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The Educational History of
OLD LYME
Connecticut
1635-1935
By MAY HALL JAMES
Published for The New Haven Colony Historical Society by the
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
This book, based on extensive study of manuscripts and printed records, shows some of the changing aspects of life in one of the oldest towns in Connecticut from early to modern times. While the primary object has been to indicate how changing conditions have affected and di- rected education and schooling, the author has, nevertheless, in- cluded much social, political, and religious history. The Lyme records are not only available in consider- able quantity, but are also in an excellent state of preservation, and as a result this volume gives a thor- oughly delightful picture of town life in New England over a period of three hundred years.
Illustrated $3.00
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01796 8394
GENEALOGY 974.602 L98JAM
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BLACK HALL DISTRICT SCHOOL, OLD LYME.
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The Educational History of Old Lyme, Connecticut 1635-1935
By
May Hall James Associate Professor of Social Sciences New Haven State Teachers College
New Haven: Published for New Haven Colony Historical Society by Yale University Press London, Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press 1939
Copyright, 1939, by Yale University Press. Printed in the United States of America.
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.
DEDICATED TO JUDGE WILLIAM MARVIN LONG-TIME CLERK OF THE TOWN OF LYME, LINEAL DESCENDANT OF ONE OF HER MOST DISTINGUISHED PROPRIETORS, REIKIDE MAQUIN, CUSTODIAN AND INTERPRETER OF HER ANCIENT RECORDS, GENEROUS CONTRIBUTOR TO THIS STUDY.
BANCROFT: "He that will understand the political character of New England must study the consti- tution of its towns, its schools and its militia."
Acknowledgments.
T HE writer wishes to express her indebtedness to the faculty of the Department of Education in the Gradu- ate School of Yale University for their inspiration and cooperation in the furtherance of this study. Particular appre- ciation is extended to Frank E. Spaulding, Sterling Professor of Education, Emeritus, for criticism and approval of the original study; to Professor Clyde M. Hill, who, as Director of the Yale Supervision of Old Lyme Schools, gave valuable counsel relative to their recent reorganization; and to Profes- sor John S. Brubacher who reviewed the original manuscript.
To Judge William Marvin, town clerk of Lyme, the writer is indebted for personal guidance covering many months spent in the reading and interpretation of the original records of the town. His intimate knowledge of the early history of Lyme made this study possible.
Mr. George Godard, the late state librarian of Connecticut and his staff gave every assistance in locating the available rec- ords of Lyme and Old Lyme. Mr. Godard also very gener- ously provided all the photostatic materials and did much to further the study through his personal interest and support. Miss Irene Robinson of the Charles Hine Library assembled all the early educational records and publications of the state.
Further appreciation is extended to Mr. Franklin E. Pierce, Director of the Bureau of Teacher Preparation and to Mr. George Shafer, President of the State Teachers College at Willimantic, Connecticut, for their enthusiastic interest and assistance in the preparation of the preliminary plans for this study.
Many individuals have contributed private materials and personal information. At the best the list will be incomplete, but the following names are outstanding: Miss Annie Miner, Mrs. William Coult, Mr. Nathaniel C. Hall, Mr. N. L. Sheffield, Dr. Jesse B. Johnson, Mr. Thomas Ball and the Hon. Wolcott Lane. Mr. Charles E. Strodt, town clerk of
V111 Educational History of Old Lyme.
Saybrook and Mr. Robert Noble, town clerk of Old Lyme, assembled all the local records in their vaults. Very particular personal appreciation is also extended to Miss Elizabeth Bethel for her painstaking vigilance in the final transcription of the manuscript. To all of these the writer expresses her in- debtedness.
Grateful acknowledgment is further extended to Charles M. Andrews, Farnam Professor of American History, Emeri- tus, in Yale University, whose generous personal direction of the revision of the original manuscript has given to this study the critical evaluation of a great American scholar. To have shared in his thinking and to have experienced the scope and refinement of his knowledge has been a source of courage and inspiration. His approval has brought to this study a consid- eration not otherwise possible. To approach his standards of historical achievement is the writer's constant desire.
Such a study is of necessity a very real cooperative enter- prise. It is the accumulation and organization of significant facts made possible through the effort and devotion of many public-spirited citizens. The writer is deeply appreciative of the assistance of those who have actively contributed to this study, but her appreciation would be incomplete if she did not pay passing tribute to the cooperation of those men whose la- borious efforts have left for all generations the manuscript records of the past.
MAY HALL JAMES
Contents.
List of Illustrations X1
Introduction I
I. Early Settlements at the Mouth of the Connecti- cut River, 1635-1667 3
II. Lyme during the Seventeenth Century. A Period of Town Control. The Beginnings of Public Schooling, 1667-1712 28
III. A Century of Expansion, Warfare and Internal Growth. Ecclesiastical Control of Church and School, 1713-1794 62
IV. A Half Century of Social Transition. The Period of the School Societies, 1795-1856 II8
V. The Social Heritage of Old Lyme
I52
VI. The Development of Public Schooling in the New Town of Old Lyme, 1855-1935
I73
Summary 217
Bibliographical Note 232
A Work Chart: Chronological Events Affecting the Development of Education and Schooling in Old Lyme, Connecticut 240
Index 255
Illustrations.
Black Hall District School, Old Lyme frontispiece
Teacher's Certificate, in Lyme, Connecticut, 1817 I34
Teacher's Certificate, in Old Lyme, Connecticut, Summer, 1889 184
School Statistics, Old Lyme, Connecticut, 1855-1930
Graph I. Population, Enumeration, Average Attendance 206
Graph II. Grand List 207
Graph III. School Funds 208
Graph IV. Teachers' Salary Costs 209
The New School in Old Lyme 216
Educational History of Old Lyme, 1635-1935.
Introduction.
B ELIEVING that one's appreciation of the present de- pends in an increasing measure upon an understanding of the past, the writer has endeavored to rebuild some aspects of town life in Connecticut through an extensive study of the manuscript and printed records of one of the state's most ancient towns.
The primary object of the study has been to reveal in ret- rospect the evolving conditions which have affected and di- rected education and schooling in a given political unit within the state. Such a study, it was believed, would reveal some of the typical practices of Connecticut towns. In that sense this study was made as a type study of education and schooling in the state of Connecticut.
The selection of the particular town of Old Lyme was in- fluenced in part by the writer's familiarity with it. An advan- tageous basis for educational research was provided through a knowledge of the topography of the land and the nature of its shore line; of the names of its old families, old houses, and old highways; and of the location and identification of its an- cient burials. To this was added a natural curiosity in histori- cal affairs. More important, however, in this matter of selec- tion was the fact that Old Lyme was considered by our state librarian, George S. Godard, to be unusually fortunate in her collection of historical records. These were available not only in a considerable quantity but also in an excellent state of preservation. The only serious absence, for the purposes of this study, was encountered in the period between 1795 and 1856. This was the period of the school societies and no single record of the school society which functioned in the area of the First Ecclesiastical Society of Lyme remains to relate the school activities of that long period. At this point we have no choice but to suggest what might have happened by present- ing a general review of school practices in the state during that same period.
2
Educational History of Old Lyme.
A brief historical review of the early period of the Say- brook settlement and its later union with the Connecticut colony has been presented in Chapter I, since the original town of Lyme, incorporated in 1667, was for years one of the major subdivisions of the parent town of Saybrook. The newer town was culturally grounded in the original settlement. For that reason our study took for its beginning the year 1635.
In the same manner the town of Old Lyme is studied for approximately two hundred years, 1667-1855, as an integral part of the original town of Lyme. It was not until 1855 that the oldest section of the town, the area of the First Ecclesias- tical Society of Lyme, separated to form the new town of Old Lyme. Incorporated as South Lyme, the new town was re- named in 1857.
It is imperative for our readers to understand clearly that the area studied is continuously the same. Only the political identification changes. Between 1635 and 1667 this area was included in the original boundary of the town of Saybrook; later, during the years from 1667 to 1855, it was included in the original bounds of the town of Lyme; and more recently, from 1855 to the present, this settlement has borne the name of Old Lyme.
An attempt has been made to picture the way of life in these successive periods through which our present conditions of education and schooling have evolved. We have moved forward from a pioneer period, filled with broad educational experiences in intimate group activities, to a current condition of ever expanding schooling, coupled with a constantly di- minishing participation in home and community projects.
These major concerns have been considered in their natu- ral relationship to the other phases of community life. For this reason we have presented as much as the records afford of social, political, religious and economic data.
As the schools increase in importance and the local histori- cal material becomes less available, less unique or more famil- iar, the study is focused more specifically upon its original thesis-the educational history of Old Lyme, Connecticut.
I.
Early Settlements at the Mouth of the Connecticut River, 1635-1667.
O LD LYME looks with peculiar satisfaction upon its early beginnings as a part of the ancient town of Say- brook. The hills of Lyme kept silent watch over the coming of the first explorers and traders to the mouth of the Connecticut River and later offered homage to the venture- some settlers at Saybrook Fort. The town's abundant marsh- lands, her rich lowlands and her prolific wild life attracted and won men to her. As an integral part of Saybrook she shared in the activities and early responsibilities of a port settlement and has continuously profited by the advantages of natural com- munication and a growing trade. She shared also in the be- ginnings of government, in the suppression of Indian warfare, in the further division of the land and in the migration of the people. Favored in the quality of her first proprietors, Old Lyme treasures her ancient lineage and proudly shares with Saybrook the heritage of the first English settlement estab- lished at the mouth of the Connecticut River in 1635.
As early as 1614, Dutch navigators are believed to have skirted the shores of Connecticut. They discovered the Hou- satonic River and later entered the Connecticut River and ex- plored it for a considerable distance. They saw large parties of Pequots along the lower banks and found Indian settle- ments near the sites of Wethersfield and Hartford. Dutch traders came for a number of years thereafter to visit the valley of the Long River whose Indian name, "Quinatuc- quet," was later given to the commonwealth. The eastern part of the state was then the home of two powerful warlike tribes -the Pequots and the Mohegans-called by the traders "River Indians." The Dutch claimed the territory, built a fort at the site of Hartford, and set up a regular traffic with the Indians.
4
Educational History of Old Lyme.
No white man is known to have lived in Connecticut before 1632. Then only trappers and hunters ventured to penetrate the wilderness that lay between Massachusetts and the Hud- son River. The whole area was unoccupied except for the In- dian tribes. The Dutch had established only a few trading posts and rudimentary villages; but with the Indians they had taken word to Plymouth regarding the Great River. The English, however, had not as yet any need of new territory. They had pushed only a few miles from the shore and in gen- eral clung to the rivers and water communication.1
During this period, nevertheless, the acts of Charles I caused great unrest among men of wealth and influence in England. There was a sudden revival of emigration and men of power and blood sought homes in the new west. Among these was a group of lords and gentlemen, Lord Saye and Sele, Lord Brooke and others, to whom the Earl of Warwick in 1632 deeded the lands he expected to receive from the Council for New England. This extensive tract of land-"all that part of New England which lies and extends from the river they called Narragansett river, west a hundred and twenty miles and from thence in latitude and breadth aforesaid to the South Sea"-included the Connecticut River valley and is described in what was later referred to as the Saybrook Patent.2
By these successive circumstances both the Dutch and the English laid claim to the Connecticut River valley early in
I. Under date of April 4, 1631: "The reader has seen the first mention of Connecticut arising in the History of Massachusetts. But from Bradford's reg- ister in Prince, II, 94, we may be sure that Plymouth had entertained views of establishing a plantation there at an earlier season and was willing to admit our colonists, her neighbors, to partake the advantage. First cause for declining the sachem's invitation was the great distance. Believe other excuses such as strength of current, shoalness of water, continuance of the ice, multitudes of Indians- all pretexes. Next season warned the Dutch against occupation of the land and the following year took possession ourselves." Winthrop, History of New Eng- land (note by the editor, James Savage), I, 125.
2. "On the 19th of March 1631, Robert Earl of Warwick, president of the Council of Plymouth under his hand and seal did grant and confirm unto the honorable William Viscount Say and Seal, Robert Lord Brook . . . and others to the number of eleven, and to their heirs, assigns and associates for- ever, all that part of New England which lies and extends from the river they
5
Early Settlements, 1635-1667.
the seventeenth century. The control of this river and the settlement of these claims conditioned the character and the responsibility of the first river towns. To the settlers of Say- brook later fell the responsibility of guarding the port.
The number of Indians in Connecticut at the time of settle- ment has been estimated at sixteen thousand. Of these the smaller tribes of River Indians suffered greatly from attacks made by the Mohawks on the west and by the Pequots on the east. Consequently in 1631 Waginacut, sachem of the Po- dunks, and Natawanut of the Metianucks visited Plymouth and Boston to urge the assistance of the English against the Pequots, promising large tracts of land if the English would come to the Connecticut valley and live among them. The first man of whom we have record who visited the Connecticut River for exploration and discovery of opportunities for trade was Edward Winslow of Plymouth. He set out in 1632 and it is believed that he was at the site of Windsor at some time during that year and evidently selected the spot which was occupied by William Holmes and the Plymouth traders the following year.
In September 1633, John Oldham, Samuel Hall and two companions traveled overland to the Connecticut valley, stop- ping at Indian towns on the way and later returning with specimens of beaver, hemp and black lead.3 In the autumn of the following year, with eight or nine companions, Oldham went again to Pyquag (Wethersfield).4 There were now three tentative settlements on the upper river: that of the Dutch at their fort at Hartford; of Holmes and other Plymouth traders at Windsor; and of Oldham with his followers at Wethers- field.5
called Narragansett river, west a hundred and twenty miles and from there in latitude and breadth aforesaid to the South Sea." Trumbull, History of Con- necticut, Appendix I, p. 423.
3. John Oldham and three with him lodged at Indian homes on the way. They had some beaver and black lead. Winthrop, History of New England, I, 132.
4. Collections, Massachusetts Historical Society, series 4, VII, 66.
5. Old Time New England, XXIII, 159-174. Bradford, History, II, 215.
6
Educational History of Old Lyme.
The year 1635 was marked by a great restlessness at the Massachusetts Bay. People from the surrounding towns of Dorchester, Roxbury, Newtown and Watertown were eager to move.6 There was a great desire for frontier land and for new opportunities for trade. In October of that year fifty per- sons under the leadership of Elder Goodwin left Newtown for Suckiag (Hartford) and of these about twelve returned to Massachusetts after the completion of the palisade and the houses. These early wandering pioneers were, in a sense, squat- ters, having no other title to the land than Indian purchase.
A new aspect was soon given to the entire situation by the attempt of the lords and gentlemen to enforce their claim to the Connecticut territory. This claim was based on their deed from the Earl of Warwick. In 1635 they came to an impor- tant decision. On July 7, John Winthrop Jr., son of the fa- mous governor of Massachusetts, then in England, was given a commission by Saye and Sele, Fenwick, Saltonstall, Haselrig, Lawrence and Darnley on behalf of the entire body named in the original deed.7 Winthrop came to America with orders to go at once to the mouth of the Connecticut River with fifty men to set up fortifications and to build houses for a group of gentlemen who might desire to take refuge there. Men and money were placed at his disposal and Lion Gardiner, an able engineer previously in the employ of the Prince of Orange, was engaged to assist in the enterprise. The fort was to be built upon a large scale so as to embrace within its enclosure "houses suitable for the reception of men of quality." Thus the Puritan refuge to which Cromwell and others might have come was located on the Sound instead of at Piscataqua or Windsor, probably in part at least with the idea of anticipat-
6. August 1635: "The Dorchester men being set down at Connecticut near the Plimouth trading house, the governor, Mr. Bradford wrote complaining of injury." Winthrop, History of New England, I, 198.
7. The date 1635 is an interesting and suggestive one. The deed had been in the hands of the patentees for three years and yet nothing had been done. Now in the midst of the effort that Gorges was making to recover his claims and in the same year as that in which the quo warranto was issued Winthrop was sent over. Were the patentees afraid of losing their territory? Andrews, Colonial Period of American History, II, 76, note I.
7
Early Settlements, 1635-1667.
ing a possible Dutch occupation and of taking advantage of the river trade and of the coast trade with Boston. Winthrop was to take possession of from one thousand to fifteen hun- dred acres of fertile land near the fort for the use of the fort and the maintenance of the garrison. He was made "governor of the River Connecticut" for one year.8
Arriving in Boston on the Abigailº early in October with young Henry Vane10 and the Rev. Hugh Peter as co-agents and learning that the Dutch were preparing to take possession of the mouth of the Connecticut River, Winthrop dispatched a company of twenty men in a small boat to that place.11 They
8. Mr. Winthrop's commission to erect a fort at the mouth of the Connecti- cut River with articles of agreement between him and their lordships Saye and Sele, Brooke and others, 1635 : "Know all men by these presents that we Arthur Haselrig, Bart, Sir Richard Saltonstall, Knt. Henry Lawrence, Henry Daily and George Fenwick Esquire :- in our names and in the name of the right honor- able Viscount Say and Seal, Robert Lord Brook and the rest of our company do ordain and constitute John Winthrop Esquire, the younger, Governor of the River Connecticut, with the space of one whole year after his arrival there, giving him from and under us full power and authority to do and execute any lawful act and thing both in respect of the place of the people and also of the affairs we have or shall have there as to the dignity or office of a governor doth or may apertain. In witness whereof, we have hereunto put our hands and seals this 18th day of July 1635. RICHARD SALTONSTALL, ARTHUR HASELRIG, HENRY LAWRENCE, GEORGE FENWICK, HENRY DAILY." Trumbull, History of Connecticut, p. 497.
9. "There came also John Winthrop the younger on the Abigail publickly, with commission from Lord Say, Lord Brook and divers other great persons in England to begin a plantation at Connecticut and to be governor there. They sent also men and ammunition and Ls 2000 in money to begin a fortification at the mouth of the river." Winthrop, History of New England, I, 202.
10. Here came also Mr. Henry Vane, son and heir of Sir Henry Vane, comp- troller of the king's house. Winthrop also brought his new wife and his brother Deane. Vane was given license for a three years' stay. "By order from the lords and gentlemen he treated with the magistrates here and with those who were about to go to Connecticut about the said designs of the lords-either three towns gone thither should give place upon full satisfaction or else suffi- cient room must be found there for the lords and their companions." Ibid., p. 203.
II. November 3, 1635: "Mr. Winthrop jun. the governor appointed by the lords for Connecticut sent a bark of 20 Tons, and about twenty men, with all needful provisions to take possession of the mouth of Connecticut and to begin some building." Ibid., p. 207.
8
Educational History of Old Lyme.
arrived on November 24, 1635;12 and shortly after, in the early part of December, a sloop which the Dutch governor had sent from Manhattan sailed up the Sound and entered the mouth of the river. The English shot off two pieces of ordnance on shore and prevented the Dutch from landing. The sloop soon departed in the direction of New Amsterdam.13
Winthrop and his co-agents remained in Boston and insti- tuted an inquiry into the whys and wherefores of the settle- ments already made within the territory of the Warwick deed. He wished to know by what right or pretense these people were entering or laying claims to the lands of the patentees; and he demanded that all who were going to Connecticut, to- gether with those who were already there, acknowledge the patentees' legal rights, submit to the council and direction of himself as governor, or leave the country. He and his fellow agents stated very emphatically that Connecticut lay beyond the jurisdiction of Massachusetts and that settlements there could be made only with the consent of those to whom the grant had been made.14
A difficult situation arose in that the Massachusetts general court had already given permission to the inhabitants of Dor- chester, Watertown and Newtown to remove to Connecticut if they so wished. The Rev. Thomas Hooker was ready to leave as soon as the settlement of their affairs would permit.15 In the final decision which was reached in March 1636, Hooker and his colleagues recognized the claims of Winthrop and ac- cepted him as the governor of the whole territory for one year; Winthrop's agents in turn agreed to the proposed settle-
12. November 28, 1635 : "Here arrived a small Norsey bark of 25 Tons sent by Lord Say etc. with one Gardiner, an expert engineer & work base and provisions of all sorts to begin the fort at the mouth of the Connecticut. She came through many great tempests. Passengers 12 men and 2 women all safe. Mr. Winthrop had sent four days before a bark with carpenters and other workmen to take possession of the place and to raise some buildings." Win- throp, History of New England, I, 207.
13. Ibid., p. 208.
14. Andrews, The Colonial Period of American History, II, 76-77.
15. Massachusetts Colonial Records, I, 119, 148, 159; Winthrop, Journal, I, 161.
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