USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 186
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In Peters' "General History of Connecticut," pub- lished in London in 1781, the following reference is made to Stratford: "Stratford lies on the west bank of the Osootonic River, having the sea or Sound on the south. There are three streets running uorth and south, and two east and west. The best is one mile long. On the centre square stands a meeting-house with steeple and bell, and a church with steeple, bell, clock, and organ. It is a beautiful place, and from the water has an appearance not inferior to Canter- bury. The people are said to be the most polite of any in the colony."
OLDEN TIME ACCOUNTS, ETC.
The following extracts from an account-book kept by John Blackleach, of Stratford, "begun March 23, 1756," give a glimpse of olden time prices for various commodities and rates of labor :
757
STRATFORD.
October 10, 1756.
Capt. Adams, Dr.
8. d.
to a Horso to Woodbury.
0
2
6
Decr. 28.
Boson and team one Day 0 5 0
May.
Hlorso, fishing & Carring fish to market .. 0
1/ Bushel of Seed Corn ..
0
1
market. 0
3 0
Bushel & half Corn.
June.
George ono Day to How.
0
2
G
one Bushel of Indian Corn ........ 0
2 6
Augt. .
two Bushels and half Seed Ric. ..
0
8
0 one Bushel Rie and a Peck 4
2
( yoke of Oxon to Cart Cyder .. (
1
0 Pound Butter at 10d. 10
Pastering Cow about 2 weeks 0
1
5 Pound 10 Ounces Chees 0
Novr., 1769.
1 lb. Butter.
0
0
9
. 0 0 my mare to Geo: Tomsons 0 to Schooling your Children ..... 2
1 pound of Butter 0
0
9
1 Bushel of Corn. (
2
0
this act in Page 52.
1 2 James Wells, Dr.
Whippos Boards Sold to Silas Hubbel. 3 13 0
to Benton Dayton 4 C
-
7 15 0
August ye 5, 1761.
Fith Kimberly, Dr.
Half Bushel Wheet. 0
3 0
Souling a pair of Shoues. 0
2
U
a pair of Shoues for yr Wife By Mr. Deforest ..... 0
0
1
G
two Bushel Ears of Corn. 0
G
Jany. 27, 1762.
Boson and team to Cart a Lood from Npaster 0 10 0
point
10 July.
Six pound of Veal
0 1 3
Aut. 21.
half of a Lam.
0 4 0
Novr. 22.
Cash ..
0 1 C
-
1
11 5
About Angus 25, 1763.
Isaac Ilill, Dr.
to half Bushel wheet. two Pound taler.
0 G
0
1
Beaf Eleven l'onud quarter 0 10
23 Der., '63.
Bushel of Mesling. 0 4 6
7 Jaunary, 1764.
Six Pound Same two ounces of flax 2 11
Cash to Phineas Hill pr order 1
-
-
1 13 9
Isaac Hill, Dr.
Pound Buter, 18d.
Pound Butter
0
0
8
4 pound & 2 ounces of fat .. 0
1765.
ono Pair Shones
0
0
1 Bushel of Corn
0
6
10
2 Bushel of Corn in the Eurs 0
0
G
to a man and yoke of oxon one Day ..
0
3
0
to man and Team one Day.
0
G
0
to Boson one Day
0
2
0
to Bushel of Corn.
0
2
to Boson and Team part of a Day.
0
1
to Carting a Lood of Wood.
0
0
G
to a peck of Corn
0
0
9
to a pound of Butter.
0
0
8
to Carting wood part of a Day
0
4
0
to Eleven pound of Cheese.
4
G
to a pound of Butter
D
0
X
to a Day and Half.
0
0
to Carting a Lood of wood.
0
0
to Carting a Lood of wood.
0
G
to pastering yr Horse 2 weeks. 0
2
0
to Half pound of Butter. 0
0
4
to Eigliten pound and half Beaf. 0
4
7
20 July, 1761.
Joseph Smith, Dr.
half Busel of Corn. .. Carting a Lood of Ilay ..
0
1
0
0
I
G
two Bushel of oats. 2 0
0
half Bushel of Corn
0
1
3
half a Bushel of Corn ..
0
1
3
Six ounces of flax 0
0
3
Ten ounees of flax 0
0
4
Bushel of Rie
0
2
Bushel of Rie.
0
2
G
Making a Shirt 0
3
G
July 14, 1758.
paster yr Colt 2 Weks .... 0
1
4
two Bushel of Corn in Ears.
0
G
one Bushel of Con in Ears.
0
1
3
Niting one pair of Stockings. 0
3
0
Carting a Lood to the fere.
0
5
0
0 IO
pound of flax
0
0
6
my Self and Team part of a Day
0
2
G
making a Shir.
0
3
Lood of Hay ...
0 14
0
0
2
0
1
3
halt Bushel of Corn
0
1
3
7 Bushel of Turnnps
0
7
0
4 pound and quarter of tow
0
1
0
7 pound and ten ounces of Beaf. 0 1
pound and quarter of Sewit 0
two pigs
0 14
0
the youse of a Small pen.
0
3
0
14 0 a Lood of hay. 0
Decr. 10, 1761.
Bushel of Corn
0
3 0
January 2, 1762.
Boson and Team one Day .... 0
6 0
fourteen pound of flax which you Had in 1761
Charged in 1762. 0 7 0
Augst., 1762.
Bushel of Wheet 0 5 0
Oetr. 26, 1762.
two Barils of Cyder.
part of a Load of Ilay mo'd & by himself.
10 Day of August, 1767. Mr. Seth Cruiu, Dr.
to 3 Peks of Indian Corn 0 0 10 Horse to Cary a Grist to Darby Mill 0 1
a Horse to IIubbel Pullings .... 0 0
0
1
0)
0 2 to a Horse to New Haven. 2
to one pair of oxon one Day 1 0
to Two Ilands and Team one Day.
0
8
0
to a Horse to Fairfield ..
2
0
to Cash Six Shillings paid By Skidmur 0
G
0
to Ilalf Bushel of Bairley Molt.
0
1
to one Bushel of Ears of Corn
0
1
0
to one Bushel of Corn
0
2
0
to Boson to Kill two Hoggs 0 0
X
to a Bushel and half of Turnups 0 1
0
3
0
to making one more. 0
3
0
to making two Shirts 0
8
0
1758.
to two Bushel of Barley Molt. 0
2
5
0
to Carting two Lood of Wood ..
to Carting part of a Day .....
0
2
0
2
0
16 Deer.
s. d. 3
Boson and team 0 2 6
3
6 to my Horse, a fishing and to Cary the Fish to
3
to making a Shirt for Elijah.
July. -
0
S
9 10 pound of pork .... 2
1
e
e
0
Cashı ...
6
a Small Chees weighd 2 pound and half ..
7 pound and Six ounces of Chees. Bushel of Ears of Corn ...
Contra By Barils 1
0
to Soul Leather for a pair of Shose
758
HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.
20 Augt., 1765.
Mr. Ogdin Mallary, Dr.
€
8.
d.
2 Load lay.
1
10 0
1 qt. Rum at 2s. 6d
0
2
G
to my Hors to Dover
0
6
5
to my Hors two Day
0
2
0
to my team to Cart hay
0
4
6
Isshmil hal Day
0
3
0
6 Days 16
0
19
9
712 Days one yoke oxon.
0
Bushel of wheat Caried home
not Reckend
2 Bushels and half Sowd.
12 Pound 2 ounces of Neck Beaf.
0
1 10
4 Pound Beaf ..
0 0 10
1 Bushel wheat.
0 4 6
CERTIFICATE AND EMANCIPATION.
"This may certify that on the day of the Date of this Certificate before ns the Subscribers, two of the Justices of the peace in Stratford, in the County of Fairfield, personally appeared Thaddeus Benedict, Esqr., of said Stratford, and made known to ns that he was the lawful owner and possessor of a certain Negro man named Cato James, and that he was desirous to emancipate said Cato agreeably to the Statute law in that case made and provided; whereupon we ealled said Cato, and an actual examination and enquiry found him to be in good health and desirous of being made frce, and that he was over the age of twenty-five and under the age of Forty-five.
"Certified by us this 28th day of September, 1799, at Stratford afore- said.
" ABIJAH STERLING,
" ABIJAH MCEWEN, "Justices of Peace."
" Know all men by these Presents that I, Thad. Benedict, of Stratford, in Fairfield County, in consideration of the above Certificate and other and divers good canses and considerations me therennto moving, do hereby for myself, my heirs, Executors, and administrators, forever emancipate and make free the above-described Slave named Cato James, and him do set at Liberty.
" Witucss my hand & Seal the 28th day of Septembr, 1799. "THAD. BENEDICT.
" Witnesses :
" ABIJANI STERLING.
" ABIJAH MCEWEN."
"FAIRFIELD COUNTY, 88 .:
"On the Day and Date within written Personally appeared Thad. Benedict, Esqr., and acknowledged the within emancipation to be his free act and Deed before me.
" ABIJAH STERLING, " Just. Peace."
FISHING-PLACE.
"Know all Men By these Presace that we, Silas Hubbill, Phineas Blackinan, James Lillingston, and Sam1. Curtis Southworth, all of Strat- ford, Did on the Second Day of June, 1790, go and Clear a fishing place in the Main Chanil on the Easterly flat, then Runing the pint of Com- pass, Bringing the Old field Rocks So Called to Bar West Northwest, thence Runing East, till it Brings quimbers Neck pint in a South Line."
Oyster-planting was commenced in this town in 1844, and has been followed somewhat extensively since. The cultivation of clams is of more recent date.
Wm. A. Lewis's oyster-bed is situated on Sca View Avenue, West Stratford, fronting Bridgeport harbor and Long Island Sound. His beds extend a mile or more easterly from his residence inside the beach, and what is known as Marsh Creck. Also a bed of oysters and clams in front of his residence, and also a bed of oysters in the harbor. It is claimed that the oysters and clams grown in this vicinity are unsurpassed.
INCIDENT OF THE WAR OF 1812.
"The only military engagement which ever took place within town limits occurred in the war of 1812. There had been for some time rumors that the British were preparing to devastate the coasts of Connecticut, and when one of the enemy's men-of-war anchored off Stratford lighthouse, a thrill of terror ran through the entire town. The authorities met, and it was decided to take instant measures for safety, to post a militia guard near the point, which should keep watch for the invaders, detect their manœuvres, and oppose then if they attempted to land. A sergeant and six- teen men were selected for this dangerous task. 'Not a drum was heard' as the armed company, with great caution and secrecy, proceeded to their post, every man sworn to do his duty. The shades of night never descended more heavily than upon this band of de- voted patriots, who felt that not only the destinies of Stratford depended upon their bravery, but the fate of their wives and children as well. The night was black, a driving wind tore the clouds overhead, and the breakers roared against the light-house rocks. Strange sounds were heard, whichi awoke the direst consternation among the watchers. Unaccountable gleams were seen overhead. Inspired by a belief that the enemy might be at hand, the sergeant val- iantly crept along the sands, climbed a low slope, stretched himself flat on the ground, and waited. For a time all was still: then all at once he saw clearly that something moved. It moved again, and yet again ! There could be no doubt but what the British were upon them. 'Scutter, men ! SCATTER !' he cried frantically at the top of his voice, and his men, faithful to the least word of their commander, scattered. As daylight gradually made the situation visible, the valiant warriors crawled out of their vari- ous hiding-places and looked each other in the face. The British man-of war was nowhere to be secn ; all that remained to show what the dangers of their midnight encounter had been were the three mullein- stalks which the sergeant had seen waving in the wind. The comrades swore a sacred oath, and de- clared they would keep it with an equal mind, that the story of the night's adventure should never be told; and with that veil drawn over the secret the conquering heroes returned home to their breakfasts. Two hours afterwards, as the sergeant was chopping wood in his door-yard, one of his neighbors who had not served on military duty, looked over the fence and said, with a grim smile, 'Scatter, men! Scatter!' The story was too good to keep."-Mrs. Kirk.
TIIE STRATFORD POST-OFFICE.
It is evident that rotation in office-at least, so far as postmaster was concerned-was not a fundamental principle underlying the government of Stratford, for David Brooks officiated in that capacity half a cen- tury !
" If I could but summon up the old postmaster,
.
2 yoke of oxon two Days.
0
759
STRATFORD.
David Brooks," says Mrs. Kirk, "as a witness of the good feeling that kept him in office half a century, seeure in the affection of friend and adversary, we should see that Presidential elections might be robbed of half their terrors. Is there anywhere now in the land such a post-office as he kept in a little store, where the sunniest and pleasantest corner was pro- vided with cushioned seats for the comfort of the venerable men who 'mnost did congregate' to meet the arriving post-bag? This generation knows nothing of the pleasurable excitement of having a mail come in. There are nimble fingers and miraculous methods nowadays, and papers and letters are whisked into boxes which show one at a glance what is in store. No such convenient and undignified proceedings were possible when Mr. Brooks was in power. From the moment his trembling old hands grasped the bag and slowly inserted the key until a litter of letters and papers from East and West and North and South was spread on the counter before him, he gradually swelled with importance and solemnity. His was no careless guardianship : marvelous precautions would he take lest the letters should get into wrong hands when they left his own; in fact, from the fierceness of his look and attitude, one might have supposed that he re- garded the claimant of a letter as an intruder on his own rights. Gathering the packets into his hand and expanding his lungs to their fullest, he would begin (often interrupting himself by truculent observations on bad ink and bad writing) to read off the names, peering at each superscription through his heavy- bowed spectacles, holding the missive first at arm's length, then directly under his nose. The happy recipient, on hearing his name called, would shout ' Here!' when the old postmaster, after indignantly surveying the aspirant from head to foot, evidently longing to pronounce him an impostor, would make a reluctant surrender."
CHAPTER LXXVI. STRATFORD (Continued).
WITCHCRAFT AND KNOCKINGS-ROMANCE AND TRADITION.
Connecticut Witchcraft-Goodwife Basset, of Stratford-Her Trial- Iler Execution-The Stratford Knockings-The Stirling-Folsome Mar- riage-The Blue Laws.
STRATFORD WITCHCRAFT.
THE following account of the execution of the first person for witcheraft in New England, and also of " Goodwife Basset" of this town, are extracts from a manuscript article by Maj. William B. Hineks, of Bridgeport, on Connecticut witchcraft :
"The charge so often brought against Massachusetts in debate upon the floor of Congress and elsewhere, of being the only State that persecuted the Quakers
and put to death unfortunate persons charged with witchcraft, is only partially borne out by facts; Con- neetient coming in for her share of responsibility in regard to the latter class. It must also be said for Massachusetts that if guilty of the blood of the vic- tims of her witchcraft excitement, she has in part at least expiated the crime by building their sepulchres; and their tragic history has been so often and so graphically related by her historians and poets that there are few persons indeed who have never heard of the fortitude of Giles Corey or the heroism of Re- becca Nourse and her fellow-sufferers. The case has been otherwise with Connecticut. Although in the early days of the colony twelve or more persons ac- cused of witchcraft were tried for their lives, five of whom suffered capital punishment, the names of the victims have barely escaped oblivion; no historian has moralized over their fate, and the facts relating to them are almost unknown, except to the few whose antiquarian tastes have led them to make a careful study of the early history of the Commonwealth.
" Respecting the first victim, a maid-servant named Mary Johnson, who lived at Windsor or Wethers- field, but few particulars can now be obtained, and her case is of special interest only from the fact that her execution, which took place in the early part of the year 1649, was the first instance in which human life was sacrificed for alleged practice of witcheraft in New England.
" Upon her trial she confessed her guilt and owned that she had long been attended by a familiar spirit who helped her about her household duties, but at lengthi prompted her to commit atrocious erimes, among them child-murder. It is not stated whether she carried out these suggestions, but it would not be strange if the crime for which she suffered death was really infanticide instead of intercourse with the in- visible world. In her confession, which is preserved by Mather, she says that her first acquaintance with the Evil One came throughi 'discontent with her sit- uation' (a state of mind not uncommon among lier elass at the present day, but not always, it is to be hoped, productive of such tragical consequences) and a habit she had of carelessly 'wishing the devil to take this and that,' which ended in his taking pos- session of her. While in prison her demeanor was exemplary. She seemed penitent under the ministra- tions of Rev. Samuel Stone, then minister of the church in Hartford, and when finally led forth to the gallows, we are informed that 'she dy'd in a frame extreamly to the satisfaction of them that were spec- tafors of it.'
"Two years later, in May, 1651, occurred the trial of Goodwife Basset, of Stratford. Reference is made to the proceedings in the case of this woman, whose pre- vious history it is now impossible to ascertain, in the colonial records of both Connecticut and New Haven, and from the former it seems clear that her trial was condueted before Governor Haynes and several other
ar al
e
e
P
.
S
1
760
HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.
magistrates, who came down from Hartford for the purpose. In the latter a confession made by the ac- cused is spoken of. An ancient and apparently trust- worthy tradition places the site of the gibbet on which she was hung at the first crossing south of the present railroad depot, in Stratford, and it is believed that that great thoroughfare of commerce, the New York and New Haven Railroad, crosses her grave.
"The tradition further states that while on the way to the gallows her fortitude gave way, and bursting from the procession in which, according to the custom of the time, were magistrates, ministers, and all the dignitaries of the neighborhood, the unfortunate woman threw herself upon a rock by the roadside, clutching it so desperately, that when at length forcibly detached, bloody marks, like finger-prints, were seen upon it. A large quartz stone, streaked upon its face with hornblende, was long shown in Stratford in sup- port of this story, but has lately ceased to be one of the marvels of that quiet village, having been broken up and its fragments built into a cellar wall."
THE "STRATFORD KNOCKINGS."
The following sketch of what is known as the Strat- ford Knockings, which begun in 1850, is from the pen of Mrs. Ellen Olney Kirk :
"One is tempted to believe that the spirit of Goody Basset, hanged in 1651 for divers witchlike arts, was never fairly laid, and now, after an unquiet term of one hundred and ninety-nine years, returned to walk the earth. Or it may be that the dust of those early settlers, over whose graves the lofty trees of Elm Street were planted and now extend their leafy aisles, rose for a sort of earthly judgment-day and took pos- session of the nearest habitation. Evil-minded or angry spirits they must have been who ransacked, pounded, knocked, and almost overturned the quiet, decorous house known in later years as the Stratford Institute. During the early period of this unearthly possession the entire village was convulsed with ex- citement and lost its character for sobriety ; crowds poured hither by every train; editors, reporters, Spiritualists, skeptics explored, watched, investigated and interrogated, and gave an unwelcome publicity to the scandalous details. The single village hack- man throve amidst the universal decline and fall of Stratford : so many were the visitors that he was obliged to set up a huge yellow omnibus, which tra- versed the streets night and day with a sign in huge capitals which made the village disgrace only too legible : 'Mysterious Stratford Knockings.'
"The 'knockings' began in the house of Dr. A. Phelps, who had resided in the place, with his wife and children, for two or three years. The day was Sunday. When Dr. Phelps' family returned from church they found their door hung with crape, and on entering the house saw signs of strange disturb- ance during their absence, while in one of the rooms was discovered a figure laid out and shrouded for the
grave. From this moment the house was taken pos- session of by the 'spirits' or some other unseen agencies, that continued to run riot for the ensuing eight months or more. Every trick, device, horror, absurdity, impertinence ever pressed into the service of ghost, hobgoblin, witch, or modern 'spirit' was now turned against the peace and respectability of this unfortunate family. There were rappings-not merely rappings, but thumpings, and thumpings, too, as if a giant's strength were behind them; there were mar- velous noises, with reverberations like thunder up and down the staircases and along the halls; there were apparitions, strange figures in strange places : there were messages from the unseen land of the spirits, not only spelled out in hard knocks and vibra- tions on headboards of beds, on ceilings, doors, and floors, but written out fairly on slips of paper, which floated down from the invisible like the leaves of the Cumaan Sibyl : the very vegetables from the cellar on being pared and sliced were found to be written over with indelible characters. There were appar- ently whole legions of spirits hard at work, as if all the tormented souls from one of Dante's lowest circles had been delivered from their pain to communicate certain tidings to all who entered Dr. Phelps' house, then, finding no interpreter, grew angry and waged war upon the unbelievers who rejected them. Their ammunition showed a dearth of all suitable spiritual artillery : flat-irons, large junk ink-bottles, scuttles of coals, pokers, bricks, and even toilet-brushes, were the weapons made use of; scissors too, since one of the daily performances was cutting into ribbons the clothes of the son and heir of the house.
"These things may seem incredible, but they were not done in a corner, and the eyes of all men were turned to see what would be the end of it. The unhappy master of the house courted investigation, and for four months everything was investigated and the most widely-differing conclusions were reached. Elm Street-haughty, exclusive, aristocratic Elm Street-echoed to the tread of hundreds who came to find some clew to the strange 'Stratford knockings.' First of all was Parson Weed, startled out of his study-chair by the tidings of these doings of the Evil One in the very midst of the faithful, still wearing his gown and slippers, his luminous eyes bent on space as he strode indignantly forward, eager to encounter and vanquish the adversary. Other di- vines followed him, but all the light of their ortho- doxy could not illuminate the darkness of these manifestations. Some of those who came to suggest an easy remedy for cheap and obvious impostures remained mute, deciding that there might be things in heaven and earth not reached by their little foot- measure of philosophy. Strange things were enacted before clear-sighted and reasonable men, two of whom, sitting alone in a room with two doors,-one opening into the hall and the other into a clothes- press,-heard knockings on the inside of the closet-
761
STRATFORD.
door, which on opening they found to proceed from vacaney : as soon as the door was again closed the knockings proceeded, not only with a loud noise, but so vigorously that the very panels shook under their eyes. Sitting before the fire, they beheld the orna- ments on the mantel-piece spring from their places to alight unbroken on the floor; bricks started out of thin air and were hurled across the room; pokers jumped up of their own accord and went crashing through the windows; on lifting a lighted candle they saw the flame expand to four times its usual circumference, circle round the wick, then shrink and hang blue and tremulous above, and finally resume its feeble flicker. These sights, and a thousand others as unusual, are related by the most credible witnesses among outsiders. The family themselves were com- pelled to endure personal demonstrations of ghosts or hobgoblins, who when clasped in the arms of flesh and blood vanished, leaving nothing behind save sheets from the domestic linen-chest.
"Life in Stratford was not an amusement to the worthy Dr. Phelps. Surrounded apparently by a band of hostile forces which threatened flesh and blood, haunted, waylaid, and pursued by spectres, girt about by a sea of mystery which separated him from his fellow-creatures, and, worse than all, forced to have his misfortunes become a show, a coarse stimulus for sensationalists, he saw no resource but to flee from his troubles, and he accordingly left the place. The spirits went with him, or back to their forgotten God's Acre, or into the witch's unmarked burial-place. There are those who still shake their heads over the Stratford knockings, maintaining that they were never in any degree explained, while others find them as easy of solution as the jokes in a last year's almanac."
THE STIRLING-FOLSOME MARRIAGE.
The romance of the Stirling-Folsome marriage, or low Sir John Stirling wooed and won pretty Abby Folsome, the blacksmith's daughter, is so well cor- roborated by history in some of its details that many antiquarians are disposed to accept the whole of it.
Briefly it is as follows : During the Revolution, Gen. Silliman was captured by the British, and in retalia- tion an expedition was planned from Stratford, with John Folsome, the blacksmith, as leader, for the cap- ture of Judge Jones, a royalist, living on Long Island. The expedition was successful, and Judge Jones was brought to Stratford, and while here mnet pretty Abby Folsome, whose beauty made such an impression upon him that at a dinner subsequently given him in New York in honor of his return he proposed the " health of the fairest American rebel," meaning Miss Abby Folsome.
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