USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > East Haven > History of East Haven > Part 16
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The town affords a few curiosities. On an island in Stoney river there is a regular cavity cut into the granite rock, called the Indian Well. It is from twenty-six to thirty-three inches in diameter, and very smooth, especially the bottom of it. It is now about five feet deep, but formerly was deeper. When the dam below was built, some part of the rock was removed and much injured its natural appearance. The water on both sides of the island passes through
* Old people who were not much in love with the pranks of the college boys, used to say the clouds parted over Yale College, because there was so much witchcraft carried on there.
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History of East Haven.
a narrow channel of granite rock. I have seen similar excavations in the beds of the Mohawk river below the Cohoes falls, which were evidently formed by sand and pebbles set in motion by the rotary action of the water. Such cavities are common near the falls of rivers. The Indian Well was, doubtless, produced by the attrition of the sand and pebbles, which passed over this rock, it being then in the bed of the river. The bottom of the river was then from eight to twelve feet above the present high-water mark, the valley on the north being once a considerable lake and connected with Furnace pond [now Lake Saltonstall]. A great change has evidently passed over the land and marsh in that vicinity. Stumps and fragments of trees lie in the bed and on the banks of the river. The marsh has but a small depth, and lies on a bed of sand. Some fragments of Indian manufacture and other articles have been thrown up in ditching the marsh.
On the land of William Woodward [now the house yard of Mr. Fred B. Hinckley] and a few rods west of his barn, is a rock of greenstone resting in a few places over a cavity upon a ridge of sandstone. The under side of the rock is very smooth. Its mean height is about five feet and a half, and its length and breadth about eight feet. The top of it is flat. There is no other rock of the kind in that neighborhood. Is this rock of Celtic origin? Its size and peculiar position resembles that of other rocks in this country which have been the subject of scientific speculation.
Another rock of sandstone somewhat similar to the other, not so high, but having a longer table, is on a hill of considerable elevation, west of Bridge swamp. It originally rested on the apex, like an inverted cone,
Rust Hause Brust
EAST HAVEN RIVER AND DARROW ISLAND.
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Natural History.
but now reclines towards the south. From this situa- tion there is a charming view of the Sound and the surrounding country.
The great burying place of the Indian tribes in this town and vicinity is on the north end of the hill on which the fort stands which anciently, in allusion to this place, was called Grave Hill. [Now much of it is Fort Wooster Park.] Some of the graves have been levelled by the plow, but many of them are yet visible. In the year 1822 I examined three of these graves. At the depth of about three feet and a half, the sandstone appears, on which the bodies were laid, without any appearance of a wrapper or enclosure. They all lay in the direction of southwest and north- east, the head towards the west. Of two of them the arms lay by the side; the other had the arms across the body, after the manner of the white people. The large bones and teeth were in a sound state. The thigh bones of one measured 19 inches in length, the leg bone 18, and the arm from the elbow to the shoulder 13. By measuring the skeleton as it lay, it was con- cluded to be that of a man six and a half feet high. No article of any description appeared with the bones. It is said that about 50 or 60 years ago some of these graves were opened, and a number of Indian implements of the kitchen and of war were found in them. Few Indians have been buried there within a century past.
The Indians had a fort on the hill in the burying ground, and from that circumstance it was called Fort Hill. It is also a tradition that they had another on the hill north of Mr. Daniel Hughes' house, and near the old ferry road [now Fairmont avenue]. The
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History of East Haven.
appearance of shells shows that they had a village on that spot. The same indications appear in the woods of South End Neck, west of the sluice. Great quantities of oyster shells are collected among the rocks, and in the little valleys, and on the banks of the river, showing the places where their wigwams stood. It was stated in the first chapter of this history that Thomas Gregson, who settled at Solitary cove, and several others on a voyage to England were lost at sea. That affair is noticed by Dr. Mather in his "Magnalia," and the story of the apparition of a ship is given in connection with the biography of Thomas Gregson, in the first chapter, and is therefore omitted in this place.
INDIANS.
There is nothing to sustain the tradition that the Indians had a fort "north of Mr. Daniel Hughes' house," excepting the make of the land and the ease with which one could have been built. That they had wigwams there, is undisputably true; not only there, but all over the flats south to the harbor through which Forbes avenue now runs. This was the ground reserved to them by the English when they bought the land. Also all of Townsend avenue down to the har- bor, and so on to South End. In laying out streets, and excavating for cellars, numberless relics of Indian make have been unearthed. Mr. George G. Hitchcock, in building his houses on Fairmont avenue, made quite a collection of Indian implements, which he gave to Capt. Charles H. Townsend. As late as 1828, in digging the cellar for the residence of the late Mr. Aaron A. Hughes, about a foot and half underground
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Natural History.
was found a large space paved with flat stones, all laid very evenly together. Mr. Hughes thought he was disturbing an Indian burial ground; but his father said they were Indian hearths where the wigwams had stood. About 1840 Mr. Alfred Hughes unearthed a similar place northwest of his house. His grand- father, Mr. Daniel Hughes, gave the same explanation, saying they were where the Indians had their summer villages when they came to fish. In winter they went into the woods to hunt and for the convenience of fuel, and when they left, they covered the hearths with earth, so that no other Indians might find them and profit by their labor. In the summer they scraped the earth to one side, and erected their huts.
All the flat lands near the shore are plentifully flecked with broken shells, especially all around and west of the old stone house, now the site of the Chapel of the Epiphany. The Hughes family have given away to curiosity hunters, from time to time, many relics found on their grounds. One, a very curious old spoon, still in the possession of the family, some experts think was one of the "twelve alchemy spoons" given to the Indians by Rev. John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton, when they bought the land of Momauguin. It is not copper, or brass or iron; yet it seems to be a composite of metals, hence called alchemy.
THE PASSING OF THE INDIANS.
The statement has often been made that the white man has greatly wronged the Indians. This may have been the case in many places, but after a candid and careful search of town and Indian records, the facts
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History of East Haven.
stand out in bold relief that this charge cannot be sustained against the Connecticut and New Haven colonies ; particularly the New Haven Colony, which in their first purchase of Momauguin, rights of land, and protection from other hostile tribes, were secured to them by the Davenport and Eaton treaty. The Indian reservation seems to have been kept intact, as originally laid out.
In 1679 a proposition was made to purchase some land of the Indians near Mr. Gregson's farm, "if the Indians were willing to sell it." Due caution was advised, as the Quinnipiacs at that date (1680) num- bered about 100 men, it was thought best not to sell their lands. In 1638 they numbered 46 fighting men and with squaws and children about 150 in all; but by living a peaceful life under the protection of the English they had increased now to over 300 all told. Between the years of 1680 and 1750 this Quinnipiac tribe was greatly reduced in numbers, occasioned by King Philip's War in 1675, the Canadian War in 1690, the Cuban Expedition in 1740, and the siege of Louis- burg in 1745. In all these wars the Quinnipiac Indians helped to fill the quota of Connecticut. Some went as sailors, but most of them as soldiers. Disease and battle had thinned their ranks. In 1695 the General Court of Connecticut granted the town of New Haven the right to sell Indian lands. Nayhassatt, alias George Sagamore, sold to John Morris and others 18 acres in the old "Indian Field" near the old ferry. President Stiles says, "In 1720 there were between the ferry and Mr. Woodward's house twenty wigwams (old Indian village)." This section extended from Farren avenue south to Forbes avenue and the harbor.
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Natural History.
The Indians in 1725 living on the East side numbered about 20 in all.
"In 1727 John, alias George Sagamore, son and heir to George, late sachem of New Haven, and James, Tom, Indians, sons of James, Indian, deceased, and Nimrod, Indian, and Jacob, Indian, being all the men of our tribe (1727 five only) belonging to New Haven, sold to John Morris several pieces of land amounting in all to 58 acres. In 1760 the Indian land in East Haven was occupied by only one Indian and three squaws. In 1745 James Meekyeuh, sachem of the East Haven Indians, died in Cheshire. His son James Men- nau-yush died in Derby in 1758. Dr. Ruggles says in 1760 'there died in Guilford the only remaining man Indian between Saybrook and New Haven Ferry.'" The same year, Dr. Stiles says, "there was but one. wigwam on the East Haven reservation, and that was occupied by a squaw, and her son 16 years old."
In 1769, the memorial of one Adam, an Indian, of a New Haven tribe of Indians, who had lived in Farmington some time, requested of the Assembly of Connecticut that the planting land reserved for said tribe in the parish of East Haven, which contained about 30 acres, might be sold, and the money received by the sale of such land be laid out in Farmington, for the benefit of said tribe; whereupon said Adam was empowered to make the sale; but he soon after died. In 1770 the last sachem of the Quinnipiacs, Charles, was frozen to death, near a spring about a mile north of East Haven meetinghouse. In 1770 Samuel Adam, an Indian belonging to Farmington, one of said tribe, was empowered to sell the East Haven land to Capt. Timothy Tuttle, June 2, 1773.
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History of East Haven.
This Samuel Adam was the last one of the tribe remaining, who was at this time living with the Farm- ington Indians. The money for the land was expended in Farmington for Samuel Adam's benefit, which he had the Farmington authorities sell for his benefit, according to law, when he removed with his family into the Mohawk country. From the above we see that the rights and property of the Quinnipiacs were strictly preserved, and extended to them to the last man, by the New Haven Colony and parish of East Haven.
SLAVES.
East Haven is not without its taint of slavery. In common with many New England towns, slaves were owned in many families, as slavery existed in all the early colonies of the United States. There was a great difference of opinion on the subject in those primitive times, as well as in more recent years. Con- necticut passed a law of total emancipation in 1794, thus doing away with the evil forever in the "Con- stitution State."
The first record of slave ownership in East Haven was in the early part of the eighteenth century. We find in a will of Joseph Tuttle, 1761, that he bequeaths "the house, shop and negro rooms at East Haven." He also mentions four negro men, "Richard, Bethuel, Cambridge and Reuben," and four women, "Dinah, Lucy, Statira and Axsee." Doubt- less these were parents of children which are not named. These slaves ranged in value from £20 to £75.
The families owning the greatest number of slaves were John Woodward, Sr., Capt. Amos Morris, Jehiel Forbes, the Hemingways, Thompsons, Pardees,
Natural History.
231
Chidseys and Smiths. Even the saintly Mr. Street owned his Tom, who used to sometimes come to him and say, "Master, I wish I could be free!" Mr. Street always replied, "Well, Tom, you shall be free any day that you will sign a paper that I need not take care of you when you are old and can do nothing." Whereupon Tom would roll his eyes, and whistle, going off grinning and shaking. He died in servitude in 1791, in the 57th year of his age. That Mr. Street had some qualms of conscience on the subject of slavery is very evident, from an extract from one of his sermons when he says, "While we abhor oppression as it comes upon us from the mother country, we may be harboring it in our own bosoms." Furthermore, he exhorts all to "a careful search and examination of all that has been written on the subject, in an impartial and disinterested way." Pink and her daughter Chloe, slaves of Isaac Forbes, were the last remnants of slavery dying in East Haven. Pink was a town charge for some time, dying after 1850. Below are a few names of slaves which have been gathered, showing their owners, their own names, ages and deaths.
Owner.
Age.
Died.
John Woodward
Guido
65 1781
John Woodward
Abigail
65
1781
John Heminway
Nancy
75 1794
Samuel Thompson
Chloe
35
1773
Amos Morris
Tony
27
1778
Amos Morris
Cajoe
45
1773 drowned
Dea. Stephen Smith
Cato
II
1783
Widow Mary Pardee
Peggy
30
1783
Widow Mary Pardee
Titus
18
1797
Capt. Isaac Chidsey
Andrew
28
1789
232 History of East Haven.
Owner.
Age. Died.
Capt. Woodward Thate 70 1795
James Chidsey Flora 15 1805
Jehiel Forbes (Cork and wife, Sybil), Will, Cæsar and others.
It has always been currently reported that Sybil declared her master's son, Dr. David Forbes, ate up her boy Cæsar! The latter was sold to pay David's board bill while in college, hence her construction, which might have been true. Charles Bishop and Nathaniel Barnes owned Harry.
WITCHCRAFT IN EAST HAVEN.
As John W. Barber in his "Historical Collections of Connecticut" thought best to give this subject space in his work, it may not be amiss to transcribe into this work the following, which he says is "a fair sample of witch stories, which were generally believed in ancient times."
"An old gentlemen was riding, one bright moon- light evening, through a very lonely place called Dark Hollow (a by-road which leads from East Haven to Fair Haven), when he saw two females at the head of his horse, very earnestly (apparently) engaged in conversation, and keeping pace with his horse. He was considerably excited and his feelings of fear aroused, as he had no doubt, that these were the famous hags, who were disturbing the peace of the land. He had, however, courage enough to speak to them in these words: 'In the name of God, I beseech you tell me who you are.' When, wonderful to behold, they immediately vanished. He got off his horse to look for them, but could find nothing but a riding hood, which lay where they disappeared."
Natural History.
233
"A short time after this event, the same gentleman was riding past one of his orchards, when there appeared to him to be someone shaking one of his apple trees, and a considerable quantity was falling to the ground. He went up to the tree, and the ground was covered with apples, which had just fallen, but there was no one to be seen, all was still as the grave." "The following is still more mysterious: There was an old woman who lived not far from the neighborhood of this old gentleman, who was suspected by the neigh- bors of being one of these tormentors of mankind. Their hogs would run about on their hind legs, and squeal as though they were possessed by legions of unclean spirits. Their children would be taken sick and cry out 'that some one was sticking pins into them.' A member of one of the families would roll about the floor with great rapidity as though urged forward by some invisible power, and the members of the family had to keep an eagle's eye on the rolling gentleman, lest he should roll into the fire. When the neighbors made their bread, it was full of hairs, and their soap would run over their kettles, and fly about the floor like burning lava from the crater of Mount Etna. In the night large stones would tumble down their chimneys and break their cooking utensils, set- ting the whole family in an uproar. It appeared as though the powers of darkness had been let loose from Pandemonium to torment these neighbors. But not long after, these difficulties all ceased in a singular manner, i. e., one of the neighbor's pigs was running about on its hind legs as described, when a man who was noticing it jumped into the pen, and cut off one of its ears. The old woman mentioned always after-
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History of East Haven.
wards had one of her ears muffled. The neighbors were now satisfied that this woman was the cause of all their troubles. However, they thought they would say nothing or do nothing for the present but see how these things continued."
"A short time after this, one of the neighbors was making potash beside the river, and it began to fly out, and run about so they could do nothing with it. They held a consultation, and concluded they would shoot into it with a rifle, which they did, and immedi- ately there was a calm, and they were enabled to go on with their work and finish it. In the morning the neighbors went to the place where this woman resided, where they found her dead and thus their troubles ended. But it appears this woman was not the only suspected witch in the place. In an old lonely house which stood on the road leading to New Haven, lights were seen in the night; the sound of the violin and the noise of persons dancing, were heard by the inhabi- tants of the place around it, until they went to work day after day, pulling its clapboards off, until the house was completely destroyed to the joy of the inhabitants of the town. Nothing more of any consequence was heard of witches from that time."
CHAPTER X. LOSSES BY WAR.
N the French War of 1755, a number of men were drafted from East Haven for the English army near the lakes, and the greater part of them were lost by sickness and battle. Of these I have obtained the following names, viz .: Jacob Moulthrop, David Moulthrop, Adonijah Moulthrop, Jacob Robinson, Benjamin Robinson, Thomas Robin- son, Jr., David Potter, John Mallory, Abraham Jocelin, Samuel Hotchkiss, James Smith, Samuel Russell and Stephen Russell, brothers, and Asa Luddington. Ben- jamin Russell was captured at sea.
In the War of Independence, which began April 19, 1775, the following persons were lost. In 1776, Elijah Smith was killed in battle on Long Island; Thomas Smith conducted a fire ship to the enemy, but was badly burned, and the attending boat having left him too soon, he had to swim ashore, where he was found three days after in a helpless state; he was brought over to Rye, and there he died. Nathan Andrews died a prisoner. In 1777 Isaac Potter perished in the prison ship. July 5, 1779, Isaac Pardee was killed on Grave or Fort Hill, by a cannon shot. In October, on board a privateer, Zabulon Bradley was killed. Richard Paul, Jacob Pardee, Jr., Asa Bradley, Abijah Bradley, and Elijah Bradley, were made prisoners and all, except the last, perished in the prison ship at New
236 History of East Haven.
York the following winter. In 1780 Medad Slaughter died in the prison ship. In 1781 John Howe was killed by the tories, when they surprised Fort Hale. John Walker was killed upon Long Island.
Thus twelve young men were lost, and several men returned from captivity so injured by hard usage that they pined away and died-particularly Edward Good- sell, Isaac Luddington and Jared Hemingway.
On July 4, 1779, the enemy intending to capture New Haven, landed a covering force on Morris Neck and South End, and marched directly to Tuttle's Hill, where they encamped that night, and the next day reembarked. They were led by the tories. In this invasion they burnt most of the dwellings within their reach, and made the rebel whigs feel the effects of royal British vengeance.
To meet these losses and those of other towns of a similar nature, in May, 1792, the General Assembly of Connecticut passed an act appropriating "500,000 acres of land west of Pennsylvania, for the relief of the sufferers by fire." The damage in each town was assessed, and the amount of each person's loss in East Haven was as follows:
Amos Morris, £1235 15 4
John Woodward, 838 17 3
John Woodward, jun., 740 19 II
Elam Luddington, 408 6 7
Joseph Tuttle, 79 9 5
Jacob and Abijah Pardee, 402 8 2
Jehiel Forbes,
173 13 I
Mary Pardee, 134 14 0
Mary and Lydia Pardee, 40 8 4
Noah Tucker,
99 17 4
Equal to $13,848.24.
£4154 9 5
04 YERS APET & SIMAL BEACON
ELARCE FORDE
FORT WOOSTER TABLET.
Losses by War.
237
They burnt eleven dwelling houses, nine barns, and some other out-buildings. Gurdon Bradley lost £66, in a sloop that was burnt. The enemy and the militia plundered the inhabitants of all they could carry off. The whole of this loss was collected by the commis- sioners appointed for this purpose, and the amount was £421 IS. 4d. The entire loss of East Haven by this invasion in property was $15,251.79.
Since 1824 a very great change has taken place in the sentiment, interest and pride of ancestry of the Revolutionary patriots. As East Haven was one of the historic places of the Revolution, and one whose inhab- itants suffered more, in proportion to their numbers, than almost ony other place, as the British burned nearly every building on their line of march, besides destroying crops, slaughtering cattle and spreading ruin everywhere, it is thought advisable to give the occurrences a place in history. Besides, East Haven was one of the first places in Connecticut to be marked with a tablet erected on Beacon Hill in 1895 by the Sons of the American Revolution. In fact, if the ladies of East Haven were so disposed, they could form a very respectable sized chapter of the D. A. R.'s within the limits of the little town with a fine record to each one. So, for the benefit of those who may succeed the present generation, and who may take pride in their noble ancestry, a more detailed account has been written. There may be some omissions of facts, which could not be gathered, but which might be of much interest. It is the regret of the writer that such may be the case.
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History of East Haven.
BRITISH INVASION OF NEW HAVEN.
July 4, 1779, occurred on Sunday, and as has always been the custom, the people proposed celebrating it on the following Monday. It is within the memory of the older inhabitants that all New England observed Saturday night with great religious precision; but Sunday night was of a holiday nature. It was now the third anniversary of American Independence, and as New Haven had never celebrated this great event to any extent, it was decided that this year it should be fittingly observed; accordingly at "sun- down Sunday" the people assembled in the middle brick church to make arrangements. Everything was decided about 9 o'clock, and the inhabitants were quietly retiring for their night's rest, when the boom- ing of a signal gun announced the approach of the enemy, and instead of its being a day of celebration, it proved to be a day of defence.
It had been reported in the town, that a fleet was preparing for the eastward, from New York. Com- modore Sir George Collier was commander-in-chief of all the British naval forces in American waters, rendez- vousing in New York. It was supposed this fleet was destined for either Newport or New London, until they had passed Stratford and nearly rounded into New Haven harbor, which was late in the evening of July 4th. About midnight the whole fleet was at anchor, the large ships about a mile from Southwest Ledge Lighthouse. The smaller vessels came into the mouth of the harbor about 5 A. M., July 5th, which was then about high tide. The first division of 1,500 men and four field pieces landed at Savin Rock (West
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Losses by War.
Haven) under Brigader-General Garth. As soon as the boats, which had landed the men on the west shore, returned to the transports, they were filled with British troops, and were rowing to the East shore, under command of General Tryon.
Morris Cove or Point had long been a coveted and objective place to the tories and British. Long Island Sound was full of foraging and marauding parties, from the war ships generally commanded by a British officer, led by tories, who were well acquainted with the localities. Cattle, sheep, and poultry were killed or driven off, houses broken into and robbed, and not infrequently heads of families captured and impris- oned. Just before the invasion of New Haven, Capt. Amos Morris, of Morris Point, was one of the victims of a raid made on his place. "He and his son were awakened, and captured, taken to a boat in waiting, and conveyed to the British with little clothing to protect them from the night air, and finally lodged in one of the far-famed prison-ships, at that time the terror of all captured Americans.
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