History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 80

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

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" These Difficulties are all well known to your Hutours, with many other Difficulties aud Distressen we are under, though your llone, we hope, have not had that fatal experimental knowledge thereof which was have felt. These things, may It please your Honours, have rendered it utterly Impossible for ua to meke payment of the Bonda we have given the Govt and Company for our porchuson by the time limited for the pay- ment of the same.

"So that If your Honours should be atrlet to demand the maine of us which is due, we can have no other vlow but the utter rulo, &c., of our ' Towns and plantations, notwithstanding we have in Truth and Fidelity,

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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

used all Lawful and honest ends, and to Conform ourselves to the act of this Colony respecting our Righte and Settlements. Moreover, we HIum- bly observe that there were many of the first purchasers of Rights who have made merchandise of their Rights to their great advantage, and there are many large tracts of Land in our Towns belonging to non-set- tlers, or non-resident proprietors, and these bearing little or no Burthen amongst us, but have the value of their Lunds equally increasing with oure, casts & double Burthen upon us ja respect to the settlement of min- istere, building meeting-houses, &c., and we cannot but think it very rea- sonable that the Lands of such non-settlers should be taxed Double the Lande of the Settlers.

" And we beg leave further to show, that we are the Frontier Towns at the nearest corner of the Government, north and west, and if it should happen that there should be a Warr with the French and Indians (which God of his mercy prevent), we shall he moet exposed of any of the Towns in the Colony. Wherefore, we are encouraged, from the wonted Good- ness of this Honorable Assembly, to pray your Hons to grant us the fol- lowing Things for our Relief and Redress : first, that your Hons would lengthen ont the time of the payment of our Ronds for our Purchases, or forbear ue of payment of the same till the time limited for our settle- ment is expired, and that your Ilenors would remit the interest of the money for such forbearance.

" 2ndly. That your Honors would lay a Tax upon the Lands of non- resident Proprietors for the support of the Gospel and building meeting- bouses in the above mentioned Towns, dowble the Tax of the Lands of the settlers, or for as much per acre on the Right and as long as your Honours in Wisdom and Justice shall think fit.

"3dly. That your Honours would grant unto each of the ed Towns a Town stock of powder and Lead, as much as your Honours shall think fit and convenient.

" 4thly. That your Ilons would upon the publick charge of the Colony Give unto each of gd towns a full Colony Law-book.

"And your lons Humble and Distressed memorialists as in duty bonnd shall ever pray, &c.

" DAVID WHITNEY, " TIMY IIATCH,

SANI. PETTIBONE, GEO. ITALLOWAY, " Agents.

" HARTFORD, Mny 19, 1741."

Hardly five years had passed after Mr. Heaton's ordination before we find upon the record a most courteous opening of negotiations with him, as fol- lows :

"Voted, that we will choose n Committee to treat with our Rev. Pastor about some reasonable and loving terms of agreement, so that the door may be opened, if he in his wisdom shall think fit, to seek for an or- derly diemission from the work of the ministry in this place, or to treat with about making some suitable alterations."

But the first minister had no idea of abandoning his place, and remained pastor until 1753, when he was dismissed, but continued to reside in Goshen until his death in 1788.

THE PATENT.

In 1745 the town applied to the Assembly for a patent giving to us town privileges. It was not given until Oet. 2, 1749, as we suppose, for the reason that some of the fifty proprietors had failed to comply with the conditions of their purchase. They were required to enter upon their land within two years, and build and finish a house eighteen feet square and seven feet between sill and plate, and clear, fence, and subdne six acres of land, and to remain thereon for three successive years. Failure on the part of some to do this, or to pay for their purchases, may have delayed the desired patent, which bears the signature of " Jonathan Lare, Governor," and,

"By virtue of the power vested in him and the Colony of our late Sovereign, King Charles 2nd, of blessed memory, it confirme to them their possession to the woods, the timber, the trees, underwoode, lands,

watere, brooks, ponds, fishing, fowling, mines, minerals, and precious stones within and upon said Town; to be held of his Majesty, liis heirs, or successors; or of his Majesty's manor of East Greenwich, in the County of Kent, and Kingdom of Great Britain, in free and commen socage, and not In capite, nor by Knight service yielding and paying. Therefore unto our Sovereign Lord, the King, his heirs, and enccessors, only one-fifth part of all the ore of Gold and Silver, which from time to time, and at all times hereafter shall be gotten, had, or obtained thereon, in lieu of all service, duty, or demande whatsoever."

The fathers of Goshen never had occasion to send any of the gold or silver ore to his majesty, and it is doubtful whether any of the fines due to the sovereign for killing the king's deer in Goshen were ever col- lected, for in April, 1741, it was voted to give Daniel Harris, Sr., Benjamin Frisbie, and Daniel Harris, Jr., that part of their fine for killing deer which be- longed to the town. Five years later they voted thirty shillings to Timothy Stanley for killing a wolf.

Frequent changes occurred in our town, and it seems likely that about thirty of the forty-six original proprietors who purchased the fifty rights remained here, or were represented by their sons, during the first ten or twenty years of our history. The others sold their rights to men who came to reside in Goshen, as in the case of Mr. Lyman, who came from North- ampton in 1739; Ebenezer and Samuel Norton, from Durham in 1739; John Wright, from Wethersfield iu 1742; Mr. Griswold, from Windsor; Nathaniel and Timothy Stanley, from Farmington in 1742; Benoni Hills, from Durham in 1741; Noah Wadhams, from Middletown in 1741; John North, from Farmington in 1745; and soon after many others.

Passing on a few years, to 1756, our colony was eighteen years old, and we now for the first time learn onr population from the first census. We numbered 610 inhabitants; Litchfield, 1366; Hartford, only 2926; New Haven, 5085; Windsor, 4170; while Mid- dletowu, the largest place in the colony, numbered 5446.

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

This was soon after the commencement of the French and Indian war, which lasted from 1754 to 1762. It is impossible to know at this distant day the names of all who served His Majesty George III. during those eight years. We have, however, the names of twenty Goshen men, three of whom were killed, four died of sickness, and one was severely wounded and kept a prisoner five years. These eight men, out of the little band of twenty, deserve more than a passing notice. Of the three killed, Lieut. Timothy Gaylord was the first to fall. He made his will before he left Goshen, in the early spring of 1758, and took his last look at his home cirele, among whom were two little boys, afterwards enrolled in our Revolutionary army. But he never saw his little son Joseph, who was born soon after he left home (who was the father of Capt. Willard Gaylord), and who at the age of eighteen was fighting, with his brothers, in our Revolution. Lieut. Timothy Gaylord fell by an Indian's hand in the defeat of Gen. Abererombie,

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July 9, 1758, Col. Bezaleel Beebe, of Litchfield, who was fighting near him, and, like him, sheltered be- hind a tree, had just spoken to Gaylord, and was look- ing at him for a reply, when he observed a sudden break in the skin of his forehead, and the lieutenant instantly fell dead. A few days after, Col. Beebe and his friends were able to come again upon that ground, and the brave officer who had left his home in Goshen was still there, and was buried hastily, their bayonets being all they had with which to dig his grave.

It was the next year, July 12, 1759, that Lieut. Daniel Lee left Goshen, and he was killed by the tomahawk of an Indian while he was loading and firing. The third was the son of a proprietor. His name was Manna Humphrey, and he was killed at the taking of Havanna, in 1762, near the close of the war. He was one of the thousand men from Con- necticut in that expedition under Col. Israel Putnam, only a handful of whom lived through the sickness and returned. His son, a lad of fourteen years, was one of the four who died, also Elisha North and two brothers, Moses and Thomas Wilcox. Joel Dibble was taken prisoner, 1755, near Fort Edward, with three others; he was fired upon from an ambush, and re- ceived four wounds. He lay a prisoner for five years, and, in response to a petition made by him to the General Assembly, he received from the colony, in consideration of his sufferings, the sum of twenty- five pounds,

The names of the twelve who lived to return home, some of whom we find also in our Revolutionary war, fifteen years later, are Lieut. John Wright, Benjamin Reeves (a half-brother of Judge Reeves, of Litchfield), John Doud, Ashbel Humphrey, Jacob Beach, Josiah Roys, Nathaniel Stanley, Jr., Stephen Tuttle, Mun- son Winchel, Charles Richards, John Wilcox, and John Musson.

Our town was first represented in the General As- sembly in 1757, Deacon Gideon Thompson being the first representative. The next year, 1758, we sent two, as we have ever since, and the second year Deacon Moses Lyman and Deacon John Beach were sent. Of very many who were sent many times before 1800, Asaph HIall, Esq., served during twenty-four sessions, and Col. Ebenezer Naton for twenty-six sessions.

We find in the record of a town-meeting, April 12, 1762, one vote petitioning the Assembly for liberty to raise by a lottery two hundred dollars for mending and making the highways; also, the same year, Samuel Oviatt was released from paying his fine of forty shillings for killing a deer, although, as they say, he was "justly fined," but failed to get clear on account of his " ignorance in making his defense."

We first notice in 1771 that the words " exclusive of churchmen, Baptists, and Quakers" are introduced into the warnings for our town-meetings. This was continued for some years, not as showing any antag- onism towards them, but to prevent their being called

upon to support both their own church and the Con- gregational.

STOCKS.

In 1773 the selectmen were instructed to erect a public sign-post, and also, near by, a "pair of stocks."

THE REVOLUTION.

But we now approach a time in the history of our town full of interest. Our fathers assembled Sept. 20, 1774, and appointed a committee to correspond with the committees of our county and colony in regard to the present alarming situation of our affairs in North America. In December following the town, in most emphatic language, indorsed the action of the Conti- nental Congress assembled in Philadelphia three months before. Boston was filled with British troops, sent over to crush out the spirit of liberty from the hearts of men who had resolved that from henceforth they would " call no man master."

The second census of which we have a record was taken this year, 1774. Our little town, which num- bered 610 eighteen years before, had increased to 1098. At this time Litchfield had 2509; Hartford, 4881; New Haven, 8022; while Philadelphia, the largest town in America, had 25,000, and New York, 18,000.

The following year, 1775, witnessed the battle of Lexington, the capture of Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen and his little band,-among whom was Asaph IFall, of Goshen,-and the battle of Bunker Ilill. Among the officers appointed at the May session of our Assem- bly this year, 1775, are the names of Oliver Wolcott, of Litchfield, colonel of the Seventeenth Regiment; Ebenezer Norton, lieutenant-colonel; and Epaphras Sheldon, major. In the list of appointments in April of the same year we find placed in command of the eighth company in the Fourth Regiment, then raised, John Sedgwick, captain ; Wareham Gibbs and James Thomson, lieutenants. This was the company of men enlisted from Goshen and Torrington, under Capt. John Sedgwick, of Cornwall Hollow. They left Goshen for Ticonderoga May 31, 1775, and stopped the first night at Canaan. Capt. Sedgwick's house was burned that night, and the company marched for- ward the next day in charge of the lieutenants. Ile returned home, and his neighbors raised him another house in one week's time, and he joined his company, only to be compelled to leave them by illness.

There were twenty-eight Goshen men in this com- pany, whose names are among our roll of Revolution- ary soldiers. About one-half of them were very sick with the camp distemper, and one died, David Wright; none were killed in battle, and they returned at the expiration of the seven months for which they had enlisted.

We find two or three of them re-enlisting, during the winter after their return, in the regiment com- manded by Col. Jonathan Burral, of Canaan. In this regiment, which was to march for Quebec in the win- ter of 1776, there were twenty-one Goshen men. In

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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

the company of Capt. Luther Stoddard, of Salisbury, were Lieut. Thomas Converse and nine men, and in the company of Capt. Titus Watson, of Norfolk, were Lieut. John Riley and ten men. The place of ren- dezvous and starting for Lieut. Converse and his nine men was the house of Daniel Miles, on East Street, and the spot, sacred to their memory, is now marked by an elm-tree, placed there this centennial year. They started on their cold winter march Feb. 1, 1776, and marched to Canaan, thence to Salisbury, and onward to Albany. They were accompanied nearly to Albany by Mr. Cyprian Collins, with a three-ox sled to carry their luggage. On their way up the river and lake they had to march through snow two feet deep, and one, John Musson, died of pleurisy. They reached Quebec the last of February, and there commenced their time of suffering with the smallpox. While still wholly unfit to march they were compelled to retreat, and their sufferings cannot be described. The ten men, with Licut. John Riley, in the company of Capt. Watson also had terrible sufferings from sick- ness, of which four of their number died. There had been also one more death from sickness in Lieut. Con- verse's little band, and another, George Dear, was killed by a cannon-ball, which cut him nearly in two. Thus of the twenty-one men one was killed and six died, leaving only fourteen who returned at the expi- ration of the year for which they enlisted.

But while these twenty-one men were gone to Canada, Goshen was called upon to send forth many of her fathers, brothers, and sons, to suffer at New York and Long Island. In May, 1776, Capt. Stephen Goodwin, of East Street, was commissioned to raise a company in Goshen and Torrington to go to New York. Timothy Gaylord, of Norfolk, a nephew of Lieut. Gaylord, who fell in the French war, was his first lieutenant, and Jabez Wright, of Goshen, was ensign. There were forty-eight men from Goshen in the company. They left Goshen about June 1, 1776, and after reaching New York were quartered for a while in a large brick house near the Battery. Dur- ing the time they were there the Declaration of Inde- pendence was read in the presence of the troops. With their brigade, they went across to Long Island about the middle of July, and were in view, but not themselves engaged, in the battle of Long Island. They were under Gen. Putnam's orders, and with him they safely crossed over to New York under cover of night and a dense fog.

Soon after the defeat of the American army, Au- gust 27th, this brigade, under Gen. Wadsworth, were placed two or three miles north of the city, and were immediately exposed to the fire of three British ships on East River. Succeeding after a while in escaping from their fire behind a ledge, they gathered in an orchard surrounded by a stone wall. Here they soon saw a body of troops coming towards them from the north. Their uniform was not the red coats of the British, and their officers thought them American

troops. Maj. Willis, of Connecticut, reached out his hand to welcome the supposed friends, but the wily Hessian officer pulled him off his horse. Wadsworth ordered a retreat, but the Hessian fire commenced, and many officers and soldiers were killed or taken prisoners. Lieut. Gaylord had his thigh broken by a musket-ball, and he, with seven Goshen men, were taken prisoners. Solomon Moore, of Goshen, fell, wounded, and was in the act of surrendering when John Norton, of Goshen, relieved him of his gun, and he succeeded in escaping. But the Hessian offi- cer, too, met his fate, for while pursuing the flying Americans he reached the west wall of the orchard, where he overtook Sergt. Salmon Agard (an officer in Capt. Griswold's company from Torringford). The Hessian officer ordered him to surrender, but Sergt. Agard cocked his gun, whirled around, and shot the Hessian dead in a moment. Those who escaped soon met Gen. Wadsworth, fell into rank, and recognized Gen. Putnam coming, who ordered them to Kings- bridge. That night the Goshen men, who had lost almost everything in their retreat, helped themselves to somebody's cooking utensils, and took refuge by the side of a stack of hay. They found a rock with a hollow in it, where they placed some flour, and brought water from a spring in their hats, and in the bright moonlight baked their bread over a fire, and univer- sally agreed it did taste good.

Of the forty-eight Goshen men in this company none were killed, but six were taken prisoners and five died of sickness. It is supposed that the living returned to Goshen in December, 1776, but there were very many other men from Goshen at the same time in our army at New York.

In August, 1776, Gen. Washington urgently re- quested Connecticut to send him all the standing militia west of the Connecticut River. The Assembly of our State promptly complied with the request (our representatives then being Ebenezer Norton and Asaph Hall). Thus Connecticut sent to Washington at that time fourteen regiments, numbering ten thou- sand men, and it appears that, counting those from the east of the river, and those at other points, there were in the field twenty thousand men from our little State.

All the men belonging to the two militia companies of Goshen at that time fit for service were called out and sent to New York. There is some uncertainty in regard to the names of the Goshen militia who were sent to New York. The veterans living in 1841 gave us the names of only fourteen men, headed by Capt. Medad Hills, Lieut. Matthew Smith, and Ensign Asa Francis, but they also inform us there were others, swelling the number to forty or fifty. From another source we have evidence that there were enough men, in addition to the fourteen whose names appeared on the roll, to swell the number above fifty. From the last information in our possession, we may assume that the militia of Goshen were sent to New York in suf-

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ficient number to show a roll of one hundred and twenty men absent at this time in the army. This was out of a population of ten hundred and ninety- eight, and it was truly a dark time in our history.

In our militia company ordered to New York was one man greatly bereaved, Ensign, afterwards Capt., Asa Francis. Three of his children died while he was absent in New York. They died on the 2d, 4th, and 7th of September, and the poor distracted wife and mother was at the time in a state of mental de- rangement.

These Goshen militia were in one engagement, and saw the Hessians in their attack upon their friends in the orchard. They too suffered much from siek- ness, but were all fortunate enough to return home the following winter.

The following spring, 1777, began the enlistment of men for three years or during the war, and the town of Goshen offered a bounty of ten pounds to every soldier who enlisted as above, to be followed by a similar bounty at the end of the first and second years of service. They also appointed a committee to take care of the families of absent soldiers. We have the names of eleven who enlisted at this time, who entered the Continental army and disappeared from our view for some years.

In the spring of 1777 there was a small draft of five Goshen men, whose names we have. They went to Horse Neck (Greenwich), thirty miles above New York, and were gone but three months. In April of this year a draft was also made from the militia of our town for six to ten men, who went to Peekskill, but returned the latter part of May.

But before their return the quiet of a Goshen Sab- bath, April 27, 1777, was disturbed by the sound of distant cannonading. It was the heavy guns of the British ships at the burning of Danbury. The can- non were heard in the morning, but the people assem- bled as usual for meeting, and Mr. Newell preached. A messenger arrived at noon with the tidings, and the drum was beat upon the steps of the church. All dispersed to their homes, and a number started for the scene of action. The names of fifteen who went are preserved, but the British had left before their arrival, and they had only such booty as they found in plundering the houses of a few Tories.

We have next in order a draft of fifty-nine men and two commissioned officers, making sixty-one Goshen men, ordered by Col. Epaphras Sheklon to be ready to start at the shortest notice, under Lieuts. Miles Norton and Isaac Pratt, of Goshen. We have here, as nowhere else, the roll of names drafted in the unmistakable handwriting of Epaphras Sheklon. In this roll are thirty-two names not included in our list of one hundred and sixty-two Revolutionary soldiers, because we have no positive knowledge that they served, although it is almost certain they did so the previous year, when all our militia were sent to New York. This draft bears date July 22, 1777, and places

the sixty-one Goshen men, with forty-two Harwinton men, under the command of Capt. Nathaniel Copley.

In the midst of all this there was a town-meeting, called Sept. 25, 1777, to encourage men to enlist in the regiment of Gen. Oliver Wolcott, of Litehfield, which was forming from several towns in this vicinity. It was hoped that Gen. Burgoyne would be over- whelmed with the numbers that Gen. Gates would muster, and thus be compelled to surrender.

Some time previous there had been a draft of six militiamen from Goshen to join Gen. Gates at the North, and to serve three months. These six men, whose names we have, were in the thickest of the fight of Oct. 7, 1777, under Arnold. His attack upon Burgoyne was most impetuous, and these men were brought into action about noon. The fight was a terrible one; each army was by turn victorious, but when night came the Americans were masters of the field. The six soldiers from our town, on the day of the fight, knew nothing of their friends from Goshen who had volunteered in Gen. Wolcott's regiment, and some of whom were there and fighting in the same battle.

Only eight of these volunteers are now known. Among them, Capt. Asaph Hall and Lieut. Moses Lyman arrived on the evening after the battle. Mr. Cyrian Collins also reached the camp at nightfall, and, searching for his son Ambrose first among the living, but in vain, found him, as he supposed, among the dead, and was about to remove him, when the words "Father, father," in the well-known voice of his son, brought such joy to his heart as rarely comes to mortals in this world. The volunteers who had been able to join Gen. Wolcott previous to Oeto- ber 7th were also in the thickest of that terrible bat- tle, which did so much in deciding the destinies of our country.

Our Goshen men witnessed the surrender of Bur- goyne, with his seven thousand men, a few days after, and were soon permitted to return home, with hearts greatly cheered and encouraged.

There was another draft on Goshen to send men to Peekskill in September of this year, the names of only four of them being remembered. Still later in the fall a band of volunteers from Goshen went to Peekskill, under Capt. Timothy Stanley. We have the names of only ten of their number.

There was not much call for our militia after the fall of 1777. The quota required of our town for the Continental army was promptly furnished to the close of the war.

We have on record the names of thirty, in all, who served in the Continental army, some of whom served seven or eight years. There was also a company called the "Household company," composed of officers and men who were by law exempt from military duty. It was commanded by Capt. Asaph Hall, and hekl itself in readiness for any emergency.

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History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 80

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