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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
1
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01100 7744
4.40 6r 7443
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014
https://archive.org/details/historictownsofc00robe_0
C 74 76 77.
HISTORIC TOWNS OF THE
CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY
BY GEORGE S. ROBERTS
ROBSON & ADEE PUBLISHERS SCHENECTADY, N. Y. .
000 C
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1774437
ESSEX 510. 7
LYME 4' 22
TOWN POST, SAYBROOK.
On which public notices were displayed and about which the men gathered to discuss church and town affairs or the latest news from England.
c 171 7 € .7°
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F 847 .75:
Roberts, George Simon, 1860-
Historic towns of the Connecticut River Valley, by George S. Roberts. Schenectady, N. Y., Robson & Adce .[1906]
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vii, 494 p. front., illus. 25em.
-- SHELF CARP "Illustrations from photographs by W. Earl Weller." . Title within red ornamental border.
1. Connecticut Valley-Hist.
162501
6 -- 24568
Library of Congress
F12.C7R6
Copyright ..
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74 7€ 77
F.847.75
Copyrighted by ROBSON & ADEE 1906
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ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY W. EARL WELLER.
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
Townpost, Saybrook, frontispiece.
Nathaniel Lynde's Grave in the Saybrook Cemetery 22
Lady Fenwick's grave, Saybrook .. 24
The site of the house and lot given by Nathaniel Lynde for the Colle- giate School of Saybrook, which became Yale University. 26
First catalogue of Yale College. 27
Gravestone of Rev. Theo. Buckingham in Saybrook Cemetery. 28
Original mill stone on the site of Saybrook's first grist mill on the road leading to the point .. 33
The Lord House, built in 1665. 37
Whittlesey House, Saybrook Point. 38
Governor Yale's snuff box. 47
Hayden House, built in 1766.
52
A glimpse of the sail loft and the warehouse built by Abner Parker in 1753
53
The house built by Robert Lay in 1730, Essex. 54
A flint-lock pistol of great size, bearing the date of 1730. 55
The rock upon which Whitefield stood when he preached to a multi- tude in Lyme. 58 60
McCurdy House, Lyme.
62
Mather House, Lyme.
" Blackhall" the seat of the Griswolds when Miss Ursula Wolcott courted her shy cousin Matthew, and also the home of " The Black- hall Boys "
64 65
Franklin mile stone, Lyme.
The home of Dr. Benjamin Gale, who died in 1790 68
Rev. Jonathan Pierson's silver cider mug. 69 71
Stanton House ..
Yale Monument, Clinton. 73 81
Old Church, East Haddam:
Nathan Hale Schoolhouse, East Haddam. 83
-The landing, East Haddam. 81 85
Old Congregational Church, East Haddam
Moodus
Cobalt Mine, Cobalt, Ct.
Old South Wesleyan University, Middletown.
Lead Mine 97
The rock marking the site of the first meeting-house in Middletown .. 100
Michael Burnham Tavern, Washington street, where St. John's Lodge, No. 2, F. and A. M., held its first meeting in 1854. 108
Wesleyan University, Middletown 109
Wesleyan University, Middletown IIO
Original Street, Cromwell. 120
River Road, Cromwell. 121
Stowe House, Cromwell. 122
Brooke House. Cromwell. 123
The Ranney House, Cromwell. 124
Grave of the Rev. Thomas Ranney in the Old Cemetery. 125
88 89 9-1
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vi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
Giant Poplar on Joel West's Place The Rev. Joel West's House .. 141
138
Oldest house in Portland. 145
Webb House, Wethersfield. 149
Congregational Church, Wethersfield. 152
Silas Deane House, Wethersfield.
155
Wethersfield Elm .. 158
Oldest house in Wethersfield .. 160
Second oldest house in Wethersfield. 162
Old Tavern, Wethersfield. 164
Gideon Wells House, Glastenbury. 173
The Holister House, built by one of the original proprietors
175
Old Talcott House ..
177
The Old Talcott House
179
State House, Hartford. 193
Hartford, Conn.
201
Oldest Church, Hartford.
210
Home of Noah Webster, of dictionary and spelling-book fame, West Hartford ..
221
First Webster's Dictionary.
223
Scene on Connecticut river, near Windsor 23.4
Oldest Church in Windsor. 238
Location of first ship yard, Windsor
2.40
The Ellsworth Mansion 242
Windsor 243
Old Day House. West Springfield. 286
Monument of Miles Morgan, one of the foremost of the early settlers. 293 Chapin Monument, Springfield. 300
Old mile post on Armory hill, Springfield, Mass. 305
Site of Richard Falley's Armory, at the foot of Mt. Tekoa. 3II
Smith College, Northampton. 317
A bit of Dear Old New England. 319
Round Hill Hotel, Northampton. 321
" Paradise " Northampton, in the rear of Smith College. 324
Jonathan Edward's Elm, Northampton. 325
In " Paradise," Smith College, Northampton.
326
Williston Seminary, Easthampton.
329
Payson Church, Easthampton
332
Pulpit Elm. East Hampton.
334
Sword given to Capt. Smith by Burgoyne.
316
Site of Regicide House, Hadley ...
348
The only remaining portion of Captain Smith's House, where Bur- .
goyne spent the night while on his way to Boston after the surrender
350
Indian Trail, Hadley 352
Colonel Eleazer Porter's house, end view. 353
Colonel Eleazer Porter's house. Hadley, built in 1713. 354
Fine specimen of Colonial door in Colonel Eleazer Porter's house, built in 1713. 355
357
Birth place of founder of Smith College (in foreground) and house where she died (in background) .
358
Mill River, Hatfield.
359
Amherst College
362
Amherst College .. 364
366
Rev. Williams' House, Deerfield.
370
Amherst College (Chapel)
Site of Patriots' Liberty Pole 37 1
Captain John Sheldon's House. 373
Captain John Sheldon's House, Deerfield. 375
Jennie Lynd Elm, Hatfield.
C 17 :7 .7
vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
Bloody Brook, South Deerfield. 376
King Philip's Seat, South Deerfield. 378
Stebbins House, Deerfield. 380
Old Morgan Homestead, Bellows Falls.
Old Morgan Tavern, Bellows Falls ... 400
402
Howe House, South Vernon (on the Vermont side) 406
South Vernor 408
Old Mill, Brattleboro 4II
Site of Fort Dummer, Brattleboro, now Vernon. 415
Scene near Brattleboro .. 420
Site of the first bridge across the Connecticut River. 430 Stevens House, Charlestown. 439
Gov. Hubbard House, Charlestown 441
Gen. Hunt House, Charlestown. 44-4
At Charlestown .. 447
Old Court House, Windsor ... 472
The First Court House, Windsor. 475
c 74 76 77
THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
A YEAR or two before or after 1880, at a Commencement banquet of the graduating class at Amherst College, especial attention was paid to post prandial speaking. Amherst had been famous for many decades, and was the envy of the other New England Colleges and Universities, for the graceful ease and forcefulness of its undergraduates as offhand speakers. And so, when Amherst men prepared themselves for an especial occasion, the speaking was well worth hearing. On this occasion the principal toasts and the sentiments that followed them on the menu were:
" The West; the place where we raise corn".'
The student chosen to respond to this toast was the pick of the western men. His name cannot be recalled, but the impression he made is vivid. His response to the toast was a credit to him- self and the vast, fertile territory he represented. The other toast was :
"The East; the place where we raise MEN ".
Howard Bridgman, a typical Yankee boy from that center of Yankeedom, Northampton, was chosen to perform the happy task of maintaining the supremacy of the East. He reviewed the glorious past of New England, and the achievements of her men and women, in so masterful and yet so simple a manner, that he captured all hearts, and enthusiasm burst all bounds.
Of the entire territory known as the East, there is one long, narrow district that stands forth beyond all others as being the one that has produced a purer type of the Nation's MEN than any other. The river which has given this territory its name starts on its course far up in the rugged wilderness of New Hampshire and, flowing southward between dense forests, pre- cipitous cliffs, and fertile meadows of vast acreage, finally loses itself in the waters of the Sound between the shores of the beauti- ful and venerable Towns of Old Saybrook and Old Lyme. In the picturesque language of the Indians, it is "The Smile of God "; to civilized men, it is The Connecticut Valley.
[2]
The Connecticut Valley.
BEFORE ITS SETTLEMENT.
O F all the histories that have been written on New Eng- land, general and local, there is one that is pre-eminent. . It is vast, profound and yet simple. It is inspiring, entrancing and absorbing, for it is the history of the work of the Jehovah, written by His amanuensis, Nature, in the rocks and strata of the Connecticut Valley.
The following is quoted from the article by W. H. C. Pynchon, who has told the grand story (in types, for the benefit of those who are unable to read the story told by Nature in the rocks) so vividly, finely and entertainingly in "The Geography and Geology of Hartford ":
The rugged hills which compose the western, and, in lesser degree, the eastern areas, are formed of rocks resembling in many respects the group to which granite belongs - rocks which are very ancient, dating far back into the early history of the world. The rivers which flow among these hills have open valleys, showing that the portion of the land above the sea-level has been practically unchanged for ages. But in the central portion of the State these ancient highlands sink down into a broad trough running from Long Island Sound far up in to Massachusetts, and this trough is filled with rocks of much later date - whose history is one of the most interesting to be found in the great book of nature.
Long ago, before man lived upon the earth,- when huge reptile forms, long since utterly passed away, clambered over the hills or roamed along the muddy, shores,- the trough was filled by a great lake or arm of the sea. Into its quiet waters ran streams from the surrounding hills, bringing down into the lake mud and sand from the land over which they flowed. These sank to the bottom and formed there beds of sand and clay.
Then a strange thing happened. Somewhere in this region, which is now so peaceful, a volcano burst forth and rolled floods of molten lava over the whole area. This lava turned much of the water in the lake to steam, and, spreading itself over the beds of land-waste at the bottom, there cooled and hardened into rock. Three times and more has the lake
[3]
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THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
lain in the trough, its bottom covered by beds of clay and sand, and three times has the lava overflowed the region, for we find now in central Connecticut three great sheets of volcanic "trap "- as the rock is called, lying one above another, each one resting on beds of clay, sand or pebbles, now hardened into rocks known respectively as "shale", "sandstone" and "conglomerate ".
Now, how can we see these three layers of lava, if they lie one above another? How is it that we can see more than the top of one, even if we should find that there is no land-waste on top of that? It is in some such way as this: Long after the last lava had hardened, the region was greatly disturbed and everything was tilted, so that the sheets of lava and the rocks lying between them, instead of lying horizontal, sloped strongly to the east. Since then there has been great wearing away of the land by the weathering of the rocks, and the streams have carried away the land- waste to the sea. But the trap is much harder than the sandstone and shale, so that it stands up above the country in high ridges running north and south. At the time the rocks were tilted, they were also greatly broken, so that vast fragments -miles in length - have been separated from each other in different parts of central Connecticut. But for all this, the geologist finds plainly, that these fragments belong to three different sheets of lava, which mark three different periods of volcanic action.
The second volcanic eruption was apparently the greatest, for it left a sheet of lava which is in some places 500 feet thick. It is the up-turned edge of this great sheet which forms the various "mountains" of central Connecticut. Good examples of these are Newgate Mountain, Talcott Mountain, Farmington Mountain, the "Hanging Hills." of Meriden; Lamentation Mountain, north-east of Meriden; Durham range, including Higby and Beseck Mountains, and "Three Notches"; Toket Mountain, in North Guilford, and Pond Rock * * * at Lake Saltonstall. East and West Rocks, at New Haven, cannot be reckoned among these, as their history seems to be somewhat different from that of any of the mountains mentioned.
But perhaps the most remarkable remains of life, those which are certainly the most famous, are the so called "Connecticut River Bird Tracks". These are foot-marks left in the mud of the ancient shores by the creatures that roamed over them long ago. The mud has long since hardened into shale, but the foot-marks remain intact to the present time. They are found in various places, but probably the most famous localities are Turner's Falls, in Massachusetts, and the great sandstone quarries at Portland, Connecticut.
On Shepherd's Island, in the Connecticut, at Northampton, a mile above Hockanum ferry and nearly opposite the mouth of Fort River, some excellent specimens of these foot-marks have been found. There was for many years and probably still is, a flagstone in the sidewalk, not far from the Mansion House, in Northampton, with a foot-mark measuring eighteen inches.
5
BEFORE ITS SETTLEMENT.
The tracks in many cases resemble those of turkeys, but are often as much as a foot in length. Careful study, however, shows that they be- longed, not to birds, but to huge reptile forms. Some of these appear to have walked almost entirely upon their hind legs, since the prints left by the small fore feet are only occasionally found.
There is one special locality in the vicinity of Meriden which should not be left unmentioned. It is well known that in the early stages of a great volcanic eruption vast quantities of ashes, or, rather fine dust, are thrown into the air from the crator. These again to the earth, sometimes at great distances, but they fall thickest in the neighborhood of the volcano. * * * Sometimes, also, blocks of half-molten rock are cast into the air, falling to earth again among the ashes. The overflow of lava is normally one of the later phenomena of an eruption. At a place in a low ridge in front of Lamentation Mountain, now known far and wide as the Ash Bed, this whole story of an eruption may be seen written in the rocks. At this place is a great bed of volcanic ashes, now hardened into gray rock, and among them may be seen the masses of rock which were cast out, red-hot and smoking, by the forgotten volcano of long ago, while above lies the lava sheet that was spread over the whole. when the first fury of the eruption had subsided. The weathering and the changes of the rocks have laid bare the whole record, and it may be read plainly in the low cliff which lies on the east of the New Haven turnpike, about two and a half miles north of Meriden.
Thus, it almost seems as if the sublime tragedies and struggles through which Nature passed, to produce the exquisite beauties and peacefulness of the Connecticut Valley, were but forerunners of those tragedies and struggles through which the first settlers passed, in a lesser degree, to produce an almost perfect type of American manhood.
After these great forces of Nature had subsided - how long only the most profound students of such subjects can guess - the tender and beautiful side of the Grand Dame began to show itself and, in time, one of the most beautiful valleys of the Earth re- sulted. While there is little doubt that the Rhine and the Hudson, with their immediate scenery, are far more romantic, there is absolutely no doubt that the Connecticut Valley, as a valley (with its forests and mountains in the far north; its vast fertile meadows ; broken by occasional ranges and individual mountains of rock, with precipitous faces ; and lovely tumbled up hills in the midst of its length; and at the far south, near the Sound, bits of dainty scenery here and there, little known, perhaps, but neverthe- less worth a journey to see), is much more lovely. When Nature produced New England she was a philanthropist for she was
6
THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
bountiful in her beneficence. When she produced the valley through which the Connecticut flows for three hundred and fifty miles, she was an artist - The Artist - and gave to man almost every conceivable variety of valley scenery from the salt water, at its southern extremity, to the sparkling sweet water of Con- necticut Lake, at its northern extremity. So, with all these beauties of scene: the great fertility of the meadows and the unlimited supply of fish in the river and game on its shores, it was eminently proper that the Indian, who lived close to Nature, should have chosen the most charming portion of this valley for his home. And when the white men came to Massachusetts the Indians told them of this wonderful valley, given by Kiehtan as a mark of his especial favor toward men. And when the white men saw it they loved it and made it what it is to-day, the center of all that is best, in men and women ; in homes ; in morals ; and in cultivation. And so, from the first awful birth-agony, of which Professor Pynchon has told, was born from Mother Nature, The Connecticut Valley.
NEW ENGLAND INDIANS.
W ITHOUT taking into consideration the aboriginal inhabitants of Maine, the most reliable authorities say, that when New England was first settled by Anglo-Saxons there were five principal, or great, Indian Nations there which included great numbers of minor Tribes, and that all of these were branches of the Algonquins, that being the French name for that other word describing the same peoples - Chippeways. The Algonquins extended from the Gulf of St. Lawrence down the Atlantic coast to the southern boundary of Virginia, thence westward to the Mississippi, thence northward through what are now the States of Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, beyond the Great Lakes to the shores of Great Slave Lake.
The names of the five Nations in New England and their locations were: The Pawtuckets, who possessed the sea coast of New Hampshire; the Massachusetts, about Massachusetts Bay ; the Pokanokets at Plymouth, extending over Cape Cod; the Narragansetts, occupying that portion of Rhode Island bordering Narragansett Bay ; and the Pequots - or Pequods - occupying the south-eastern quarter of Connecticut, about New London, Groton and Stonington.
Directly north of the Pequots was the Mohegan Tribe, closely allied to, and probably a portion of, the Pequots. On the Con- necticut River were the Nehantic Tribe, at Lyme; the Machi- moodus Tribe, in East Haddam, then called by the name of the tribe ; the Wongung Tribe, in Chatham ; the Mattabesett Tribe, at Middletown ; the Podunk Tribe, at East Hartford ; the Quinni- piacks extended from New Haven along the shore to Milford, Derby, Stratford, Norwalk, Stamford, and Greenwich. There were, in addition, numerous other smaller tribes located all over the southern portion of Connecticut, which were probably nothing more than a collection of a few families of one or another of the great Tribes, which had settled in favorable spots within the limits of the great Tribe's bounds.
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THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
Of the five principal Indian Nations, the Pequots were the most powerful, because the most savage and cruel. There was a tradi- tion among the other Indians, that the Pequots came down from somewhere in the interior, not so very long before the arri- val of white men, and conquered all tribes with which they came in contact and finally settled upon the south-western portion of Connecticut. When the English arrived they found the Great Sachem Sassacus strongly fortified upon a hill in Groton, which he made his headquarters, whence he made raids upon his enemies -- and all other Indian Tribes were his enemies except the Mohawks of New York - and to which he returned on such rare occasions as when the enemy were too numerous for him and his band. It is rather odd, that while the Mohawks, the dominating tribe of the Five Nations, or Iroquois, claimed and collected tribute from all tribes within four or five hundred miles of their principal castle in New York State, the Pequots were exempt from paying tribute to them. This fact causes some persons, who have made a study of the subject, to believe that the Pequots were either a branch of the Mohawks, or were closely allied to them, before they came into Connecticut.
The number of Indians in New England, at the time of the first white settlements, has been variously estimated at from five to twenty thousand (Trumbull estimated that there were, in Con- necticut alone, twenty thousand) but it is doubtful if there was, at any one time since the formation of the North American Con- tinent, as many as twenty thousand Indians in the territory east of the Hudson river. Bancroft estimated the entire Algonquin race at but ninety thousand. When it is remembered that the Algonquins extended from Maine south to Virginia and north- west to Great Slave Lake, it is even less probable that New England had as many as twenty thousand at one time. Vermont · was without aboriginal inhabitants and so were portions of Massa- chusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. In fact the Indians inhab- ited only the sea-coast regions and the shores of the great rivers, not many miles from their mouths. All that vast territory east of the Hudson River, from the St. Lawrence down to the northern boundary of Connecticut, was uninhabited by natives because of their dread of the Mohawks.
The politics of the New England Indians was simple and
9
NEW ENGLAND INDIANS.
primitive. A hereditary sachemdom was the only authority recog- nized by them. The power of the sachem was absolute, but when a matter of more than ordinary importance arose, he consulted with the Pansies, who were braves chosen for their prominence in war, cunning and speechmaking. The real power of the sachem depended much upon his personal character and magnetism.
Their religion gave them many gods but they believed in one great spirit, called Kiehtan, the creator of the world and the spirit into whose presence the souls of good Indians went after death. He was the spirit of the " happy hunting ground". Hobbamock, their devil, was the source of all evil. As fear was more powerful with them than love, Hobbamock received the majority of their prayers and offerings. Besides these two chief gods, there were many of a local nature, that is, whose powers or dominion were local, who were known by the collective name of Manitou. The spirits known as Manitou controlled thought, the sentiments of love and hate and the different functions of the body ; they were spirits of the woods and fields, of the hunt. In fact, whenever anything took place which they could not understand they would say, "Manitou ", meaning it is a god. Especially fine qualities of character or of personal appearance in men, beasts, birds and fish they regarded as a god. The ships, clothing, arms, agricultural implements, books and writing of the first white men they called Manitouwock, meaning they are gods. The worship of the good- god, Kiehtan, was by thanksgiving for favors received; the worship of the devil. Hobbamock, was of a flattering nature in the hope that the evil he could do would not be done, so it was to him that all their prayers and sacrifices were offered. In their sacrifices to the god, the Indians differed strikingly from many Christians ; who drop a nickel into the contribution plate so that it will have the rattle of a silver quarter ; for they gave their most valued and cherished belongings and gave them cheerfully. They believed that when thieves, liars and murderers applied to Kiehtan for admission he would turn them away as there was no room for them and so they were obliged to wander forever in misery, hunger and poverty. This was the Indian's hell.
The New England Indians placed their heaven - the abode of Kiehtan - in the south-west, and what could have been more natural? They knew that the bitter wind and the freezing cold
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THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
came from the north; the damp, chilly, piercing wind from the east, but from the south-west came a sweet-scented, warm, life- giving breeze that could only originate in a blessed country. That there were earnest, faithful Indians as honestly devoted to the only religion of which they had any knowledge as were the Puritans to the religion of Christ, the early white settlers knew. Old Mamoosun, of the Mattabesetts, was a striking example of the just Indian. He surely deserved to journey to that fair country in the south-west, where all that was perfect for Indian. happiness existed.
As a rule the " River Indians " as they were called by the set- tlers, and the settlers lived in peace and neighborliness. It was not unusual for an Indian and a settler to hunt together, nor for the Indian to share his food and shelter with the white man who had neither. And on their part, the settlers of the Connecticut Valley dealt honestly with the Indians. Their lands were bought and paid for. If the religion of the English did not appeal to the Indian, the lives and example of the former had their influence upon him. One thing the people of the Connecticut Valley and in fact, all New England, can boast of is, that their ancestors, the early settlers, did not deliberately debase the Indians to a lower level than that upon which Nature placed them, by forcing rum upon them in trade for pelts so that the half drunken savage would sell his stock for more rum, at an infinitesimal portion of its real value, as did the Dutch of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys.
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