USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Farmington > History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889 > Part 3
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Berlin > History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889 > Part 3
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > New Britain > History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889 > Part 3
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* Connecticut Colonial Records, May, 1671.
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FARMINGTON - GREAT SWAMP, OR KENSINGTON.
that it has remained for two hundred years, and still affords excellent water.
The town of . Farmington voted to Mr. Seymour one pound, as a gratuity for his effort in establishing this settle- ment. It seems probable that this action may have been induced by the following vote of the General Court, passed at a special session held in January, 1686-7.
" This court grants Wethersfield, Middletown, and Farmington all those vacant lands between Wallingford bownds and the bownds of those plantations to make a village therein."
This doubtful territory not included in the grants to these towns was thus occupied at first by Farmington, and the settlement was afterward termed "Farmington Village." After the settlement at Christian Lane had existed for a few years, and Belcher, as well as others. became impressed with the fertility of the land, and its favorable situation, questions arose as to his title to a portion of the tract. Desiring to have the matter settled, and in order to obtain an unquestionable title, he applied to the General Assembly to have the title to the disputed part confirmed. The General Assembly, at a session held in October, 1703, passed an act referring to this tract.
After rehearsing the particulars of Gilbert's and Clark's grants, this act or deed proceeds as follows :
This Assembly considering that the said Andrew Belcher hath ex- pended a considerable estate upon the said land in building tenantable houses, and settling tenants therein, and other improvements which are like to be a public as well as private benefit, the said tenants being con- veniently situate for the relief of travelers in their journeying from place to place, for his encouragement to goe forward with his improvements doe see cause to grant his petition, and doe now give and grant unto the said Andrew Belcher all the said four hundred and seventie acres of meadow and upland (as it is laid out and bounded, or described to be bounded in a plot or survey thereof exhibited to this Assembly under the hand of Mr. Caleb Stanley, surveyor), to be to him the said Andrew Belcher, his heirs and assigns forever ; and do order that the said Andrew Belcher shall have a patent for the said four hundred and seventy acres of land so butted and bounded as in the said plot is described, the patent to be signed by the Governor and Secretary in the name and behalf of the Governor
30
HISTORY OF NEW BRITAIN, ETC.
and Companie of this her Majesties Colonie, which patent shall be of full force and virtue to.all intents and purposes in the lawe for the ensureing and sure making of all the said purchased and granted lands so butted and bounded as aforesaid, and every part and parcel thereof, with all the profits, priviledges and appurtenances thereunto belonging, and from time to time thence arising, unto him the said Andrew Belcher, his heirs and assigns forever, according to the true intent and meaning thereof. Pro- vided always, nevertheless, that there shall be a country road or highway through the said farme or part thereof as there shall be occasion." *
At the same session of the court, Captain Belcher peti- tioned for an additional grant adjoining. This also was sur- veyed at the direction of the Court, by Caleb Stanley, who certified it to contain about two hundred and eighty acres. Captain Belcher's petition was granted, and this tract was added to his previous possessions. By these various pur- chases, patents, and deeds, this wealthy Boston merchant be- came the owner of a large and fertile tract composed both of upland and meadows, with adjoining woodland and hill, some of which was believed to be rich in mineral wealth. The title of the territory having been cleared of doubt, the Christian Lane settlement was extended both north and south, and the land in the vicinity was cleared and improved. New houses were erected, at first near the fort, but afterwards at some. distance north and south of it. The covering for these first houses was obtained by splitting the clear white oak and chestnut into plank or boards, and smoothing with an adze or drawing knife .¡ The floors were made of similar material.
At first, the burials of the dead were in Farmington, but Captain Richard Seymour donated to the settlement a plot of ground, near the banks of the Mattabesett River, for a burial place, and this became the first cemetery in Berlin or New Britain. Soon after giving the lot, or in 1710, Capt. Sey- mour was killed by the falling of a tree, and his body was the first interred in the cemetery. This settlement being near a lodge of the Mattabesett Indians, the first planters suffered through fear of being attacked, and were in constant
* Colonial Records.
+ Some of these boards were in existence, and could be seen just as they came from the buildings, since New Britain became a town in 1850.
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FARMINGTON - GREAT SWAMP, OR KENSINGTON.
watchfulness night and day. Though the Indians seldom com- mitted personal violence, they were treacherous. Property had to be guarded against them, the men went armed, and the women and children were kept at their homes most of the time.
After the little settlement was fairly begun, the liberal terms for land offered by Belcher, and the grants of unap- propriated lands made both by the General Court and the town of Farmington, were inducements for settlers to come to this place. The number of families increased, and, as peaceful relations with the Indians became established, farms were taken up and buildings erected at some distance from the fort. The settlement was thus extended southerly towards Wallingford, easterly towards Beckley Quarter in Wethersfield, and northerly in the direction of Farmington. In the latter direction, the farms selected and the houses erected on the north side of the meadow, were within the present limits of New Britain. The persons locating in this direction were Captain Stephen Lee, Sergeant Benjamin Judd, Joseph Smith, Robert Booth, Anthony Judd, Isaac Lewis, and some others. In the other direction were the Bronsons, Coles, Gridley, Hart, Lankton, Norton, Porter, Root, Stan- ley, and others. These families were not all located here before the Great Swamp Society was organized, but they were all early represented in the parish, and their names have since been perpetuated in the families of their descend- ants in Berlin and New Britain. The settlement after- wards was extended to the southwest until it included a con- siderable portion of the parish of Kensington, some of the families having their homes near the Blue Hills.
As the Great Swamp village increased in population, the inconvenience of attending public worship and transacting business in Farmington, became more and more apparent, and at last a number of the voters sought a change. They asked the privilege of organizing a new society for themselves. This was at first refused by Farmington, but when the diffi- culties were fully explained, favorable action was taken, as
32
HISTORY OF NEW BRITAIN, ETC.
indicated by the following record of a town meeting held Sept. 28, 1705 :
"The town by vote did manifest their consent that so many of their inhabitants, that do or shall personally inhabit at a place called 'Great Swamp,' and upland belonging thereto and in the divisions of land on the east side of the Blow Mountains, and in those lots called the Batcheller* lots, and so much of the division of land against Wethersfield, as shall extend northward from the 'Great Swamp' until it shall include the lot that was William Judd's and no more, so many of them as see cause (none to be compelled) that they become a ministerial society when they do gain a capable minister amongst them, and continue so to be, so long as they. shall, in a compotently constant way, maintain such a minister among them, and whom so long as they shall so do themselves, and what estate they have there shall be freed from the charge of the ministry elsewhere, always provided that they shall, for their own proportion of labor in the highways, maintain the passages and highways they have occasion for there among themselves, without involving the town in general therewith, as also that they shall, at no time, endeavor to surprise their neighbors, by endeavoring to obtain of the General Court other advantages, in which the town in general may be concerned, without first acquainting the town therewith, nor chalenge any interest in the sequestered lands for the maintenance of the ministry there."
Having obtained consent of Farmington, application was made to the General Assembly in session at New Haven, by presenting the following petition :
"To the Right Honorable and Worshipful General Assembly, now sitting at New Haven, this 11th day of October, A. D., 1705, Greeting: We, the subscribers hereunto, do humbly request this Hon. Assembly to grant unto your humble petitioners a settlement and confirmation of a society at a place called the 'Great Swamp' within Farmington bounds, having obtained a liberty from said Farmington for that. Your Honours will determine the bounds for said society accordingly. The principal and only moving cause of this our humble petition is the remoteness from any town, whereby we are under great disadvantage for our soul's good by the ministry of the word, and in that your humble petitioners may be under the better advantage to set up and maintain ye worship & ordinances of Jesus Christ, in that desolate corner of the wilderness, we humbly request that your honors will please to annex into our bounds, for the only use of said society, all those lands that are between our bounds southward and Wallingford bounds northward, for the benefit of the taxes of said lands, for ye support, of ye public charge, of said society, and our unanimous
* The Batcheller lots were to the east of the south part of East Street cn a road long ago given up, but near the present New Britain Home.
33
FARMINGTON - GREAT SWAMP, OR KENSINGTON.
desire. is that the Worshipful Capt. Thomas Hart* will prefer, and declare, this our humble petition, and the circumstances of the case in said court, all which your Honor's petitioners humbly submit. Dated 16 Oct. 1705, and signed,
John Hart, Sen., Jacob Bronson, Jun., Nathl. Cowles,
Richard Seymour,
Isaac Cowles,
Stephen Lee,
Stephen Roote, Samuel Smith,
Daniel Dewey,
John Lee, John Cole,
Samuel Seymour,
Daniel Andrews, Jun.,
Samuel Cowles,
Ebenezer Seymour,
Thos. North,
Isaac Lewis,
Joseph Lankton,
Nehemiah Porter,
Joseph Smith,
Thomas Hart,
Samuel Newel,
Anthony Judd,
John Stanley,
Isaac Norton,
Benjn. Judd,
Thos. Gridley."
John Norton, Caleb Cowles,
This petition was granted, and the " Great Swamp" Society was fully organized. While the chief purpose of seeking a separate organization is given in the foregoing documents, there can be little doubt that some of the most prominent men of the place already contemplated the organ- ization of a distinct town on the principal road from Hartford and Wethersfield to New Haven. The action of this new society in church building, and forming a church, will be given under Ecclesiastical affairs. The old town of Farmington seemed to favor this organization, by abating the taxes in "Farmington Parish," and directing the payment of rates in "Great Swamp " for "setting up and maintaining the public worship of God," but opposed the organization of a new town.
The General Court in 1708, upon petition of the inhab- itants of " Great Swamp," granted them "release from the payment of countrie rates for four years." In 1709, the General Assembly ordered and enacted :
" That all those persons who do inhabit within the bounds and limits of the village called 'Great Swamp' shall pay their ratable proportion of the charge of setting up and maintaining public worship of God there, as it shall arise upon their persons and estates by list made as the law directs; and all persons who improve lands within the said village limits shall for such lands pay their ratable proportion of the said charge altho they do not inhabit them."
* Capt. Thomas Hart was at that time Speaker of the House.
34
HISTORY OF NEW BRITAIN, ETC.
The next year (1710) the General Court extended the powers of the inhabitants of said village, authorizing them
"To levy a tax or rate on the owners and proprietors of all lands whatsoever laid out and divided into lots within the bounds of said village (although not improved) of a half penny current money per acre for four years next ensuing."
The " Great Swamp " Society, or " Farmingtown Village," as it was sometimes called, was gradually extended north- ward toward Farmington, southerly toward Wallingford, and to some extent easterly and westerly. In May, 1715, some of the inhabitants of the west society of Wethersfield peti- tioned the General Court to be set off to the Great Swamp Society. Joseph Talcott, Col. Wm. Whiting, and Captain Aaron Cook, were appointed a committee to go upon the place, and " endeavor by all means to an agreement and accommodation between the petitioners and other inhabitants of said west society of Wethersfield." At the October session of the General Court, the same year, it was enacted, that :
" The part of Wethersfield from the north side of Hurlburt's lot and the north side of Steplien and John Kelsey's land to Middletown bounds, including Beckley's land" shall be annexed to the Great Swamp society provided that they help finish the meeting house and pay fifty pounds to the West Wethersfield Society."
Next, a portion of Middletown is desirous of joining the Great Swamp Society, and in 1718, the General Assembly, in consideration of several inhabitants in the northwest corner of Middletown being within a mile and a half from said corner, enacted as follows :
" All persons who inhabit or shall live within the mile and a half squaret shall be freed from paying rates for ministers in Middletown and shall pay rate to the Great Swamp Society."
In 1722, the General Assembly passed a resolution changing the name of the society to Kensington. At this
* This comprised Beckley Quarter.
t This included Berlin Street and a portion of the territory to the east and south of it.
35
FARMINGTON - GREAT SWAMP, OR KENSINGTON.
time, the society extended northward so as to include the territory now embraced in the eastern and southern parts of New Britain, and southerly to Wallingford (now Meriden). The new accessions to the society had extended its limits to the cast and southeast, and its western boundary was on the Blue Hills. The society had a meeting house, with a pulpit, galleries, and other requisites. Prosperity seemed to attend this new organization, and with the improvement of the land and roads, there was increase in wealth and the appearances of thrift. For a time, harmony prevailed, but very soon it began to be suggested that a new and more commodious meeting-house was needed. Some of the members were in favor of immediate action, while others advocated delay, and the differences in opinion at last became so serious, that at a society meeting held December 2, 1728, it was voted, as follows :
1137031
" That it be their mind to call in some wise, able, and indifferent per- sons to hear, consider, and determine the differences there are among them, relating to a meeting-house for them."
But neither debate among themselves, nor counsel from abroad, produced harmony. In January, 1729-30, a vote was passed to build a new meeting-house on Sergt. John Norton's lot, on the north side of Mill River. But this vote, which was passed by a majority of six only in a vote of seventy-eight, increased the dissension. Troubles arose which continued for many years, but which belong more particularly to Ecclesiastical history. The result was at last, a division of the society by act of the General Assembly, and the foundation of a new and distinct ecclesiastical society, to be known by the name of "New Britain,"* and from this date, 1754, New Britain commences its existence as an inde- pendent, civil, and ecclesiastical organization, with all the powers and privileges of other incorporated societies in the colony. It still remained a part of the town of Farmington, and for much of public civil business the inhabitants con-
* See page 110.
36
HISTORY OF NEW BRITAIN, ETC.
tinued to resort to Farmington street. The New Britain Society embraced nearly the same territory as that of the town, when it was incorporated in 1850.
The founders of Farmington, Berlin, and New Britain were men of intelligence, enterprise, and high moral character. They cleared up the wilderness, constructed roads and bridges, and wisely guided the planting of the institutions of society. Many of the heads of families were God-fearing men, who sought to maintain the worship of God in the new settlements. The political condition of Europe had its ' influence upon these early settlements. Farmington was founded during troublesome times in England. Hampden's trial occurred but three years before this settlement was begun; Lord Strafford was beheaded the year following the erection of the first house; the war between King Charles and the parliament commenced the next year, and seven years afterwards Charles I was executed. The colonists, though having little intercourse with the mother country, were loyal to the English government. Many of them had friends who were active in the army of the Protector, and the intelligence received from the mother country was watched with intense interest. Though friendly to Crom- well, and aided by his fleet and army, Connecticut was one of the first of the colonies, after the restoration of the mon- archy, to recognize Charles II as the rightful sovereign of England.
The settlement at Christian Lane was made during the short and inglorious reign of James II, with whom the colo- nists had little sympathy. During the troublesome times in England, and especially after war broke out between England and Holland, Farmington maintained an efficient " train band," in which citizens of the "Great Swamp Society " held honorable position. The names of Hart, Judd, Lee, North, Stanley, and some others, were conspicuous in the records of the colony, as well as of the town and society, and some of the men bearing these names had military titles, indicating their position in the military organizations of the colony.
37
FARMINGTON - GREAT SWAMP, OR KENSINGTON.
In the settlement of these towns, and laying the found- ations of society, there was little or no distinction between church and state. They were ever closely allied, and the men prominent in organizing the church were the active men in the councils of state. The same local organization or society made provision for preaching and maintaining worship, and also for the education of children, the care of roads, and the maintenance of law and order. The forming of a new parish, the building of a meeting-house, and the ordering of worship, were all subject to the legislation and orders of the General Court, which represented the will and voice of the people.
CHAPTER III.
NEW BRITAIN, 1750-1800.
F YOR several years before New Britain was incorporated as a distinct society, the little community had been exercised by the discussions concerning the division of Kensington, and the questions relating to the petitions and other measures to secure preaching on East Street. The death of Rev. William Burnham, in 1750, gave a new impulse to the efforts which resulted in the incorporation of the society. At that time there were less than forty houses in the territory afterwards embraced in the parish, and in 1850 by the town, and the whole number of inhabitants was less than three hundred.
The first settlers of New Britain were farmers with such limited education as could be obtained at that day. Nearly all had some property, which by frugality and industry was increased after they occupied their new homes. In the eastern part of the parish, commencing at the northern boundary, there was a succession of farms - some large, and others comprising but a few acres - extending southerly, first on the Stanley Road, and then on both Stanley and East streets, to the southern limits of the parish, or to Great Swamp. On the north and west, at irregular intervals, were similar farms, extending from Stanley Quarter and the Farmington Road, along Horse Plain to Pond River, and the source of the Quinnipiac, westerly and southerly, to Hart Quarter, and thence to the Blue Hills in Kensington. In the north part of Stanley Quarter, on East Street, and in Hart Quarter, there were a few large farm buildings, and at or about the time of the incorporation of the New Britain Society, in 1754, most of these farms were provided with comfortable frame houses and out buildings. Upon the less
39
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NEW BRITAIN, 1750-1800.
frequented roads, and near the borders of the place, were a few log cabins and lumbermen's huts.
In the north part of Stanley Quarter, John Clark, Daniel Hart, Thomas Stanley, and his sons, Thomas, Noah, Tim- othy, and Gad, Jonathan Griswold, and a few others, were living upon farms, which already gave evidence of cultivation and thrift. When the society was incorporated, the first three of these men and their farms, were excluded from New Britain, though located within the bounds of the new
society. Thomas Stanley had a large landed estate in Farmington and New Britain, and also land in New Cam- bridge (Bristol). He had several slaves employed either as field hands or help in the house, some of whom were men- tioned in his will. He died before the first church in New . Britain was organized, but three of his sons were members of this church, and they and some of their descendants became prominent in the affairs of the church and society. His eldest son, Thomas, had his home on the east side of the highway in Stanley Quarter ; Noah, the second son, who was about thirty years old when the society was formed, lived on the west side of the road, where his son, and then his grandson, Noah W. Stanley, afterward lived. He kept a tavern at the place. A younger brother, Timothy Stanley, lived on the opposite side of the street, and had a tannery near his house. Gad Stanley was not quite twenty years old when the society was organized, and he was living at the homestead of his father. Jonathan Griswold's place was on the road extending east from Stanley Road near the brook.
On the corner south of Stanley's tavern, Thomas Richards, a man about sixty years of age, had his house, and a black- smith's shop near. He was a native of Hartford, but lived in Southington twenty years or more before coming to New Britain. His blacksmith shop, one of the first in the place, was where James North and others learned the black- smith's trade. John Richards, a son of Thomas, occupied the shop after his father's death. He was about twenty-four years old when the New Britain Society was organized.
40
HISTORY OF NEW BRITAIN, ETC.
Further south on the Stanley road, near the head of Spiritual Lane, was the home of William Smith, a conscientious farmer, about fifty-five years of age. He had a large farm, and he and his brother, Ebenezer, built Churchill's mills, near Wethersfield, afterwards Newington, bounds. Ebenezer Smith, a nephew of William, who had charge of the mills after his father's death, and became sole owner, was living near the mills in 1754, in the prime of life. He identified himself with the interests of New Britain, and was one of the original members of the First Church. A few rods south of the residence of William Smith were the house and farm of Josiah Kilbourn. With the exception of a few families who went to Farmington, the persons already men- · tioned belonged to the West Wethersfield or Newington parish, until the New Britain Society was organized. There were few other houses on the Stanley road north of its inter- section with East Main Street.
Next to Stanley Quarter, East Street was the most thickly settled part of the parish. A little south of the crossing of the New York & New England Railroad was the home of Rob- ert Woodruff. A few rods further south, Major John Pater- son, one of the most prominent men of the time, had a large farm, his house being situated on the west side of East Street. At the time the New Britain Society was organized, he was about forty-seven years of age, and prominent in military affairs and civil life. His large farm was worked partly by slaves. His son, John Paterson, graduated from Yale College a few weeks before his father's death, and then lived at the homestead for several years. He was a practicing attorney and justice of the peace, and also taught school. Benjamin Judd, one of the leaders in the Great Swamp Society, and one of the prime movers of the division of that society, was living on East Street, a short distance south of the Paterson homestead, at the age of eighty-four. He had a large farm, and a family of twelve children, five sons and seven daughters. His house was the northern limit of the Great Swamp, or Kensington parish. Major Paterson, Robert
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