History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 77

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1532

USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > History of Litchfield county, Connecticut > Part 77

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THE first settlement in Goshen was made in 1720, and in 1722 individuals of Hartford and Windsor came on and laid out the township then called "New Bantam." It was changed to Goshen by an act of the | owned and occupied by the widow and heir of the

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late Isaac Wadhams stands in the central part of the Squires Farm. But at the time of this survey the town had not been laid out by government, and was denominated Western Lands, or New Bantam, the Assembly not regarding at all the laying out of the town by Hartford and Windsor in 1722. But at their session in May, 1731, they enacted that their Western lands should be laid out into five townships, and ap- pointed their committee to perform this business. The report of this committee as it respects this town bears date Oet. 15, 1731, describing the limits of the same, making the south line four miles and one hun- dred and ninety-six rods, the west line nine miles and sixty rods, the north line four miles and eighty-six rods, and the east line eight miles and one hundred and forty-six rods, showing that the south line is ten rods longer than the north line, and the west line two hundred and thirty-four rods longer than the east line. Soon after these towns were laid out the trustees of Yale College applied to the Assembly for a grant of land in aid of this institution, and in 1732 they made a grant of fifteen hundred acres to the trustees, three hundred acres in each of the five towns so re- cently laid out, and in January, 1737, the College Farm-so ealled-in this town was surveyed and its boundaries established. The dwelling-houses of Messrs. Asa, Leverett, and Cephas Ives stand upon this grant, and also the house at the turnpike gate leading to Cornwall. On the 13th of October, 1737, the Assembly enacted that the township called Go- shen should be divided into fifty-three rights, exclu- sive of former grants, referring to the Squires Farm and college. Two of the fifty-three rights were to be appropriated to the ministry, one of them to be the property of the first settled minister, and the other to remain for the support of the ministry in all after- time. And a third right was to be for the support of schools. Fifty rights would remain for the proprie- tors of said township. The Assembly then resolved that this township should be sold in so many rights, at public auction, at the court-house in New Haven, to the highest bidder, commencing on the first Tues- day in December next (1737), and to be continued by adjournment until all the rights were sold. The eon- ditions required of each proprietor were, that he or his agent shouhl, within two years from the date of his purchase, enter upon his premises, build and finish a houso thereon, no less than eighteen feet square, and seven feet between sill and plate ; clear, subdue, and fence six acres of said land, and continue to dwell thereon for the space of three successive years (unless prevented by death or unavoidable Providence ), com- mencing after the expiration of the two years in which the specified conditions were to be performed ; and, furthermore, he must perform all orders and duties, and pay all taxes granted. If these conditions were performed, then his deed was valid; but if any part of tho conditions was omitted (extraordinaries ex- cepted), his title was void and of no effect.

"It seems that during the winter, spring, and sum- mer of 1738 the rights were all, or nearly all, disposed of, and that a meeting of the proprietors was called at the house of Capt. John Buel, in Litchfield, on the 27th of September, 1738. This Capt. John Buel, or Deacon Buel, as he is generally called, was one of the first settlers of the town of Litchfield, and deserves special notice in this place on aceount of the interest he took in the settlement of this town, and the inter- est his descendants have held in it to this day. He with his wife Mary came from Lebanon, in this State, to Litchfield in 1720, and lived on Town Hill, north side of West Street, and seventy rods west of the county jail. He was distinguished for his piety and active benevolence. A brief anecdote of him will tell the whole story. In 1740 or 1741 there came a man from Cornwall in the depth of winter to purchase some grain for himself and family, who were in great need. He was directed to the house of Deacon Buel as being the man most likely to have grain to sell. The man called at the house and inquired if Deacon Buel lived there, and whether he could purchase a little grain for his family. Deacon Buel asked him if he had money to purchase the grain. He replied that he had some. 'Well,' said the deacon, 'I can show you where you can procure it.' Going with the stranger to the door, he pointed out to him a certain house, and said, 'There lives a man who will let you have the grain for your money. I have some grain to spare, but I must keep it for those who have no money !'

"Nearly all, if not all who bear the name of Buel, in Litchfield and Goshen, are the descendants of this same Deacon John Buel. We have his grandson with us to-day, Capt. Jonathan Buel, aged eighty-five.

"On the 27th of September, 1738, the proprietors of this town assembled at the house of Deacon Jolin Buel, Litchfield, agreeably to appointment. Capt. Joseph Bird, of Litchfield, was chosen clerk, and Deacon John Buel was chosen moderator. After being fully organized, they adjourned to meet at the samo place at eight o'clock the next morning, one hundred years ago this morning. Here let us pause for a mo- ment's reflection. How eventful were the doings of this meeting ! Upon the acts of this body were sus- pended the settlement of this town, the manner of its settlement, and much of its prosperity to the present time. Nor will our descendants ecase to be influenced by these incipient steps for ages to come, and may not to the end of time.

" Whether our fathers were sensible of the impor- tance of their proceedings to unborn generations or not, yet we may learn that we never aet for ourselves ex- elusively, but that others are to be affected for good or for evil by our influences to the latest generation, and probably to eternity !

"The adjournment of this meeting on the 27th to the 28th of the month was doubtless that they might arrange matters so as to transact business with greater

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dispatch the next day. We understand that each pro- prietor of one right in the town owned one fifty-third part of the town, exclusive of the Squires Farm and College Farm, but no man's right was yet located. And that each might have as fair a chance as possible in his location, they agreed that but one hundred acres to each right should be located at that time, and that no one should select more than fifty acres until all the others had selected their fifty acres upon their respective rights. The method adopted to locate each man's fifty acres was this : there were fifty-three slips of paper cut and marked from No. 1 to 53. These papers were put into a hat or box, and the proprietors drew out one paper each, and according to the num- ber the individual drew so he stood in the choice of his first fifty acres. The man who drew No. 1 had a right to select his fifty acres in any part of the town not encroaching upon the two farms specified. He who drew No. 2 held the next choice, and so on to 53, an individual being designated to draw for the ministerial and school rights. But in the choice of the second fifty-acre lots to each individual proprietor there was no drawing for a choice ; for it was agreed that he who had the last choice in the first division should have the first choice in the second division; so that he who had the first choice in the first division had the last choice in the second division. These preliminary steps being taken, the proprietors met on the 28th, appointed a committee for laying out the lots when chosen, and drew for their choice of lots. Aaron Cook drew No. 1 and had the first choice, Daniel Richards the fifty-third. The meeting was then adjourned to the first Wednesday of December next, at 8 o'clock A.M., to meet at the house of Joseph Bird, in Litchfield, and the proprietors hastened to Goshen, each to search out and locate his future home, and where he should repose his mortal part. This is the day we celebrate at the distance of one entire century from those hardy adventurers. From this period we date the regular settlement of this town; and whatever degree of interest we may feel on this occasion, we may rest assured our venerated fathers felt far more. They had to select for them- selves and for theirs. Their personal interest and comfort were in a good degree involved in their choice. The labor of converting a wilderness into a fruitful field, and into smooth and green pastures, was theirs. Far distant was the day in their vision when the sun, with unobstructed rays and mellowing influ- ences, should look down upon their soil as at this day. For a long period they could hope for the neces- saries of life only, with a few conveniences and no luxuries, unless they were derived from the chase ! They knew the toil of felling the towering trees of the forest, of making roads, building bridges, erecting mills, fences, habitations, barns, school-houses, and a house for worship; and it will appear in the sequel that these first settlers contemplated all these things from the commencement of their enterprise. Now,

notwithstanding this was a peculiar race of men, pre- pared by the providence of God for bold and arduous undertakings, yet must they not have felt an interest and a solicitude while entering this forest for the first time which we do not and cannot feel ? Yet they were sustained and directed, and by the strength of their arms, and the perseverance of their labors, we their descendants are placed in the lap of ease and plenty. I have stated that Aaron Cook drew No. 1, and had the first choice in the first division of lots. He chose-and we honor his choice-the south part of Town Hill, whereon now stand the brick house of the late Col. Moses Lyman, and the house of his son, Samuel Lyman. Daniel Richards, who was last in choice in this division, chose the land lying southeast of Narshapogge Pond, now injudiciousły called West Side Pond, and it embraced the land whereon now stands the three-story house known by the name Hudson house. I say this pond is injudiciously called West Side Pond, because it is entered in all ancient conveyances by its Indian name, Narshapogge, and because it is much more definite in its Indian name than in its present name; for who that was not well acquainted with the use of terms here could decide which pond was meant by the term West Side Pond, whether it was this pond, or the one a little south of it? Beside, the Indian name is a much more dignified name; and as it was prior to the one now in common use by thousands of years probably, it ought to be retained as a memorial of a mighty race that have passed away to make room for the more civilized, but more effeminate European ! And what is said of this pond applies with equal force to her sister a little south, which was called in the Indian tongue Marsh- apogge, but is now called Tyler Pond. Who for a moment can balance in his judgment in regard to the euphony of these two names? Not one. We say, then, let them bear their original names, and the names they hold in our records, and not attempt to filch from the poor Indian the right which God and nature gave him, to imprint the seal of his own lan- guage upon those everlasting hills, lakes, ponds, and streams! Pardon me this digression and I will pro- ceed. I have said this day one hundred years this - town was settled by its proprietors, but these were not the first English inhabitants within this town. I have already spoken of the Squires Farm, and given its boundaries at the southeasterly part of the town, lying on Litchfield line. It is upon record that, in February, 1734, James Wadsworth, Esq., sold his one- third part of the Squires Farm to Ebenezer Luke and Isaac Hill, all of Wallingford, of this State; that in February, 1736, there was a division of the whole

farm between the owners, and that the southern third part fell to the share of said Hill. It appears, also, that in 1737, Ebenezer Hill came on to the west part of this south third of the farm, and built him a small framed house on the ground now improved for a barn- yard by Harvey Brooks. The house stood east of the

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road as it then ran, but west of where it now runs. This same season, 1737, Benjamin Frisbie bought of Luke Hill his third of the one hundred acres, divided between the said Hills, and built him a house a little north of the house of Ebenezer Hill, on the same side of the road. These two houses might have aecommo- dated some few of the proprietors of the town while attending to the location and survey of their respect- ive lots, but by far the greater portion must have reposed at night on the lap of indulgent nature, and slept under the protecting wing of high heaven. '

"I will here remark that the first English child born in this town was called Billious Hill, son of Isaae Hill, one of the original proprietors. He was born at the house of Ebenezer Hill, by Harvey Brooks', as already described.

"I shall not attempt to describe the location and sur- vey of each lot successively as the business proceeded, but shall advert to the fact that the proprietors held two meetings more at Litchfield before they were con- vened at Goshen, at which meetings they proceeded to make further divisions of land upon the same plan that was adopted at the first meeting. The first pro- prietors' meeting at Goshen was on the 13th of May, 1740, at the house of Joseph Hickock, on East Street, where Nathaniel Stanley afterwards lived. And here we may take our leave of the meetings of the pro- prietors as distinct meetings from the town, although they have held occasional meetings in their corporate capacity to the present time.

"The first town-meeting ever held in this town was on Dec. 6th, 1739. John Beach was chosen moder- ator, and Samuel Pettibone town clerk. John Beach, Samuel Pettihone, Nathaniel Baldwin, Samuel Tow- ner, and Benajah Williams were chosen seleetmen. Moses Lyman was chosen collector and treasurer. The place of this meeting not being specified, it is supposed that it was held at their meeting-house, standing a little east of north from the dwelling-house of Erastus Lyman, Esq., and four or five rods south- east of the yellow building denominated Mechanic's Hall, the spot we have now visited in solemn and grateful procession. This first meeting-house was built of rude materials. The butt end of a large white-ash tree, felled, composed the principal part of the wall on one side, and piled logs, with a covering of bark, completed the sanctuary. And does this appear small in our view, almost provoking a smile? It was great in the sight of God! It was the best they could do, and more than many of them enjoyed for their own shelter. It was the expression of their hearts, and an earnest of what they would do in time to come. It was saying that the God of the Pilgrims was their God, and should be the God of Goshen as far as it might depend on them. I would that that house now stood ! How often would we steal a soli- tary walk thither, and in the holy stillness of evening go round her inclosures, think of the generation that congregated there, their fervent devotions, their prayers

for covenanted mercies upon their posterity, and their present rest on high ! And while thus musing would not the fire kindle in our own hearts, and should we not praise God that our fathers loved him, and gave us this precious example of dedicating to him the first fruits of their hearts and of their hands !

"But notwithstanding our fathers had thus early a house for God, they did not always improve it. It was of course much open between logs, and there were no stoves. It was, therefore, not fitted for worship in the severity of winter. Besides, there were no roads for the weak and tender of their congregation to travel in from different sections of the town. They therefore adopted the plan of carrying the gospel to the people, by appointing the public worship of God in different parts of the town ; and at this first town- meeting they passed a vote that the 'selectmen should ascertain the places for holding the meetings for the publie worship of God.' At a town-meeting, Jan. 11, 1740, it was voted to hire a minister on probation, and that Nathaniel Baldwin, Samuel Towner, and Samuel Pettibone be a committee to go after a minister, with full power to agree with him. It seems that this committee were successful in obtaining Mr. Stephen Heaton, of New Haven, to be their candidate; for in April, 1740, the town voted him a call to settle with them in the gospel ministry, and specified the settle- ment and salary they would give him. The call was not immediately accepted, and in September following it was renewed to him, with some addition to the for- mer proposed salary. This call was accepted, and Mr. Heaton was ordained November, 1740, at the house of Capt. John Beach, on East Street, east side of the road, opposite to the present dwelling-house of Eber Bailey.

"The town, at their meetings preparatory to the settlement of Mr. Heaton, had voted that it was neces- sary to build a meeting-house, and Nathaniel Bald- win was appointed to solicit the General Assembly for a committee, to be appointed to decide on the spot where the new meeting-house should stand. It ap- pears further, from the records, that the General As- sembly, agreeably to the request of the petitioners, did appoint a committee of three from the town of Hartford to fix on the site for a meeting-house, and that the said committee did come out and set the stake where the house should stand some time in the sun- mer of 1740, and that after some delay and embar- russments the second meeting-house in the town was raised and covered in the year 1744. It was a house forty-six by thirty-four feet, and twenty feet between sill and plate. It had two galleries, one above the other, and when it was finished was painted yellow. It stood a little northwest of this house, and a little south of the house that was removed in 1832, the south side of the third meeting-house coming within four feet of the north side of the second house. There are some two or three present who remember this second house, which was removed in 1770.

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" I will now, for the satisfaction of the present gen- eration, and with a view to impress us all with the truth that the fashion of this world passeth away, pre- sent you this town as it was in 1745. I am indebted for these statistics mainly to Deacon Lewis M. Nor- ton, of this place, whose unwearied and persevering effort in this cause for years entitles him to the last- ing gratitude of his townsmen and to a more substan- tial reward. We will return, then, to the south part of the town, where we have already been in the history, and commence with Capt. Jonathan Buel, son of Deacon John Buel, of Litchfield, and father of Capt. Jonathan Buel, now of this town. His house stood upon the line between Litchfield and Goshen, on the west side of the north and south road, as it now runs. In the house lately owned and occupied by Elias Buel, a little south of Harvey Brooks, on the east side of the road, lived Ebenezer Hill, Jr., son of the Ebe- nezer Hill whose house we have already located in Mr. Brooks' barn-yard. This house of Ebenezer Hill, Jr., lately occupied by Elias Buel, was built in the summer of 1741, and is the oldest house in the towu. This Hill and Capt. Jonathan Buel kept tavern alter- nately for a number of years. Buel would keep two years, and then Hill two, for the accommodation of those who were going to and from ' Western Lands.' About half-way between the house of Ebenezer Hill, Jr., and the house lately occupied by Elisha Buel, now by Watts Brooks, stood the house of Asa Hill, another son of Ebenezer Hill, first mentioned. A little nortlı of the present house of Watts Brooks, near the flat, stood the house of Benjamin Frisbie, already described as the second house, built in 1737, on the Squires Farm. A little north of Frisbie's house, as we ascend the hill, and precisely where stands the house of Joseph Beardsley, lived John Dibble, with a numer- ous family from Wallingford. Afterwards, John Dib- ble, Jr., kept a store in the house for several years, and then built him a store, about ten rods south of his house, near the house of Frisbie, and traded there. It was called the red store, because it was painted red. Proceeding north until we come to within four rods southeast of the present brick house of Samuel Ives, and there lived Noah Wadhams, from Middletown, the progenitor of all those who have ever lived in Goshen bearing the name of Wadhams. He was prosperous in business and reared a numerous family. About twenty-eight rods north of Noah Wadhams lived, on the west side of the road, Jeremiah Howe, from Wallingford. He was the progenitor of all the families by the name of Howe in Goshen, and of many in Canaan. The next neighbor to Howe, at the north, was Samuel Pettibone, from Simsbury. His house stood a few feet north of the present brick house of Thomas and Hiram Griswould, on the same side of the way. He was the first lawyer in Goshen, and for some time was State's attorney. He was much em- ployed in the early business transactions of the town ; but being overcome and thrust down by the strong

man from the West Indies, he terminated his earthly existence at the old house formerly occupied by Har- vey Brooks. About one hundred and fifteen rods north of the house of Pettibone, on the west side of the road, stood the house of Christopher Grimes, from Wallingford, the old well still designating the location of his dwelling. North of the house of Grimes, and about sixty rods sonth of the house long owned and occupied by Deacon Augustus Thomson, but now owned by Abraham Norton and his son William, stood the house of Gideon Hurlbut, from Wethers- field, on the east side of the road. Hurlbut was a substantial man, and pious. He reared a numerous family, and has one granddaughter still living in the town,-Lorana, the wife of Andrew Norton, Sr.

" A few rods north of Hurlbut's, and on the west side of the road running north and south, and north of the road then leading to Town Hill, stood the house of Zachariah Curtis, from Wethersfield. The Town Hill road came into West Street road at that time, between Gideon Hurlbut's and Curtis', forty or fifty rods south of where it now comes in. North of Cur- tis', and opposite to the house of Abraham Norton, on the west side of the road, stood the house of Ben- jamin Phelps, from Windsor. He soon afterwards sold to Timothy Gaylord, of Wallingford, father of the late Joseph Gaylord, and grandfather of Joseph Ives and Willard Gaylord. This Timothy Gaylord was killed in the old French war,-was shot through the head by an Indian as he stood behind a tree, and was moving out his own head to obtain a shot at the Indian. The next house north, on the west side of the way, near where now stands the barn of Truman Starr, was the house of John Wright, who had a numerous family. He is the ancestor of those who bear the name of Wright in this town. A little north of this, on the same side of the way, and a little north of the late Woodruff house, stood the house of Deacon Gideon Thompson, from New Haven. This house was palisadoed against the Indians. The manner of fortifying a house was this: they dug a deep ditch around the house, placed logs perpendicularly in it all around the house, leaving a space only for a gate. The logs were placed close together, sharpened at the top, and extended eight, ten, or twelve feet above the ground. The earth taken from the trench was then returned, and beaten down until the logs stood firmly ; and this, with a gate well secured, was a tolerable defense against a sudden attack from the Indians, It is needless, perhaps, to say that the Indians did not

deal in artillery. At this house a town-meeting was held in May, 1741. He was one of the first deacons in the church, being appointed at the time of the organization of the church, in November, 1740, before the ordination of Mr. Heaton, or very soon after- wards. He was the first representative from this town to the General Assembly, 1757, and, in 1759, he died at Hartford while a member of the Assembly. He was the grandfather of Jonathan Thomson and Deacon

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Augustus Thomson. From this house of Deacon Gideon Thomson there was no road open either north or west in 1745, but all was forest, with the exception of a settlement in Canada Village, so called.

" In 1739 or 1740 the said Benjamin Frisbie, of the south end, moved into that place, and built him a house a few rods north of the present house of Au- gustus Miles, Esq. In 1742 he built a saw-mill, where stands now the woolen-factory, and soon after he built the first grist-mill in town. This stood a little dis- tance from the saw-mill, and occupied the ground which is now improved as a tannery by George Miles. Undoubtedly the inhabitants of this village are in- debted to this same Frisbie for the name of their vil- lage, and that the Connecticut Historical Collections have the truth in the case. Capt. Jonathan Buel, who can remember eighty years, says that it was called Canada as long ago as he can remember, and he always understood that it came by its name as stated in the Collections, viz., that this Frisbie was ever talking about removing to Canada, but never went. The wags of his time being wearied with his story of Canada, told him he should live in Canada, and if he would not remove to Canada, they would bring Canada to him, and from that time they called the place of his residence Canada. West of Canada Village, in 1745, there was no road and no settlement until we came to Cornwall. We will return, then, to Town Hill. Here were hut three families, and all southwesterly of them in this town was wilderness. On the top of Town Hill, on the west side of the road, and a little south of the present dwelling of Gen. Moses Cook, stood the house of Joseph Curtis, from Wethersfield. He had a numerous family. He sold out in 1750 to Daniel Cook, father of the present Moses Cook, Sr., who still survives. About twenty-five rods south of Gen. Moses Cook's present dwelling, on the east side of the road, stood the house of Joseph Cook, from Wallingford, father of Daniel Cook, and grandfather of Moses Cook, Sr. Joseph Cook lived here until the time of his death, Nov. 7, 1764.

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History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 77

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.) Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1532

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1532