USA > Connecticut > Historic towns of the Connecticut River Valley > Part 5
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CHESTER. 49
tavern. While the officer had a drink, Bushnell wrote a note to the commander of the ship telling him who " the fool " was. The pitiful remnants of the "Turtle " are now in a barn on the Bushnell farm in Westbrook, in possession of one of his descend- ·ents. It was all there not so long ago, but parts of it have been stolen or lost.
CHESTER.
C HESTER is another child of Saybrook and it continued to be under the jurisdiction of that venerable town till it arrived at its majority so to speak, in 1836, when it was incorporated. In the early days it was known as Pattaquonk Quarter and continued to be so called, till the parish was incor- porated, in 1740, when it was named Chester.
Tradition gives Jonah Dibble, of Haddam, the credit of being the first settler of Chester, just before 1692, then followed Andrew Warner, of Hadley, in 1696. In the succeeding fifty years families of the names of Parker, Shipman, Waterhouse, Webb, Willard and Southworth, from Saybrook, settled there as did the Canfields and Letts, from Durham.
Chester was much concerned in the boundary dispute between Saybrook and Haddam, which is mentioned under the caption of Haddam. The Indians too, were much concerned for by the adjustment of the boundary their forty-acre reservation was found to be in Saybrook, instead of Haddam, and the inhabitants of Saybrook were not willing to recognize their rights.
The first record of a transfer of property, within the present bounds of Chester, was a deed given by John and Elizabeth Cullick to John Leverett of Boston, dated 1660. Mrs. Cullick received the property by will from her brother, George Fenwick, the proprietor of Saybrook. The land disposed of by this deed was a part of the Twelve-mile Island Farm. Grants, or sales of land, including 700 acres, were recorded in 1672, to a number of persons, but there is no evidence that any of them settled upon their property.
The gift of Cedar Swamp and its fine water-power to Governor Winthrop, for the benefit of the Colony, in 1663, was the cause
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of more trouble within the bounds of Chester, for Saybrook denied the right of the proprietors to make the grant. John Chapman and John Clark represented Saybrook in the negotia- tions with Governor Winthrop regarding the property. The Governor relinquished the property to Saybrook, in 1688, with the stipulation, that the timber and land should be sold only to inhabitants of Saybrook. The swamp was divided into lots, running east and west through the swamp, that were from one and a half to twelve rods wide. These were disposed of by sale or gift to inhabitants of Saybrook.
In 1734, the individuals who owned property about Cedar Swamp Pond gave a deed of a narrow strip of land, surround- ing the pond, for a nominal sum to Samuel Willard, in appre- ciation of his services as a surveyor. Mr. Willard already owned considerable land there, which included the outlet of the pond and so, of course, the valuable water-power. His son, George Willard, built the first saw and grist-mills of Chester, on this site. The property was owned by the Willard family for a great many years.
Up to 1729, the inhabitants of Chester attended Church, and paid their portion for the support of the minister of the Church, near Centerbrook, in the present Town of Essex, but in October of that year, they obtained permission to worship at home in the winter months, for four years. This was known as "winter privilege ". Two years after the parish was incorporated, on September 15, 1742, the Church was organized, with a member- ship of twenty-two men and forty-one women and the Rev. Jared Harrison its first minister. The first meeting-house was built . in 1743, but it was not finished till 1750 (although it was wor- shipped in) and even then, the church was never ceiled or plas- tered, the timbers being left exposed to view. Under the church was an open space where sheep congregated and made such a racket with their bleating that the service was frequently inter- rupted, till one of the men drove the woolly disturbers away. At different times, beginning with 1773, there was a lack of har- mony in the congregation because of a presence of harmony in the choir that was objectionable. This was a "new- fangled " style of singing that had been introduced by the
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ESSEX.
younger members of the congregation, and was disapproved by the older members. This contest over the harmony of sound, which had caused a discord in the harmony of interests, was finally arranged by permitting the young people to have charge of the singing at one service, each Sunday, for a brief period of time.
The first permanent school was started in 1755. It was under the control of the Church till the school-system was established.
The building of vessels and trade with the West Indies occu- pied the time of many individuals profitably for a period of about sixty years, which began some twenty years before the Revolu- tion. The principal builders of boats and ships were members of the Leet, Colt, Buck, Stevens, Lord, and Denison families. In the West India trade were Gideon Leet, Jonathan Warner and William Mitchell. they being the merchants doing the greater part of the trade with those islands.
ESSEX.
T HAT portion of Saybrook which became Essex was called by the Indians Potapaug. It was a very old Indian set- tlement that occupied the point, that juts into the Con- necticut just north of Thatchbed Island, and like all Indian villages it was delightfully situated, in the midst of charming scenery, as well in the midst of a district where game and other animals, valuable for their pelts, were plentiful and where the high nobility of the finny tribe - salmon and shad - could be had almost with- out effort.
It was on the Potapaug Point where the first English settlers built their houses, and where the business of the place was trans- acted for many generations. As Essex grew in population the village crept up the steep hill, to the west of the lowland, and the homes that were built upon the face and top of the hill are ap- proached by gently sloping, terraced streets. A walk along these streets more than compensates for the effort, for the view is con- stantly changing and each new view of the river, the coves, the islands and the Lyme shore, to the east of the river, seems more charming than those just enjoyed. The natural beauties of Essex and neighborhood are great, and the native refinment and hos- pitality of the people are in keeping.
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HAYDEN HOUSE, BUILT IN 1766.
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ESSEX.
Some of the early settlers of Potapaug, between 1690, and 1710, were John Denison, of Stonington ; John Starkey, of New London ; Charles Williams, of Rhode Island ; the Lay and Pratt families from the mouth of the river ; the Hayden family, from Dorchester ; and the Ayres family, which settled at Ayre's Point about 1710. In 1702, the Rev. Thomas Buckingham settled at Beaver Pond. He was one of the incorporators of Yale, and was reputed to be a successful trapper of the valuable beaver. which were found in great numbers on the shores of the pond.
A GLIMPSE OF THE SAIL LOFT AND THE WAREHOUSE BUILT BY ABNER PARKER IN 1753. " When the West India trade was the greatest, it was frequently filled from ground to roof with rum, sugar, molasses and tobacco."
The growth in population of Essex was slow till just before the Revolution, when its ship yards and ropewalk were very busy as were the few merchants, whose storehouses were filled to the eaves. John Tucker began the ship building industry about 1720. From this small beginning there grew up a business so great, that there was a time when thirty vessels of various kinds and tonnage were on the stocks at once in the different yards. One of the ship and schooner builders, who did the most busi- ness, was Nehemiah Hayden, in 1742. Uriah Hayden, in 1750,
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was the builder of some of the most famous ships of the Con- necticut River, among them being the " Oliver Cromwell ", which is said to be the first man o'war ever owned by the United States. She carried 24 guns and was launched in 1775, for the Colony of Connecticut, but was soon after transferred to the National Government. Richard Tucker and Ebenezer Hayden, also in 1750; Samuel Williams just before the year 1800; Ashabel Pratt, Judea Pratt, Captain Noah Scovill, Amasa Hayden, just after the year 1800; Noah Starkey, Austin Starkey, and David Wil- liams, 1815; Charles Tiley, 1825; R. P. Williams, and David
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ESSEX.
The house built by Robert Lay in 1730.
Mack, 1830; and Captain Frank West, and Nehemiah Hayden, 1835. The last named builder launched the " Middlesex ", 1.400 tons, in 1851, the largest ship built at Essex. The Elizabeth Denison, 1,000, was launched by Noah Starkey in 1839. The embargo of 1812 to '14 caused a falling off in the business, but it increased again and was at the height of its prosperity about 1840. About 1800, the ropewalk began operations and did a
·
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large business in making cables, and material for rigging the vessels built in Essex. The old warehouse, shown in the picture, was built by Abner Parker in 1753, but soon after was owned by the Haydens and is still owned by Mr. James Hayden, the grandson of Uriah Hayden. Trade with the West Indies began at about the same time as ship building and continued for more than a century. When the West India trade was the greatest this old warehouse was never empty. It was frequently filled from ground to roof with rum, sugar, molasses and tobacco, to be shipped in small boats up the river, or transported inland in carts. The products of the river settlements and large towns were stored in this building till loaded upon ships and schooners outward bound. Just south of this warehouse is Hayden's wharf, upon which stands an old sail-loft, in which smaller boats were
"A FLINT-LOCK PISTOL OF GREAT SIZE, BEARING THE DATE OF 1730."
built, rigging stretched and sails made, for many years. Just to the north, where the New York boat ties up, was Lay's wharf, built by Robert Lay, who built the house shown in the picture, just back from the wharf, on a bluff, in 1730.
The Hayden residence is just behind the sail-loft. It is on a slightly lower part of the bluff upon which the Lay house is situated, and directly across the street from it. The front yard of the Hayden house abuts upon Hayden's wharf. This charm- ingly situated, old-time residence was built by Uriah Hayden in 1766, and is now occupied by his grandson, James Hayden. The interior of the house is quaint and eminently home-like and contains many rooms, some of them of unusual size. The house is filled with fine specimens of Colonial furniture, which have come down through succeeding generations of Haydens,
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and of many rare and costly articles that were picked up in Europe by the different members of the family, who not only built ships, but commanded them, or sailed in them for recrea- tion and travel. The Hayden residence was a tavern from the year it was built down to about 1800. The old sign, painted in England, bears the letters and numerals "U. and A. 1766", the U, standing for Uriah Hayden and the A, for Ann his wife. A very long, low room on the south side of the house has a door with an elaborately carved George the Third brass knocker, and hanging on the walls are pictures of George the Third and his Queen, which have hung there since 1766. Mr. James Hayden has a flint-lock pistol of great size, bearing the date of 1730, and a flint-lock musket, of 1756. Both weapons are in perfect condi- tion and the present Mr. Hayden has shot ducks with the musket many times in his youth. The musket has a barrel five feet and four inches long. It was originally four inches longer, and was bell-mouthed. This four inches was cut off many years ago, as the wide muzzle caused the shot to scatter too much. That the boat-building art has been inherited by the family is evidenced by a fine sloop yacht, and one or two smaller pleasure boats, that were built by Mr. James Hayden, in the lower portion of the old sail-loft.
Other taverns in the old days were the present Griswold House, an excellent country hotel, that has been a hotel for more than a hundred years. It was first kept by Ethan Bushnell. At Centerbrook, a village near the center of the Town of Essex, was a tavern kept by Danforth Clark, about 1800. It was on the site of the home where Chapman Gladding lived in 1883. Clark was a popular proprietor and his tavern was notable in its day for its hospitality and good living.
The first saw-mill of Essex was built in 1705, by Ensign William Pratt and Sergeant Nathaniel Pratt, on Falls River. In 1715, Charles Williams and John Clark, Jr., built a grist-mill on the same stream. The first machine in the United States for cutting the teeth of combs, was invented by Phineas Pratt and Abel Pratt, father and son, and the making of combs was first
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OLD LYME.
begun by them in Essex, just before the year 1800. In 1802, William's ivory-comb works was started at the mouth of Falls River, but little business was done by them till five years later, in 1807, when it increased greatly and was profitable. In 1816, this works was united with a comb works at Deep River, in Saybrook.
OLD LYME.
C HARMING old Lyme, mother of lawyers, judges, states- men, diplomats, and multi-millionaire-financiers ; sepa- rated from Saybrook only by the width of the Connecti- cut River, but how differently situated! On higher and more fertile soil; shut in from the storms of the north and the piercing winds of the east ; exposed only on the south-west (that mysteri- ous quarter in which the Indians placed their "happy hunting grounds ", because only from heaven could come the sweet, life- giving south-west breeze) and settled by men and women of gen- tle-birth who, with their descendants, have helped to make America notable in the world! Never disturbed by the noise and turmoil of factories, nor hampered (and prospered) by commercialism. Unattractive to the emigrating refuse of Europe, it remains an old- fashioned gem in an old-fashioned setting.
It is, perhaps, the only river town in the State of Connecticut, that has remained a place of residence, where mental wealth and breeding are more highly regarded than dollars and cents. Its only occupation in the old days was the building, and sailing of ships to the great markets of the world. An occupation at once dignified and broadening.
When Old Lyme was settled in 1664, it was known as East Saybrook, it being a part of that town. The original township covered an area of about eighty square miles. Lyme was incor- porated in. 1667.
Matthew Griswold was the first settler. He received a grant of land from George Fenwick in 1645, and moved from Say- brook to Lyme, calling his place Black Hall. - He was soon fol- lowed by the DeWolf, Champion, Noyes, Lay, Ely, Lord, and Lee families, who took up the greater part of the town. Up to 1667, the place was known as East Saybrook, but in that year it was set off and incorporated as the town of Lyme.
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THE ROCK UPON WHICH WHITEFIELD STOOD WHEN HE PREACHED TO A MULTITUDE IN LYME.
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OLD LYME.
The Rev. Moses Noyes, of Newbury, Massachusetts, a gradu- ate of Harvard, was the first minister. His pastorate of sixty- three years began in 1666, and ended in 1729. The Rev. Samuel Pierpoint, of New Haven, a graduate of Yale in the class of 1718, became assistant to Mr. Noyes in 1722. His wife was a daughter of the Rev. Thomas Hooker. Mr. Noyes was accidentally drowned in the Connecticut in 1733. The third minis- ter, the Rev. Jonathan Parsons, of Springfield, a graduate of Yale, was ordained in 1731. The fourth, was the Rev. Stephen John- son, of Newark, New Jersey, a graduate of Yale in the class of 1743, who was in charge of the church for forty years. The fifth, was Rev. Edward Porter of Farmington. The sixth, was the Rev. Lathrop Rockwell, of Lebanon, a graduate of Dartmouth. He was pastor from 1794 to 1828. He had a successful school of youths. Judge Matthew Griswold had a law school that turned out many notable lawyers.
John MacCurdy, a gentleman of Ireland with Scottish blood in his veins, purchased the residence known as the MacCurdy house in 1750. Instinctively opposed to the British government, he became a strong partisan of the Colonists in their opposition to British injustice. Tradition has it, that he and his friend, the Rev. Stephen Johnson, minister of the Lyme Church, spent many hours together in the MacCurdy home discussing the Stamp Act and other equally offensive acts, and that the first published article definitely suggesting resistance of the enforce- ment of the Stamp Act, even to actual rebellion, was written by Mr. Johnson in this house. The article was printed in the Connecticut Gazette, through the influence of Mr. MacCurdy. Other articles and pamphlets followed, undoubtedly from the same pen, but no one seemed to know their source.
The Sons of Liberty in New York had manuscripts of a treasonable nature, but no one was willing, or possessed of enough courage to print them. John MacCurdy, of Lyme, being in New York heard of them and finally obtained permission to copy them. He took them back to New England with him where they were printed and sent out over the country. This was in 1765. Nearly every able-bodied man of Lyme joined the 500 who went on horseback to Wethersfield to demand the resignation of the much hated Ingersoll, the Stamp Commissioner. And so mat-
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ters progressed in Lyme to the beginning of the Revolution, the patriotism of the people keeping pace with the times always, and frequently running ahead of the times, through the aggressive patriotism of the people. In 1774, a peddler entered Lyme with his saddle-bags filled with the delicious and longed-for but obnoxious tea. It was taken from him and burnt while the mouths of the patriotic matrons and maids watered at the thought of the comforting beverage it would have made.
The home of the Griswolds was at Black Hall where the fine
MCCURDY HOUSE, LYME.
mansion of Governor Roger Griswold was built, overlooking the Sound. Matthew Griswold, a son of the Governor, had two love experiences. In the first he showed a degree of straight- forward determination that was strikingly lacking in the second, which culminated in marriage, the proposal being brought about by the lady.
Governor Matthew Griswold is described as being grave, shy and some what awkward. His first love affair took him to Dur- ham-on horseback and a long journey it was-where the young woman lived. She had two strings to her bow - Matthew Gris-
.
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OLD LYME.
wold and a certain physician whom she preferred of the two - but she was unwilling to loose the first string till she was sure of the other. This kept Matthew busy riding the long distance between his home in Lyme to her home in Durham. As he had a' suspicion that he was being kept for a " forlorne hope " he, one day, brought matters to a head by demanding an immediate reply to his oft repeated proposal, only to be again told that she would like a little more time, to which he replied: " Madam, I will give you a lifetime ". The physician did not declare the love she hoped he had for her, so she lived and died a spinster.
Finally, his charming cousin, Ursula Wolcott, was a guest at Black Hall. Matthew was smitten with her, but his experience had made him shy of her sex. But Miss Wolcott had a mind as well as beauty. She loved Matthew and suspected that he loved her, although he failed to declare it. One day when they met on the stairs, Miss Wolcott asked :
" What did you say, Cousin Matthew ".
" I did not say anything ", was his reply.
The question and reply were repeated at other meetings sev- eral times till, meeting on the beach, Miss Wolcott asked her question for the last time, for she added after his answer:
" It is time that you did ".
So, Miss Ursula Wolcott became Mrs. Matthew Griswold. Her family was notable for the number of governors it contained. Besides her husband who became governor, there were her father, Governor Roger Wolcott, her brother, Governor Oliver Wolcott, her nephew, the second Governor Oliver, and her son became the second Governor Roger Griswold.
Black Hall was famous for its fine hospitality and other attrac- tions, not the least of them being, in the days of " What did you say, Cousin Matthew," Cousin Matthew's eight handsome sisters who were known as "the Black Hall Boys" because of their high spirits, their success in athletic sports and exercise, and their good fellowship with the world. New England has just such girls in this century, but in that century, when the people were rather strait-laced. such joyous, healthy, spirited girls were more noticeable than they are now.
Phoebe married the Rev. Jonathan Parsons and so became the mother of that daring and successful Revolutionary soldier,
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General Samuel Holden Parsons. The Rev. Jonathan Parsons was a good man and a dandy. He had a passion for orna- ment, jewels and fine clothing and was very particular about his personal appearance. This was something of a shock to his parishoners, and a source of fun for his fun-loving wife Phoebe, who was one of "the Black Hall Boys". One night, just as Mr. Parsons was starting for prayer-meeting, after looking in the mirror to see that his hair was right and his neck-cloth well arranged, Mrs. Phoebe hugged him,
MATHER HOUSE, LYME.
patted his face and kissed him. When he arrived at prayer- meeting he saw the faces of the people undergoing muscular contortions, which caused him to fear they were suffering with St. Vitus' dance, or possibly with cramps. The fact of the mat- ter was, that Mrs. Phoebe had blackened his face with that patting-hand. On another occasion, she stole a leaf from his sermon and sat staring up at him from the minister's pew, gloating over the confusion she had caused.
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OLD LYME. 63
About 1671, there was a territorial dispute between Lyme and New London, of a nature similar to that between Saybrook and Haddam, but it was very differently settled. A strip of land four miles wide was in dispute, both towns claiming it. Both towns proposed to let the other have one mile of the strip and, of course, both refused. As the land was not considered to be ·of sufficient value for a long and expensive law-suit, the people of the two towns decided " to leave it to the Lord ". As they expressed it, their pious determination was misleading, for their method of leaving it to the Lord was a bare-knuckle fight, be- tween two champions from each town. The champions of Lyme were William Ely and Matthew Griswold, not " What-did-you- say-cousin-Matthew," but a Matthew of two generations earlier than his day. The result was most satisfactory. The fight went to the Lord and the land in dispute to Lyme.
Roger Lake, about four miles north of Lyme Village, was a favorite resort for Indians and for many years they had a per- manent village on its shore. It is tradition, that the.cave, near Lion Rock, was a hiding place for Kidd and other pirates and that they buried treasure on the shores of the lake.
General Samuel Holden Parsons was born in Lyme. With the intention of becoming a lawyer, Samuel Parsons prepared for Harvard College, entered and was graduated from that institu- tion with the class of 1756. He then entered the law office of his uncle, the Hon. Matthew Griswold, who was Governor of Connecticut, and applied himself diligently to the study of his chosen profession.
He began to practice for himself in Lyme and almost imme- diately took an active part in the affairs of the community, as the representative of Lyme in the Legislature, where he was continuously for twelve years. In 1774, he received an appoint- ment as King's Attorney for New London County. He attained an eminent place in the legal fraternity of the Colony and his law practice was a very profitable, but neither ambition nor wealth caused him to hesitate a moment when his country needed every patriot it could obtain. At the breaking out of the Revolution he resigned the King's Attorneyship.
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BLACKHALL, THE SEAT OF THE GRISWOLDS WHEN MISS URSULA WOLCOTT COURTED HER SHY COUSIN MATTHEW, AND ALSO THE HOME OF "THE BLACKHALL BOYS."
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OLD LYME. 65
In April, 1775, he was one of the few daring men who planned the surprise and capture of Ticonderoga. For this purpose the patriots took f810 from the treasury of the Colony, without the knowledge of the Assembly, for which they gave their personal notes and receipts (presumably with the agreement, that should the enterprise fail, they would return the money to the treasury from their own pockets) which were later cancelled by the Assembly. This affair did more toward giving the people of Connecticut the moral courage which they needed, in their contest with Great
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