the former house of Worship, and stands sixty feet long,
forty-four feet wide, twenty-six feet high, with a steeple rising one hundred and twenty feet from the foundation, 1747 Rev. Noah Hobart's Second Book Addressed to the Epis-
copal Separation is published by D. Fowle, in Queen Street, Boston. 1751
The Parish of Norfield (Weston) is set off, 1757
Guard House and Hospital for His Majesty's 48th Regi- ment erected, 1758
Stratfield Baptist Church erects House of Worship, 1761
The Parish of North Fairfield (now called Easton) is organized, 1763
Court House, Jail, Jailer's House and Pound are destroyed by fire, 1768
Town voted in April to erect new Court House, Jail and Jailer's House, 1768
Judge Ebenezer Silliman elected Speaker of Assembly, 1773
Town voted to send relief to Boston-750 bushels of grain, 1774 Daughters of Liberty make stockings, linen shirts, home- spun garments of various kinds, and send them to the be- sieged citizens in Boston, 1774
Major Gold Sellick Silliman appointed Lieutenant-Colonel. 1774 Washington passes through Fairfield en route for Boston, June 28th, 1775
"Married at the residence of Thaddeus Burr, Esq., by the Rev. Andrew Eliot, the Hon. John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, to Miss Dorothy Quincy, daughter of Edmund Quincy of Boston," September 28, 1775 (Extract from Church Register.)
General Silliman captured and carried by the British to Long Island, May Ist, 1779
The Burning of Fairfield by General Tryon, July 8th and 9th, 1779
The Town votes to build a new Town House and Court
House on site where the School House stood, August 31, 1779 The Academy at Greenfield Hill is established, 1783 Fairfield a Half-Shire Town, 1784
1
The new Meeting House begun on site of former House, 1785 "The Conquest of Canaan," by Timothy Dwight, is pub- lished, 1785
Jonathan Sturges becomes the first member of Congress from this district. 1789
Washington visits Fairfield, his fourth visit in town, October 16th, 1789
A Stake is to be driven on the Parade, Mill Plain, where the new Episcopal Church is to be built, 1790
"Greenfield Hill," a poem by Timothy Dwight, appears, 1794 Dr. Dwight is called to the Presidency of Yale College, 1795 Trinity Church is dedicated, 1798
Fairfield Academy is founded, 1804
Lewis B. Sturges serves this District as a Member of Con- gress, 1805
Fort on Grover's Hill is put in order, and Fairfield prepares for war, 1812
Samuel Burr Sherwood serves the District as Member of Congress, 1817
The State Church is dis-established by Legislature. The Prime Ancient Society continues to be supported by a tax levied upon members of the Parish, 1818
Gideon Tomlinson represents the District in Congress, 1819
Gideon Tomlinson is elected Governor of the State, 1827
Gideon Tomlinson becomes a member of the U. S. Senate, 1831 Thomas B. Osborne represents the District in Congress, 1839
Roger Minott Sherman is appointed a Judge of the Superior Court, 1840
The new House of Worship for the Prime Ancient Society is erected, 1850
The Court removes to Bridgeport, 1853
New House of Worship, Greenfield Hill, is erected, 1854
St. Paul's Church is organized. 1856
The Fifth Edifice of Trinity Church is destroyed by a tor- nado, 1862
The Gray Stone House of Worship for Southport Congre- gational Church is dedicated. 1876
Fairfield Memorial Library is founded, 1876
The Town Hall rebuilt, 1870
The Centennial Commemoration of the Burning of Fairfield 1879 The One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Fairfield Consociations is observed in Fairfield, June 8th, 1886
Sasquanaug Association organized in Southiport, 1887
The Fifth Sanctuary of the Prime Ancient Society is burned, May 30, 1890
The dedication of the Sixth Sanctuary, May 2nd, 1892
The Pequot Library is opened to the Public, 1893
The Fairfield Memorial Library Building is dedicated, 1903
The Fairfield Historical Society is organized, 1903
THE PEQUOT MONUMENT
٧
Fairfield.
THIS old New England town lies on the north shore of Long Island Sound, in the State of Connecticut, about fifty miles distant from New York City.
The many waters of the sea fret the indented, low-lying shore. There are various plains extending from the beach and the marshes to the first range of hills. The ascending territory rises in a sort of terrace-like way as hill after hill contributes its strength and beauty to the scene, until such commanding eleva- tion is attained that miles upon miles of field and forest, lowland and upland, blue sea and rolling country, refresh and gladden the eye of the observer. The rich, wide panorama is a beautiful expanse of rolling scenery.
THE GREAT SWAMP FIGHT.
The dignified and substantial monument reared by the Sons of the Colonial Wars in the southwestern part of the town commem- orates one of the most important events in the history of the Colonies:
The Great Swamp Fight Here Ended The Pequot War July 13, 1637.
This ending of the Pequot nation led to a beginning of the Plantation first called Uncoa. Roger Ludlow, soldier, statesman, adventurer, was one of the little army which pursued the fleeing
16
savages. Charmed with the landscape which unfolded before his eyes, he souglit permission from the General Court at a later date to found a settlement here. This purpose resulted in a small emigration to this place in the autumn of 1639, under the leadership of Ludlow, who was at the time Deputy-Governor of Connecticut. Weathersfield, Windsor and the Massachusetts Bay Colony were represented in this company. Other planters soon followed in goodly numbers. Religious services were im- mediately organized, a Court established in 1640, the village soon platted, a rude log Meeting-house reared on the site of the pres- ent Congregational Church, the stocks and whipping-post set up opposite the place of worship on the Green, and the young settle- ment assumed an air of hope and prosperity.
Magistrates were appointed for Uncoa in the year 1643. The following year the first minister, with a goodly company from Concord, arrived in town. The name of the plantation was changed to Fairfield in 1645. The first mill, erected by Henry Jackson, miller, began business in 1648, the same year that is marked by the first Probate Records. William Hill was the first Recorder of papers. The first twelve pages of his Records are lost.
THE TOWN.
The first settlers purchased the tract from the Indians. Ulti- mately Fairfield extended from the Stratford line on the east to the Norwalk line on the west, the territory running back into the thickly wooded hills some twelve miles from the shore. A patent confirming this purchase was granted to the proprietors in possession by the General Court of Connecticut, May 25th, 1685-a quitclaim deed having been previously executed by the Indians.
The original town has been pared and carved for the advan- tage and enrichment of various neighbors-Westport, Weston, Redding, Easton, Bridgeport, and the like-until the territory is diminished to a quite modest portion of landscape.
The four distinct settlements which are centres of population
THE TOWN HALL ON THE GREEN THE OLD WHIPPING POST MADE INTO A BULLETIN BOARD
17
' lie so close together that the town has the appearance of one great, spacious, hospitable village. The settlement in the neigh- borhood of the Green is the most ancient part of the town. Southport has long been the business portion of Fairfield, its harbour, wharves, banks, stores and offices bearing witness to its importance. Greenfield Hill still retains its beautiful rural char- acter, while Stratfield has become practically a suburb of Bridgeport. Between four and five thousand people constitute the population of the town.
THE COUNTY.
The County of Fairfield was established in 1666, the year of the Great London fire. The village of Fairfield became the county seat.
The necessary buildings were erected, and County Courts were held on the second Tuesday in March and the first Tuesday in November each year. The Probate Court was also established in Fairfield. In 1718 the county erected a new Court House, Prison and Jailer's House on the Green. The honor of being a county capital was transferred to the neighboring and aggressive city of Bridgeport in 1853-a neighbor which has largely en- croached upon Fairfield territory, taking into the city limits a goodly portion of the town, absorbing the business interests of the earlier settlement, superseding Fairfield as a Port of Entry, drawing into the rank and file of its business men many of our most prominent citizens.
THE VILLAGE GEEEN.
In platting the settlement the Green became the chief place of interest. Here was located the Meeting House, the Court House, the Jail, the School House, and the Ordinary or Inn. A cleared space for the evolutions of the citizen soldiers was also prepared on the Green.
The Green has verily been the center of life through all the generations. Here the townsmen gathered in Meeting House or Court House or Town Hall for discussing public matters, and for
·
18
the exercise of the right to vote. Here the train band and the militia were drilled-the regulation training days being festive occasions, drawing the people together for gossip and bargain. Ludlow summoned his soldier company to this familiar place and prepared them for an attack upon the Dutch, for which he was reprimanded by his critical associates in the Colonial Governinent.
On the west side of the Green a generous piece of water diver- sified the landscape, making a pond so deep that Mercy Disbrow and Elizabeth Clawson, reputed witches, were thrust into it so as to determine by sinking or swimming whether they were daugh- ters of Belial or not. It is recorded "that they buoyed up like a cork"-evidence which satisfied some onlookers that they be- longed to the Evil One.
The swamp which extended from the pond into the marshes was a favorite resort of wolves and other wild beasts, and the tradition runs that witch meetings often convened in the dark and murky spot, their strange, wild cries sounding hideously upon the midnight air, their baleful influences scattering wide- spread over the community.
The Green is intimately associated with the history of the Fairfield Bar, for here lawyers, judges, litigants, witnesses and spectators gathered for more than two hundred years in the Court House, and sought the settlement of legal difficulties. Some of the most eloquent and learned addresses ever made in Connecticut were delivered in the little, old wooden structure near the middle of the Green. The noon hour saw judge and jury, defendant and plaintiff, witnesses, with friends and foes, mingling amicably together as they passed back and forth be- tween Court House and tavern.
Indians were seen to skulk across the Green and hide behind the trees, to the great alarm of the neighbors on many an occa- sion. There were periods when this peril became so imminent (the year 1675 for example) that the order went forth to stock- ade the town. It was ordered that a Town Magazine be main- tained int 1674. In 1681 it was voted that a stone fort twenty or
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twenty-five rods square be built on the Green. It was voted in 1689 that a stockade be built around the Meeting House, the School House, and the residence of Samuel Wakeman, the minister.
It was on this piece of open field that Colonel Andrew Burr drilled his men when preparing for strife with Indians and Frenchmen. Here General Silliman gathered the militia in the days when our people were fighting for their liberties. The ad- dress to the inhabitants of Connecticut, prepared by Commodore Sir George Collier and Major-General Tryon, which was freely distributed in town, on their arrival off the shore, received the following spirited answer:
Sir:
"Fairfield, July 7th, 1779.
Connecticut having nobly dared to oppose the usurpation of an unjust and oppressive nation, (as flames have preceded the answer to your flag, ) we hope they will still continue, as far as in their power, to protect persecuted and oppressed innocence.
Sam. Whiting, Colonel.
Sir George Collier and Governor Tryon.
Per Mr. Sayer, in fiag."
When the British assaulted and burned the town, General Sil- liman made his headquarters in the Bulkley house on the south edge of the Green, while his troops bivouacked in the open spaces lying beneath his eyes. Two or three nights later, when the town was nothing but a heap of hot ashes, burning cinders, tall blackened chimneys and scorched withered trees, the Conti- mental troops, under Colonel Whiting, covered the Green with their white tents and turned their hands to the alleviation of inisery.
It was in Deacon Bulkley's house on the Green, one of the five left standing, that public worship was conducted by Rev. Andrew Eliot the Sunday following the conflagration. When the local militia left the Green, many of the citizens encamped here until some rude shelters were erected for their use on the various desolated home lots.
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The new Court House was built on the site of the old School House, near the center of the Green, and after September 10th, 1780, the people who worshipped according to the forms of the Established Religion of Connecticut used the building for their service until the new Meeting House erected on the site of the old one was enclosed and made fairly comfortable in March, 1786.
On training days the Green sometimes assumed the appear- ance of an open market, where various articles were offered for sale.
During the War of 1812 the Green became the scene of fresh preparations for war, the militia meeting often for drill, the citi- zens gathering in the open as a convenient rendezvous where they might discuss the affairs of the nation.
When peace was declared a great celebration was here enacted. The day chosen was February the 25th, 1815. Early in the morning a Federal salute was fired by the soldiers of Fort Union on Grover's Hill. Colonel Gershom Burr had placed his artillery on the Green, and an answer to the soldiery of Fort Union was returned.
A procession started from Fort Union at ten in the morning, and marched across Ash Creek and along the highway, passing the Gould homestead, the destination being the Green. It was snowing and the day was inclement, but thousands had gath- ered to rejoice in the event. The gay, erect soldiers, the bands of music, the emblematic craft set on runners, beautifully trimmed with red, white and blue-the flags of England, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, and other nations-the ringing of bells, the blazing of guns, the huzzas of the multitudes, the gayety, enthusiasm and abandon of the day, made the scene one of the most delightful associated with the Green.
There was a religious service in the Meeting House, where Mr. Humphrey, the minister, made an eloquent speech. Then the procession marched up and down the streets so that all the spectators might enjoy a good look at their splendor. Then everybody hastened to the Green and gazed wonderingly upon the steaming, sizzling ox which was barbecued for the entertain- ment of the people.
HOUSE OF WORSHIP OF THE PRIME ANCIENT SOCIETY
2I
The second story of the Court House became the scene of wildest merriment, for here the feast was spread, and the proces- sion of guests streamed in and out through the day. At sunset there was another Federal salute, the town was illuminated, eachı window pane with a tallow or sperm candle, the white, crisp snow enhancing the brilliancy of the picture. A tall, slender tree had been set in the midst of the parade ground, many cross pieces being nailed to it, each end of each cross-piece adorned with a tar barrel. This tar-besmeared, towering object was then set on fire, and the illumination of the town reached its climax.
But the crowning event of the occasion was the ball in the Knapp tavern on the northeast corner of the Green. The ball- room was adorned with much bunting and innumerable candles, the fire places heaped with drift wood shed light and heat upon the gorgeous assembly, all the fine old garments of the neighbor- hood appeared in the pageant, silks brought from China by ad- venturous captains, velvets from the looms of France, laces, plumes, gold chains and sparkling jewels-the treasured heir- looms of a generation. The sober, wearied people tramping over the Green disappeared at nine o'clock when the illumination concluded, but the youth and the gentry tarried at the tavern until the small hours of the night.
There have been many lively scenes upon the Green at various periods of history, sometimes social in character, sometimes political, and sometimes martial and occasionally religious. For the past twelve years it has been the custom of the Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion to invite the public to join with them in the observance of Independence Day on the Green. The over-arching, venerable trees make a natural temple. Beneath this grateful shade the company gathers to hear anew the Declaration of Independence and a brief patriotic address, to join in singing national hymns and to listen to the martial notes of the band. It has become an annual re-consecration of the place and the people to the aims and hopes of the original planters in Fairfield.
Very early in the history of the settlement a whipping-post and the stocks were placed on the Green directly across the
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street from the Meeting House. The records note how one and another offender was sentenced to be whipped twenty or thirty or forty lashes, or to be confined in the stocks three hours, five hours, or a day. Drunkenness, profanity, unseemly carriage, inveagling a girl's affections, petty breaches of the peace, scold- ing, profanation of the Sabbath, witch work in the community, unlicensed use of tobacco, disturbance of meetings and many like crimes were expiated here in full view of the citizens who gathered on Lecture day or on some special occasion. The boys had a way of baiting the law-breakers, reminding them of their sins and crimes, magnifying the punishment by those pestiferous annoyances which are so aptly administered by the rising gener- ation.
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