USA > Connecticut > Connecticut as a colony and as a state; or, One of the original thirteen, Volume I > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
Another company, under the charge of Barnabas Davis, arrived in Massachusetts empowered to locate four hundred acres; but learning of the non-success of Stiles, they like- wise returned to their native land without accomplishing the object of their visit. On receipt of tidings from their depu- ties acquainting them with these unsuccessful attempts, the grantees entered into negotiations with John Winthrop, Jr., at that time sojourning in England.
Winthrop was then about thirty years of age, a gradu- ate of Trinity College, Dublin ; he had made the grand tour of Europe, had visited Massachusetts in 1631, and been chosen a magistrate of that colony. The patentees appointed him governor of Connecticut River for one year, his term of office to commence at the time of his arrival on the terri- tory. While designating no specific time, Winthrop prom-
73
CONNECTICUT AS COLONY AND STATE
ised as soon as possible to provide himself with fifty men, and build a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut River, to re- serve from one thousand to fifteen hundred acres of the ad- joining lands, and to erect thereon habitations suitable for himself and other gentlemen of quality. He was furnished with £2,000, and was to account for all expenses entered into for the benefit of the patentees.
On Winthrop's arrival at Boston, it was rumored that the Dutch were trying to forestall him in the erection of a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut; hence not waiting to recruit his full complement, he embarked twenty men on board a ves- sel, with instructions to take possession of the designated point, erect embankments, and plant their cannons. The fortifications were hardly completed when the hostile sail was sighted; but when they saw a new fortress flying the Eng- lish colors, the Dutch withdrew with no further manifesta- tions. The patentees having arranged with Lieutenant Lion Gardener, an engineer in the employ of the Prince of Orange, he was sent to the new settlement to draw plans and su- perintend the erection of a fort and other necessary buildings. Gardener arrived at Boston in the latter part of 1635, and proceeded to join Winthrop in the Connecticut territory.
In the agreement made with Winthrop and Gardener, the patentees acted only as joint tenants, as is evidenced by the attachment of their private seals to the documents, and the non-use of any corporation or colony seal; making Governor Winthrop limit his jurisdiction to the fort and the adjacent territory that had been reserved for its maintenance, with no attempt to exercise any authority over the settlements higher up on the river. An offer was made by the patentees to reimburse the pioneers of the river settlements, or pro- vide other locations for them, but their proposals were disre-
74
CONNECTICUT AS A COLONY
garded. Winthrop and Gardener were only employees of the patentees, and the former's stay at the fort was short ; the winter of 1635-36 was very severe, the Connecticut Riv- er being frozen over by the middle of November, causing great suffering amongst the garrison. In the midsummer of 1639 George Fenwick, one of the patentees, accompanied by his wife and household, and several gentlemen with their ser- vants, arrived in two ships from England. On the arrival of these settlers the fort ceased to be a mere military post, and a form of civil government was adopted, Fenwick as agent for the patentees assuming the chief executive power.
Mention has been made of the Duke of Hamilton's claim to territory in Connecticut. One of the last acts of the Coun- cil of Plymouth was to grant, on April 20, 1635, to James, Marquis of Hamilton, a tract of land commencing at the mouth of the Connecticut River, to run on the seacoast sixty miles east of Narragansett River and north sixty miles, fol- lowing the west bank of that river, and then sixty miles west and then southerly to the starting point. In the same year the Council of Plymouth made two other grants: one to the Duke of Lenox, the other to the Earl of Carlisle, from the Hudson River to New Haven on the seacoast and extending into the interior; following the line of the coast from New Haven to the mouth of the Connecticut River. These pat- ents regranted lands in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Mas- sachusetts; and this was done by the Council of Plymouth, then going into liquidation, to strengthen grants already made, thereby rendering it impossible that any of the terri- tory covered by their original patent from the King should ever revert to the Crown. The Marquis of Hamilton was a descendant of the great historical Scotch family of that name. He was created a Duke by Charles I. for services rendered in
75
CONNECTICUT AS COLONY AND STATE
suppressing the Scottish Covenanters. During the Civil War he led a Scottish army into England, to support the King, but was defeated at Preston by Cromwell, and being after- wards captured, was beheaded in March 1649. The title re- verted to his brother William, who died two years later of wounds received at the battle of Worcester, leaving no male issue. The Duchy of Hamilton, by its patent of creation, de- volved upon an aunt of these two heads of the House of Hamilton, who was married to the Earl of Selkirk; the latter in 1660 was created Duke of Hamilton for life. The eldest son of the couple was James, Earl of Arran, who, upon the death of his father in 1694 (the titles being re- signed by his mother ), became the Duke of Hamilton. These were the heirs of the Marquis of Hamilton who attempted to establish their claim to lands in Connecticut, and in 1683 executed a power of attorney to Edward Randolph to sue and to receive their rights of interests in lands, islands, houses, and tenements in New England. The case was brought before the courts to sustain their claim, and Con- necticut in defense introduced as evidence the prior grant to the Earl of Warwick; but at the plaintiff's request that docu- ments be produced to establish this grant, it was admitted that, owing to the dissolution of the Council of Plymouth fifty years previous, it was impossible to furnish the rec- ords.
Randolph was the common enemy of New England, and in every way attempted to legalize the claim of the Hamiltons to the property; but the courts decided they had no title,- basing their decision upon the fact that neither the Duke of Hamilton nor his heirs had ever taken possession of, or made any attempt to claim, lands under their patent for for- ty-eight years after the date of the conveyance. Connecticut
76
CONNECTICUT AS A COLONY
thus triumphed over her enemies at home and abroad; if the legality of the Warwick patent was not established, at least any contestant was barred by the Statute of Limita- tions; her land titles were protected against all other en- croachments and demands of the future. The other dwellers had the indefeasible claim of right, that they had opened up the land and risked their own lives to make it habitable for others.
77
CHAPTER IV DUTCH AND ENGLISH
T HE initial cause for the settlement of New Netherlands by the Dutch, was the claim of the Dutch East India Company that the ter- ritory between the Hudson and Delaware Rivers was theirs by right of the discoveries of navigators in their employ; these two rivers were named by them the Great North and South Rivers.
There was formed in Holland, in 1614, a new company known as the New Netherlands Company, to which all the rights and privileges of the Dutch East India Company were transferred. The States General also granted them a char- ter, giving them the control of all the coast country in the New World, between the fortieth and forty-fifth degree of north latitude, which the Dutch described as the country lying between New France on the north and Virginia on the south. This interfered with the grants of James I. to the Virginia companies, but did not deter the Dutch from keep- ing or occupying what they claimed was rightly theirs by discovery.
Before the organization of the New Netherlands Com- pany a group of huts had been built on Manhattan Island, trading posts established on the rivers, and agents of the company had explored the coast on both sides of what is now Long Island Sound, ascending the Fresh [ Connecticut] Riv- er. The New Netherlands Company was succeeded by the Dutch West India Company; which, as Motley ( 'Rise of the Dutch Republic') says, "had a roving commission to trade, to fight, and to govern for twenty-four years." This company's main object was to despoil the Portuguese and Spanish of their territory and possessions, and incidentally to encourage settlement on the Great North [Hudson] and South [Delaware] Rivers.
81
CONNECTICUT AS COLONY AND STATE
Before this great company could formulate a systematic plan to encourage emigration to the New World, the territory to their north was occupied by the Plymouth settlement; and their neighbors, instead of being the French of New France, became the English of New England. The rich prizes to be obtained from the Portuguese and Spanish so occupied the attention of the West India Company, to the detriment of their North American interests, that it was not until 1625- in which year the treaty was executed between England and Holland-that the company took any active steps to encour- age colonization. Peter Minuit, an energetic Walloon, was appointed Director-General in the latter part of this year; and setting sail for New Netherlands, gave the first real evi- dence of commercial activity by exporting great quantities of timber and furs to the mother country in the two years fol- lowing.
The Pilgrims of New England viewed these transactions with longing; and Governor Bradford attempted to secure at least a share of them by establishing an Indian trading post on Buzzard's Bay. The English, however, found them- selves at a disadvantage through the fact that the Dutch con- trolled certain territory, situated in what is now Long Island, where were obtained in great quantity those shells from which was made the wampum of their Indian customers. This caused some correspondence between the governors of the rival colonies, in the course of which the Plymouth executive called the attention of the Dutch magistrate to the fact that his people were settled within the limits of the English grants to the Virginia Company. The Dutch governor replied as follows: "As the English claim authority under the King of England, so we derive ours from the States of Holland, and will defend it."
82
CONNECTICUT AS A COLONY
Deeming it advisable to preserve peace, the Director-Gen- cral of New Netherlands sent his secretary, in 1627, to visit Plymouth; in the guise of good-will and courtesy, but more than likely to judge of the strength of the Plymouth colony, and its ability to defend its possessions. The mes- senger was received by the Pilgrims with a hearty welcome. They expressed pleasure in the memories of their treatment in his native country, and a wish to live in harmony with their neighbors in their new home. These amenities were in- terrupted by Dutch encroachments on Connecticut ter- ritory, which they claimed to the west bank of the river, and developed into animosities between the Pilgrims and the representatives of that country which had furnished them with home and succor in their destitution. These difficulties were relegated to the home governments for adjustment; but Charles I., being involved in his parliamentary troubles, had no desire to enter the controversy.
The Dutch West India Company sought to have a com- mission created to establish the boundary line between New Netherlands and New England. Expecting to accomplish this undertaking, they instructed Governor Van Twiller, who had succeeded Minuit at New Netherlands, to strengthen their claim to the territory by the right of their discovery of the Connecticut River, and purchase without delay from the Indians, large tracts of land in the Connecticut valley.
This territory had been visited annually by the Dutch trad- ers, and as early as 1623 they had projected the building of a fort. This, however, had been delayed by the action of the commanders of one of their trading companies, who seized an Indian chieftain named Seguin or Sequin, and demanded one hundred fathoms of wampum for his ransom. The traders of all European countries alike were on fire with
83
CONNECTICUT AS COLONY AND STATE
a greed that cared nothing for a future they might not share.
Governor Van Twiller, obeying the instructions of the directors of the West India Company, dispatched Hans Eenchuys to the mouth of the Connecticut River, where he purchased a point of land from the Indians, and affixed to a tree the arms of the States General. He called the pur- chase Kieviet's Hoeck, on account of the cry of a large num- ber of species of that bird known to us as peweet, but called by the Dutch kieviet. The purchase of this land was for the purpose of controlling the trade of the river, and exacting an impost on all trading vessels. The following year Jacob Van Curler, under orders from Van Twiller, bought from the Pequots (who claimed the territory by right of conquest) land located on the west bank of the Connecticut, about fifty miles from its mouth, extending over one Dutch mile in length and a third of a mile into the interior. This land is a portion of the present city of Hartford. A small trading post was erected, equipped with two cannons, and named the House of Good Hope; the territory was made free to all In- dians for the purpose of trading; the jurisdiction was to be founded strictly on peace, although this last provision was soon broken by the Pequots, causing an estrangement be- tween them and the Dutch. This was the extent of the pur- chases made by the governor acting under instructions of the Dutch West India Company.
Other tribes, disputing the right of the Pequots to the ter- ritory sold to the Dutch, solicited the English to settle the country; and they, stimulated by avarice, and wishing to obtain control of the hemp and fur trade of the district, looked with favor on the proposition. The Plymouth Col- ony made overtures to the Massachusetts Bay Colony to
84
CONNECTICUT AS A COLONY
form an expedition for the purpose of establishing a trading post in Connecticut ; but Governor Winthrop of Massachu- setts refused to cooperate, assigning as his reason that the territory was inhabited by tribes of warlike Indians, and that it was difficult to navigate the river owing to the shoals at its mouth and the violence of the current. This, however, did not discourage the Plymouth colonists, who in 1633 sent William Holmes, with a company of men and a portable frame house, to effect a settlement in the disputed territory. The bold Plymouth leader and his soldiers met with no re- sistance at the mouth of the Connecticut, but arriving before the fort located at Dutch Point (now Hartford, but the ex- act spot probably in the middle of the Connecticut), the gar- rison threatened them with expulsion from the country.
Holmes paid no attention to these threats, and landing below the junction of the Farmington and Connecticut Riv- ers, now within the confines of Windsor, set up his sectional house; the first frame building erected in Connecticut. To strengthen their title, the Plymouth authorities purchased the land from the original Sachems, who had returned with Holmes to their native land, from which they had been driv- en by the Pequots.
The Dutch governor, when informed of Holmes' exploit, was astonished at his presumption; and addressed a formal protest to him, followed by a body of troops with instructions to drive the English traders from the district. This com- pany, joined by the garrison at Good Hope, numbered fully seventy armed men; and appearing before the palisades of Holmes' fort, demanded its evacuation by the English. Lieu- tenant Holmes, who was endowed with Saxon pluck, with ut- ter annihilation of his command staring him in the face, stood on the defensive; and the invading Dutch, seeing they could
85
CONNECTICUT AS COLONY AND STATE
not accomplish their mission without bloodshed, retreated af- ter a short parley.
The retirement of the Dutch without resorting to force of arms to assert their rights to the territory, must not be attrib- uted to any lack of courage. They were in a difficult position : their orders from Van Twiller were simply to make a display of their force, and not to engage in any warfare that might compromise the Dutch West India Company. They were servants of that corporation, the purchases and settlement in Connecticut had been made in their name, and not by Hol- land of which country they were subjects. The English set- tlements, on the contrary, were under the control of the gov- ernment of England, now at peace with Holland; and it had been expressly stipulated in the charter given to the West India Company by the States General, that under no cir- cumstances should it cause bloodshed among the subjects of any country with which Holland had articles of peace.
Thus two belligerent garrisons continued to occupy their fortified trading posts within a few miles of each other. The inclement winter and disease caused great sufferings amongst Holmes' company; but the influx of settlers from the Mas- sachusetts Bay Colony, which occupied the adjoining terri- tory, strengthened the position of the English.
The land purchased of the Indians near the junction of the Farmington and Connecticut was transferred by the Plymouth Colony to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, for the reason that the majority of the settlers were from this col- ony and amenable to its laws. The Dutch regarded with envious eyes the flourishing English settlements, on territory which they regarded as their own by the threefold reason of original discovery, constant visitation, and purchase from the aboriginal owners.
86
CONNECTICUT AS A COLONY
The English were adopting every means to dispossess the Dutch of the fertile region of the Connecticut Valley, gradu- ally encroaching on that territory between the Connecticut and Hudson Rivers. To fortify their position, the Dutch made extensive purchases of lands from the Red Men as far east as the inlet at Norwalk, and on Long Island, where the English had already obtained a foothold in the east. In 1640, Fort Good Hope was occupied by a Dutch com- missary with a garrison of about fifteen soldiers.
The English at their first coming had recognized the Dutch rights to the strip of land purchased by them of the Indians; but increasing numbers made them bolder, and without more ado they occupied that territory for agricultural purposes. This led to open resistance on the part of the Dutch, who appealed to the English governor. The latter, however, justified the act, on the ground that it would be a sin to allow good land to go uncultivated when it could pro- duce such excellent corn.
The following year the English, ever bolder in their de- mands, claimed that the Dutch had no right to any land surrounding their fort. The old protestations of the Dutch, that they held the property by right of discovery, of pur- chase, and of settlement, were ignored by the English, who, to substantiate their claims, had a son of that Sachem who was the aboriginal owner of the disputed territory testify in open court that there had never been any lands sold to the Dutch, and that his people were never conquered by the Pe- quots. It was such performances as this that led the Eng- lish government in Andros' time to throw all Indian titles into the waste-basket and bar them from court. Any number of such titles to the same ground could be obtained ad libitum, as William Eaton, the hero of Derne, afterwards put it, for
87
CONNECTICUT AS COLONY AND STATE
"a bottle of whiskey and a rifle." Still more ludicrous was the acceptance of Indian "conquest" and "suzerainty" as con- ferring valid titles to land not even hunted over by them.
The Connecticut settlers appealed for sympathy and sup- port to the Massachusetts colonies; but they rebuked the cupidity of the English, advising them to grant the Dutch more lands. Receiving no support or assistance from the mother colonies, the Connecticut authorities decided to send a representative to Holland to lay their grievance before the officials of the Dutch West India Company. They se- lected Hugh Peters (or Peter), who had a personal ac- quaintanceship with the directors of that corporation. Pe- ters was a conspicuous and much hated Non-conformist di- vine, related by marriage to Governor Winthrop; afterwards he became a noted Parliamentary preacher and Cromwellian, and after the Restoration was executed with the regicides.
On Peters' arrival in England he found, owing to the un- settled state of affairs caused by the difficulties between Charles I. and his Parliament, that England's position had been weakened with her foreign allies; therefore he was unable to obtain from the Dutch West India Company any favorable concessions for the Connecticut settlers.
The English minister at The Hague advised the prepara- tion of a memorial, to receive the sanction of the English Parliament, and to be presented to the Holland government, recommending the cessation of hostilities. Through the so- licitation of Peters, several persons of quality interested themselves in Connecticut affairs, and a petition was drawn up and presented to the representative of the States-General at London.
The most active among the English partisans of Connecti- cut was Lord Say and Sele, who alleged that there were
88
.
The mo grant the The · assistance /
TA Gooversio. Winthrop ; a /p& volary prescher id C ra executed with the really , ma wat > Fugland he fogni, owing to tim ins-
Connecticut sizlere The Hague advised che prepara
. the fanction of dle Eagi. moriniending the menn af Metilives. Time skole be- botation of Peters, Animal power of pedig ree
at London.
The roast active among the English papier . Cornett cot was Lsird Say and Sele, who alleged tbal siers www
88
HUGH PETERS,
Arch Intendant of England. (Born 1599; executed 1660.)
CONNECTICUT AS A COLONY
more than two thousand English and only about a dozen Dutch residing on the disputed territory; that the English were to be commended for having taken no violent action against the Dutch; that the ownership of the Pequots was not valid, their rights to the land being only a usurped title ; and that the Dutch claim was weak, they themselves prac- tically confessed-for while the English had repeatedly of- fered to arbitrate their differences, the Dutch governor had always refused such a settlement. Lord Say and Sele also claimed that it was a financial loss for the Dutch to main- tain a fort on the Connecticut, and that its residents lived in an ungodly way, nowise in accordance with the Gospel of Christ; he threatened to eradicate the Dutch from the val- ley before the close of the year. Although the Dutch ambas- sador transmitted these petitions for the consideration of the States General, they were entirely disregarded at The Hague, and the mission of Peters proved unsuccessful.
During the pendency of the mission to England, the Con- necticut authorities had made overtures to the Dutch Gover- nor Kieft to purchase the Good Hope lands; and while he refused to sell, he offered to lease, accepting as rent one-tenth of what the land produced. This proposition the General Court of Connecticut refused to sanction; and the settlers still plowed the fields and drove their cattle to graze on the disputed territory. The Massachusetts authorities had been carrying on a correspondence with Governor Kieft, in which they advised a more liberal policy on the part of Connecticut than was consistent with her position, and created in the minds of the inhabitants distrust of the Massachusetts of- ficials.
The West India Company, deciding to push their claims in the Connecticut Valley, ordered Kieft to strengthen the
89
CONNECTICUT AS COLONY AND STATE
garrison at Fort Good Hope. The Dutch Governor had a company of fifty men ready to proceed to Connecticut, when the outbreak of the Indian wars and the encroachments of the Swedes on his southern boundaries changed his plans. The English still continued to purchase lands of the Indians west of the Connecticut River, notwithstanding Kieft's protes- tations against their encroachments on the possessions of the West India Company.
The meeting of the Congress of United Colonies held at New Haven, in 1646, was enlivened by the submission of the correspondence between Governor Eaton of the New Haven Colony and Governor Kieft, in which the former agreed to arbitrate the disputed differences. Connecticut presented to the same Congress a complaint against the Dutch Commis- sary at Good Hope for having willfully detained an Indian woman, a fugitive from justice, and servant of one of the English colonists, from her rightful owners.
The Commissioners addressed a letter to the punctilious Governor of New Netherlands, advocating the settlement of the claims of the two colonies, and censuring his behavior in no gentle terms; and, while the communication was devoid of diplomacy, its meaning could not be misconstrued. They also complained that there were arrears of revenues due from the Dutch traders to the English, and claimed that the Gov- ernor aided his subjects in withholding payment.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.