USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Redding > The history of Redding, Connecticut : from its first settlement to the present time > Part 1
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01150 5887
GC 974.602 R24t Todd, Charles Burr, 1849- The history of Redding, Conn., from its first.
3
12.52
-
JOEL BARLOW.
From a family portrait, never before engraved.
THE HISTORY OF REDDING CONNECTICUT
FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT TO THE PRESENT TIME WITH NOTES ON THE
Adams, Banks, Barlow, Bartlett, Bartram, Bates, Beach, Benedict, Betts, Burr, Burritt, Burton, Chatfield, Couch, Darling, Fairchild, Foster, Gold, Gorham, Gray, Griffin, Hall, Hawley, Heron, Hill, Hull, Jackson, Lee, Lyon, Lord, Mallory, Meade, Meecker, Merchant, Morehouse, Perry, Platt, Read, Rogers, Rumsey, Sanford, Smith, Stow, and Strong Families
By
CHARLES BURR TODD
Author of "Story of the City of New York," "Life of Aaron Burr," " In Olde Connecticut," "In Olde Massachusetts," "In Olde New York," "Life and Letters of Joel Barlow," etc.
NEWBURGH JOURNAL COMPANY NEWBURGH, N. Y.
1906
COPYRIGHT 1906 BY CHARLES BURR TODD
1127772
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
AN interest is attached to the place of one's birth which change of scene rather enhances than removes, and which increases rather than diminishes in intensity as one approaches the later stages of life; this home feeling has been largely instrumental in the production of this work, and to it is due nearly everything of interest or value that the book posses- ses.
A history of Redding has been long contemplated by the author as a service due his native town, and as long shrunk from because of the labor, the expense, and the difficulty of its compilation. Whether well or illy done, it is now completed, and goes out to the somewhat limited public for whom it was written.
The materials for the work have been drawn largely from the ancient records of the town and parish, from the records of the colony, and from the files of musty papers in the State Library at Hartford. Tradition and oral information have not been neglected, and every reasonable effort has been made to render the work as far as possible a thorough and reliable history of the town. That errors and discrepancies will be found, is to be expected; but it is not believed that they are sufficiently numerous or important to destroy its historical value. In the preparation of the book the compiler has aimed to preserve the character of a local historian, and has confined himself chiefly to the narration of local facts and incidents. In harmony with this principle, an extended biography of Joel Barlow, at first intended for this work, has been excluded. The sketch of the poet so grew on the author's hands, that it was found it would make a volume by itself, and contained so much of general interest and detail that it could not be made to harmonize with the local character of this work. A con- cise sketch of the poet's life, however, and the original portrait from Ful- ton's oil-painting, that formed the frontispiece of the Columbiad, are in- cluded in its pages.
The compiler has not aimed at making a large book; many facts in few words is what a busy age demands of the historian, and in deference to this demand only such matter as was of real value and interest has been admitted. The church histories and the genealogical notes are, perhaps, the most important, if not the most interesting, portions of the work. It would have added to the value of the ecclesiastical history, no doubt, if it had been prepared by the pastors of the different churches represented; but, with one exception, these had so recently assumed the care of their
IV
PREFACE.
charges, that they did not feel at liberty to undertake it, and the task fell to the lot of the compiler. If this department is not what it might have been, the cause may be found in the disadvantages which a layman must labor under in attempting to write ecclesiastical history. The Rev. Mr. Welton, rector of Christ Church, very kindly consented to prepare the history of that church, and his paper will be read with interest by our citizens.
In preparing the notes on the early families of the town, it was the writer's intention at first to make them much more complete and exten- sive. But the little interest in the matter manifested by the families con- cerned, and the great labor and expense involved in compiling any thing like a complete history of the thirty or forty families mentioned, led him to abridge the work, and to give the matter in the form of notes taken chiefly from the town and parish records. The fact that the record of some families is given more fully than that of others, is not owing to any partiality on the author's part, but to the fact that these families interested themselves enough in the matter to furnish the data called for.
By reference to the title-page it will be seen that the modern method of spelling the name of the town-Redding-is adopted rather than the ancient-Reading. Legally, no such town as Reading exists in Connecti- cut, since, both in the act of incorporation and on the probate seal, the name is spelled Redding ; and inquiry elicits the fact that the majority of the citizens prefer the latter method of spelling. It is the opinion of the writer, however, that the original name of the town was Reading, and that if historical precedents are to be followed it should be so named now. In all old documents among the State archives, and in the ancient records of Fairfield (where the name first occurs), the orthography is Reading. In the town and society records it is spelled either Redding or Reding, rarely Reading. Rev. Moses Hill, a gentleman well versed in the an- tiquities of the town, informs me that at the time of its incorporation, in 1767, a meeting was held, at which it was voted that the name of the new town should be Redding; and the fact that in the original bill incorporat- ing it the name Reading has been crossed out and that of Redding sub- stituted, would seem to point to some such action on the part of the town. I find no entry of any such action, however, in the town records.
The books consulted in the preparation of the volume have been Bar- ber's " Historical Collections of Connecticut," Hollister's "History of Connecticut," DeForest's " Indians of Connecticut," Teller's "History of Ridgefield," the Congregational Year-Book, and Stevens' "History of Methodism." The author's thanks are due Mr. Lemuel Sanford, our efficient town clerk, for ready access to the town records, and for many valuable hints and suggestions ; also to Messrs. Thomas Sanford, William E. Duncomb, Daniel Sanford, David S. Bartram, James Sanford, and
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PREFACE.
David H. Miller, for efficient aid in the preparation of the work. He is also indebted to Rev. Moses Hill, of Norwalk, for data of the Hill and Barlow families ; and to Mr. A. B. Hull, of Danbury, for many papers and documents relating to the history of the town.
REDDING, March 1, 1880.
C. B. T.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
Many things happen in the space of twenty-six years, even in a coun- try town. During that period in Redding, Putnam Memorial Camp has been established by the State. There have been brought to light stores of Revolutionary data unknown in 1880, which the author was in a position to avail himself of, and which it seemed a duty to make public. There was also a store of genealogical information in the town and parish records not printed in the earlier edition. Then the beauty and salubrity of the old town has been discovered by residents of neighboring cities who have come, and without doubt will continue to come in ever increas- ing numbers, to make their summer homes in its borders, and to whom a
1 history of the town will be interesting.
These and other considerations have induced the author to issue this second edition, which he trusts will meet with as hearty a welcome as was accorded that of 1880.
REDDING, November 1, 1906.
C. B. T.
CONTENTS.
.
CHAP.
PAGE
I. PRELIMINARY SETTLEMENT.
1
II. REDDING AS A PARISH
15
III. TGWN HISTORY
2I
IV. REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY AND INCIDENTS
29
V. PUTNAM CAMP GROUND
45
VI. GEN. PARSONS AND WILLIAM HERON
58
VII. MEN OF REDDING IN THE ARMY OF THE REVOLUTION 63
VIII. THE REDDING "ASSOCIATIONS" AND THE LOYALISTS 75
IX. THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 1729-1906.
83
X. CHRIST CHURCH
93
XI. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
IO6
XII. THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN GEORGETOWN.
II7
XIII. THE METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH IN GEORGETOWN ( NOW
THE CONGREGATIONAL)
I20
XIV. HISTORY OF SCHOOLS
I22
XV. MANUFACTURES
125
XVI. THE GILBERT-BENNETT MANUFACTURING COMPANY
I28
XVII. MISCELLANEOUS
130
XVIII REDDING IN THE CIVIL WAR
XIX. BIOGRAPHICAL .
I46
XX. THE SUMMER COLONY
18I
138
XXI. THE LITERARY COLONY
183
XXII. THE REDDING INSTITUTE
187
XXIII PARISH REGISTER OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
193
XXIV. THE EARLY FAMILIES OF REDDING.
222
APPENDIX I. REPRESENTATIVES IN THE LEGISLATURE
283
PHYSICAL HISTORY.
" READING, 60 miles south-west of Hartford, about 5 miles long by 6 1-2 wide, with an area of 32 square miles. The Saugatuck River crosses it through the middle, north and south; and the Norwalk River is in the west part. The forest trees are oak, nut trees, etc. Population in 1830, 1686."-United States Gazetteer, 1833.
"Like many of the New England villages, it is scattered, and beauti- fully shaded with elms, maples, and sycamores."-Lossing, Field-Book of the Revolution.
" The geological character of the town, as throughout Western Con- necticut is metamorphic. Granite and porphyritic rocks, and especially micaceous schists, predominate. The minerals are such as are familiar in such rocks-hornblende, garnet, kyanite, tremolite, etc. In the western part of the town are deposits of magnesian limestone (or dolomite), much of which is quite pure, though some of it contains tremolite and other impurities. The other mineral features of the town are not specially note- worthy, or of general interest. The soil is probably, in the main, the re- sult of the disintegration of the underlying rocks."-Notes of Rev. John Dickinson.
€
HISTORY OF REDDING.
CHAPTER I.
Preliminary Settlement.
THE history of the early settlement of Redding differs radically from that of any of the neighboring towns. A new settlement was generally formed by a company of men, who purchased of the Indians a tract of land in the wilderness, had it secured to them by a charter from the Gen- eral Assembly, and also surveyed and regularly laid out, and then re- moved to it with their wives and families. Danbury, Newtown and Ridge- field were settled in this manner; but Redding at the time of its first set- tlement was a part of the town of Fairfield, and so continued for nearly forty years-a fact which makes it much more difficult to collect the frag- ments of its early history and to accurately define its original metes and bounds. Fairfield formerly extended to the cross highway leading from the Centre to Redding Ridge, and the entire southerly portion of Redding was given by that town on the erection of the former into a parish in 1729. This portion of Redding was probably surveyed as early as 1640, being included in the purchase made by the proprietors of Fairfield in 1639. Between Fairfield north bounds and the towns of Ridgefield, Dan- bury and Newtown, was an oblong tract of unoccupied land, whose bounds were about the same as those that now exist between Redding and the towns above named; this tract was variously called, in the early records, the " oblong," the " peculiar," and the " common lands." It was claimed by a petty tribe of Indians, whose fortified village was on the high ridge a short distance south-west of the present residence of Mr. John Read. This tribe consisted of disaffected members of the Potatucks of New- town, and the Paugussetts of Milford, with a few stragglers from the Mohawks on the west.
Their chief was Chickens Warrups, or Sam Mohawk, as he was some- times called. President Stiles says in his "Itinerary " that he was a Mohawk sagamore, or under-chief, who fled from his tribe and settled first at Greenfield Hill, but having killed an Indian there he was again obliged to flee, and then settled in Redding. All the Indian deeds to the early settlers were given by Chickens, and Naseco, who seems to have been a sort of sub-chief. The chief, Chickens, figures quite prominently in the early history of Redding; he seems to have been a strange mixture
2
HISTORY OF REDDING.
of Indian shrewdness, rescality, and cunning, and was in continual diffi- culty with the settlers concerning the deeds which he gave them. In 1720 he was suspected by the colonists of an attempt to bring the Mohawks and other western tribes down upon them, as is proved by the following curious extract from the records of a meeting of the governor and council held at New Haven, September 15th, 1720:
" It having been represented to this board that an Indian living near Danbury, called Chickens, has lately received two belts of wampumpeag from certain remote Indians-as it is said, to the west of Hudson River -with a message expressing their desire to come and live in this colony, which said messenger is to be conducted by aforesaid Chickens to the In- dians at Potatuck, and Wiantenuck, and Poquannuck, in order to obtain their consent for their coming and inhabiting among them ; and that here- upon our frontier towns are under considerable apprehensions of danger from Indians, fearing that the belts have been sent on some bad design :
" It is Resolved, That Captain John Sherman, of Woodbury, and Major John Burr, of Fairfield, taking with them Thomas Minor, of Woodbury, or such other interpreter as they shall judge meet, do repair immediately to said Indians at Potatuck and Wiantenuck, and cause the said Chickens, to whom the belts and messengers were sent, to attend them, and to make the best inquiry they can into the truth of said story, and what may be the danger of said message, and as they shall see cause, take proper order that the said Indian with the belts, and the principal or chief of the Potatuck and Wiantenuck Indians, attend the General Court at its next session, to receive such orders as may be useful to direct them in their behavior in relation thereunto ; and that Major Burr return home by way of Danbury, that the inhabitants there and in those western parts may be quieted as to their apprehensions of danger from the In- dians, if upon inquiry they find there is no just ground for them."
The first deed or grant of land in the "oblong" within my knowledge was given to Mr. Cyprian Nichols in 1687. This grant, in Secretary Wylly's handwriting, reads as follows :
"At a General Court held at Hartford, October 13, 1687.
"This Court grants Mr. Cyprian Nichols two hundred acres of land where he can find it, provided he take it up where it may not prejudice any former grant to any particular person or plantation ; and the sur- veyors of the next plantation are hereby appointed to lay out the same, he paying for it.
CALEB STANLEY."
Captain Nichols "took up" his grant in that part of the "oblong" which is now Lonetown, as is shown by the following document :
3
HISTORY OF REDDING.
MARCH I, A. D. 171I.
" Then laid out ye Grant of two hundred acres of land granted by ye General Court to Capt. Cyprian Nichols, Oct. 13, 1687, as follows, viz., beginning at a great Chestnut tree marked on ye south and west side, and J. R. set upon it, standing at ye south end of Woolf Ridge, a little below Danbury bounds, thence running west one hundred rods to a Walnut tree marked on two sides, then running south one mile to a red oak tree marked, then running east one hundred rods to a black oak tree marked, then running north one mile to the Chestnut tree first mentioned. An heap of stones lying at ye root of each of ye treès. We say then thus laid out by us,
THOMAS HOYT, DANIEL TAYLOR, Surveyors of ye Town of Danbury.
" Entered in ye public books of Entrys
for Surveys of Land, folio 14, per Hezekiah Wyllys, Secretary, March 21, 1711."
The next two grants in this tract of which we have any record were made, the first, May 7th, 1700, to Mr. Daniel Hilton, and the second October 10th, 1706, to Mr. Richard Hubbell. They were laid out nearly at the same time, and side by side, with the preceding grant, as follows :
" MARCH 3rd, A. D. 17II.
"Then laid out ye Grant of two hundred acres of land made by ye General Court to Mr. Daniel Hilton, May 7, 1700, and ye Grant of one hundred acres, granted October 10th, 1706, by ye General Court to Mr. Richard Hubbell, all in one piece as followeth, viz., Beginning at a Wal- nut tree marked, and J. R. upon it, standing a little way North East from ye Hog Ridge, between Danbury and Fairfield, thence running two hun- dred and eighty rods northerly to a Red Oak tree marked, on ye West side of Stadly Ridge, thence running easterly one hundred and eighty- four rods to the Little River at two Elm Staddles and a Red Oak, mark- ed, thence running Southerly, west of ye river, and bounded upon it, two hundred and eighty rods to a bitter Walnut tree, marked, thence running one hundred and sixty rods westerly to the Walnut tree first mentioned, thus and then laid out by us,
THOMAS HOYT, DANIEL TAYLOR,
Surveyors of the Town of Danbury."
These grants were purchased, probably before they were laid out, by Mr. John Read, one of the earliest actual settlers of Redding. Mr. Read was a gentleman of education, and later became an eminent lawyer im
1
4
HISTORY OF REDDING.
Boston. He was withal something of a wag, as is proven by an Indian deed given him about this time, which he drew up, and which was-what rarely happens-a humorous as well as a legal production .* It reads as follows :
" Know all men by these crooked Scrawls & Seals, yt. we Chickens, alias Sam Mohawk, & Naseco, do solemnly declare yt. we are owners of yt. tract of land called Lonetown, fenced round between Danbury and Fairfield, and Jno. Read, Govr. & Commander in Chief there of, & of the Dominions yr-upon depending, desiring to please us, having plied the foot, and given us three pounds in money, & promised us an house next autumn. In consideration yr'of, we do hereby give and grant to him and his heirs the farm above mentioned, corn appertaining, & further of our free will-motion & soverain pleasure make ye land a manour, In- dowing ye land with ye privileges yr of, and create the sd. John Read, Lord Justice and Soverain Pontiff of the same to him and his heirs for- ever: Witness our crooked marks and borrowed Seals, this seventh day of May, Anno Regni, Anno Dei, Gratia Magna Brittannia, and Regina Decimo Tertio, Anno Dom'r, 1714.
" CHICKENS, alias his
SAM MOHAWK, mark. X
his
NASECO X
mark.
Sealed and delivered in presence of
his
WINHAM, X
mark. his
LIACUS, ? crook.
NATHAN GOLD.
her
MARTHA HARNEY, X
mark. " The above mentioned Chickens & Naseco-personally appeared & acknowledged ye above Instrument yr free act and chearful deed in Fair- field, ye 7th of May, 1714,
before me, N. GOLD,
Dept. Govr."
* For this paper and several others that follow, I am indebted to Mr. George. Read, of Redding, a lineal descendant of Colonel Read.
G
5
HISTORY OF REDDING.
About 1723 Captain Samuel Couch of Fairfield appears as a large landholder in Redding, and his operations there seem to have caused the settlers no little uneasiness. The General Court of 1712 had ordered that all the lands lying between Danbury and Fairfield, not taken up by actual settlers, should be sold in Fairfield at public vendue. The land, however, was not sold until the August of 1722, when it was bid off by Captain Couch for himself and Nathan Gold, Esq. No notice of the vendue was given to the settlers at Redding, and when news of the sale reached them they became very much excited and indignant, and Mr. Read at once drew up the following protest and petition, which was signed by the farmers and presented to the next General Court at New Haven. It is noteworthy from the fact that the Quaker system of dates is used.
"At a General Court held at New Haven, 8th, 10th, 1723.
"To the Honor'ble the General Court:
" John Read in behalf of himself and the rest of the farmers or pro- prietors of farms between Danbury and Fairfield, humbly sheweth,
" That the Hon'ble Nathan Gold, Esq., late deceased, and Peter Burr, Esq., as Agents for ye Colony, held a Vandue lately at Fairfield about ye time of ye Superior Courts sitting yr in August last, and sold to Capt. Samuel Couch, who bid for himself and for s'd Nathan Gold, Esq., all ye land between Fairfield and Danbury not before disposed of for the sum of Yr humble pet'rs conceive the same ought not to be ratified : because ye same was done so unexpectedly, and without sufficient notice, none of us most nearly concerned knew any thing of it : if ye order of ye General Court had been freshly passed, ye less notice was need full, but lying ten or twelve years, sufficient notice was not given, and well considered it cant be good. The inconveniences are intolerable ; the place is now growing to be a village apace. Ye lands purchased are but ye over and over for farms.
" The remaining Scraps will be a very lean and scanty allowance for a comon, and (are) absolutely necessary to accommodate the place with hiways, and some strips left on purpose for ye use and ye surveying of the farms-Several farms interfere through mistakes and such interfers must be supplied elsewhere; now in such circumstances it was never the hard fate of any poor place to have ye shady Rock at their door, and ye path out of town or about town sold away from them by ye General Court. Therefore, humbly praying ye Hon'ble Court to grant ye same to ye proprietors of farms there in proportion for a common and hiways, or if the same seem too much, since some persons have bid a sum for our hiways we pray to buy them at first hands, and will pay this Hon'ble Court for the same as much as ye Court shall sett upon, and remain your honor's most obedient servants.
" JNO. READ."
-
6
HISTORY OF REDDING.
When the matter came before the Court, Mr. Read produced several witnesses to show that the vendue was conducted in an unseemly and illegal manner; among them Mr. Jonathan Sturges, who deposed as fol- lows :
"Some of the Company began to bid for s'd land, and some of the Company desired that Mr. Stone who was there present, would pull out his watch and that the time for bidding should be but ten minutes, and the watch was laid down on the table; for a little time the people bid but slow- ly ; but when they perceived the ten minutes to be near out, they began to bid very briskly, and when it come to the last minute, the people bid more quickly, and at the last they bid so quick after one another that it was hard to distinguish whose bid it was; at the very minute the tenth minute ended; but I, standing near the watch, spoke and said, 'the time is out, and it's Capt. Couch's bid,' but I am certain Thomas Hill bid twenty shillings more.'"
Mr. Read did not succeed in his attempt to have the sale set aside, and the lands were adjudged to the purchasers. Captain Couch seems to have disposed of an interest in a part of his purchase to Thomas Nash, of Fairfield, and in 1723, the two received a joint patent for the same ; this patent is a curious and valuable document and is given entire :
" Whereas, the Governor and Company of the English Colony of Connecticut, in General Court assembled at Hartford, the 8th day of May, Anno Domini 1712, did order and enact that all those lands (lying with- in the said Colony) between Danbury on the north, and the towns of Fairfield and Norwalk on the south, should be sold at Public Vendue, and by said act did fully authorize and empower the Hon'ble Nathan Gold and Peter Burr, Esq., both of the town of Fairfield aforesaid, to make sale and dispose of the s'd same lands accordingly, and whereas the s'd Nathan Gold and Peter Burr in pursuance and by force and virtue of the aforesaid act, did by their deed in writing, executed in due form bearing date this first day of May, Anno Domini, 1723, for a valuable sum of money paid by Samuel Couch and Thomas Nash, both of the town afores'd, Grant, sell, and convey unto them the s'd Samuel Couch and Thomas Nash, one hundred acres of s'd land bounded and butted as fol- lows, that is to say, lying within six rods of the north bounds line of the townships afores'd, and on both sides of the road that leads from Nor- walk to Danbury, and lying the whole length of the one hundred acres formerly laid out to s'd Thomas Nash and bounded westerly by the s'd Thomas Nash, and from the north east corner of s'd Nash, his bound be- ing a black oak stump, that stands on the land, and a small box wood tree marked in course, running northerly, sixty-eight degrees, eastwardly thirty two rods to a white oak staddle, thence South forty three degrees
7
HISTORY OF REDDING.
and thirty minutes, eastwardly fifty rods to a rock, and stone on the same, that stands on the eastward side of a brook that runs by the southerly end of Umpawaug Hill, between the s'd brook and Danbury road, and from s'd Rock to run North sixty eight degrees, Eastwardly eighty six rods to a mass of stones, then South twenty-two degrees, Eastwardly, one hun- dred and thirteen rods to a white oak sappling, marked, standing on the aforementioned North bounds line of Fairfield, then by s'd line one hun- dred and forty rods up to the South East corner of s'd Nash, his one hundred acres, Danbury road being allowed in above measure of six rods wide, and the hiway by the Township's line of six rods wide, and whereas the s'd Samuel Couch, and Thomas Nash, have humbly desired that they may have a particular grant of s'd Governor and Company made (by Patent) unto them, their heirs and assigns for the same land bounded, butted and described, under the seal of the s'd Colony, know ye therefore, that the Governor and Company of the s'd Colony. in pursuance, and by virtue of the powers granted unto them by our late Sovereign Lord, King Charles the Second of blessed memory, in, and by his Majestie's letters patent under the great seal of England bearing date the three and twen- tieth day of April, in the fourteenth year of his s'd Majestie's Reign, have given and granted, and by these presents, for them their heirs and suc- cessors do give, grant, ratifie, and confirm unto them the s'd Samuel Couch and Thomas Nash, their heirs and assigns forever, all the s'd piece or parcell of land containing one hundred acres be the same more or less, butted and bounded as afores'd, and all and singular, the woods, timber, under woods, lands, waters, brooks, ponds, fishings, fowlings, mines, minerals and precious stones, upon or within the s'd piece or parcell of land, or every or any part thereof. To have and to hold the as afores'd, and all and singular, the rights, members, hereditaments and appurtenances of the same, and the reversion or reversions, remainder or remainders,-profits, privileges whatsoever, of and in the s'd piece or parcell of land or every or any part thereof. To have and to hold the s'd one hundred acres of land hereby granted with all and singular, its appurtenances unto them the s'd Samuel Couch and Thomas Nash, their heirs and assigns to and for their own proper use, benefit, and behoof from the day of the date hereof, and from time to time, and at all times forever here after, as a good, sure, lawful, absolute, indefeasible estate of Inheritance in Fee simple, without any condition, limitation, use, or other thing to alter, change, or make void the same. To be holden of our Sovereign Lord, King George, his heirs and successors, as of his Majes- tie's Manor of East Greenwich, in the county of Kent, in the Kingdom of England, in free and common soccage and not in cappitee, nor by Knight service; they yielding and paying therefor to our Sovereign Lord the King, his heirs and successors forever, only the fifth part of all the
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