USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > History and antiquities of New Haven, (Conn.) from its earliest settlement to the present time > 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
No one to cross a river, but with an authorized ferryman.
No one shall run on the Sabbath day, or walk in his garden or else- where, except reverently to and from meeting.
No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep house, cut hair, or shave, on the Sabbath day.
No woman shall kiss her child on the Sabbath or fasting-day.
The Sabbath shall begin at sunset on Saturday.
To pick an ear of corn growing in a neighbor's garden, shall be deen. ed theft.
* The term " Blue Lairs" appears to have originated from the cir eutustance of having the first printed laws of the colony stiched in blue colored paper. In 1672 every family in Connecticut was ordered to have a law book.
47
A person accused of trespass in the night shall be judged guilty, unless he clear himself by his oath.
When it appears that an accused has confederates, and he refuses to dis- cover them, he may be racked.
No one shall buy or sell lands without permission of the selectmen.
A drunkard shall have a master appointed by the selectmen, who are to debar him from the liberty of buying and selling.
Whoever publishes a lie to the prejudice of his neighbor, shall sit in the stocks, or be whipped fifteen stripes.
No minister shall keep a school.
Every rateable person, who refuses to pay his proportion to the sup- port of the Minister of the town or parish, shall be fined by the Court £2, and £4 every quarter, until he or she pay the rate to the Minister.
Men-stealers shall suffer death.
Whoever wears clothes trimmed with gold, silver, or bone lace, above two shillings by the yard, shall be presented by the grand jurors, and the selectmen shall tax the offender at £300 estate.
A debtor in prison, swearing he has no estate, shall be let out and sold, to make satisfaction.
Whoever sets a fire in the woods, and it burns a house, shall suffer death ; and persons suspected of this crime shall be imprisoned, without benefit of bail.
Whoever brings cards or dice into this dominion shall pay a fine of £5.
No one shall read Common-Prayer, keep Christmas or Saints-days, make minced pies, dance, play cards, or play on any instrument of mu- sic, except the drum, trumpet, and jews-harp.
No gospel Minister shall join people in marriage ; the magistrates on- ly shall join in marriage, as they may do it with less scandal to Christ's Church.
" When parents refuse their children convenient marriages, the Ma- gistrates shall determine the point.
The selectmen, on finding children ignorant, may take them away from their parents, and put them into better hands, at the expense of their parents.
Fornication shall be punished by compelling marriage, or as the Court may think proper.
Adultery shall be punished with death.
A man that strikes his wife shall pay a fine of £10; a woman that strikes her husband shall be punished as the Court directs.
A wife shall be deemed good evidence against her husband. ;
No man shall court a maid in person, or by letter, without first obtain- ing copsent of her parents : £5 penalty for the first offence; £10 for the second; and, for the third, imprisonment during the pleasure of the Court.
Married persons taust live together, or be imprisoned.
Every male shall have his hair cut round according to a cap.
In 1656, complaints were made to the Court, at New IIa- ven, that the inhabitants of Greenwich were under little government, and demeaned themselves in a lawless manner. They admitted of drunkenness among themselves and among the Indians, by reason of which. damages were done to themselves and to the towns in the vicinity ; and the public
1
48
peace was disturbed. They received children and servants who fled from the correction of their parents and masters, . and unlawfully joined persons in wedlock, with other mis- demeanors.
Upon this, the general court asserted their right to Green- wich, and ordered the inhabitants to submit to their juris- diction. But they continued much in the same state, and sent a letter to the court, denying their jurisdiction and re- fusing any subjection to the colony, unless they should be compelled to it, by the parliament. The court therefore re- solved, that, unless they should appear before the court, and make their submission, by the 25th of June, Richard Crabb and others who are the most stubborn among them, should be arrested and punished according to law. They there- fore, sometime after, subjected their persons and estates to the government of New Haven.
Soon after the restoration of monarchy in England, many of the Judges, who had condemned King Charles Ist to death, were apprehended. Thirty were condemned, and ten were executed as traitors ; three of them, General's Goffe and Whalley, and Colonel Dixwell, made their escape to New England. They were gentlemen of worth, and were much esteemed by the colonists for their unfeigned piety. Their manners and appearance was dignified, commanding universal respect.
General Whalley descended from a family of great anti- quity, and was a relative of Oliver Cromwell. He was a second son, and brought up to merchandize. No sooner did the contest between King Charles and his Parliament blaze out, than he (though in the middle age of his life) took up arms in the defence of the liberties of the subject ; and this in opposition to the sentiments of his nearest relations. Probably his religious opinions determined him more than any other consideration. And though the use of arms must have been new to him, yet he carly distinguished himself in the parliament service, in many sieges and battles ; but in none more than in the battle of Naisby, in 1615 ; in which he charged and defeated two divisions of Langdale's horse, though supported by Prince Rupert, who commanded the reserve : for which Parliament, January 21st, 1615-6, voted him to be a Colonel of Horse ; and May 9th, the following year, they gave him the thanks of the house, and £100 to
B . Anders Cwww.
WEST enK m NWIIavil,
49
purchase two horses, for his brilliant action at Banbury, which he took by storm ; and afterwards marched to Wor- cester ; which city surrendered to him July 23d, following.
Cromwell confided so much in him, that he committed the person of the King to his care. The loyalists have charged him with severity to his royal prisoner; but the monarch himself, in a letter he left behind him, when he made his es- cape, fully cxculpates him from that charge.
. He was one of the commissioners appointed and author- ized by parliament, as the High Court of Justice, and sat in that august Tribunal, which had the intrepidity and fortitude to pass judgment on a King; one of whose judges he was, and the warrant for whose execution he signed.
At the battle of Dunbar, September 3d, 1650, he, with Monk, commanded the foot, and greatly contributed to the complete defeat of the Scotch army .- Cromwell left him in Scotland with the rank of Commissary General, and gave him the command of four regiments of horse, with which he performed many actions, that gained him great honor.
He continued a steady friend to his cousin Oliver, after he had raised himself to the sovereignty ; and was entrusted by him with the government of the counties of Lincoln, Not- tingham, Derby, Warwick, and Leicester, by the name of Major General. He was one of the Representatives of Nottinghamshire, in the Parliament held in 1651 and 1656. The Protector made him Commissary-General for Scotland, and called him up to his other House.
William Goffe, Esq. was a son of the reverend Stephen Goffe, a Puritan Divine, Rector of Stanmer, in Sussex. He lived with Mr. Vaughan, a dry salter in London, a great par- tizan of the Parliament, and a zealous Presbyterian. Dis- liking trade, and the war opening, he repaired to the parlia- ment army ; where his merit raised him to be a Quarter- Master, and then a Colonel of foot, and afterwards a Gener- al. He rendered the Protector great service, in assisting Colonel White in purging the Parliament. For this and other services he received Lambert's post of Major-General of foot. He was returned for Great Yarmouth in the Par- liament of 1651; and for the county of Southampton in 3656. Last of all he was called up into the Protector's House of Lords. At the Restoration he left the kingdom with Whalley, whose daughter he married and came with him to New England.
9
5
4
.
50
Colonel John Dixwell, was another of King Charles's Judges. He was born in the county of Kent, England. He was a gentleman in good and easy circumstances, being pos- sessed of a manor and other estates in England. Engaging in the civil wars, he became an officer in the army under the Parliament and Protectorate ; was nominated sheriff of the county of Kent, and became member of Parliament for Kent, in 1654. At the Restoration he abdicated his coun- try, in 1660 ; but when he first came to New England is un- known. 'The first notice we have of him is in Goffe's Jour- nal while the Judges were at Hadley, wherein it is entered that Colonel Dixwell came to them there February 10th, 1664-5; but ever after they called him Mr. Davids: and after- wards he went by the name of James Davids, Esq. till his death.
The two Judges, Goffe and Whalley, arrived at Boston from England, the 27th of July, 1660, and took up their res- idence in Cambridge ; but finding it unsafe to remain any longer, they left that place and arrived at New Haven the ?th of March, 1661. They were well treated by the minis- ter and magistrates, and for some days thought themselves entirely out of danger. But the news of the king's procla- mation being brought to New Haven, they were obliged to abscond. The 27th of March, they returned, and lay cou- cealed in the house of Mr. Davenport, the minister, until the 30th of April. Mr. Davenport was threatened with being called to an account, for concealing and comforting traitors : but the judges, who had before removed from Mr. D.'s house, upon intimation of his danger, generously resolved to deliver themselves up to the authorities of New Haven. They accordingly let the Deputy Governor, Mr. Leete, know where they were ; but he took no measures to secure them : and the next day, some of their friends came to them ani advised them not to surrender. Having publicly showu themselves at New Haven, they had elcared Mr. Davenport from the suspicion of conrealing them ; after which, they returned to their cave, which still goes by the name of the Judges' Care. It is situated on the top of West Rock, about half or three quarters of a pile from the southern extremity. It is a place well chosen for observing any approach to the mountain ; likewise, any vessel coming into the harbour, can from this rock be easily seen. The Care is formed on a base of perhaps forty feet square, by huge broad pillars of stone, fifteen or twenty feet high, standing ereet and eleva- ted above the surrounding superficies of the mountain, * surrounded with trees which conceal it from observation.
51
The apertures being closed with branches of trees, or oth- erwise, a well covered and convenient lodgment might be formed, as these rocks being contiguous at the top, fur- nished space below large enough to contain bedding and two or three persons. Mr. Richard Sperry, who lived on the west side of the Rock, about a mile from this cave, sup- plied them daily with food, sometimes carrying it himself, and at other times sending it by his boys tied up in a cloth. with directions to leave it on a certain stamp from which the Judges would take it.
South view of the Judges' Care.
View from the top of the Julgrs' Care.
1, East Haven Church. B, New Haven. C, Long Island. D), Southern extremity of the West Rock. E, Top of the Cave or Rock.
52
The incident which caused them to leave the cave was this ; the mountain being a haunt for wild animals, one night as the Judges lay in bed, a panther or catamount, putting his head into the aperture of the cave, blazed his eye-balls in such a frightful manner upon them as greatly terrified them. One of them took to his heels and fled down to Sperry's house for safety. Considering this situation too dangerous to remain any longer, they quitted it.
Another place of their abode, in the vicinity of New Ha- ven, was at a spot called The Lodge. It was situated at a spring, in a valley, about three miles west, or a little north- west, from the last mentioned residence. North of it, was an eminence, called the Fort, to this day, from which there was a full view of the harbor, to the S. E. seven miles off There were several other places, on and about the West Rock which were used by them for places of concealment. The two mentioned were their principal places, however,
Among the many traditionary anecdotes and stories con- cerning the events, which took place at and about the time the Judges' pursuers were at New Haven, are the follow- · ing :--
1. 'The day they were expected, the Judges walked out towards the Neck bridge, the road the pursuers must enter the town. At some distance from the bridge, the sheriff, who was then Mr. Kimberly, overtook them with a warrant for their apprehension, and endeavored to take them. The Judges stood upon their defence, and planted themselves be- hind a tree ; being expert at fencing. they defended them- selves with their cudgels, and repelled the officer, who went into town to obtain assistance. and upon his return, found they had escaped into the woods beyond his reach.
2. That immediately after this, during the same day, the Judges hid themselves under the Neck bridge, where they lay concealed while the pursuivants rode over it, and passed into town ; and that the Judges returned to New Haven that night and lodged at the house of Mr. Jones .- All this tra- dition says, was a preconcerted and contrived business, to show that the magistrates at New Haven, had used their endeavors to apprehend them before the arrival of the pur- suers.
3. That when the pursuers were searching the town, the Judges in shifting their situations. happened by accident or design, at the house of a Mrs. Evers, a respectable lady : she secing the pursuivants coming, ushered her guests out
53
at the back door, who after walking a short distance, instant- ly returned to the house, and were concealed by her in one of the apartments. The pursuers coming in, inquired, whether the regicides were at her house ; she answered, they had been there, but were just gone away, and pointed out the course they went into the woods and fields ; by her polite and artful address, she diverted their attention from the house, and putting them upon a false seent, thereby secured her friends.
4. That while the Judges were at the house of Mr. Rich- ard Sperry, they were surprised with an unexpected visit from their pursuers, whom they espicd at a distance; as the causeway to the house lay through a morass, on each! side of which was an impassable swamp. They were seen by the judges, when several rods from the house, who there - fore had time to make their escape to the mountain.
5. At, or about the time the pursuers came to New H ::- ven, and perhaps a little before, to prepare the minds of the people for their reception, the Rev. Mr. Davenport preach .- ed publicly from this text .- ISAIAH XVI, 3. 4 .- Take conn- sel, execute judgment, make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday ; hide the outcasts, betray not him that wandereth. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab : tr thou a corert to them from the face of the spoiler. This doubtless had its effect, and put the whole town upon their guard, and united the people in caution and concealment.
6. To show the dexterity of the Judges at fencing, the following story is toll. That while at Boston, there ap- peared a fencing master, who, on a stage erected for the purpose, walked it for several days, challenging and defy- ing any one to play with him at swords; at length, one of the Judges, disguised in a rustic dress, holding in one hand a cheese, wrapped in a napkin, for a shield, with a broom- stick, whose mop he had besmeared with dirty puddle water as he passed along ; thus equipped, he mounted the stag ... The fencing master railed at him for his impudence, asked what business he had there, and bid him begone. The Judge stood his ground, upon which the gladiator made a pass at him with his sword, to drive him off-a recounter ensued-the Judge received the sword into the cheese, and held it until he drew the mop of the broom gently over his mouth, and gave the gentleman a pair of whiskers .- Hc made another pass, and plunging his sword a second time, it was caught and held in the cheese, whilst the mop was
5*
51
drawn gently over his eyes .- At a third lunge, it was again caught and held in the cheese, until the Judge had rubbed the broom all over his face .-- Upon this, the gentleman let fall his small sword, and took up the broad sword. The Judge then said, " stop sir, hitherto, you see, I have only played with you, and not attempted to harm you; but if you come at me now with the broad sword, know that I will certainly take your life." The firmness with which he spoke, struck the master, who desisting, exclaimed, " Who can you be ? You must be either Goffe, Whalley, or the Devil, for there was no other man in England that could beat me.
On the 13th of October, 1661, they left New Haven, and arrived at Hadley the latter part of the same month. Dur- ing their abode at Hadley, the famous Indian war, called. " King Philip's War," took place. The pious congrega- tion of Hadley were observing a Fast on the occasion of this war ; and being at public worship in the meeting house, September 1st, 1675, were suddenly surrounded by a body of Indians. It was customary in the frontier towns, and even at New Haven, in these Indian Wars, for a select num- ber of the congregation to go armed to public worship. It was so at Hadley at this time. The people immediately took to their arms, but were thrown into great confusion. Had Hadley been taken, the discovery of the Judges would have been unavoidable. Suddenly, and in the midst of the people, there appeared a man of very venerable aspect, and different from the inhabitants in his apparel, who took the command, arranged and ordered them in the best military manner. Under his direction, they repelled and routed the enemy, and thereby saved the town. He immediately van- ished, and the inhabitants could account for the phenomenon in no other way, but by considering that person as an angel sent of God upon that special occasion for their deliverance; and for some time after, said aud believed, that they had been saved by an angel .- Nor did they know otherwise, till fifteen or twenty years after, when at length it became known at Hadley that the two judges had been secreted there. The angel was Goffe, for Whalley was superannu- . ated in 1675. The Inst account of Goffe is from a letter dated . Ebenezer,' (the name they gave their several places of abode,) April 2, 1709. Whalley had been dead some time before, The tradition at Hadley is, that they were buried in the minister's cellar, and it is generally supposed that
55
their bodies were afterwards secretly conveyed to New Ha- ven, and placed near Dixwell's. 'The supposition is strong- ly confirmed by three stones yet remaining in the Old Bury- ing Ground, at New Haven, in the rear of the center church, which are marked E. W. for Whalley, M. G. for Goffe, and J. D. Esq. for Dixwell.
658 EW
HEAD STONE. 2 feet wide and high, 8 inches thick .- Blue dark stone.
1658 EW
FOOT STONE. 1
56
The foregoing is a correct copy of each of the E. W. stones. The reader will observe in the cut, that the date on Whalley's head stone may be read 1658, which was about 20 years before his death. The extension, however, of the line, in a direct course beyond the curve of the 5, has the aspect of design for concealment. The inscription up- on the foot stone E. W. and the three figures 16-8 are plain and distinct ; but the intermediate figure is obscure. In the date of the foot stone, the 5 is discernible ; the upper line of the 7 is also obvious ; it may be read therefore, 1658 or 1678, and there is little doubt but that the latter was the date intended, as according to Goffe's letter to his wife, Whalley died about this time.
Upon the same principle of design- ed deception, the M. on the M. G. stone may be taken for an inverted .' W. and thus W. G. read for William Goffe, which seems more probable, as a deep strong line is drawn under the M. (see cut,) which was evidently in- tentional. 80, over these initials, no doubt referred to the year of his death, for his last letter was dated 1679, and he disappeared soon after.
HEAD STONE. 1 foot broad, 10 inches high.
80 M. G.
The object of these inscriptions, being so obscure, was doubtless to prevent a discovery of their burial place, by their enemies, who, it was justly feared, if in their power to have obtained the bodies of the regieides, would have car- ried their resentment beyond the grave.
A Royalist historian, in speaking of Goffe, thus remarks, " In 1660, a little before the restoration of King Charles 2d. he betook himself to his heels to save his neck, without any regard had to his majesty's proclamation, wandered about. fearing every one that he met should slay him; and was living at Lausanna in 1661, with Edward Ludlow, Edward Whalley, and other regicides, when John Lisle, another of that number, was there, by certain generous royalists dis- patched. He afterwards lived several years in vagabond- 'ship, but when he died, or where his carcass was buried, is as yet unknown to me."
Colonel John Dixwell came from Hadley to New Haven before the year 1762, and was known here by the name of James Davids. During the seventeen years or more' in which he lived in New Haven, nothing extraordinary oc-
4
.
57
curred concerning him. From 1074, to 1685, the church had no settled minister with whom he might associate. The Rev. Nicholas Street, the minister at his first coming here, soon died. For above eleven years, the church was desti- tute of a pastor, and supplied by occasional and temporary preaching only, until Mr. Pierpont's settlement in 1685. With him, the Colonel entered immediately into an open and unreserved communication ; but this was only for the short space of three or four of the last years of his exile. Dur- ing this short time however, there was the greatest intimacy between them, which appears to have been concealed even from the minister's wife. For tradition says, that madam Pierpont observing their remarkable intimacy, and wonder- ing at it, used to ask him what he saw in that old gentleman. who was so fond of leading an obscure, unnoticed life, that they should be so intimate and take such pleasure in being together, for Mr. Dixwell's house being situated on the east corner of College and Grove Streets, and Mr. Pierpont's near the corner of Elm and Temple Streets, and their house lots being contiguous and cornering upon one another, they had beaten a path in walking across their lots to meet and converse together at the fence. In answer to his wife's question, Mr. Pierpont remarked ; that the old gentleman was a very learned man, and understood more about religion, and all other subjects than any other person in the place, and that if she knew the value of him, she would not won- der at their intimacy. Among other traditionary anecdotes concerning him, this is one.
"Sir Edmund Andros came to America, and became Gov- ernor of New York in 1675 to 1681, and of Massachusetts, from 1636 to 1689. In one of his tours through the Colo- ny of Connecticut, about 1656, attending public worship at New Haven, he observed a venerable old gentleman at meet- ing, and noticing him closely, discerned something singular in him and suspected him. After meeting he inquired who that person was, and was told that he was a merchant who resided in town. Sir Edmund replied that he knew he was not a merchant, and became particularly inquisitive about him. Probably Colonel D. was notified of the inquisitive- ness of the stranger concerning his person and character ; for the Colonel was not seen at meeting in the afternoon."sf
In connexion with this, another tradition makes mention of a circumstance indicating how obnoxious Sir Edmund was at New Haven, as well as through New England. Ilc
59
being at meeting here, and probably on the same Loid's day as the above, the deacon gave out the 52nd psalm to sing. in Sternhold and Hopkins' version which begins thus ;
Why dost thou tyrant boast abroad, Thy wicked works to praise ? Dost thou not know there is a God, Whose mercies last always ?
Why dost thy mind yet still devise Such wicked wiles to warp ? Thy tongue untrue, in forging lies, Is like a razor sharp.
Thou dost delight in fraud and guile, In mischief, blood, and wrong: Thy lips have learned the flattering stile, O false deceitful tongue !
Governor Andres felt it as an intended insult upon hini- self and after meeting resented it as such, and reprehended the deacon for it. But being told that it was the usage of this church to sing the psalms in course, he excused the dea- con and let the matter drop. Bat it is not improbable, that though this might be the general custom, yet in this in- stance, a psalm was selected for Sir Edmund's contempla- tion.
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.