USA > Connecticut > Tolland County > Tolland > The early history of Tolland. An address delivered before the Tolland county historical society, at Tolland Conn., on the 22d day of August and the 27th day of September, 1861 > Part 1
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VSTE.ES OF
PUBLIC LIBRARY
LYX
OMNIVM
GIVTYM
9
OF THE CITY OF
BOSTON 1832 11878
GIVEN BY
Dr. C. Shattuck
The Early History of Tolland.
AN ADDRESS, 4336.29
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
TOLLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
AT TOLLAND, CONN.,
On the 22d day of August and 27th day of September, 1861.
1
BY LOREN P. WALDO,
..
PRESIDENT OF SAID SOCIETY.
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HARTFORD: PRESS.OF CASE; LOCKWOOD & COMPANY. , 1861.
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7 30
NOTICE.
WHEN I first commenced the preparation of the following pages, I only expected to write an address that might have occupied an hour in its reading before the Historical Society for whom I was preparing it ; but I soon found the subject too extensive and interesting to be thus summarily disposed of. I accordingly enlarged my original plan somewhat, and although my time was too limited to exhaust the sev- eral topics touched upon, yet I can not but believe that enough has been done to render the numerous facts I have recorded worthy of preservation, so that they may become available to him who shall undertake to complete what I have but imperfectly begun. Most of the address was read before the Tolland County Historical Society, at two meetings convened for that purpose, and such was the interest manifested in the subject that very many expressed a strong desire to see the address in print. A proposition was made to have it published in numbers in the Tolland County Record, and I assented to an ar- rangement by which I supposed this would be carried into effect. I therefore set about revising the address and preparing it for publica- tion, in doing which I availed myself of the kindness and assistance of my friend, Sidney Stanley, Esq., who has carefully compared the principal facts with records and his own memoranda, collected by the labor of years. And I would, in this place, acknowledge my obligations to him for his valuable aid in collecting and collating very much of the material contained in these pages.
Having finished the revision of the address, and the paper in whose columns it was designed to appear having suspended, I have by the
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NOTICE.
advice of some of my friends, ventured to print it in a pamphlet form, at my own expense, trusting that some of the sons of Tolland whose history I have endeavored to perpetuate, will be willing to contribute something towards the expenses of publication, by buying copies for their owu use. To them I cheerfully submit the work, and whatever of merit or demerit it may contain, I have some hope it will, at least, be the means of rescuing some incidents from oblivion that might otherwise have been forever lost; and if it shall awaken any interest in the subject of local history, I shall be fully compensated for the labor I have expended.
Dated at Tolland, this 10th day of December, 1861.
LOREN P. WALDO.
ADDRESS. 1
GENTLEMEN OF . THE TOLLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AND FELLOW CITIZENS :
MY present purpose is to speak of the early history of the town of Tolland, and to gather up and preserve some me- mentos of the persons who first peopled its territory. The feeling that prompts to this duty is a sacred one and should be cherished ; for while we are ruminating among the tombs of our ancestors and gathering relics of departed worth, we can not fail to be deeply impressed with the thought that the footsteps of time are fast effacing the most prominent trans- actions and will soon obliterate the last trace of all things earthly. We should most instinctively love to cultivate the remembrance of past events ; to let our affections cluster around the memories of those departed ones whose stations we occupy ; and to look forward with fervent hope to that period in our own existence when kindred spirits will com- mingle in one promiscuous throng. In these exercises we may learn wisdom from the experience of the illustrious dead ; may profit by their spotless examples ; may be encour- aged to imitate their never-dying virtues ;- and to follow more cheerfully in their shining track through life's stormy mazes to the liaven of immortal happiness and peace.
In looking back through the long vista of years since this town was first known, we can discover no incident of thrill- ing interest connected with its history. We can point to no spot where the white and the red man have met in mortal combat ; nor where hostile armies have sought for vengeance
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THE EARLY HISTORY OF TOLLAND.
in the bloody encounter. We do not know that the barbarian war-fire has ever shone upon these hills ; or that the savage war-whoop was ever heard in these valleys. We have no legend of the Indian's stealthy tread-of his merciless attack upon the innocent and defenceless ; or of our soil ever reek- ing with human blood. Nor can we find the footsteps of any distinguished personage upon its territory who has attracted the gaze of the world by his deeds of daring or acts of self- devotion. The history of Tolland, in short, is not calculated to interest the marvelous, nor produce wonder and astonish- ment in the reflecting ; but like a gentle current, bears upon its quiet bosom facts worthy of our notice, and which may afford us both instruction and amusement.
The territory now called Tolland, prior to the year 1700, formed a part of the vast wilderness that covered the western continent before the track of civilization ever visited these shores, and was inhabited only by wild beasts or wilder men. The town of Mansfield was settled about this period, and as the inhabitants of that town had some connection with the people of Windsor it is probable that in their intercourse the hills of Tolland first attracted their notice. This town was originally a part of the township of Windsor, and the earliest records to be found in the town are copies of the transactions of the town of Windsor in relation to the lands included in the town of Tolland. The earliest of these records I have been able to find is under date of April 18th, 1713, at which time a committee was appointed " to lay out a settlement upon the east side of Windsor upon lands formerly purchased of the Indians." This committee performed the duties assigned them and made a report of their doings commencing in these words :
"A chronicle of the acts of the committee empowered by the town of Windsor to lay out a plantation from the east side of Windsor upon lands formerly purchased of the In- dians, April 18, 1713. The committee went upon the land to be laid out, and laid out and bounded highways and several lots as followeth. A highway of twenty rods in breadth, and running due north upon the hill called the meeting-house hill, between the first furlong of lots on the said hill on the
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THE EARLY HISTORY OF TOLLAND.
east side of the highway and the second furlong of lots on west side of the highway ; and is marked out by several marked trees, and stakes and heaps of stones, and goes the same breadth and point of compass until it pass the brook that runs up out of Cedar Swamp."
Then follows a record of seventeen lots of land containing forty acres each, laid out on each side of this highway,- eight of them being on the east side of the highway, bound- ing west upon it, and nine lots being on the west side of the same, bounding east upon it. These lots were each forty rods in width and one hundred and sixty rods in length, being forty rods upon the highway and extending one hundred and sixty rods in rear from the same. One of the lots on the east side of the highway is bounded north on the brook, which is no doubt the stream that runs up out of Cedar Swamp. The lots on the east side were numbered from one to eight inclu- sive, and were granted by the committee to Samuel Pinney, Jr., Hezekiah Porter, Sergt. Henry Wolcott, Joseph Porter, Nathan Gillett, and Samuel Forward. Those on the west side were numbered from one to nine inclusive, and were granted.to Enoch Loomis, Cornelius Birge, Simon Wolcott, Jr., Joshua Loomis, Sergt. Henry Wolcott, Noah Grant, Joseph Rockwell, Jr., Thomas Grant, and Josiah Rockwell. The first and sixth lots on the east side of the highway do not appear to have been assigned to any one.
It has been a matter of some inquiry where this first high- way was located, for it is evident that its location was intended to establish the center of the new town. From the record we learn that it was " twenty rods in breadth," and ran " due north upon the hill called meeting-house hill, between the first furlong of lots on the said hill on the east side of the highway, and the second furlong of lots on the west side of the highway," and that it goes the same breadth and point of " compass until it pass the brook that runs up out of Cedar Swamp." Here we have the point of compass-" due north," -the width of the road-" twenty rods,"-the name of the hill where located-" meeting-house hill,"-and its northern terminus-" the brook that runs up out of Cedar Swamp." Now is there any locality that will answer this description ?
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THE EARLY HISTORY OF TOLLAND.
Some persons have supposed that the village of Tolland is located on this highway. The street, they say, runs nearly north and south, sufficiently to answer the description " due north;" that it is, or was before trespassed upon and shorn of its primeval capaciousness, nearly of the requisite width ; that it is the only eminence in town that can be justly called meeting-house hill, for no other hill was ever honored with an edifice of this character, and the stream of water north of the village, known as " Spencer brook," is the brook that was described as running up out of Cedar Swamp. But a little attention will satisfy the casual observer that the present village could not have been the locality described in this record. For the course of the street is not " due north," but several degrees to the west of north, and before we come to Spencer brook it is north-east. Nor was the street ever twenty rods wide, during its whole length, nor is there any evidence that it was ever called " meeting-house hill." It must be borne in mind that this record was made April 18, 1713, more than two years before the charter of the town was granted, and before its locality or extent could be known. The town of Coventry was incorporated in 1711, but its northern boundary was not then established, as we shall here- after have occasion to see ; and hence the proper place for the center of the contemplated new township must of neces- sity then have been a matter of speculation. It is true, our ancestors in locating a township first sought for an eligible location for a meeting-house, and an indispensable requisite for such location was high land. True to these instincts, the committee that located the first road in Tolland, and laid off the first lots to settlers, commenced upon the highest ground that then was supposed to be nearest the center of the con- templated town. As I have already said, the north line of the town of Coventry was then unknown, but was then and for many years thereafter claimed by the Windsor men to be one mile further south than it was finally found to be. There can therefore be no doubt that the first location of highways and lots in Tolland was made upon Grant's hill, and not upon the hill where the village is now located. This locality
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THE EARLY HISTORY OF TOLLAND.
answers the description in the record. The course of the road now on Grant's hill is generally north and south, and it crosses the brook that runs up out of Cedar Swamp, and the only such brook in Tolland. The name " meeting house hill," was doubtless given to it because it was intended for the center of the new town, which could not even be regarded as a town without containing a meeting-house. But we are able to make this thing certain by the following facts which are conclusive upon this point. The record before spoken of shows that several lots of forty acres each were, by the com- mittee who laid out this road, located on each side of it, and were granted to particular individuals. The survey of one of those lots is in these words, copied from the record afore- said :-
The seventh lot is by the committee bounded east by the " highway ; south on the sixth lot ; west on undivided lands ; north on the eighth lot ; and containing forty acres, being in breadth forty rods north and south, and runs from the street one hundred and sixty rods west. This lot is by the com- mittee granted to Joseph Rockwell, Jun."
The sixth lot described in this record was by this commit- tee granted to Noah Grant, and the eighth to Thomas Grant.
On the first book of records of lands of the town of Tolland, at page seventy-nine, I find a record of a deed of land from Joseph Rockwell of Windsor, in the county of Hartford, to John Abbott, of Andover, in the county of Essex and com- monwealth of Massachusetts, blacksmith ; dated March 14, 1719-20, which land in said deed is described as follows :
" My dwelling house and house lot in the township of Tol- land, said lot containing forty acres, being forty rods in breadth, and one hundred and threescore rods in length, be it more or less, butting and bounding west upon my own land lately set out to me by the committee of the town of Tolland in our first division of land, together with all the divisions of lands appertaining to or belonging to said home- lot, of forty acres, bounding easterly on the town highway, and south on the home-lot of Noah Grant, and north by lands firstly belonging to Thomas Grant, Jun., of Windsor, but now in possession of Nathaniel Wallis."
John Abbott the first was the great grandfather of Mrs. Sally Bliss, the wife and afterwards the widow of John Bliss,
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THE EARLY HISTORY OF TOLLAND.
Esq., late of Tolland, deceased. It is a traditionary fact in the family of Mr. Abbott, who is now lineally represented in Tolland in the person of Mrs. Lucius S. Fuller, that he came from Andover, Essex county, Mass., to the town of Tolland in 1720 ; that he bought lands of Joseph Rockwell of Wind- sor, that he lived in Tolland from 1720 to the day of his death, Nov. 25, 1779, then in the eighty-fifth year of his age ; and that he owned the farm and lived in the house lately owned and occupied by Alfred Young, now in the possession and occupancy of James A. Brown, situated on Grant's hill. It follows that the place now occupied by Mr. James A. Brown was the place where John Abbott lived and died ; was by him purchased of Joseph Rockwell, to whom the same was granted by the committee who located the first road in Tolland on meeting-house hill, and that this place is bounded easterly on that road. The meeting-house hill, named in the first record in Tolland, is now Grant's hill.
This committee made other locations and allotments of lands on the 3d day of March, and 6th day of April, 1714, which were also duly recorded,-a copy of this record was taken from the records of Windsor, August 6, 1719, certified by the com- mittee, Matthew Allyn, Roger Wolcott, and Timothy Thrall, and was recorded in the records of lands in the town of Tolland, November 19, 1719. The entry in Tolland records is certified as follows : "November 19, 1719. I, Joseph Benton, received the foregoing record and accordingly it was recorded by me. Joseph Benton, town clerk."
The first movement towards an act of incorporation for the town was made in the year 1713. The earliest record is under date of May 9, 1713, and is in the words and figures fol- lowing, viz. : -
" To the Honorable the General Assembly in Hartford, May 14, 1713.
The petition of us the subscribers humbly showeth : That whereas your petitioners being inhabitants of this colony, and the descendants of those that have for a long time con- tributed to the support of the same, being through the numerous increase of our families much straitened for want of land whereon to make improvement and get our livelihood ;
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THE EARLY HISTORY OF TOLLAND.
and being encouraged by your honors' wonted goodness to encourage the settling of plantations in the waste lands within the colony, and having viewed a township of land on the east side of the great river, ordered by the town of Wind- sor and the heirs of Mr. Thomas Burnham, deceased, to be settled into a plantation bounded as in their agreement doth fully appear ;- many of us having already been out with the committee and taken up lots in the same, and shall with those that are desirous to settle with us, speedily settle a fair town there if the government discourage us not; we therefore humbly pray your honors would grant that a township may be made of said land, and that they may be patented to and holden by such inhabitants as shall be admitted by the com- mittee appointed by the town of Windsor, and heirs of Mr. Thomas Burnham, deceased, and your petitioners shall ever pray." Dated, May 9, 1713.
This petition is signed by the following persons, viz. :
Baker, Joseplı
Grant, Samuel
Porter, Nathaniel
Barber, Benjamin
Grant, Noah
Porter, Joseph
Birge, Cornelius
Grant, Nathaniel
Rockwell, Joseph
Bissell, Josiah
Gridley, John
Rockwell, Samuel
Chapman, Henry
Hoskins, Anthony
Stiles, Thomas
Chapman, Simon
Holcomb, Benaiah
Stiles, Henry, Jr.
Cook, Nathaniel
Huntington, John
Skinner, Joseph
Cook, Ebenezer
Loomer, H.
Stoughton, Israel
Cook, Daniel
Loomis, Stephen
Smith, Philip
Drake, Nathaniel
Loomis, Ichabod
Wolcott, Roger
Eno, John
Loomis, David
Watson, Nathaniel
Ellsworth, Samuel
Loomis, Joshua
Wolcott, Charles
Edgar, Thomas
Marshall, Samuel Mills, Jedidiah
Willes, Joshua, Sen.
Gillett, Cornelius
Phelps, Joseph Phelps, William
Willes, Joshua
Gaylord, Jonas
Pinney, Humphrey
Willes, Samuel
Griswold, Daniel, Jr.
Pinney, Jonathan
Warren, Robert
Gillett, Nathaniel, Jr.
Pinney, Nathaniel
Loomis, Daniel. 59 in all.
Griswold, Thomas
Porter, Daniel
Wolcott, Henry
Eggleston, Thomas
Farnsworth, Joseph
Willes, John
The next movement was at the General Assembly in May, 1715, when the following petition was presented :
" To the Honorable the General Assembly sitting at Hart- ford, May 12, 1715: The petition of the town of Windsor humbly showeth :- That your petitioners did in the year 1636, purchase of the Indians certain lands on the east side of Windsor ; and since the town has immeasurably increased and many inhabitants forced to seek after new settlements, and the town did in conjunction with the heirs of Mr. Thomas Burnham release their claims to said lands unto such sober inhabitants as should orderly settle on the same, paying only the prime cost ; and therefore several sober and religious
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THE EARLY HISTORY OF TOLLAND.
persons viewing the same, are very desirous to settle the same, and several families are already there, giving a fair prospect of a likely town-if this Honorable Assembly would gra- ciously grant a town there, and the land to be holden by such as shall orderly settle on the same : which we pray this Hon- orable Assembly would graciously do; and we beg leave fur- ther to move them thereto by the following considerations :
1. The Assembly hath hitherto done the like on like occa- sions, and it hath been found the best way to settle the country quietly ;-
2. Our purchase was improved before his Majesty for obtain- ing the colony patent, and he by it moved thereby to grant the lands to the colony :- Therefore we pressing the same arguments to the Assembly, hope to find the same favor ;-
3. It is most reasonable the ancient inhabitants who have supported the colony should by the government be allowed to settle the lands before strangers and without paying exces- sive prices to all pretenders, which hath led us into all imag- inable confusion already.
And your petitioners shall ever pray."
"At a town meeting in Windsor, March 21, 1714-15-It was voted : that the above written petition should be prefer- red to the General Assembly in May with their desire it may be granted. Test, John Moore, Register."
This petition is now on file in the archives of the state at Hartford, and at the Assembly in May, 1715, the following resolution was passed. .
"And it is further resolved by this Assembly upon the peti- tion of Windsor men that they shall, after the regulation of Coventry according to the foregoing act of this Assembly, have a township of six miles square laid out to them which shall be called Tolland, bounded on the south with Coventry, and east with Willimantic river ; and in case the claimers mentioned in the preceding act shall pay in proportion to what is in the said act settled with respect to Coventry, and also by their inhabitants therein scated by Windsor committee as in the aforesaid act is provided for the like quantity of land, the said inhabitants settled by Windsor committee to pay all the charges of laying out and settling the said land,-that a quit- claim of this governments claim shall also be in like manner executed by the Governor and Secretary and delivered to the claimers, for the claim of this government for so much of the said township as shall fall within the bounds of the said claimers. And it is further resolved that a quitclaim of this .
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THE EARLY HISTORY OF TOLLAND.
governments right shall also be executed in like manner by the Governor and Secretary to Col. Matthew Allyn, and Roger Wolcott Esqr., Timothy Thrall and John Ellsworth all of Windsor, in trust for themselves and such others as shall by them be admitted to settle in said township, for all that part of said township that lieth without the bounds of said pro- prietors claims as aforesaid. Provided the said Allyn and others do pay to the public treasury of this colony for the said land in proportion to what is in this act before stated in respect of Coventry ; and it is further provided that none of the claims in the foregoing act shall be construed to oblige any of the aforesaid inhabitants seated on any of the said lands, who have procured the claims of the said propri- etors and have instruments under their hands to show for the same, and it is also to be understood and it is hereby resolved that the said proprietors if need be, shall give fur- ther and better assurance to the said inhabitants to whom the said proprietors have sold their claims and received the money for the same. Provided also, that the above men- tioned claimers do or shall well and truly pay or cause to be paid into the colony treasury the aforesaid sum or sums on or before the 15th day of May next, or else they shall not claim the benefit of this act, any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding."
By this resolution, the Windsor men became entitled to a township six miles square, to be bounded 'south on Coventry, and east on Willimantic river, and to be called Tolland. The fee of this territory was to be vested in Matthew Allyn, Roger Wolcott, Timothy Thrall and John Ellsworth in trust for themselves, and for such others as should by them be ad- mitted to settle in the township. These gentlemen, it will be perceived, were the committee who located the first high- way, and made the first allotments in Tolland, April 18, 1713. These trustees, on the 11th day of May, 1719, conveyed by deed of that date, the north part of Tolland to fifty-one persons named in said deed ; the portion of land conveyed in said deed was described as follows :-
" Bounded south on a line east and west at the south end of Shenups pond, east on Willimantic river, and is to be in length from Willimantic river west six miles, and in breadth is from said line drawn east and west at the south end of Shenups pond so far north as to make the six miles from Coventry north bounds."
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THE EARLY HISTORY OF TOLLAND.
The following are the names of the grantees in this deed :
Baker,
Eaton, Daniel
Paulk, Samuel
Benton, Samuel, Sen.
Ellsworth, Jonathan
Porter, Hezekiah
Benton, Samuel, Jun.
Ellsworth, John
Porter, Daniel
Benton, Joseph, Sen.
Forward, Samuel
Rockwell, Samuel
Benton, Joseph, Jun.
Gillett, Nathan
Royce, Joseph
Birge, Cornelius
Grant, Noah
Rockwell, Joseph, Jun.
Bissell, Ephraim's heirs
Grant, Nathaniel
Stearns, Shubael
Birge, Joseph
Hatch, Joseplı
Stoughton, Thomas
Brace, Stephen
Hinsdale, Barnabas
Taylor, Nathaniel
Cook, Daniel
Huntington, Christopher
Tueker, Ephraim
Coy, Samuel
Huntington, John
Utley, Samuel
Chapman, Simon
Loomis, Enoch
Woleott, Henry
Caswell, Matthew
Loomis, Moses
Wolcott, Simon
Drake, Joseph
Loomis, Joshua
Wallis, Nathaniel
Ellis, Thomas
Nye, Ebenezer
West, Samuel
Emmons, Peter
Pinney, Samuel
Willes, Joshua
Eaton, William
Peek, Joseph
Whipple, Thomas.
I can not find any record of the original title of the south- ern part of the town before the year 1718, of which I shall by and by speak. There can be no doubt it was, by some conveyance, vested in the committee who commenced making the allotments in April, 1713. The petition of the town of Windsor contains an allegation that the town did "in the year 1636 purchase of the Indians certain lands on the east side of Windsor," and " did in conjunction with the heirs of Mr. Thomas Burnham, release their claims to said lands unto such sober inhabitants as should orderly settle the same; " which clearly evinces the fact that some portion of the territory contained in the proposed township had already been the subject of a conveyance. And the resolution of the General Assembly authorized the conveyance to Matthew Allyn and his associates only so much of the land that was within the six miles square " that lieth without the bounds of' said proprietors claims as aforesaid." It is therefore obvious that the title to the south part of Tolland was originally de- rived from the Indians, and it was the source of bitter con- troversies during the early settlement of the town. From what tribe of Indians this title was obtained, does not appear. Before the settlement at Windsor in 1633, the territory now embraced in the State of Connecticut was inhabited and probably owned by several small Indian tribes. But the boundaries between these tribes were never very well defined, and indeed, in some instances, different tribes claimed the
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