USA > Connecticut > Middlesex County > Middletown > Centennial address and Historical sketches > Part 2
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There are many other advantages arising from these celebrations, which I will barely allude to. They encour- age a love of home : by increasing its attraction, they draw back the wanderer to his birth-place, and quiet in a meas- ure that restless spirit of change, which is somewhat too
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striking a feature of the New England character. 'They revive old and pleasing associations, and brighten the chain of past friendships, which time's rust had well nigh severed. They foster a spirit of enquiry and investiga- tion ; they add to our stores of knowledge, by leading to the collection of historical facts, many of them perhaps just on the point of being lost forever ; they serve as con- necting links between different ages and periods, and as landmarks, by which future generations can trace back their progress from infancy to maturity.
They change the current of our feelings, running per- haps too strongly upon the perishable things of earth- they elevate the mind above the mere present, and carry the thoughts far forward beyond its fleeting limits ; for in the faithful mirror of the past, we see, as it were, ourselves projected into the future, and can infer from the reflection there presented, the estimation in which coming ages will hold the now existing race. They thus serve as a medium of comparison, by which we should not only learn to judge, but also to improve ourselves ; and the result of this voluntary self-examination, when care- fully and candidly instituted, must diminish our self-es- teem and expand our charity.
What can be more delightful, what more beneficial, than the re-unions effected by such occasions, as that which has this day brought us together !
Every county, nay, every town in New England, may be considered as a nursery, wherein are reared those in- dividuals, whose genius, talents, and virtues, have so strongly impressed their characteristics upon the whole American people. Acquiring the rudiments of educa- tion in the district schools of their native places ; improv- ing their minds, and their powers, by the steady, but varied use of every faculty ; with habits of industry and
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keen observation, and great facility of adapting them- selves to almost any situation and circumstances, in which they may be placed, they leave the paternal roof, and spread themselves over the length and breadth of the country, in search of a wider field for the exercise of their talents, or in the hope of more speedily acquiring the means of indulging their tastes and fancies. You will find them everywhere ; engaged in every variety of occupation, and filling every kind and degree of private and official station.
They teach our schools-they edit our papers-they navigate our ships-they extend our commerce abroad, and our trade at home-they regulate our time-and they make our laws. In the workshop, the counting house, or the legislative hall, they are equally at home. From them chiefly, are recruited the ranks of the vari- ous professions ; and when you hear of any one in either of them, who has acheived a lofty and commanding repu- tation, or who has distinguished himself by any particu- lar excellence, you may be almost certain, that man is & Yankce.
The course of time rolls on, and year after year adds to the number of expatriated New Englanders. Think you, that during all this time, their hearts have not yearned, again to behold their birth places, and once more to revisit the scenes of their childhood and early associations ? Think you, they do not often in fancy, play over their youthful sports upon their native village green, and tread again the well-remembered roads and paths, through which their youthful feet so often strayed ? Think you they do not recall to mind their former play- mates and associates, and ardently long for some occa- sion, which should revive those friendships, and restore those early days ? Aye, do they : and right gladly and
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promptly do they obey the summons, and embrace the opportunity, which such a celebration as the present fur- nishes them. Joyfully they hasten to the old home, and heartily they greet their early companions ; and through many a year afterwards, will memory love to linger up- on this happy meeting ; and in many an hour hereafter, amid the cares of business, the whirl of pleasure, or in the intervals of engrossing occupations, will such a scene, and such an occasion come back to the mind, soothing its perplexities, alleviating its sorrows, and refining its enjoyments. Like an oasis in the desert, will it serve not only for present delight, but as a perpetual theme for grateful recollection ; and not until the shades of life's evening gather around them, and the palsying hand of decay obscures their failing faculties, will they cease to remember, or be thankful for, the privilege which you have this day enjoyed.
Few, or none of those now before me, it may safely be said, will ever witness the return of another Centennial Anniversary ; but a hundred years hence, your children, and your children's children will celebrate it, doubtless, on a scale of magnificence, of which, we who are here, can now form no conception. Instead of the hundreds, who have this day assembled together, to do honor to the occasion, there will be thousands and tens of thousands, gathered within some vast and spacious edifice, to listen to the history of their forefathers' advent. The now quiet little place which is our residence, will then, per- haps, be transformed into an extensive and busy city, and from its lofty mansions and comfortable dwellings, will pour out a countless multitude, all animated with the zeal and spirit which such an occasion should call forth. From all quarters of this wide-spread and mighty conti- nent, will be collected the descendants of those now on
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the stage, and those who have preceeded them. From the South and the West, aye, even from the very borders of the Pacific Ocean, it may be, will the iron horse speed them to the land where their first breath was drawn. And here, where we are now making this humble endeavor to cherish and preserve the memory of our simple hearted, but earnest and persevering ancestors, and to perpetuate the record of their trials, and struggles, and sufferings, will another generation perform the same pious and grate- ful duty for us. Then, when we are "sleeping that sleep which knows no waking ;" when our bones shall have mouldered into dust, and our ashes lie mingled with those of our predecessors ; when our very names shall be old ; then, I say, will those, our descendants, turn with pride and gratitude, to the printed record of this day's proceedings, and rejoice that this, our feeble attempt at the commemoration of Middletown's nativity, was not suf- fered utterly to fail ; that the facts, which, for this occa- sion have been gathered, and garnered up with so much care and patient research, were rescued from the obscurity which was fast enshrouding them, and gnatched from an oblivion, which would, ere long, have been irretrievable.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS;
DELIVERED AT THE
SECOND CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
IN THE
CITY OF MIDDLETOWN, CONN.,
November 13, 1850,
BY DAVID D. FIELD.
HAD the author of the following Address, when requested to deliver it, foreseen the sufferings before him from a long and distressing rheumatic affection, prudence would have prevented the undertaking ; and after it was delivered, and a copy request- ed for publication, all attempts to prepare one with so many and long notes as were deemed desirable to accompany it. His error was, that he flattered himself with the hope of a speedy recovery, and so has occasioned disappointment and long delay. But now that the work is about to be put to press, he feels it a privilege to express his gratitude to God, for restoring him, in a good de- gree, to health ; to the Committee, and his numerous friends in Middletown and vicinity, for their patient waiting, and help, in many instances, in furnishing him with faets. Should the work contribute to help them and their children to keep in remem- brance the privations and hardships, the zeal and piety of their ancestors, and stimulate them to the imitation of their Christian virtues, it will be a rich reward.
December. 1851.
D. D. F.
ADDRESS.
THE English Colonists who removed, in 1636, from the vicinity of Boston to the townships of Wethersfield, Hartford and Windsor, were invited to these places by the Indian inhabitants, from the expectation that their settlement among them, would be a protection from the Mohawks, whose very name was a terror to them on the one hand, and from the Pequots, who were their more immediate dread on the other. How well founded was their expectation, is attested by the wisdom with which the Pequot war was soon undertaken, and the valor and success with which it was prosecuted. The destruction of these malicious and dangerous enemies was not effect- ed fully by the ruin of the Mystic fort, nor by the fight immediately after, with Sassacus and his men, as the victors were marching to their vessels in Pequot harbor. These were sufficient to move the Pequots at the Fort of Sassacus, to burn their wigwams and disperse in ramb- ling parties ; a dispersion, which did not wholly secure them ; for the General Court appointed Capt. Mason, and furnished him with men to prosecute the war: some forces were sent from Massachusetts for this purpose ; and Indians, who had been inimical to the Pequots, wil- lingly came forward and assisted in destroying them. One of their parties was taken by the Massachusetts troops, united with some of the Narraganset Indians. Another party crossed Connecticut river, and some Eng-
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ADDRESS OF DR. FIELD.
lish scouts had a skirmish with them on a hill in Say- brook, whence they fled into a neighboring swamp, from which the hill is called Pequot Hill, and the swamp Pe- quot Swamp, to this day. Their course was near the Sound. A few of them were pursued by some English soldiers and by some Mohegans, down the eastern shore of the harbor west of Guilford Borough. They swam across the harbor, but were taken as they ascended the opposite bank. Among these was a Sachem, whom Un- cas shot with an arrow. He cut off his head, and put it in the fork of an oak, where the skull remained many years. From this transaction the harbor has ever since been called Sachem's Head. . The fugitives generally, proceeded to a large swamp in Fairfield, whither they were pursued and surrounded ; about 20 were killed and 180 taken prisoners. By these various attacks and losses, the destruction of the Pequots as a tribe was completed, though numbers escaped and fled to the Mohawks. It was probably well for the Colonists that these did escape, for their melancholy and forlorn condition told that their tribe was no more. It told also, what bold and desperate fighters those Englishmen were, who had come to Con- necticut, and how hazardous it would be for the Mohawks to contend with them, and those whom they had under- taken to protect.
The destruction of the Pequot tribe was of the great- est importance to the settlement at Saybrook, and to the other settlements on Connecticut river. It struck a gen- eral terror into the Indians in Connecticut, and beyond it, and prevented their rising in great numbers against the English, for nearly forty years. It opened fine sites for the Colonists on the Sound ; at Guilford, Branford, New Haven, Milford, Stratford and Fairfield ; sites which were speedily occupied.
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Between the Pequot war and the war of King Philip, settlements in New England were multiplied, and acquir- ed strength for the exigences of this long and horrid con- test, in which the Connecticut people, by reason of the union of New England Colonies had to bear their part in furnishing men and means ; a union, which, in addition to the benefits to the colonics themselves for the time being, may have suggested the importance of the union of thir- teen colonies a century afterward. But though they bore their part, they retained the friendship of the Connecti- cut Indians, and some of them opposed the course of Philip .*
But why was not Mattabesettt at once settled after the Pequot war ? Those who passed down the river saw the lands from the banks. But along these were no such wide alluvial grounds as there were further up the river, nor such flat and clearly arable lands, specially im- portant at the time, as appeared in some places on the Sound. For a mile or more immediately north of the present city, the lands seemed to be too low and wet to be drained and converted, even into meadows ; too much covered and entangled by thickets to be reclaimed by persons in the circumstances of the colonists. They were regarded doubtless as a dead swamp, as the low lands were at the Nooks in the Upper Houses. The beauty and richness which strike the eye in the great amphitheatre before us did not appear. The river itself and its graceful turn eastward, were obscured by im- mense trees, which had been striking their roots into the banks for ages, and stretching out their branches till they drooped in the stream. The cliffs of the Portland stone
* Trumbull, vol. 1., pp. 368, 9.
t The Indian name for Middletown.
3
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also stood shelving and frowning over it. Industry and art were needed to remove the primeval forests and let in the rays of the sun upon the water and the land, that this glorious scenery might be revealed. Numerous sec- tions of good lands west, and back from the river, had not then been examined, probably by any English eye.
Another cause concurred to prevent an early settle- ment. A large Indian tribe existed here, who were more than suspected of being enemies to the English. Their great sachem, Sowheag, had his castle on the high ground, back from the river, in the north part of the city, and was able thence to call around him many warri- ors, whose wigwams stood thick on both sides of the Connecticut, at points particularly desirable for settle- ments. His authority spread over a large territory, over the Piquaug or Wethersfield Indians, over a clan on the north-western branch of the Little River in Berlin, if he had not some right and sway among the Farmington In- dians .* In April 1647, some of his Indians had con- ducted and aided the Pequots in the excursion which they made into Wethersfield, where they killed six men and three women, and took two maids captive. Sowheag en- tertained the murderers and treated the people of Weth- ersfield in a haughty and insulting manner. It seems that they had previously offered him some provocation.
* In the His. Discourse, by Rev. Noah Porter, jr., now Professor of Moral Philosophy in Yale College, delivered at Farmington in 1840, after stating how that largo township was obtained from the Indians, and how the title was confirmed by two successivo agreements, the first in 1650, and the second in 1673, ho observes, that "in 1651 Massacope gives a quitclaim deed of all this land, that he was probably a Mattabesett Indian, and with his son signs the agreement for valuable considerations and gratification at the time of sale." Not satisfied with the " limits as specified in the deed, he went out and for himself examined and marked the boundaries."
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ADDRESS OF DR. FIELD.
The General Court were therefore disposed to forgive him, and appointed a committee to compromise all diffi- culties. But he wholly refused to give up the murder- ers, even after the destruction of the Pequot tribe, and continued his outrages against the English. The Court therefore, in August, 1639, determined to send one hun- dred men there to take the delinquents by force. They notified their friends at New Haven of their determina- tion, both that they might receive their approbation in an undertaking of such general concern, and that they might make the necessary arrangements for defending themselves. Governor Eaton and his council viewed it important the murderers should be brought to punish- ment ; but in existing circumstances deemed the meas- ures proposed inexpedient, and dissuaded the Connecti- cut Colony from executing their purpose. In such cir- cumstances, it is no wonder that a few English emigrants were unwilling at once to come and settle near Sowlieag and his warriors, who had all the lurking places for mischief many miles around, especially as those who wished to settle in Connecticut could find good lands among the planters above on the river, or in the settle- ments which had sprung up on the Sound.
A settlement however, was contemplated in Mattabe- sett, before the session of the General Court in October, 1646; probably some months before, for on the 30th of October in that year, the General Court appointed a Mr. Phelps to join a Committee for the planting of Mattabe- sett. The Committee already existed. What the en- larged Committee did for the accomplishment of the ob- ject ; how soon and thoroughly they examined the grounds, fixed on sites for the beginning of settlements, and had the names of persons enrolled, who had engaged and were preparing to come and put up dwellings, we
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are not expressly informed. They do not appear to have made rapid progress, for on the 20th of March, 1649-50, (1650 according to our mode of dating,) Samuel Smith, sen., of Wethersfield, was appointed a member of the Committee in the place of one that would not act. This year the settlement is understood to have been commenc- ed, but by how many precisely, and in what part of the year we are not informed, for a few of the first pages of the Town Records are lost, and others are nearly oblit- erated. Few came at first, but a considerable number before the close of the next year, for on the 11th of Sep- tember, 1651, the General Court "ordered that Matta- besett should be a town," and that the inhabitants should make choice of one of their number to take the oath of Constable. This year too, the town was ordered to be rated. In the Autumn "of 1652 the town was represent- ed in the General Court, and in November, 1653, the General Court further approved that the name of the plantation, commonly called Mattabeseck, should for time to come, be called Middletown." The number of taxa- ble persons in 1654, was thirty one. It has been sug- gested, that the name of Middletown was given to the township, because it lay between the towns up the river and Saybrook at its mouth ; but it is far more probable that it was taken from some town in England, for which the settlers had a particular regard.
Before the commencement of the settlement, Sowhcag had given to Mr. Haynes, Governor of Connecticut & great part of the township, for which a consideration was given in return. But the Indian title was not wholly ex- tinguished until about twelve years after. Then Sow- heag having probably deceased, or become imbecile, cer- tain chiefs, knowing what he had done, for a further and full consideration, gave to Samuel Wyllys and others,
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acting in behalf of the town, all the land between Weth- ersfield, (then including Glastenbury,) and Haddam," to run from the great river the whole breadth east, six miles, and from the great river west as far as the Gener- al Court of Connecticut had granted the bounds should extend ;" a distance which will be noticed as we proceed ; excepting a tract on the west side of the river, pre- viously laid out to Sawsean to remain his forever, and three hundred acres reserved for the heirs of Sowheag and Mattabesett Indians to be laid out on the east side .*
When Indians sold lands, they were in the habit of re- serving, besides the exclusive right to small definite tracts, the right of hunting and fishing where they pleased, and of cutting saplings for their simple articles of manufac- ture, so that the lands were nearly of as much value to them after they were sold as before, until the Colonists made very considerable advances in elearing and cultiva- tion. Though such reservation is not mentioned in the deed of the Indians to Mr. Wyllys and others, the right was probably considered as remaining. 11 39012
The reservation on the west side of the river was in the neighborhood called Newfield, and up that street the Indians had a cemetery previously to the settlement of the English among them, with rude monuments placed over their dead; on them were drawn such devices as corresponded with their superstitions, and such as they were able to prepare with their rude instruments. Some of these remained on the ground, or in a stone wall fencing it, within the memory of a few persons now living. The Aborigines were numerous about the north-west part of the city, long after the English settlements began.
The Little River, where the bridge crosses it from the city to Newfield, was the head of navigation for their
* Note A.
3*
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water craft, as they returned from trips up and down the Connecticut, loaded with game, peltries and fish. They held lands there until 1713.
The reservation east of the river, was laid out partly on Indian Hill, and partly a little castward of the first Congregational Church, built in what is now Portland .- This was held by them until 1767, when having dwindled to a small number, they sold their right and united with the Farmington Indians.
At Indian Hill was a famous grave-yard, where in some instances, monuments were erected over the graves with inscriptions after the English manner. The early chiefs and principal men were doubtless buried on the west side of the river. But after the settlement of the remnant of the tribe in Portland, some in whose veins ran a portion of noble blood, were doubtless buried at Indian Hill .*
Here as elsewhere, they buried their dead sometimes in a sitting posture ; and believing that those whom they regarded as good men, would have wants and enjoyments in a future world corresponding with those possessed here, they buried with them for their gratification on their way to eternity, or their enjoyment after their arrival there, food, utensils, arms, ornaments and wampum. +
* The Mohegans it is understood used to visit the Mattabesetts, at least after the collection of the remnant of the tribe in Portland. There is a tradition that one of the Mohegans, supposed to be a descendant of the great Uncas, or Onckous, visited them and died among them of the small pox. A grave stone which once stood on Indian Hill, not long since found, is confirmatory of the tradition ; for on this it is written : " Here lies the body of John Onckous, whe died Aug. the 30, 1722, aged 26 years.
+ As specimens of this, the contents of three graves opened in the Spring of 1808, may be mentioned-one of a man, and two of children. The man was placed sitting, wrapped in a blanket, (which was not entire- ly consumed, but upon exposure to the air became as burnt straw); in bis
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ADDRESS OF DR. FIELD.
Besides the cemeteries just mentioned, evidences of the burial of the natives have been found on the left bank of Taylor's Creek, as it enters the Connecticut. Their bone's have also been found recently, west of the river in excavations made for the Branch Railroad from the city.
The Indians east of the river were sometimes called Wongonks or Wongums, but the reservation being for the heirs of Sowheag and Mattabesett Indians, those are only other names for the same tribe, or a remnant of it. A class also that inhabited or frequented the region about Pokatapang Pond in East Hampton, and had a favorite place of rendesvous on the principal island which the pond incloses, were in all probability Mattabesetts. The island * is sometimes said to have been owned by an In-
lap were two small brass kettles, probably filled with soup or succotash at the time of burial, one of which had sunk down into the other, in which were a spoon, knife, phial, and pipe. His arm was extended round the kettles, and where the flesh came in contact with the brass, from the elbow to the wrist, the flesh was preserved. In the hand of one of the children was found a brass eup of the size of a tea cup, and here again the flesh on the fingers was preserved, where they eame against the brass. Around the wrist was wampum strung on deer skin, and near by, beads supposed to have been placed about the neck. In the grave of the other child was a copper box containing wampum.
The Indians like other meu, wished to live on earth as long as they could, believing as they did in a future state; and to cure a cold and many other complaints, they used to stand on a hot stone rolled into a hole dug in the earth, until they were brought into a profuse sweat, and then plunged into water A lot at Indian Hill is called IIot House lot, because it had one of these holes in it.
* When the water is high, it flows over the middle of this Island and makes it two islands It contains about nine acres, though it has been reported as much less. On the western side are steps visible when the water is low, supposed to have been laid there by the Natives, for their convenience in visiting it. That they were much about the pond is evi-
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