Ecclesiastical and other sketches of Southington, Conn, Part 41

Author: Timlow, Heman Rowlee, 1831-1892. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1875
Publisher: Hartford, Press of the Case, Lockwood and Brainard co.
Number of Pages: 916

USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Southington > Ecclesiastical and other sketches of Southington, Conn > Part 41

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).

"The Society which acceded to these terms consisted of fourteen families; the church was organized of ten members; a teacher is pro- vided to go from district to district through five districts, or 'squad- dams,' 'by reason that the inhabitants are so scattering in their ways.' The unfinished meeting house is gradually completed; first, in 1714, its pulpits and seats full in fashion; then, in 1717, the cushion; then, in 1719, the galleries after the manner of Farmington galleries, and last of all, but not till a new house was built, the drum and the hour glass are provided. The settlement rapidly increased, as in 1717, fifty-nine men, and four widows were seated in the meeting house, . according to age and property, and whatever makes men honorable.' From Kensing- ton, for this was the name of this society, New Britain was separated in 1754. Efforts for this object had previously been made by the ac- tive influence of Col. Isaac Lee, and in 1758, Dr. Smalley was settled as their pastor, whose praise is in all the churches.

"In 1772, Kensington was again divided; the third society is named Worthington, after Col. Worthington, who was active in locating its limits. The three societies, now embracing parts of Weathersfield and Middletown, are made a town in 1785.

" Southington was surveyed and divided into lots in the year 1722."

CHAPTER XXII.

ABORIGINAL PROPRIETORS.

Aboriginal Proprietors ; Indian Clans; Encampments; Tradition ; Forts; First Settler ; First House ; Territorial Features ; Game ; Other Settlers.

So far as can be learned from all sources, it seems that there was a region of country embracing now the towns of Southington, Wolcott, Prospect, Cheshire, and the western half of Meriden and Wallingford, that to the neighboring Indians was a kind of common or neutral ter- ritory. It is impossible to assign the occupation of this region to any one 1 tribe. Highly probable is it that in the hill country west of the Connecticut river were fragments of older tribes that had become re- duced in the progress of time. The best authorities have failed to account for the presence here of these numerous bands which seemed scarcely to have preserved tribal distinctions.

Here, in Southington, are traces of several distinct clans. The tra- ditions so boldly and intelligently divide them that we must believe them to have been of diverse origin. No one now doubts but that the Indian population of this and the older States has been greatly over- estimated. Probably our fathers had far more Indians in their imag- inations than really roamed the country they wished to settle.

In the north-west part of the town is Compound Lake, named after John Acompound, or Waruncompound, two of the Indians who signed

1 De Forest, in his history of the Indians of Connceticut, supposes the various local tribes of Southern New England to be fragments of one original tribe. He says (p. 59) : " The Pequots and Mohegans were apparently of the same race with the Mohi- cans, Mohegans, or Mohicanders, who lived on the banks of the Hudson. At no very ancient date, and perhaps not long before 1600, it is supposed that they resided among their relations; at which time the country, from the Housatonic to the western shores of Narragansett Bay, was probably inhabited entirely by tribes of a single race. There is strong reason to believe that all the Connectient clans, except the Pequots, were only fragments of one great tribe, or confederacy of tribes, the principal branches of which were the Nehantics and the Narragansetts. The Nehanties of Lyme, for instance, were clearly related to the Nehantics of Rhode Island ; Scquassen, chief of the Farm- ington and Connecticut countries, was a connexion of the Narragansett Sachems; and the Indians of Windsor, subjects of Sequassen, were closely united to the We- pawaugs of Milford."

382

HISTORY OF SOUTHINGTON.

a deed in 1674, conveying the Mattatuck (Waterbury) tract of land. They, and all who signed this deed, are spoken of as Farmington In- dians, that is of the Tunxis tribe. So they may have been ; but if so, they represented a distinct clan from others which visited this (South- ington) valley. The oldest families north of Compound Lake had the traditions (certainly an hundred years ago) that the Indians that visited there came from over the mountain, west. And there are traces of encampments from the lake two miles south to near the Mt. Vernon school-house. At this latter point arrow-heads and pottery have been gathered within a few years.

Another section of the Tunxis tribe, and which seemed to have no connexion (at least here) with the clan just spoken of, came down from Farmington, and had temporary encampments, in the north end of the town, extending along the river from Chauncey Dunham's to Newell corners. In the bend of the river just north of James Barrett's is the traditional site of an encampment, and here hundreds of arrow-heads and implements have been found. An old Indian-" a good Indian," as Dea. Pomeroy Newell used to call him-is the authority that this encampment sometimes extended above Mr. Dunham's. Dea. Newell related to his family many stories told him when a boy, and the stories confirmed the theory of these Indians being distinct from those at Com- pound Lake.

There are traces of encampments extending from Wonx' (Wongonk or Wangunk) spring across the Quinnipiac river to the Hanging Hills or Clark Farms. The name of the spring seems to settle the origin of this clan, which can be traced to the Mattabesett tribe at Wethersfield or Middletown. During the last century a few Indian relics were picked up in fields in the region from Wonx spring to Dickerman's corner; but almost 1 every year of this century some relic has been found in the region running from South End burying ground back to Clark Farms.

A. little distance from the home of Mr. Gad Andrews, and upon the mountain, have been discovered evidences of an encampment. The place where some kind of cooking was done, is distinctly marked.

There are other places where a temporary residence is probable. The first settlers frequently had companies of a dozen or more pitch their rude tents near by them, and exchange game and fish for corn.

And the fact of there being numerous small tribes, and their depend- ence upon the settlers for corn, doubtless led to their peaceable conduct. So far as can now be ascertained the Indians were seldom if ever guilty of murder, or of burning or pillaging houses within the limits of South-

1 Within a few weeks Dea. George Pratt has found and brought me an arrow head, and lying by its side was a stone of the same material.

383

HISTORY OF SOUTHIINGTON.

ington. There is an instance handed down as1 occurring at Compound Lake, which, if true, probably occurred before this part of Farmington was settled. While there were many sudden frights, and occasional threats from the Indians, yet our fathers in the main were unmolested.

It must be remembered that at that day in many parts of the country were horrible massacres. The Mohawks of Central New York were the dread of western New England. The Indians of this region feared nothing as they did these tribes. Of this fear the early settlers natur- ally partook.

There must have been much to attract the adjacent tribes to this valley. The whole country round about was probably full of game and other flesh good for food, and the streams abounded in fish.

It has been said that the Indians were generally peaceable. But the first settlers took precautions against any possible outbreak among them. The first fort was built in the Woodruff neighborhood. Within the area has since grown a venerable pine which is Nature's monument to mark the site. The spot is a little south of the town-house on the opposite side. At the foot of the tree, about ten feet south, is the well that supplied the fort with water. It is now filled up but can easily be traced. So far as known, the fort was a stone structure about sixteen feet square. The door is still preserved, and was made of hard wood and pretty well filled with wrought nails so that it could not be cut down.

A palisade fort that enclosed a single house stood at Newell Cor- ners; the exact cite being in dispute. It is supposed to have stood a little north of where Mr. Barrett lives.

From the family of the late Dr. Mark Newell we have the tradition of still another fort that stood against the hill in the rear of the old Deming tavern, at the North End. There is a spring there that, from its position, seems to be a proper place for a fort if ? such there was.

1 The tradition has come down in the Norton family, and was published some years ago by Judge Sylvester Norton, that on the farm near the Lake is an apple-tree with which the following event was connected : After the settlement of Farmington, and prior to 1700, an inhabitant of the village in one of his hunting excursions came to this lake and found the tree. So pleased was he with the appearance of the land that he resolved to make a clearing, and sow grain. The next season he went to gather his grain, and laid his gun and coat down under the tree, while at work a com- pany of hostile Indians came upon him, and before he could seize his gun made him prisoner. He, knowing that there were friendly Indians at the lake, began to call for help, when his captors tied him to the tree and cut out his tongue, from which wound he soon died.

2 It is supposed, by Mr. Artemas Gridley, that the Newell family have confounded different traditions, and erred as to this. He has been familiar with the locality from childhood, and was connected with old persons who would have naturally spoken of the tradition if it prevailed. I give all these traditions as conveyed to me, leaving it for

384

HISTORY OF SOUTHINGTON.

During the greater portion of the year Farmington was in communi- cation with the "outer world " through the Connecticut river, the nearest point to which was ten miles to the east. After some families from New Haven had gone inland, as far north as Wallingford, there began to be intercourse between Farmington and these places. The distance between the latter two was less than twenty-five miles, and the connection was by two well trodden Indian trails.1 At certain seasons of the year. hunting excursions were made by the young men of Farmington, down along the Quinnipiac. Sometimes these excur- sions extended to Wallingford and occupied several days. The hunters would return richly rewarded for time, labor, and exposure.

At this time, the ridges and some of the valleys lying to the south and east of Burying-Ground Hill were heavily laden with growths of oak and hickory. In what are now the numerous hollows and little valleys adjacent to these trails. were ponds of water; and the little streams of to-day were then quite large creeks. Physical evidences of these facts still remain. In these woods. and by these waters, were inexhaustible supplies of game-winged and four-footed. In the river and tributary waters, fish of all varieties abounded. In some of the openings toward the south, on the Nashaway Plains, were fine pastur- age and land of easy tillage.

If traditions can be trusted, this whole region must have been an inviting one to the savage or civilized hunter. The streams abounded in salmon, shad, and several species of fish. The woods were full of wild turkeys,3 and varieties of game. There were deer and other animals in abundance. True, indeed, there were wolves, bears, and their kindred, to terrify and endanger the hunter or early settler, but the attractions super-abounded.

In Farmington was a good natured family by the name of Wood- ruff. At the head of this family was a man who delighted more than

the reader to determine their importance. But my own opinion is, that in the early settlement of the town there may have been several houses, and even ontbuildings, surrounded by palisades, (as was Dea. Timothy Clark's,) as a protection against not only Indians but wild beasts, and such a fact could easily lead to the tradition of a more substantial fort.

1 From Farmington south there was a single trail until the head-waters of the Quinnipiac were reached, where it divided into two-one following East Mountain around Hanging Hills, and the other down along the Quinnipiac. The latter was more frequented in the summer season. But this latter seems to have again divided- the one turning east at the Methodist church, and which is the origin of the highway that runs east from this point-the other continuing along the river and meeting the former two somewhere about at the present Cheshire line. The first highway laid out from Farmington to White Oak in 1695 was probably along the trail.

2 Within sixty years shad have been taken from the river at Cheshire.

3 In 1777, John Merriman, 3d, writes in his diary, " I went up mountain turkeying."

385

HISTORY OF SOUTHINGTON.

all in hunting and fishing. Agriculture had for him but few attrac- tions. In his frequent hunting and fishing excursions, he had noticed the advantages which this region offered to one of his tastes and habits. The tradition is, that before removing here he spent two or three seasons in the encampments of the Indians.

This man was Samuel Woodruff, who brought his family here (as is supposed) in 1698. It does not appear that he1 purchased land, or purposed to engage in its cultivation to any extent. He located on a spot just suited to a hunter or trapper. The river was between him and the region infested by wolves2 and other dangerous animals. He was close by streams and ponds. Just below him were the openings for pasture. The Wongonks encamped only a mile below him, with whom he was a favorite.3

He was born August 26th, 1661, and married Rebecca, daughter of John Clark, in 1680. When he moved here he had six children.

The site of his house can be identified even now. It was a few rods north of where Mr. Adnah Woodruff now lives, and on the east side of the road. The locality is known as Pudding Hill.+

It has been a tradition (but of its correctness I know nothing,) that the fourth house built in the town was at Clark Farms. It is probable that about 1700 some family came up from New Haven or Walling- ford, and there settled. At that time there were a few hundred acres of land just under the Hanging Hills that had not been assigned to any town. Perhaps some one under the law of "squatter sovereignty " may have pre-occupied the territory.

Soon after, there were settlements made on Queen street. John Root built opposite to where Chauncey Dunham now lives, and the house still standing there is supposed to have been the first building in that part of the town. About the same time, a house was put up on the east side of the road, a little north of where Artemas Gridley

1 There are no records that contain any deeds of land to him. He probably adopted the later theory of " squatter sovereignty."

2 'These animals seemed to have been confined chiefly to the west side of the river. Most of the "wolf stories " are located there.

3 'This is handed down in every branch of his descendants.

+ The origin of this name it is impossible to trace. There are many conjectures about it. One story is,-that Woodruff, the first settler, did not for years have any- thing to eat beside his meat and fish, excepting Indian pudding. And when his friends from Farmington eame to see him, this pudding was the constant dish. Oth- ers on hunting expeditions would turn in there sometimes for a short eall or for the night,-the pudding was omnipresent. Such is one story. All kinds of extravagant explanations have been given. As there is nothing in the surroundings to suggest this article of diet, it is probable that the name originated from some neighborhood joke at a later date.

386

HISTORY OF SOUTHINGTON.

lives. And probably not far from 1710 a house was built near where now stands the " Olney house "; and ten years later was erected the house still standing1 and now occupied by Mr. E. W. Raymond. The first hamlet or cluster of houses seems to have been at the North End, extending from Chauncey Dunham's down to Burying-Ground Hill. Among the earliest families settling here after the Woodruffs, were those of Root, Buck, Newell, Scott, Barnes, Clark, Smith, and Cowles. Some of these came from New Haven and Wallingford.

1 According to traditions in the family of Jonathan Root, this house was built about 1720.

CHAPTER XXIII.

SURVEYS AND HIGHWAYS.

"South Division"; Territorial extent; Distribution ; Ancient and modern highways ; General survey and proprietors' list; Survey of Little Plain ; Local measurements ; Shuttle Meadow division ; Distribution and list; Highway.

THAT portion of Farmington now included in Southington was known as "the south division," or "the division south of the town between the mountains." It was situated between what is now Plain- ville on the north, and the highway running west from near the houses of Mrs. Munn and Ambrose Thorp (Clark Farms), on the south; and from the Flanders and East street roads on the east, to the Mt. Vernon road on the west, with the exception of a notch at the south-west corner. Or to be more precise in the description-beginning at the north-east corner of what was known as " sequestered " or " reserved land," a short distance north-east of the present residence of Reuben Hart (known as the "Barritt Place "), from thence running in a straight line a little west of south to a short distance east of the residence of the late Asahel Newell, being a distance of about four miles, two hundred and three rods; from thence (to avoid the mountain) more to the south- west in a straight line to the south line of "antient Farmington,"] being a distance of about three hundred and thirty-one rods; from thence west on the town line eight hundred and forty-four rods, thence northerly parallel with the east line about two hundred rods; thence west four hundred and twenty-two rods, then north in a straight line near the foot of the west mountain parallel with the east line of the division, to the north line of said division, making a distance of about one thousand five hundred rods; thence east on another division and reserved lands one thousand two hundred and sixty-six rods to the place of beginning, making in all about thirteen thousand and sixty- two acres, or about twenty and four tenths square miles.

. The manner of laying out and distributing this division, which was done in June, 1722, was as follows: After ascertaining the width

1 That is, to the road running west from Mrs. Charles Munn's. The seetion now oceupied by Mr. Stillman, Carlos Curtis, and others, was subsequently added.

388

HISTORY OF SOUTHINGTON.

that could be obtained between the East and West mountains, they divided the surface by lines running north and south into three por- tions or tiers of four hundred and twelve rods width each, leaving a space for a highway twenty rods wide between the first and second tiers, and a space for a highway ten rods wide between the second and third tiers. The first and second tiers extended from the reserved land on the north to the "vacant land " on the south (i. e. to the high- way running west from the "Joseph Clark Place "), being a distance of five miles two hundred and eighteen rods. The west tier began on a line parallel with the others on the north and extended south to what was afterwards known as the Little Plain division (i. e. the plain in the vicinity of Wonx Spring), being in extent from north to south four miles two hundred and thirty-nine rods.

The eight rod highway, left afterwards at the east side of this division, and which divided it from what was known as the Shuttle Meadow division, begun at the north end of the division and ran south the whole length of it in a line corresponding for the most part with the present Flanders and East street roads, but was never opened south of the "Asahel Newell Place."

The twenty rod highway laid out between the first and second tiers corresponded with the present road running south from Chauncey Dunham's to Burying Ground Hill, but passed directly over the hill in a straight line to the "Dr. Porter Place," and near where Geo. Bishop now lives; and from thence winding a little to the right, and terminat- ing at the " vacant land." This highway was never opened from Bury- ing Ground Hill to where Joseph P. Platt now lives.

The ten rod highway left between the second and third tiers of lots corresponded to the present West street road, but was never opened south of where the shop of H. D. Smith & Co. now stands.

The survey of the lands now included in the town of Southington had been ordered in 1672, but the order was not carried out until June, 1722, when a distribution was made among the eighty-four proprietors. Many of the original proprietors had died since the survey was de- creed, but they were still represented by their heirs.

The following is the distribution of the "South Division," which was recorded in the Farmington Town Records, June 12, 1722 :

" A Division of Land on the west side of the Blue Hills south ward from the Town between the Mountains. and it is laid out in three tier of Lots, each tier is 412 rod in length East and West. The East tier of lots butts East on undivided land and West on highway. The Middle tier butts East on a highway and west on a highway. The westermost tier of lots butts East on highway and west on undivided land, the first lot in number is in the eastermost tier next to the Sequestered land, an account of them in their succession, breadth and quantity, follows :-

389

HISTORY OF SOUTHINGTON.

Lots. No.

Proprietors' Names.

Breadth. C'nt's. Lots.

Breadth. Cint's.

Rods. Acres.

No.

Proprietors' Names.

Rods. Acres.

Daniel Warner,

34}

884

46.

Thomas Hart,

743

191

David Carpenter,

593

47.

Zachariah Seymour, Highway,

32-

823

3 John Scofield,

273

691

4. Mr. Haynes,

181

4662

48.

Mr. Wyllys,

1134

2901

5. Samuel Hecox,

49.

Jacob Brownson,

121

6. James Woodford, A highway,

594

152

50.

Matthew Woodruff, Highway, 4

Samuel Gridly,

303

79}

51.

Moses Ventrus,

132

8. Jonathan Woodruff,

59.

1523

52.

John Langdon,

998

2563

9. Jobanalı Smith,

254

67元

53.

Samuel Steele,

163

418

A highway,

54.

John Steele,

463

118

10. Mr. Hooker, Highway,

2011

526z

55.

John Root, Sen.,

117

300

11.

Capt. Stanly,

933

239}

57.

Robert Porter,

793

294%

12. 13.

Thomas Judd, Jr.,

703 4

1803

58.

Thomas Bull, Buts north on a

50}

129

14. John Andrus,

1693

15.

Thomas Thompson,

108

added to the highway

16.

John Clark,

52₺

135

running east and west by the sequestered land.

17.

Obadiah Richards,

293

59.

John Norton,

2444

18.

417

Buts north on the line

20.

William Judd,

100毫

25S

21.

Daniel Andrus,

823

60.

Samuel Steele, 69

1874

22.

Stephen Hart, Sen.,

9.33

239

61.

Thomas Orton, 108

263

664

24. Daniel Porter,

833

2143

64.

Capt. Lewis,

1323

341}

25.

John North, Jr.,

100↓

65.

John Porter,

273

27.

Edmond Scott,

62}

159

67. Isaac Moore,

2314

29.

Mr. Howkins,

1113

2874

69.

Widow Smith,

483

1242

30.

Richard Brownson,

237

70. Widow Orvis,

100}

31.

Thomas Porter, Sen.,

513

134

71.

Richard Seymour,

943

32.

Samuel North,

39}

1023

72. Jolın Thomson, Highway,

34.

Stephen Hart, Jr.,

763

196岁

73. Joseph Heeox,

69!

35.

John Welton,

353

90₺

74. Thomas Hecox,

434

111

36.

James Bird,

110}

75. John Hart,

513

1:23

37.

Phillip Judd, Highway,

77.

483

1243

38.

Samuel Cowles,

653

167표

78. Benjamin Judd,

144

40.

John Brownson, Jr.,

35$

79.

Jno. Root. Jr.,

194

493

41.

Jno. Warner, Sen.,

68$

178%

80.

John North, Sen.,

1123

290,

42. Jonathan Smith,

274

712

81.

Thomas Gridly,

43+

111

43. John Lee,

684

178

82. Abram Brownson,

353

903

44. John Judd,

495

1271

83. Thomas Judd, Sen.,

163ý

45. William Higason,

283

733

84. Thomas Richardson,

243

611

63.

Isaac Brownson,

464

1193

26.

John Cowles,

139

66.

Jno. Stanly, Jr., Ilighway, 7

123}

28.

Thos. Newell, in east tier, in the middle tier,

912

3024

68.

Thomas Porter, Jr.,

353

913

33.

Joseph Bird,

23}

76.

Mr. Wadsworth,

1261

32633

John Warner, Jr., Highway,

39.

Abram Andrus,

242

624

23.

John Brownson, Sen., Highway,

1853

62.

Mr. Newton,

Highway,

Benoni Steele, Highway,

of sequestered land be- ing the first in the west- ward tier.

19.

John Carrington,

31층

Thomas Barns, Highway,

853 5

219

56.

Mr. Wrethum,

483

1264

638

162

974

515

131}

278

The original survey of the land south of the line of the land that had already been divided among the eighty-four proprietors, did not include all the land within the present limits of this town. That sec- tion which lies south or south-west of the Hanging Hills had been as- signed to neither Farmington nor Wallingford. There was also a section in the south-west part of the town known as the " Little Plain,"

390

HISTORY OF SOUTHINGTON.

that was undivided. This included land now known at White Pine Grove, and extending south to the Cheshire line. It was this tract referred to in the following record of a town meeting at Farmington, April 9, 1739:

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Ecclesiastical and other sketches of Southington, Conn, Part 41

Author: Timlow, Heman Rowlee, 1831-1892. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1875 Publisher: Hartford, Press of the Case, Lockwood and Brainard co. Number of Pages: 916

Author: Timlow, Heman Rowlee, 1831-1892. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1875
Publisher: Hartford, Press of the Case, Lockwood and Brainard co.
Number of Pages: 916