History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 18

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 18

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"witness my hand & seal this first day of Aprel 1701. The valuable consideration above was thirty two ponuds In pay. Seall. " RICHARD BLACKLACH

This deed was witnessed by Samuel Hubbell aud John Edwards and acknowledged before Justice James Bennett, and was put on record May 15, 1710.

About the year 1760, the Golden Hill Indians having become much reduced in uumbers by death and by removal, the neighboring white proprietors began to encroach upon their reservation and to tear down the unoccupied wigwants. Three of the Indi- aus, named respectively John, Eunice, and Sarah Shoran or Sherman, petitioued the Legislature for redress, The matter was investigated, and became the subject of litigation, which resulted, in 1765, in an order for the parties who had encroached upon the Indians to vacate the premises and restore the land they had unlawfully occupied. A compromise was, however, finally effected, by which the Indians gave up all right and title to their Golden Hill prop-

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

erty, receiving in exchange twelve acres of land on the west bank of the Pequonnock River, eight acres of woodland on Rocky Hill, thirty bushels of corn, and three pounds' worth of blankets. The tract upon the river to which they removed was after- wards known as the "Indian Lot," and was upon the eastern side of Main Street, not far from the junction of Washington Avenue. Within the recollection of men now living an Indian wigwam stood upon this lot. A clear spring of water in the same vicinity was also known as the "Indian Spring." The Rocky Hill tract was north of the present reservoir.

In the manuscript records of the proceedings of the General Assemby at Hartford arc a preamble and resolution showing, like the incident just mentioned, that, however unjustly the Indians may have been treated by unworthy individuals among the whites, the Legislature of Connecticut was ready to redress their wrongs. Following is the text of the preamble and act referred to:

"Upon complaint of Aaron Hawley, of Hartford, relative to certain abuses and injuries donc to Tom and Eunice and other Indians of Golden Hill, in said Stratford, a committee were appointed by the Assembly to examine into the subject-matter of said complaint and report make; which said committee having reported to this Assembly,

" Resolved by this Assembly, That the accounts of Daniel Morris, of said Stratford, late guardian of said Indians, have been overcharged, as exhibited annually to the judge of Probate, and that the credits for the use of their land fall much short of their real value; and for a full settlement of all affairs of said Indians, said guardian, Daniel Morris, do pay and satisfy to said Indians the sum of £36 15s. lawful money and the costs of the suit, and that execution issue accordingly.

"Costs taxed and allowed at £25 68. 33d.

"Executiou granted Oct. 31, 1783."

The successors of Daniel Morris as guardians of the Golden Hill Indians have all been men of high stand- ing in the community, who have taken an interest in their welfare and carefully managed their affairs. The record does not show the date of their appoint- ment, but their names, beginning with the century and coming down to the present time, are as follows : Josiah Lacey, Elijah Burritt, Smith Tweedy, Daniel O. Wheeler, Dwight Morris, Russell Tomlinson.

In 1802 the General Assembly in session at New Haven, upon petition of Thomas Sherman, Eunice Sherman, and others, called Golden Hill Indians, setting forth that their land was yielding but little income, directed their agent, Josiah Lacey, to sell both of the above-named tracts at public auction or otherwise, which was accordingly done, and the pro- ceeds invested for their support.

In 1841, Ruby Mansfield and Nancy Sharp, alias Nancy Pease, petitioned the Legislature, alleging that they were the sole survivors of the tribe, and

asking that a portion of the money in care of their agent, Smith Tweedy, be used to purchase a dwelling-house and sufficient land for their use and benefit. The Legislature by vote authorized Mr. Tweedy, with the advice and consent of the judge of Probate for the District of Bridgeport, to expend a sum not exceeding six hundred dollars for this object, and in November he purchased from Samuel Ed- wards about twenty acres of land, with a small house upon it, situated in Trumbull, at a place called Turkey Hill Meadow, where Ruby and Nancy took up their abode. Their statement, however, that they were the sole survivors of the tribe was not strictly accurate.

John Chops, who died in North Bridgeport in 1818, and whose name is perpetuated by the appellation of a hill upon which his wigwam stood, and William Sharp, a seafaring man, who is believed to have been sold into slavery at a South American port by his ras- cally captain, probably left no issue, but at the present writing (1880) there are still several families of these Indians remaining. William Sherman, the most in- telligent of their number, lives in the town of Trum- bull. He has for many years been in the employ of the Ambler family, by whom he is held in very high esteem for his many good qualities. His wife is a negro woman, and they have three or four children. Henry Pease, a nephew of William Sherman, is also a resident of Trumbull; he lost his hand a year or two since by the accidental discharge of a gun. There is also a family named Jackson, whose home is in North Stratford. So far as known to the writer, these are all the survivors of the Golden Hill branch of the once numerous Paugusset tribe.

At the present time their funds amount to about two thousand dollars, divided as follows :

Amount paid over to town of Trumbull for support of Henry Pease, per Act of Legislature ... $900 Lent William Sherman to build a house 800

Balance in City Savings Bank, Bridgeport 321

Total $2021

CHAPTER VIII.

BRIDGEPORT (Continued).

PEQUONNOCK OR STRATFIELD, FROM THE FIRST SETTLE- MENT BY THE WHITES TO THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

Names and Boundaries of the Plantation-Petitions for School and Church Privileges-The first Meeting-House built, in 1693-Sketches of Rev. Charles Chauncey and Rev. Samuel Cooke-Items from Inven- tory of Samnel Hubbell's Estate in 1714-Quaint and Curious Extracts from the Parish Records-Erection of the second Church edifice, in 1717-Educational Matters-School Districts formed-The Epis- copal Church in Stratfield-Sketches of the early Missionaries, Messrs. Caner, Lamson, and Sayre-St. John's Church built in 1748-Religious Toleration in Connecticut-Stratfield Baptist Church organized in 1751-Extracts from the church records.

FAIRFIELD and Stratford, as related elsewhere in this volume, were settled by the English in 1639.

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BRIDGEPORT.

Dr. Trumbull, in his "History of Connecticut," says that another settlement was begun the same year at Pequonnock, in the western part of Stratford, near the boundary between the two plantations, and in this statement several passages in the colonial records would at first view seem to sustain him. Yet, upon further consideration, the question arises whether the word "Pequonnock" in these passages is not loosely used as another name for Cupheag, or Stratford, and whether a number of years did not actually elapse before the fertile plains near the dividing-line between Fairfield and Stratford tempted a few families to loeate upon them. Certainly it would be very strange if the first planters within our limits really waited for nearly forty years before setting up a sehool of their own, and for a much longer period before establishing publie worship, considering the importanee which we know that they attached to these institutions; yet this must have been the case if a settlement was begun here in 1639.

About the year 1653 a grist-mill is believed to have been built at the foot of what is now called Moody's Pond, near Mountain Grove Cemetery. Either Henry Jackson, of Fairfield, who had just sold the mill erected by him in 1648, or his son, Moses Jackson, was the builder.

In 1670 the land for some three-quarters of a mile west of the street now ealled Park Avenue was owned by ten families, who perhaps have as good a claim as any to be considered the original settlers.

Following is a list of their names, No. 1 being the one whose property was the farthest east, No. 2 coming next, and so on :

1, THE WIDOW WHEELER.

2, GOODMAN HALL.

3, JOSEPH WHELPLEY.

4, JOHN ODELL.

5, SAMUEL TREADWELL.

6, ISAAC WHEELER.

7, JAMES BENNETT.

8. MATTHEW SHERWOOD.

9, RICHARD HUBBELL.

10, HENRY JACKSON.

These people were the proprietors of " long lots,"- narrow strips of woodland only a few rods in width, but extending back into the forest for some six or eight miles. Even the front line or southern ex- tremity of these lots we should now consider a long way back into the country, as it was about as far north as the present Stratfield Baptist Church. Where the houses of the owners stood cannot now be certainly determined, except in two or three instances. Most of them probably had their homes much farther south- ward than the locality mentioned, and perhaps some of them, though owning land here, never lived in Pe- quonnoek at all.

The word "Pequonnoek"-the name applied to the territory near where Park and North Avennes now intersect-is of Indian origin; it signifies "place of slaughter" or "place of destruction," and was perhaps given to the locality on account of some long-forgot- ten tragedy occurring among the aborigines. It still survives in the name of a street, in the title of one of our banks, and in that of the river upon which the city is built. In a petition dated May, 1694, the

inhabitants asked that, as the place was upon the boundary-line of the towns of Fairfield and Stratford, belonging partly to each, the Indian name Pequon- nock might be changed to Fairford,-a word whose composition is at a glance apparent. The General Court preferred that it should be called Fairfield Vil- lage, and so ordered; but in the following year the people changed this appellation to Stratfield, though the change was not legalized until 1701. The foliow- ing order was passed by the Assembly at the May session in that year :

" This Assembly, having heard and considered the petition of the in- habitants of Fairfield village, presented to them by Lieut James Bennett desiring that the Court would state and settle for them a line for the west boundaryo to their plantation, &c., doe order and enact: That the line to be the west boundarye of the said plantation shall run so as that it may take in and include within their bonnds, one Moses Jackson, mnil- ler, his housings and lands and run on the west side of old Jackson's lotts (vizt), pasture, building lott, and long lott, npwards or north- wards to the upward or northern end of the bounds of the town of Fairfield, and that all such person or persons as have built or that shall build and inhabit on the east side of the abovesaid line, and on the west side of Poquanock River, shall pay to all publick charges that shall arise in the said plantation his rateable part thereof.

"Provided alwayes: That this act shall in no wise hinder or abridge the inhabitants of the said plantation of using and holding the privi- ledge of feeding sheep to the westward of the abovesaid line, as it was granted to them formerly by the inhabitants of the town of Fairfield.

" And further it is enacted by the authoritye aforesaid : That the said plantation (formerly called Poqnannock and Fairfield village) shall for tho future be called by the name of Stratfield."

These limits were afterwards enlarged by an act passed by the General Assembly at New Haven in October, 1752.

The code of laws drawn up for Connecticut Colony by Roger Ludlow, the first settler of Fairfield, and deputy-governor of the colony, which was adopted by the General Court in the year 1650, contains this passage :

" It being one chief project of that old deluder Sathan, to keepe men from the knowledg of the Scriptures, as in former times keeping them in an unknown tongue, so in these latter times by persuading them from the vse ot Tongnes, so that at least the true sence and meaning of the originall might bee clouded with false glosses of saint seeming deceivers; and that Learning may not beo buried in the Grave of or Forefathers in Church and Commonwealth, the Lord assisting onr indeavors. It is therefore ordered that every Towneship within this Jurisdiction after the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty honscholders, shall then forthwith appoint one within theire Towne to teach all such chil- dren as shall resort to him, to write and read, whose wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters of such children, or by the inhabitants in generall. . . And it is further ordered, that where any Towne shall increase to the number of one hundred families or honshollers they shall set up a Grammar Schoole, the masters thereof being able to in- struct youths so farr as they may be fitted for the Vniversity."

There is abundant evidence to show that this law was not suffered to remain a dead letter upon the statute-book, and that the projects of the "old de- luder" met with considerable opposition.

As early as 1650 it was voted by the inhabitants of Stratford in publie meeting to pay the schoolmaster thirty-six pounds per annum,-a large sum consider- ing the small size of the place and the greater relative value of money at that day,-the town to bear one- half the expense, and the parents of the children the balance.

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

So, also, the oldest document signed by the inhabi- tants of the plantation of Stratfield, as such, that I have been able to find, is a petition for a school, ad- dressed to the General Court, dated May, 1678, and subscribed by Isaac Wheeler, John Odell, Sr., and Matthew Sherwood, in behalf of the people of the place. The distance of nearly four miles that sepa- rates them from Fairfield Centre is too great, they say, to be casily traversed by the children, especially the younger oncs, and therefore they had set up a school of their own and employed an experienced teacher. Forty - seven children were already in attendance. The expense of the school they propose to bear them- selves, but ask to be freed from taxation for the bene- fit of the one in Fairfield. Rev. Samuel Wakeman, minister at Fairfield, added a favorable indorsement to the petition, though most of his parishioners were opposed to granting it. The General Court referred the matter to the Fairfield County Court, with power to act, and recommended that body to make an allow- ance to the petitioners from the county revenues equal to or greater than their annual school-tax.

Ten years after the commencement of this school a young graduate of Harvard College, Charles Chaun- cey by name, son of Rev. Israel Chauncey, of Strat- ford, began to hold religious meetings in Pequonnock. These meetings were begun in the year 1688, as shown by a receipt or acquittance bearing Mr. Chauncey's signature, which may be seen upon the parish rec- ord-book, and they must have been held either in the school-house or in private dwellings, for no church had then been built. Though but twenty years of age, the preaching of the young divinity-student found favor, and in May, 1690, forty-six persons, the greater part of them residents of Pequonnock, peti- tioned the General Court to free them from paying taxes for the support of pulpit and school in Fairfield or in Stratford, as they purposed to maintain their own. Their petition, although acquiesced in by Strat- ford, was opposed by Fairfield, and the Court did not grant it.

Further petitioning followed, met by continued opposition on the part of Fairfield, whose representa- tives submitted a remonstrance containing twenty- four rather ill-natured "reasons why those of pequon- nock should not be discharged from paying anny of our town dews," but in the spring of 1694 liberty was finally obtained to embody as a separate parish. A formal call was immediately extended to Mr. Chaun- cey and accepted by him, and an annual salary of sixty pounds, payable in provisions at market rates, was voted him "for his encouragement in the work of the ministry."

The first mecting-house was a small building erected and roofed in, as we learn from one of the petitions to the General Court, in the summer of 1693. It stood upon a hill on the west side of Park Avenue, just south of Clark Street,-a site commanding a fine view in every direction and not easily surprised

by the Indians. The worshipers carried arms and were summoned to their devotions by a drummer,- a practice common in the colony, and alluded to in the following lines :

" New England's Sabbath-day Is heaven-like, still, and pure ; Then Israel walks the way Up to the temple door. The time we tell When there to come, By beat of drum Or sounding shell."

The church was formally organized and Mr. Chaun- cey was ordained, June 13, 1695. This is the same body which is now known as the First Congregational or North Church of Bridgeport. Upon the early records, however, it is not designated by any denomi- national title, but simply as "The Church of Christ in Stratfield." The original members were nine in num- ber, all males,-viz., Richard Hubbell, Sr., Isaac Wheeler, Sr., James Bennett, Sr., Samuel Beardsley, Samuel Gregory, Sr., Matthew Sherman, Richard Hubbell, Jr., David Sherman, John Odell, Jr. Four weeks afterwards fifteen females were admitted to membership by letter,-nine from the church in Fair- field, and six from that in Stratford.

David Sherman was the first deacon. He was a farmer, and his home was on the summit of Toil- some Hill. Besides being gifted in prayer and taking the lead in religious services acceptably in the ab- sence of the pastor, he was a good singer and acted as chorister, as shown by the following vote, passed Feb. 16, 1707-8: "Voted : That Thomas Hawley should second Ensigne Sherman in scting ye psalm in pub- lick." From another vote, passed in 1755, it appears that the collection of psalmody in use down to that time was the old "New England" or "Bay Psalm Book," copies of which are now very rare and com- mand an enormous pricc. There is no mention in the records of the practice of lining out the psalm ; but, as it was usual throughout New England, it may have prevailed here. The custom had its origin in the scarcity of books. Originally but one line was given out at a time for the congregation to sing, but it was found that coming to a full stop at the end of each line did not always improve the sense; as, for instance, in the following couplet :

" The Lord will come; and he will not Keep silence, but speak out."

Hence the practice of reading two lines at a time was introduced, and continued down to about the period of the Revolution.

Charles Chauncey, son of Rev. Isracl, of Stratford, and grandson of President Chauncey, of Harvard College, was born at Stratford, Sept. 3, 1668; was graduated at Harvard in 1686, and commenced his labors in Pequonnock, as already mentioned, in 1688. March 18, 1689-90, he was made a freeman at Fair- field. He married, June 29, 1692, Sarah, daughter of

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Col. John Burr, of Pequonuock, and in December of the same year the town of Fairfield granted him three aeres of land, on the north side of his home lot, to descend to his heirs "if he dy in the ministry at Po- quannoek," but otherwise to revert to the town. The faets respecting his ordination have already been given. Mr. Chauneey's homcstcad was upon the street afterwards called Cooke's Lane and Grove Street, not very far from the present terminus of the horse- railroad in Fairfield Avenue. His first wife died in 1697. His second wife, Sarah, daughter of Henry Wolcott, and sister of Roger Wolcott, Governor of Conneetieut, died Jan. 5, 1703-4, and on March 14, 1710, he married Elizabeth Sherwood, who outlived him. Mr. Chauncey died Dec. 31, 1714, "aged 48 years," says his tombstone, which may still be seen near the southwest corner of the old Stratfield bury- ing-ground. Following is an extract from his will :

" To my wife, Elizabeth, £10 yearly from my estate at Lambeth, Eng- land ; which estate came to me from my father, Israel. To my son Israel the balance of the estate at Lambeth, lie paying the said £10. To my son John the homestead at Stratford. To my sons Robert and Ichabod Wolcott all my estate in Stratfield, slaves, etc. To my daughter Abiah, now wife of Rev. Timothy Cutler, of Stratford, successor of Israel my father, £40."

The number of children baptized by Mr. Chauncey in his own parish from June, 1695, until his death, in December, 1714, was four hundred and forty-four. During the same time ninety-seven adults were ad- mitted to full communion, besides many others re- ceived under "the half-way eovenant." No register of deaths appears upon the church records, and the list of marriages is incomplete. Commodore Isaac Chauncey, born at Black Rock in 1772, a distin- guished naval commander in the war of 1812, was his great-grandson.

One of Mr. Chauncey's parishioners was Samuel Hubbell, the reeorder, who died in 1714, leaving a large estate. The inventory of his effects upon the Fairfield Probate records is a voluminous doeu- ment, well worth reading, but hardly of sufficient importance to eopy in full here. A few extracts from it, however, will show what articles composed the wearing-apparel, weapons of war, and library of a wealthy man at that day :

Wearing Apparel.

Appraised value. ₺.

1 worsted Caniblet Coat.

1 broad cloth cout.

1 Searge do

1 loose do

1 deffels do

1 Serge vest

1 holland do

1 old serge do

1 flannell do

1 pr leather briches.

1 " Druggit

1 " Striped leather brichcs.

1 " Cherry derry

1 " checkered linen

1 Castor ..

1 old hat

1 gaelick shirt.

£. B. d.

2 paire worsted stockens.

2 homespun do

1 4 shoes.

4 neck cloths. 12

pocket handkerchiefs.

Arms.

1 Buckaneer gun ...

1 gun 8 square barrell ... 3 1

1 gun with a Brass sencer. 10

1 short gun,.

1 Case of pistols and holsters.

1 baggenet and belt ..

1 two edged Rieper [rapier] .. 12

1 broken rieper.

1 old back sword.

70 ths. powder @ 28 7

Shot and bullets

140 Ibs. lead @@ 3144.

0 10

2 bullet pouches

Miscellaneous.

1 looking glass

10 m. 8 pcuny nails (@) 108. per m

19 " 6 " 78. "

6 13

1 Cart and wheels [the only vehicle] ..

16 3

1 Iron lamp.

2 wooden bottels.

1 doz. 16 trenchers

2 bear Casks

Brueing tubb.

Churn

Books.

A great bible.

old psalın book ..

Mr Allen conserning heart work

ditto upon the Covenant.

3 flavels works

Pilgrims progress. 1

the young man's guide .. 8

Mr Williams cupptivity.

A token for children ..

Mr. Mathers works.

Spelling book

John Vernons works.

€

Secretarys guide

boon's military book

life of Mr Henry Gearnig.

Lucancs book

All local affairs were settled in parish meetings, usually held in the school-house at the hour of sun- down. . The legal way of warning meetings was by posting three notices,-one at or near the meeting- house, one at Deacon David Sherman's corner, on Toilsome Hill, and a third upon an old white-oak tree which used to stand upon the boundary-line be- tween Fairfield aud Stratford. The officers appointed at these meetings were seleetmen, sehool committee, shecp-masters, eolleetors, a treasurer, a eonstable, and a reeorder. The seleetmen laid the tax, the eolleetors gathered it, and the treasurer paid it out for the support of pulpit and sehool. The sheep-masters had eharge of the town flock, eoneerning which more presently. The constable's duty, besides "putting forth pursuits or Hue and cries, after thicves, burglarions, profane swearers, and Sabbath-breakers," was " to warn those that frequented taverns and spent their time idly there," and to look after the boys in time of public worship. The recorder, or society's clerk, was one of the most important offieers in the parish. Samuel Hubbell filled the place until his death, in 1714, when he was succeeded by John Burr, who was fol- lowed in 1720 by Deacon Lemuel Sherwood, at whose decease, in 1732, Daniel Hubbell took thic offiee.

1 Sinnniter and belt.

1 brass hilt rieper and belt.

1 T

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ard

5 5328

1 " Serge

s. d.

A preparation for ye Sacrement

3 Candlesticks ..

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

The original record-book, though much dilapidated, is still in existence, and perhaps in no way can so good an idea of life in Stratfield at that early day be ob- tained as by making some extracts from its pages, and, with the exception of a few words of explanation, suffering them to tell their own story :

EXTRACTS FROM PARISH RECORDS.

"The Records of the Accts of fairfeild vilag, Beegun in the yer 1693-4.

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History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 18

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