USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Stratford > A history of the old town of Stratford and the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut > Part 7
USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > A history of the old town of Stratford and the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut > Part 7
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72
History of Stratford.
and pride to a great circle of its acquaintances as well as its descendants. Its situation, being bounded toward the sun- rising by the placid Housatonic, and on the south by the ever charming Long Island Sound, was, and is, one of remark- able attractiveness, and such as never to be forgotten by any of its wandering sons and daughters. By the side of the great sea where the tide of the mighty ocean, ever obedient to the nod of the queen of night, ceases not its life-giving toil, Stratford sat down as a child in 1639, and thereafter grew towards maturer years. In historic time, it is still young, but compared with many of its inland neighbors it is truly old ; and, as the tale of its legends pass in review, the ages will seem to have greatly multiplied, and its multitude of descendants indefinitely extended from ocean to ocean.
Stratford village is located on the Housatonic river about one and a half miles from Long Island Sound, in Fair- field county, Connecticut, fourteen miles from New Haven and fifty-eight miles from New York City. The original township, being twelve miles in length north and south, and about seven"miles wide east and west, comprised most of the territory now included in the five townships of Stratford, Bridgeport, Huntington, Trumbull and Monroe ; and in this history it is proposed to complete the record of the whole of this territory, in uniform style, from the commencement down to the present time, and as each town is organized out of the old territory, to lay its history aside until the original township by name shall have been completed, and then to. take up again each of the new towns in the order of the date of their organization, and thus complete the work.
The picturesqueness of the locality is remarkable. The general slope of the land is towards the Housatonic on the east and the Sound on the south, and the face of the country is divided with small elevations of land, called hills, but scarcely equal to the name, such as Old Mill Hill, Toilsome Hill, Chestnut Hill, Long Hill, Coram Hill, and the White Hills ; rising only to such a height as to afford numerous sites for dwellings, in full view of many miles of water scenery of the Sound and landscape on Long Island beyond, and such as to guarantee a high degree of health from the
73
First Patent of Connecticut.
balmy breezes of the Atlantic and the bracing, if not some- times the biting winds from the hills at the west and north. Great vigor of health, longevity of life, and beauty of locality, have been characteristic of the region, until the fame thereof has reached from ocean to ocean, and is likely never to grow less.
Stratford was the seventh plantation settled within the present territory of Connecticut. Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield, the three first, were commenced in the years 1635 and 6; Saybrook was commenced under John Winthrop, the younger, in 1635, although but few families had arrived there in 1636. Mr. Davenport's company from London, with Mr. Pruden's, arrived at New Haven the middle of April, 1638, and the next spring Mr. Pruden and his people who had remained all winter at New Haven, settled at Milford ; and in the spring of 1639, a number of families settled at Stratford, then known by the Indian name of Cupheag.
The right of soil and manner of settlement.
The Patent' for the territory of Connecticut, given by the Earl of Warwick in 1631, under King Charles I., included
1 The first Patent of Connecticut, given under King Charles I.
"To all people, unto whom this present writing Sliall come, Robert, Earl of Warwick, sendeth greeting, in our Lord God everlasting.
Know ye, that the said Robert, Earl of Warwick, for divers good causes and considerations him thereunto moving, hath given, granted, bargained, sold, enfeoffed, alienated, and confirmed, and by these presents doth give, grant, bar- gain, sell, enfeoff, aliene, and confirm, unto the right honorable William, Viscount Say and Seal, the right honorable Robert, Lord Brook, the right honorable Lord Rich, and the honorable Charles Fiennes, Esq., Sir Nathaniel Rich, Knt., Sir Richard Saltonstall, Knt., Richard Knightly, Esq., John Pym, Esq., John Hamp- den, John Humphrey, Esq., and Herbert Pelham, Esq., their heirs and assigns, and their associates forever, all that part of New England, in America, which lies and extends itself from a river there called Narraganset river, the space of forty leagues upon a straight line near the sea shore towards the southwest, west and by south, or west as the coast lieth towards Virginia, accounting three English miles to the league ; and also all and singular the lands and hereditaments what- soever, lying and being within the lands aforesaid, north and south in latitude and breadth, and length and longitude of and within, all the breadth aforesaid, throughout the main lands there, from the western ocean to the south sea, and all lands and grounds, place and places, soil, wood, and woods, grounds, havens,
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History of Stratford.
"all that part of New England, in America, which lies and extends itself from a river there called Narraganset river, the space of forty leagues upon a straight line near the sea shore towards the southwest, west and south, or west as the coast lieth towards Virginia," and therefore covered more area than the present State of Connecticut. President Clap of Yale College described it thus : " All that part of New England which lies west from Narraganset river, a hundred and twenty miles on the sea coast ; and from thence in lati- tude and breadth aforesaid to the sea, which grant extended
ports, creeks and rivers, waters, fishings, and hereditaments whatsoever, lying within the said space, and every part and parcel thereof. And also all islands lying in America aforesaid, in the said seas, or either of them, on the western coasts, or parts of the said tracts of lands, by these presents mentioned to be given, granted, bargained, sold, enfeoffed, aliened, and confirmed, and also all mines and minerals, as well, royall mines of gold and silver, as other mines and min- erals, whatsoever, in the said land and premises, or any part thereof, and also the several rivers within the said limits, by what name or names soever called or known, and all jurisdictions, rights, and royalties, liberties, freedoms, immuni- ties, powers, privileges, franches, preeminences, and commodities whatsoever, which the said Robert, Earl of Warwick, now hath or had, or might use, exercise, or enjoy, in or within any part or parcel thereof, excepting and reserving to his majesty, his heirs, and successors the fifth part of all gold and silver ore, that shall be found within the said premises, or any part or parcel thereof: To have and to hold the said part of New-England in America, which lies and extends and is abutted as aforesaid. And the said several rivers and every parcel thereof, and all the said islands, rivers, ports, havens, waters, fishings, mines, minerals, juris- dictions, powers, franchises, royalties, liberties, privileges, commodities, heredita- ments and premises, whatsoever with the appurtenances, unto the said William, Viscount Say and Seal, Robert, Lord Brook, Robert, Lord Rich, Charles Fiennes, Sir Nathaniel Rich, Sir Richard Saltonstall, Richard Knightly, John Pym, John Hampden, John Humphrey and Herbert Pelham, their heirs and assigns and their associates, to the only proper and absolute use and behoof of them the said Wil- liam, Viscount Say and Seal, Robert, Lord Brook, Robert, Lord Rich, Charles Fiennes, Sir Nathaniel Rich, Sir Richard Saltonstall, Richard Knightly, John Pym, John Hampden, John Humphrey and Herbert Pelham, their heirs and assignes, and their associates for ever more. In witness whereof the said Robert Earl of Warwick, hath hereunto set his hand and seal, the ninteenth day of March, in the seventh year of the reign of our sovereign Lord Charles, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. Annoq. Domini, 1631.
Signed, sealed, and delivered,
in the presence of Walter Williams Thomas Howson
Robert Warwick."
75
First Patent of Connecticut.
from Point Judith to New York ; and from thence in a west line to the South Sea : and if we take Narraganset river in its whole length, this tract will extend as far as Worcester, and comprehends the whole of the colony of Connecticut and much more.""
The title to this land was given to the Earl of Warwick by the Plymouth Company of England. On " the 3d of Novem- ber, 1620, just before the arrival of Mr. Robbinson's people in New England, King James l., by letters patent, under the great seal of England, incorporated the Duke of Lenox, the Marquis of Buckingham and Hamilton, the Earls of Arundel and Warwick, and others, to the number of forty noblemen, knights and gentlemen, by the name 'of the Council estab- lished at Plymouth in the county of Devon, for the planting, ruling and governing of New England in America,'-' and granted unto them and their successors and assigns, all that part of America, lying and being in breadth from forty de- grees of north latitude from the equinoctial line, to the forty- eighth degree of said northerly latitude inclusively, and in length of and within all the breadth aforesaid, throughout the main lands from sea to sea.' The patent ordained that this tract of country should be called New England in America, and by that name have continuance forever."" In 1630, this Plymouth Company conveyed to the Earl of War- wick the territory named in the Connecticut Patent, and which he sold, as above, to the parties named in that Patent to the number of eleven persons.
When the companies settled at Windsor and Hartford, they supposed they were within the jurisdiction of the Mas- sachusetts Bay company, but soon became aware of their mistake, and on the arrival of the younger Governor Win- throp soon after to make a settlement at Saybrook and to be governor of Connecticut one year, there was talk of removing from Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield, but finally the two governments were united at Hartford.
It was in the latter part of the year 1636 that trouble
2 Manuscripts of President Clap. Trumbull, p. 28.
8 Trumbull, p. 20.
76
History of Stratford.
began between the Pequots and the Connecticut settlements, which resulted in the annihilation of that tribe in June of the next year, and by which the English took the Pequot coun- try as conquered territory; and by which also they took possession in March, 1638, of the country west of the Quinni- piac to the Hudson river, as conquered country, in conse- quence of the Indians of this territory being allies of the Pequots, and joining with them in the fight.
Before giving proof of the above statements some notice must be taken of the declarations of historians, that the first planters at Stratford and Fairfield bought these townships of the Indians, in favor of which there is scarcely a scrap of record to be found, except in the publications hereafter men- tioned.
Dr. Trumbull, who was a very careful collector of his- tory-although he made a decided mistake this once, at least -says :
" The whole township [Stratford] was purchased of the natives; but first Cupheag and Pughquonnuck only, where the settlements began."4 The settlement did not begin at Pequannock, within Stratford bounds, until twenty years after that at Cupheag; besides, in the Colonial records the Indian name Pequannuck was sometimes applied in a gen- eral way to the settlement at Cupheag, or Stratford village, but generally to the open country in Fairfield adjoining Stratford line and including a part of Stratford territory at that place. Of Fairfield he says: " The first adventures purchased a large tract of land of the natives,"-which was, as will be seen, wholly erroneous, so far as any records show.
Noah Webster, LL.D., in his History of the United States, printed in 1842, says :
" Mr. Ludlow, of Windsor, who had traversed the lands west of Quinnipiac, in pursuit.of the Pequots in 1637, was so well pleased with their fertility, that he and a few friends purchased a large tract at Unquoway, and began a settlement in 1639, called Fairfield. In the same year a company of
4 Dr. Trumbull, i. 110, Ibid., 109.
77
The First Settlement.
men from England and Massachusetts purchased Cupheag and Poquonnoc, and began the town of Stratford.""
Mr. J. W. Barber and others have followed this same erroneous supposition concerning the purchase of these plantations of the Indians before 1659, for which there was never a scrap of record or an authenticated tradition until these historians made them, as far as can be ascertained. Every Indian deed of lands in Stratford bears a date of more than twenty years later than the first settlement of the town and the deeds were then made more as a mutual friendship act than for any other reason. The truth is-and it only illustrates, that historians have too little time to bestow on their work-that Dr. Trumbull and all the other writers wholly overlooked certain papers recorded in the first vol- ume of Stratford records, which give a clear elucidation of this subject. Indeed, the Indian deeds of later years prove, in their statements, that there were no purchases of these lands before 1656.
The plantations of Stratford and Fairfield were always under the government of the Connecticut Colony and never under or connected with the New Haven Colony. The cause securing this relation was the possession of this terri- tory by Connecticut and the direction given by that Colony in the settlement of these localities. The claim to this terri- tory was based on the acquisition of it as conquered country, and, in addition, a treaty was made with the Indians for the specific purpose of settlement. The evidence of these facts is contained in several papers, made under oath, and recorded at Stratford in 1659, twenty years after the whites first came, by which the Court at Hartford decided that the lands then occupied by Stratford and Fairfield rightly belonged to those towns.
These papers may be seen in full on pages 10 to 15 of this book, as a part of the Indian history ; and as authority they are important documents. These persons were : the Rev. John Higginson, a prominent minister living at Guilford at the time, Thomas Stanton, of Hartford, Indian interpreter,
5 Webster's Hist. U. S., 97.
78
History of Stratford.
Lieut. Thomas Wheeler, at first of Fairfield but afterwards of Milford, and John Minor, interpreter to the Indians and for some years town clerk at Stratford before his removal to Woodbury. The items given by these persons are the fol- lowing. Mr. Edward Hopkins and Mr. William Goodwin, then prominent men, were employed by the Court at Hart- ford to "treat with the Indians in regard to the land from Quinnipiac to the Manhattoes" (New York), and that Mr. Higginson accompanied them, as interpreter : that after giv- ing notice to, and inviting the sachems and principal men of the tribes from Quinnipiac to the Hudson river, they met at Norwalk in the last week in March in 1638 (really the begin- ning of the year 1638), not quite a year after the conquest of the Pequots, and after a day's consultation in full council, all the tribes being well represented, the Indians gave the land to the English, without consideration except the protection they should thereby secure against other Indians. In this surrender they reserved only their planting grounds, which were located at that time on the Pequannock plain.
In these papers it is also claimed that the territory, specially of Stratford and Fairfield, was conquered country, for the reason that the tribes inhabiting it were tributary to the Pequots at the time, and that they being led specially by the Pequannock tribe, which was the most numerous, joined with the Pequots as they fled, the year previous, and aided them in the battles or skirmishes at Quinnipiac, Cupheag, Pequannock and Sashquaket swamp. It was claimed, and it is said that the Indians acknowledged, that if the Pequot country was conquered territory and not to be paid for, so also was that owned by those who joined them in the fight. Mr. Higginson states that the object of this treaty was par- ticularly to secure the land for future settlements, and keep it from the possession of the Dutch ; and that a deputation of Indians returned with the commissioners to Hartford and did ratify the agreement with a meeting of the Court, held in Mr. Hooker's barn.
Mr. Nicholas Knell, a prominent planter at Stratford, confirmed the testimony of Mr. Higginson, and it is said that numbers of persons would do the same, and that it was upon
.
79
The First Settlement.
the right to the soil thus obtained that the Connecticut Colony procceded to induce settlers to locate upon these lands, beginning in 1638, probably within two months after the council held with the Indians at Norwalk.
The New Haven and Milford companies, not being aware of this acquisition by the cost of many lives, and the treaty, took possession of the Quinnipiac lands about fifteen days after the treaty was ratified, and afterwards purchased the same of the natives ; but they were, as appears from these papers, as to the right of the soil obtained from the Indians, squatters on Connecticut territory. Also the planters at Norwalk, Stamford and Greenwich, not being aware of the acquisition and treaty, and the General Court not urging its claims, purchased their lands of the tribes living at those places.
The Connecticut Court, however, proceeded at once to induce settlers to establish themselves at Stratford and Fair- field, and probably succeeded in directing a few families to locate in each place in the year 1638, and several more in 1639.
On the 10th of October, 1639, Mr. Ludlow then residing at Windsor, and being Deputy Governor, made a journey to New Haven and thence to Pequannock and Uncoway, where he located some cattle for the winter, and laid out lots of land " for himself and others." Upon his return to Hartford, there arose some misunderstanding as to what he had done, and the Governor-Mr. Haynes-and Mr. Wells were appointed a commission to visit these places, already inhabited by a number of settlers, under the following direc- tions :6
" They are desired to confer with the planters at Pequan- nocke [Fairfield and Stratford], to give them the oath of fidelity, make such free as they see fit, order them to send one or two deputies to the two General Courts in September and April, and for deciding of differences and controversies under 408 among them, to propound to them and give them power to choose seven men from among themselves, with
6 Conn. Col. Records, 36.
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History of Stratford.
liberty of appeal to the Court here; and also to assign Ser- geant Nichols for the present to train the men and exercise them in military discipline ; and they are farther desired to speak with Mr. Pruden and that Plantation, that the differ- ence between them and Pequannocke plantation [Stratford] may be peaceably decided, and to this end that indifferent men may be chosen to judge who have most right to the places in controversy and most need of them, and accord- ingly determined as shall be most agreeable to equity and reason."7 דיי
This act of the Court in October, 1639, to make freemen in addition to some who already resided here, who should vote in the election of representatives, was the legal recog- nition of these plantations as a part of the Government of Connecticut ; and the fulfillment of these orders constituted the organization of the towns, but this was done only in part according to the acceptance of the report of the Governor and Mr. Wells the following 16th of January, 1639;8 and the commission was renewed the next April (9, 1640), as follows :
"It is ordered that Mr. Haynes, Mr. Ludlow and Mr. Welles shall settle the division of the bounds betwixt Pequannocke and Uncowaye, by the 24th day of June next, according to their former Commission : And also that they tender the Oath of Fidelity to the Inhabitants of the said Townes, and make such free as they shall approve of.""
But before the date specified had arrived, namely, the 15th of June, 1640, other persons were appointed to attend this work, as follows :
" It is Ordered, that Mr. Ludlow, Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Blakeman shall survey and divide and set out the bounds betwixt the Plantations of Cupheag and Uncoway, provided if they cannot accord, Mr. Welles at his next coming to those parts shall issue it."10
7 Col. Rec. i. 36.
8 The year ending the 25th of March, 1639 ; but 1640 as we now begin the year.
9 Conn. Col. Rec., 47.
10 Conn. Col. Records, 53.
8 I
The First Settlement.
In the order for April 9, 1640, these plantations are called towns, indicating their standing as incorporated parts of the government ; and the same, with other items may be seen in another order of the Court in June 15, 1640,11 when Mr. William Hopkins of Cupheag is appointed and sworn as the first Magistrate of that town. On the 13th of April, 1643, it was " Ordered, that one or two of the Magistrates shall be sent to Stratford and Uncoway, to join with Mr. Ludlow for the execution of justice, twice this year, namely, the last Thursday in April and the last in September. Captain Mason and Mr. Wells are appointed for the last in April."12
Stratford does not appear to have sent representatives to the General Court until 1642, when Philip Groves filled that position. The taxes for Stratford and Fairfield were col- lected together as one plantation until 1647, when they were ordered by the Court to be divided. Also their courts were held jointly some years by magistrates appointed for the purpose.
The difficulty of ascertaining the date when Stratford was made a town, with many other items as to its organiza- tion and first settlement, is in consequence of the town records for ten of the first years having disappeared. These records probably consisted of a volume or small book, fools- cap size, about half an inch thick, which was called "folio."
Not only were the plantations of Stratford and Fairfield called towns in April, 1640, but they had freemen who no doubt voted in the adoption of the first constitution, in Jan- uary, 1638 (O. S.), they being a part of the government at the time, and hence in no great hurry to effect an organization of the town which would be burdensome to maintain ; for dur-
11 " Whereas by an Order the 14th of January 1638, none is to be chosen a Magistrate but such as are propounded in some General Court before, yet not- withstanding, as Cupheag and Uncoway are somewhat far distant from this Court, and there is a necessity for the dispensation of justice in those Towns, therefore in the mean and until the next General Court of Election, that it is thought meet and so ordered, that Mr. William Hopkins of Cupheag be a Commissioner to join with Mr. Ludlow in all Executions in their particular Court or otherwise, and is now sworn to that purpose." Col. Rec., 53.
12 Col. Rec., 86.
6
82
History of Stratford.
ing several years after the commencement of the settlement they seem to have been released from taxes, and perhaps this is the reason why representatives were not sent earlier than they were.
This first Constitution of Connecticut was a remarkable paper, and ever will be a great honor to Roger Ludlow, then of Fairfield, who drew it, as well as to the men who adopted it. The basis of this paper was an independent republic, there being in it no reference to king or queen or monarchy or any other government except itself, which is very remarkable when remembering that all those who were then to act as freemen under it were just come from a kingdom of remarka- ble dignity and renown.
Dr. Trumbull, in his History of Connecticut, remarks upon this instrument as follows :
"This probably is one of the most free and happy con- stitutions of civil government which has ever been formed. The formation of it, at so early a period, when the light of liberty was wholly darkened in most parts of the earth, and the rights of men were so little understood in others, does great honor to their ability, integrity and love to mankind. To posterity indeed, it exhibited a most benevolent regard. It has been continued, with little alteration, to the present time [1818]. The happy consequences of it, which, for more than a century and a half, the people of Connecticut have experienced, are without description."13
A recent writer14 has the following passage in regard to this constitution as formulated by Mr. Ludlowe :
" The salient feature of Ludlowe's career, the grand achievement of his life, was his large share in originating and putting into practical operation the original laws of Con- necticut. When, after the Pequot war, the General Court met to decide upon a frame of government, he was unani- mously appointed to make the draft. Of this great paper it is not too much to say, briefly, that in its immediate applica-
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