History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 122

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572

USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 122

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Mr. Richards bought Jonathan Marsh's mill and all the land adjoining it. He was elected selectman Feb. 21, 1670. He never represented this town in the col- onial Legislature. He had an estate in 1673 of two hundred and sixty-eight pounds. In 1687 his name is not in the table of estates; hence it is concluded that he died between 1673 and 1687, aged about sixty- two years. His deseendants have always been noted for their steady and industrious habits.

Jolin Rusco, son of William and Rebecea Rusco, husband and wife and four children-viz., Sara, Maria, Samuel, and William (aged one year)-" im- barked in ye 'Increase' from London, April, 1635, for New England. They were certificated as from Billerway, county of Essex, by the Minister of ye first that William Rusco, husbandman, was no Sub- sedy man." After due investigation it is concluded that John Rusco was a son of William, born in this country within a year or two after their arrival in Boston, early in the fall of 1635. Although Jolin's name stands in the catalogue of the first emigrants, he could not have been over thirteen or fourteen years of age. Probably he eame to this town with the older settlers. As his home-lot was not set off to him, but had transferred to him that which was formerly set off to another, his grant was not one of the original few,-it was not recorded until 1683, while the other original grants were recorded about 1665 or 1670.

William Ruseo, at this date, lived in Norwalk, as Mr. Fenn's home-lot was next William Ruseo's .* From 1673 to 1687 his estate had increased from one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty pounds.

Riehard Raymond's name first appears in the records of Norwalk in 1654. He was, no doubt, a French refugee, and may have come to North Amer- ica under an assumed name, as there is no record of his departure from England. August, 1635, one Arthur Raymond, aged twenty, sailed from London in the "Lofty," Graunt, master, for Virginia. It is conjectured that Arthur was a brother of Richard, whose name appears in the records as an inhabitant of this town. He removed to Norwalk from Salem, Mass., and from here to Saybrook. In 1662 he was living at Massachusetts Bay, at which date he " bought of Ralph Keeler his housings, home-lott, or barn- yard, and the house, flores, doars, glasse windows, shelves, everything fastened together,-four acres." It seems he returned to Norwalk, as in 1677 he em- powered Thomas Betts to record all his lands to the children of his son John by Mary Raymond, his present wife, the year before this transaction. John, his son, seems to have borne all the family honors. His estate was taxed (1690) at two hundred pounds. He "tooke to wiffe," Dec. 10, 1664, Mary, daughter of Thomas Betts, by whom he had two sons,-John, who died when a child, and John (2d), born nine years later.

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

St. John, Matthias, and Matthew Sension probably emigrated from Huntingdon, England. It seems that Matthias came to Norwalk a short time previous to the arrival of Matthew. It is conjectured that the St. Johns of Norwalk were descendants of Attorney- General St. John, who married a relative of Oliver Cromwell and followed his fortunes during his reign. The only ground for the conjecture is the fact that the attorney was of the same name. When the brothers settled in America is not known, though it is believed they preceded Nicholas Sension, aged thirteen, who sailed from London, April, 1635, in the "Elizabeth and Ann Roger," Cooper, master, under the protection of Jo. Whitney, who came in the same ship with his five children, aged respectively eleven, nine, eight, six, and one, all of whom brought with them a certificate that they were "no subsedy" men.

Matthias' name is among the original settlers of the town, and March 5, 1657, he was one of them "to make a sufficient wolf-pett." Matthias, Savage thinks, was a myth; but he was in Dorchester in 1639 and a juryman at Hartford in 1643 and 1644. Otherwise the brothers were not prominent in public affairs.

Several of the Webb family emigrated to this country in the early part of the sixteenth century. Richard embarked for Virginia from Gravesend, Eng- land, in the " Primrose," July, 1635. He was of the number of more than one hundred who took the oaths of " Allegcance and Supremacie," and " fctch off by Mr. Secretary Windcbanks' warrant." Pro- bably the men were political rebels, and were obliged to take a special oath to the home government. He is reputed to have been living at Cambridge in 1632. The date of his departure from England disproves that he was in the country in that year. His name appears in the records as juryman at Hartford in 1643 and 1644, and selectman in 1643 and 1644. About this time he was fined for not appcaring at the appointed hour for the sitting of the court. In 1640 he was one of the executors of the will of James Olmstead, and was deputy from Norwalk fourteen times, from 1653 to 1679.

When or how Thomas Seamer, or Seymore, came to the colonies, or his origin in the old country, is not now known. There is a good reason for the prevalent opinion that he was a French refugce who escaped into England, and soon thereafter emigrated to North America and was a member of the Hartford eolony, as it appears that Richard, a brother, was lo- cated there in 1639 to 1646 at least. In 1690 he pos- sessed an estate set in the list at one hundred and eighty-four pounds. He was never honored by his fellow-townsmen with responsible official positions.

CHAPTER L.

NORWALK (Continued).

UNPUBLISHED TRADITIONAL FACTS IN THE HIS- TORY OF NORWALK.#

Traditions-Reminiscences-One Hundred Years Ago-The Burning of Norwalk-The Indian City of Naramake and its Founders-Pampas- keshank-Incidents of the Revolution-The Norwalk Indians-Indian Cemeteries-The Cannibals of Norwalk.

THE first white emigrants to New England, though educated under despotic laws in the Old World, in the New adopted a system of town organizations, simple, pure, and natural, relative to property, edu- cation, and equal rights. Those town republics sowed the seed which brought forth republican government on this continent. Their codes of laws are the votes found upon the records of those ancient towns, and framed to maintain the peace and union of those local republies, and to preserve the "liberty of civil affairs." The first ancestors of Norwalk established one of those republics in this town in 1651.

The tourist, to fully appreciate the scenery of this lo- cality, should sail down Long Island Sound and tra- verse the range of hills stretching from the Rocks, north, to the country "butted on the sea" south. These outlooks are the most picturesque in Connecti- cut.

The first emigrants to Norwalk, in their journcy- ings hither, passed through the interior of the coun- try, to avoid crossing the numerous deep rivers which empty into the Sound. From the rocks north of France Street they first belicld the land of their adoption, and were delighted with its hills and vales and running brooks. On the night of their arrival the company ate and slept beneath their shadows. . At carly morn they procceded southward to take pos- session of the rude log houses built by the few pio- neers who had preceded them. The early emigrants were not without some culturc. The old town records show that every man of them could write well, and they had legislative, executive, and judicial capacity, and the ability to organize the town's finances and to marshal the people into "training-bands" for the com- mon defense.

Three classes of emigrants from England settled in this town. The first were nonconformists; the sec- ond, "subsidy men;" the third, those who were dis- tasteful to the ruling powers, and who were transported as rebels or left England under assumed names. Half the first colonists of the town were of the first ; the re- mainder-excepting Richard Webb, who was carried on shipboard, "fetched off by Secretary Windebank's warrants"-were of the second.

Though nearly all the early settlers of Norwalk em- barked from England, yet they were not all of Anglo- Saxon blood. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes thousands of the best people of France fled to

* Contributed by W. S. Bouton, Esq.

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England, and the government received them with open arms and eneouraged their emigration to her eolonies in North America. Our first ancestors were about equally divided between the Gaul and Saxon, all of whom were imbued with the Saxon ideas of eivil and religious liberty and an enlightened view of justiee.

The aneient records of the town do not show a single instance of special or elass legislation. Their every aet was based upon the broadest principles of a government by and for the people. If tlic common land was to be apportioned, or the eattle to roam in the common fields, or the wheat-fields to be guarded or feneed, the rights of the poorest persons were as sacredly protected as those of Governor Fitch or the wealthiest man in the plantation. Our ancestors, in their difficulties with Fairfield and Stamford, instead of an armed defense, instrueted their deputies to the General Court to come to a "loving and neighborly issue and agreement," and, if not aeeepted, then the eases were to be taken into the court. There may be powers that objeet to this sort of diplomaey because of its puritanieal or seriptural origin.

REMINISCENCES.

The first white settlers of Norwalk located on the plain east of the river, near Old Fort Point, upon which they reared log houses and a bloek-house, or fort, for common defense. Our ancestors were often summoned from their labors in the fields to disperse the Indiaus, whose only object, apparently, was to purloin the Indian puddings which the women were making.

The savages found within the purehases made in 1640 and 1650 were only remnants of tribes which onee inhabited the country around and east of the Counectieut River, and probably other localities. They had been overpowered and driven from the graves of their ancestors by other more numerous and more warlike tribes, portions of whom had taken up their abode about Norwalk River, and whom the first settlers named the Norwalk Indians. On this point we are not left entirely to tradition. That the Indians, probably less than a hundred, who lived here were from various tribes is evident from the faets that many of their implements found in the Old Indian Field were made of various kinds of stone, none of which are to be found within the limits of the town, that the rude earthen bowls found in some of their graves were made of red elay, and that their modes of burial were diverse.

The early colonists had not been very sneeessful in bringing the aborigines into their views of govern- ment previous to the settlement of the town. But the members of the Norwalk eolony, many of whom had been in the country from sixteen to thirty years, had learned mueh of the Indian character. As time passed they more fully comprehended the principle of liberty which they had manfully battled for in the Old World,

and this made them more successful than others had been in their efforts to civilize the Indians.

Our ancestors partook of the uneasiness rife among the colonists in 1660, and appealed to the General Court to settle their "differences." They also dis- ciplined the militia and appointed Thomas Fitch to watch the Indians; and that is about all there was of it, for the Norwalk Indians, though at times trouble- somnc, were never warlike. We have searched the aneient records, and have not found an instance of a Norwalk Indian's injuring any of the white inhabit- ants. Nor is there any evidence that they were in the direful swamp-fight in 1677 as enemies, though there is indirect testimony that some of them aecom- panied those who enlisted for that serviee from this town.

The early fathers brought with them all the Anglo- Saxon traits of energy, perseverance, industry, patriot- ism, and indomitable will, controlled by the fear of God. Their mission was peace and good-will to all men; they warred only when necessity required. Their poliey towards the red man was the same as that pursued by William Penn. They first taught them to plow and plant and reap the fruits of their labor, and made it an offense even to trespass upon their grounds. Then they taught them who that Great Spirit was whom their fathers had ignorantly worshiped.

Until this time our ancestors had generally enjoyed peace. But they were now ealled upon to face King Philip, a personal foe of the English, who had excited his own tribe and his neighbors to a general rising against the whites. The town now contained less than fifty white men, five of whom volunteered towards filling the quota pledged by the Connecticut colony to ehastise the Narragansetts, who, in violation of their treaty obligations, were seeretly assisting Philip to lay waste with fire and tomahawk all the settle- ments of the colonists. Only the suddenness of the blow saved the settlements from extermination.

In 1774 the Indians had nearly disappeared from the town; only nine remained. In 1790 there were none. Probably a few of them removed to other loealities, but that nearly all the tribe died liere is evident from the numerous shell-graves found in the Old Field.

Fifty years ago a deseendant of the tribe eame to view the graves of his aneesters. As he stood on Flax Hill his great height, broad shoulders, and Indian costume, in the absence of the men, frightened the women and ehildren of the neighborhood. It was just before the close of day. He turned to the north, to the east, to the south, then towards the setting sun, as if to converse with the Great Spirit. Then he de- parted. Whence he came and whither he went no one eould tell.

The charge, oft repeated, that our fathers were eruel and exacting in their dealings with the Indians of Norwalk is without foundation. All the facts in their

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

history show that they were governed by Christian and patriotic principles in their intercourse with them. To be sure, they resented every encroach- ment upon their civil rights with patriotic fervor. And their mantles have fallen upon their descend- ants, as more than a hundred battle-fields in the his- tory of the town during the past two hundred years bear witness.

In the French war there was no lack of patriotism on the part of the people of the town. Upon receiv- ing information that a battalion of regulars was to be quartered here, the people in town-meeting voted to tax themselves for their support. Many of them joined the army and were at the reduction of Louis- burg, July 25, 1758.

In the Revolutionary war the inhabitants also met in town-meeting and called upon all the able-bodied men to exert themselves to fill up the battalions or- dered by the Continental Congress; they provided for the support of the families of those who should enlist. They closed their appeal in the following quaint lan- guage : "That the virtuous sons of liberty cheerfully and readily engage in said service, so that peace and rest may once more be restored to the United States of America, by means whereof this meeting have reason, by the blessing of God, to expect the same may be effected."

The aged people are familiar with the name of Capt. Ketcham, who in the last war with England, at the battle of Niagara, captured Gens. Drummond and Rial, officers of the British troops, and their suites, and con- ducted them to the rear of the American lines, which event, more than any other, contributed to the suc- cess of our arms on that day. Who is not also familiar with the name of Frank Gregory, who Headley erro- neously says was a native of New Haven, but who was born in Norwalk, where he resided until he entered the naval service in 1800? Here are the tombs of his ancestors. In the last war with the English he was taken prisoner and impressed into their service, but soon escaped. In the great Rebellion Com. Gregory hastcned to Washington at seventy years of age and offered his services to his government; which fact alone is sufficient to immortalize his name.

When Tryon crossed from Long Island to destroy the town the patriotic, old and young, shouldered their muskets and met his forces with a determination un- surpassed in the annals of the Revolutionary war. From the moment the enemy landed they were as- saulted with so much spirit at every step of their progress, by the town militia and the Continentals then quartered here, that he left, according to his offi- cial report, one hundred and ten killed, wounded, and missing behind him in his retreat.

The engagement at Norwalk may be said to have been a series of battles. The British were repulsed on Flax Hill, at Pudding Lane, and at France Street; they were beaten at every point of attack. The burn- ing of the town was a great disaster to the people.

Historians have made this fact prominent, and have lost sight of the patriotism, zeal, and courage dis- played by the few regulars and the town militia, and the successes gained by them on that memorable day over Gen. Tryon's soldiers and the Tories who led them through the town. We call it the battle of Norwalk, for such it really was. Ere this the event should have been commemorated by the erection of a monument to perpetuate the names of those who fell on that day in defense of the town and the cause of liberty. Who found fault in the Revolutionary war with the patriotism and the institutions founded by the first white ancestors of Norwalk ? They were the "nullifiers," who opposed all taxation and paying any interest on obligations for raising funds to arm and equip Continental soldiers and for the support of their families. The Revolutionary fathers said they were "inimical persons, and riotous, and dangerous to the liberties and independence of the United States of America."

Norwalk in 1677 sent five men to the front; in the Rebellion six companies, being about a twenty-fourth part of its entire population.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

July 10, 1779, Gen. Tryon's fleet, which had been moored in Huntington Bay, L. I., was discovered by the coast-guard stationed at the cove headed, with all sail set, for the west shore. The guard sounded the alarm by firing three muskets, the signal being re- peated from hill-top to hill-top until the inhabitants of the town were thoroughly aroused. After the women, children, and household goods had been placed in carts and started for the forest miles away, the men shouldercd their muskets and proceeded to the parade-ground, where they were detailed by com- panies to various localities to watch the movements of the British.

On this date, at nine o'clock in the evening, Gen. Tryon landed at Cow Pasture with two thousand five hundred British troops. July 11, 1779, one hundred years ago, the battle or series of battles of Norwalk were fought and the town devastated by the British. There were in the town less than four hundred patriot troops to oppose the advance of the enemy, one hun- dred and fifty of whom were Continentals, commanded by Gen. Parsons, and the town militia and volunteers commanded by Capts. Betts and Richards.

All the particulars of Gen. Tryon's advance from Cow Pasture to Grammon's Hill and of his retreat have been fully given by the historian, but the inci- dents along the line of the advance of Garth's regi- ment of Tories, after landing at Old Well, have never become published facts in the history of the town.

Historians disagree as to the date of the battle of Norwalk. Barber erroneously asserts that it occurred on July 17, 1779, and he makes Capt. Betts, in his deposition before Justice Betts, say that it was on July 12th. Gen. Tryon's official report gives the cor-

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NORWALK.

rect date: he says July 10th. They crossed the Sound with a fleet of twenty-six sail and anchored near the mouth of Norwalk Harbor. The troops landed about nine o'clock in the evening, slept upon their arms at Cow Pasture that night, and early next morning, Sunday, the 11th, moved across to Fitche's Point, on the east side of Norwalk Harbor, where they were joined by the King's American Regiment, Tories, who were ordered to cross over in flat-boats to Old Well. They landed south of Washington Street, and Tryon ordered a house near the shore burned as a signal that he had disembarked and was ready to carry out the orders of his superior.

Gen. Garth, upon landing and seeing the people on the heights above the plain, seems to have entertained the idea that the patriots were intrenched upon Flax Hill, and that it would be necessary to dislodge them before attempting to join Gen. Tryon at the bridge. So he divided his regiment, and its left wing, as a feint, charged through the fields, and the right filed into the shore road to Marshall and Ann Streets, thence to West Street, forming a junction with the left at the intersection of Spring with West Street, near the stone church. Here there was severe fight- ing, and the enemy became disconcerted, but suc- ceeded in gaining the summit of the first hill. But at the foot of the second they became panie-stricken, so sharp and rapid was the fire of the patriots, com- manded by Capt. Richards, secreted behind the stone walls on the eastern slope of the hill stretching from the main road to Round Hill. In this encounter the eneiny lost three men, and several more were wounded. Here Garth massed his troops, as if expecting another attack from the volunteers, then filed his men into the field formerly the homestead of the late Deacon Nash, and repeated the manœuvre, probably to con- ceal the place of burial of his dead. Their remains were disinterred when excavating for the foundation of the house now owned by L. H. Moor, Esq.

At this juncture of affairs a British officer appeared on the brow of Flax Hill. After surveying the situ- ation a few moments he commeneed to flourish his sword, as if giving orders to the enemy to advance. This he repeated several times, to the amusement of the patriots, who with deliberate aim fired their mus- kets, when he stretched himself upon his steed's neck and galloped out of sight, his cocked hat and tall plume appearing as if transferred from the head of the rider to that of the horse.

Having interred their dead, Garth resumed his line of advance through the field to Sound Hill, and on its summit placed a field-gun. Here he remained inae- tive about an hour, then filed his men into Cedar Street, thence down the hill by the old malt-house to Main Street, though some of the eye-witnesses claimed that the enemy passed through Garner Street. Prob- ably both versions are correct, as in all his previous movements Garth divided his foree.

From Main Street to the residence of Thomas Bene-

dict, situated near the intersection of the turnpike road with West Street, the British paid no attention to the assaults of the patriots upon their rear and left flank, so intent were they upon crossing the ford north of the bridge in advance of the volunteers. But at the residence of Deacon Benedict a large number of Garth's men partook freely of the wine and cider placed on the front porch of his house for the patriots who had been on guard all night, as the story goes. The deacon never related the incident without smiling and remarking that a drunken person, bereft of the use of his limbs, was as harmless as a corpse. While the Tories were regaling themselves the volunteers, who had all the morning clung to the rear and flanks of Garth's troops, at double quick crossed the ford north of the present bridge and joined their comrades, who had held their own against Tryon's force for five hours, at the business centre of the town.

Gen. Tryon moved from Cow Pasture to Fitche's Point at three o'clock in the morning. Following the shore, about four o'clock he reached the down town road, where he met the Continental troops and militia, who slowly and in good order retreated to Grunnnon's Hill, thenee to the business part of the town, still pursued by the enemy. Nor were they dislodged until the junetion of Garth's and Tryon's divisions north of the bridge, when the patriots retreated in excellent order to the rocks, where some hasty preparations had been made for the final battle.

At ten o'clock in the forenoon the battle of the rocks on France Street commeneed, lasting till twelve noon, at which hour Tryon ordered his army to re- treat. As it did so it was pursued by the Continen- tals and a portion of the volunteers and town militia, who elung to his rear until he was in sight of the place of disembarkation the previous evening. With the order to retreat came also the order to complete the devastation by fire of the remainder of the dwellings of the people, which order was mercilessly executed. Six houses only were left standing on their line of ad- vance and retreat,-four on the east and two on the west side of the harbor. These were spared through the interposition of women who claimed the protection of the British on account of the loyalty of their husbands to King George. The enemy destroyed all the salt- pans of the people along the shore, and towed to their fleet every whale-boat in the harbor, with the maga- zine and stores gathered in the town for the army. All the whaling and other vessels moored at the doeks or in the river were burned.

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History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 122

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1572

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572