USA > Connecticut > New London County > New London > History of New London, Connecticut, From the First Survey of the Coast in 1612 to 1852 > Part 12
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1 Judd, of Northampton, (MS.)
2 The suffix et appears to be a terminal sound without signification.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
tok, a name still given to a portion of Mohegan, bordering on the river, is probably an abbreviation of the same word.
Most of the local names adopted at the first settlement, have been preserved with remarkable pertinacity. Trading Cove, Long Cove, Little Cove, the Straits' Mouth, Massapeag and Mamacock-all in the river ; Fog Plain, Mile Plain, X Plain, Flat Rock, Great Hill, Ridge Hill, Mullein Hill, Pine Neck, Wigwamps, Log-bridge Hill, (now Loggy Hill,) west of the town ; Winthrop's Neck and Cove, Bream Cove, Green Harbor, Goshen Neck, Alewife Cove-are names that were all in use before 1660, and most of them in 1652. What is now Niantic Bridge was at first known as "Gutt Ferry," and after 1790, as Rope Ferry, which is still in use. Gardiner's Island was Isle of Wight, and Plum Island (rather later) Isle of Patmos. Nassau Island, as a name for Long Island, appears on deeds between 1690 and 1700. Great and Little Gull Islands were undoubtedly so named on account of the sea-gulls that here had their haunts, and whitened the shore with the abundance of their eggs. The Indians had probably named them from the same striking circumstance, and this Indian name, it is conjectured, was identical with that given to a point on the Stonington coast-Wampassok or Wampashok-a name supposed to signify a white land, or a land frequented by white birds.1
One of the islets in the river just below Fort Trumbull was very early known as Nicholl's Cod, perhaps from William Nicholls an early settler : the other at a later period was called Powder Island. Bartlet's Reef, south-west of the mouth of the river, may have had · its name from William or Robert Bartlet, who were coasters or skip- pers on the coast before 1660. This however is not certainly known.
Bachelor's Cove and Jupiter Point, on the Groton shore, were names used in 1653, but can not now be located. Latham's Chair, a cluster of rocks, in the mouth of the river, near Eastern Point, is laid down on charts.
Cohanzie (a district in Waterford) is not on record before 1750, but may have been familiarly used at an earlier date. Its origin is not known, but in all probability it is a modification of some Indian name. According to tradition it is derived from an old Pequot who
1 Wampi, white ; Wampash, a species of wild goose, and probably applied to other birds of white plumage. Wompessacuck, "white head birds,"-a name given to the eagle. See Mass. Hist. Coll., 2d series, vol. 4, p. 275.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
had a wigwam in a dense swamp in the district, where he dwelt and made brooms and baskets for his neighbors, long after all others of his race had disappeared from the neighborhood.
Cedar Swamp, Ash Swamp, Owl Swamp, and other swamps of the neighborhood, all at different periods have enjoyed the reputation of being haunted-not generally, however, by ghosts of the dead, but by living bugbears-such as old Indians, deserters from English ships, witches, and trampers. That species of tradition which is founded upon deeds of murder and violence, has never gained much of a foothold in this vicinity. The Ash Swamp ghost was perhaps an exception, though the legend appears to have faded from memo- ry : it was the apparition of a woman that always appeared with a white apron over her head, so that her face was never seen. A ghost was at one time in the last century said to haunt the vicinity of Mile Brook, where belated travelers were sure to find an old woman em- ployed in letting down bars that constantly replaced themselves, as they fell from her hand.
The following Indian names belong to the original Pequot or Mo- hegan territory. A part of them are still in use : the others have been gleaned from records or tradition.
Cow-waus, a rugged tract of land lying west of the Mohegan or Norwich road. It is the Indian word for pine-tree and designated a locality where pines were found. Cowassit, the Indian name of Blackwell's Brook, that flows into the Quinebaug in Canterbury, and Cowissatuck, in the north-east part of Stonington, are words of the same origin.
Gungewamps, a high, rugged hill three and a half miles north- east of Groton Ferry.
Magunk, a locality on the Great Neck, formerly so called. It may mean a large tree. Magunkahquog, the Indian name of Hop- kinton, Mass., is said to signify, a place of great trees.
Mamacock, the neck of land on which Fort Trumbull is situated ; also a neck of land two miles higher up the river. R. Williams de- fines Maumacock " a point of land bending like a hook."
Mashapaug, now Gardiner's Lake. It was in the north-west cor- ner of the ancient bounds of New London and the south-west corner of ancient Norwich. The English called it at first, " 20-mile-pond." It appears to mean simply Great Pond. Other sheets of water in New England bore the same name.
Massa-peag ; probably a word of the same origin and significa- tion as the foregoing. It is the name of a large cove running into
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Mohegan from the river, six miles north of New London and so in- closed by the land as to resemble a pond. The banks of the cove bear the same name. It was sometimes written Mashpeage.
Massa-wamasog, a brook and cove in Mohegan, north of Massa- peag.
Manatuck, a high, bold hill-top, in Waterford, commanding a fine view of the Sound. The word may perhaps be of the same origin as Montauk.
Mistuckset, a brook in Stonington forming a boundary of land at Quonaduck, granted to Amos Richardson in 1653.
Mystic : this name is similar to the foregoing. It is undoubtedly the true aboriginal name of the river, and not brought, as some have supposed, by the English settlers, from the Mystick which flows into Boston Bay. Roger Williams calls it Mistick before the Pequot War. There is probably some natural feature common to the two rivers which suggested the name. It is now usually written without the k-Mystic.
Namucksuck. Samuel Lathrop's farm, on the west bank of Pe- quot River, four or five miles from New London, was said to be at Namucksuck.
Nantneag. Winthrop sent to Sir Hans Sloane a specimen of a · new mineral, which he says was found "at Nantneag, three miles from New London." The mineral received the name of Colum- bium. No place in the vicinity is now known as Nantneag.
Naiwayonk or Nowayunck, now abbreviated to Noank, a peninsula at the mouth of Mystic River, on the. west side. Cassasinamon's party of Pequot Indians was collected on this peninsula very soon after the settlement of New London, and remained here till about 1667, when they were removed to Mashantucket. A thriving and picturesque village is now spread over the rugged ledges of Noank.
Nayantick or Nahantick: Roger Williams wrote Nayantaquit; other variations are numerous. It is now commonly written Niantic. The bar at Rope Ferry (south-west extremity of Waterford) was probably the original western Nahantick, and Watch Hill Neck, or the south-west part of Westerly, the eastern Nahantick. Nahantick is the same word as Nahant and apparently designates a long, sandy point or beach : the syllable ick is probably expletive.
Oxo-paug-suck. This rugged Indian word has been transmuted by custom into one much more barbarous, viz., Oxy-boxy. It desig- nated a small pond in the north parish of New London (now Mont- ville) and a wild, dashing brook which issued from it and flowed
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
south-east into the Thames. In the lower part of its course the stream was called by the Indians Cochikuack and by the English Saw-mill Brook. Its banks are in many places very bold and ro- mantic. A series of mills and factories (twelve in number) now occupy the choice positions on its course, and a village remarkably picturesque and umbrageous has grown up near its mouth, which is called Uncasville.
Poquetannuck, a river and cove on the east side of the Thames, where Brewster's trading-house was situated. The name is still re- tained and designates also a pleasant village through which the stream flows. Two definitions, of directly opposite import, may be suggested for this word: a fact which illustrates the difficulty of fixing the signification of Indian names. Poqua, it is said, signifies an oak, and Poqua-tannock is, then, a place where there are many oak-trees, a forest of oaks. Again, poqua signifies open, and places with that prefix denote open fields or cleared grounds. Poquetannuck, then, means a place free from all trees.
Poquaug, or more properly Poquyogh, a small bay or cove, be- tween two and three miles west of the mouth of the Thames. The word may be derived from Pequaw-hock or Quaw-haug, the name of the large round clam, which was very abundant in this vicinity. The English at first called it Robin Hood's Bay, but this name was soon dropped and that of Jordan substituted; which name now des- ignates the cove, the brook flowing into it, and the adjoining district. It was probably bestowed by some devout proprietor in honor of the Jordan of Palestine.
Shinicosset, in Groton, east side of the harbor's mouth.
Sepos-tamesuck, a cove and brook in Mohegan, west side of the river.
Swichichog, a rocky point in Mohegan, west side of the river. Swegotchy, west side of Niantic Bay : perhaps both have some ref- erence to saquish, saquishog, clams.
Tauba-konomok, a high hill in the western part of Waterford, overlooking Lake's Pond: now abridged to Konom'ok. It is men- tioned in a town act of March 14th, 1693-4.
" Then voted that the land lying between Popple-swamp and Taba-cono- mock hill shall be and remain for the town's use forever common."
Uhuhioh, written also Uhuoigh, Whoohyoh, and sometimes the last letter k. This name was applied to Jordan Brook where it falls into the cove and to the swampy thickets on its borders. The sound
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HİSTORY OF NEW LONDON.
so much resembles the hooting of an owl as to suggest the idea that the name was derived from that bird. The Mohegan word for owl was, however, Kookoo-ky-om ; and we hazard, as a more pleasing con- jecture, that it was the Indian word for the whippowil, and so named on account of the woods and brakes in the vicinity having been no- ted retreats of this interesting night-warbler. Using what is called in the notation of Indian languages the whistled w, it would be written W'uhioh.1 May not the name of the fair river of the west, Ohio, have a similar origin ?
Wikopasset or Weekopeesuck, a small island at the north-east end of Fisher's Island.
Wee-powaug, a place north of Brewster's farm at Poquetannuck, where Uncas gave to John Picket six or seven hundred acres of land. It fell to his son-in-law Charles Hill.2
1 Heckwelder and Duponceau would probably have given it this orthography.
2 Conn. Col. Rec., vol. 2, p. 142.
11*
CHAPTER IX.
Uncas at variance with the English .- Repeatedly invaded by the Narragan- setts .- Incident at Brewster's Neck .- Efforts to instruct the Indians by Blin- man, Thompson, Minor and Stanton .- Removal and settlement of the two bands of Pequots.
THE Mohegans and the planters at Pequot continued to be for several years troublesome neighbors to each other. The sachem was ever complaining of encroachments upon his royalties and the English farmers of Indian aggressions upon their property. In March, 1653-4, the planters, apparently in some sudden burst of indignation, made an irruption into the Indian territory and took pos- session of
" Uncas his fort, and many of his wigwams at Monheag,"1
The sachem, as usual, carried his grievances to Hartford; and the General Court ordered a letter of inquiry and remonstrance to be written to the town. This was followed by the appointment of a committee, Major Mason, Matthew Griswold and Mr. Winthrop, to review the boundary line between the plantation and the Indians and to "endeavor to compose differences between Pequett and Uncas in love and peace."? This appears to have quieted the present un- easiness, and for several succeeding years the enmity of the Nar- ragansetts furnished the sachem with a motive to conciliate the Eng- lish.
Between 1640 and 1660 he was repeatedly invaded by hostile bands of his own race, that swept over him like the gust of a whirl- wind and drove him for refuge into some stone fort or gloomy Cappa-
1 Conn. Col. Rec., vol. 1, p. 251.
2 Ut supra, p. 257.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
cummock.1 It is wonderful that he should always have escaped from an enmity so deadly and unremitting, and that he should have increased in numbers and strength while so frequently engaged in hostilities.
In 1657, the Narragansetts, taking their usual route through the wilderness, and crossing the fords of the Shetucket and Yantic, pour- ed down upon Mohegan, marking their course with slaughter and devastation.2 Uncas fled before them, and took refuge in a fort at the head of Nahantick River, where his enemies closely besieged him. It is probable that he would soon have been obliged to submit to terms, had not his English neighbors hastened to his relief. Lieut. James Avery, Mr. Brewster, Richard Haughton, Samuel Lothrop and others well armed, succeeded in throwing themselves into the fort ; and the Narragansetts, fearing to engage in a conflict with the English, broke up the siege and returned home. Major Mason, the patron of Uncas, hastened to lay before the General Court an ac- count of the danger to which he had been exposed.3 The Legisla- ture approved of the measures that had been taken for his protec- tion, and requested Mr. Brewster to leave a few men in the fortress with Uncas, to defend him, if again he should be assaulted, and to keep a strict watch over the Narragansetts.
The commissioners who met at Boston in September, took a dif- ferent view of the case. They had come to the determination of leaving the Indians to fight their own battles, and therefore disap- proved of the interference of the English in favor of Uncas. A letter was forthwith dispatched to Pequot directing Mr. Brewster and the others, in Nahantick fort, to retire immediately to their own dwellings, and leave Uncas to manage his affairs himself. For the time to come, they prohibited any interference in the quarrels of In- dians with one another, either by colonies or individuals, except in cases of necessary self-defense.
The next year Uncas was again invaded by the Narragansetts, and with them-united against their common enemy-came the Po- komticks and other tribes belonging to Connecticut River. The Eng- lish did not always escape annoyance from these marauding parties.
1 This name probably refers to an islet in a swamp.
2 " The Narragansetts killed and took captive diverse of his men and seized much of his goods." Hazard, vol. 2.
3 Conn. Col. Rec., vol. 1, pp. 301, 302.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Mr. Brewster preferred a complaint to the commissioners at their next meeting, that the invaders
" Killed an Indian employed in his service, and flying to Mistress Brewster for succor ; yet they violently took him from her, and shot him by her side to her great affrightment."1
This incident undoubtedly occurred on Brewster's Neck at Poque- tannuck. The Indians in their defense said that the Mohegans, their enemies, took shelter in Mr. Brewster's house and were there pro- tected ; that Mr. Brewster and Mr. Thompson supplied them with guns, powder and shot ; that being on the west side of the river, they were shot at by two men from the east side, whereupon their young warriors crossed the stream, and not finding the offenders, concluded they had taken shelter in the house, and pursued them thither. This defense had but little weight with the commissioners ; who amerced the offending Indians in 120 fathoms of wampum.
The repeated invasion of his enemies drove Uncas for a time from his residence in Mohegan proper. He sheltered himself for two or three years within the circle of the English settlements, and dwelt at Nahantick, at Black Point, and even west of Saybrook, on lands claimed by him at Killingworth and Branford. It was not till after the settlement of Norwich in 1660, that he once more established himself in his old home.
The migratory habits of the Indians, who seldom spent summer and winter in the same place, will account in some degree for their wide-spread claims of possession. Foxen, the friend and counselor of Uncas has left his name indelibly impressed in the neighborhood of New London and on the plains of East Haven.2 This fact alone would show the extent of the Mohegan right of dominion ; or rather of the Pequot right, to which the Mohegans succeeded.
In 1657, the court of commissioners, acting as agents to the " Society for propagating the Gospel in New England," proposed to Mr. Blinman to become the missionary of the Pequots and Mohe- gans, offering a salary of £20 per annum, and pay for an interpreter. Mr. Blinman declined ; and the same year Mr. William Thomson,3 a graduate of Harvard College, and son of the first minister of Braintree, Mass., was engaged for the office. His salary from the
1 Records of the Commissioners, in Hazard, vol. 2.
2 East Haven Register, p. 18.
3 This is his own orthography: Farmer in his Register writes it Tompson.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
commissioners was £10 per annum, for the first two years, and £20 per annum, for the next two ; but after 1661 the stipend was with- held, with the remark, that he had " neglected the business." His services were confined entirely to the Pequots at Mystic and Paw- katuck.1 Uncas uniformly declined all offers of introducing religious instruction among his people. Mr. Thomson left New London in feeble health in 1663, and in September, 1664, was in Surry county, Virginia.
The commissioners made many praiseworthy attempts to obtain regular religious instruction for the Pequots, but met with only par- tial success. In 1654, they selected John the son of Thomas Minor and proposed to educate him for an Indian teacher. John the son of Thomas Stanton was also received by them for the same purpose. They were both kept at school and college for two or three years ; but the young men ultimately left their studies and devoted them- selves to other pursuits.
·
The remnant of the Pequots not amalgamated with the Mohegans were principally collected into two bands : one of them lived on or near the Mystic, having Cassasinamon (called by the English Robin) for their chief; the other, on or near the Pawkatuck, under Casha- wasset (or Harmon Garrett.) These miserable fragments of a tribe for many years annually sent their plea to the court of commission- ers asking for more land. Their situation was indeed pitiable. The English crowded them on every side. Their corn was often ruined by the breaking in of wild horses, and loose cattle and swine; and they were not allowed to fish, or hunt, or trespass in any manner upon lands claimed either by Uncas or by the English. Toward these people, the commissioners in 1658 and onward appear to have been kindly disposed. They repeatedly granted them certain tracts of land and appointed persons to see to their removal and accommo- dation. In 1663, they wrote letters to the towns of New London and Southerton requiring them immediately to lay out those lands which had been granted to the Indians, " anno 58." Even this imper- ative proceeding led to no immediate result. It was the favorite plan of the Connecticut authorities, to settle the Pequots at Mohe- gan, under the sway of Uncas, and they consented with reluc- tance that they should remain a distinct community. Mr. Winthrop,
1 Mr. Thomson had a farm at Mystic, but his residence was in the town plot, on what is now Manwaring's Hill. His house was sold when he left the town, to Oliver Manwaring.
.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Capt. Denison, Capt. James Avery, and some other men of influence, dissented from these views and labored for the accommodation of the Pequots.
In 1664, the commissioners referred the charge and responsibility of removing the Indians to the Connecticut delegation. After a further struggle of three years with various contending parties, the object was accomplished. The Connecticut committee report in 1667 :
" As for the Pequot Indians they are settled on a large tract of land for their planting and subsistence, which we wish had been sooner attended, but being now effected, we hope will satisfy our confederates."
This refers to the Mystic Indians, who were removed to the inte- rior of the northern part of the plantation, and settled on a reserva- tion of two thousand acres, called Mashantucket, a name probably transferred from the Mohegan reserved lands west of the river,1 . to which it had been previously applied. - Cassasinamon? remained the ruler or governor of this party until his death in 1692. Other nominal chiefs of their own people followed, but the actual direction of their affairs, down to the present day, has been intrusted to agents, appointed by the legislature.
The removal and settlement of Harmon Garrett's company was attended with yet more difficulty.3 They were ultimately settled, and probably about 1670, on a reservation a few miles east of Mashantucket, in what is now North Stonington. Harmon Garret, otherwise called Wequash-kook, and sometimes Cashawasset, died in 1675 or 1676. Momoho succeeded and died in 1695. Both of these Pequot bands remained faithful to the English in Philip's War and performed good service.
1 In like manner the name Nameug, or Nameak, had been applied to the place where they dwelt at Mystic.
2 One would like to know whether the wit of this tawny chieftain were as spicy as his name. Cassia-cinnamon-how pungent and aromatic !
3 See Mass. Hist. Coll., 3d series, vol. 10, pp. 64-69, where are letters to Gov. Win- throp on the Pequot business, from Capt. Denison and Mr. James Noyes, which show that even candid and honest men may take different views of the same subject. Denison pleads for the Indians with an eloquence and ardor highly honorable to him.
1
CHAPTER X.
Town affairs, civil and ecclesiastical, from 1661 to 1671 .- Extracts from the Moderator's minutes, with explanations and comments .-- Ministry of Mr. Bulkley and Mr. Bradstreet .- First church formed .- First ordination.
THE year 1661 presents us with a new minister. Mr. Gershom Bulkley, of Concord, in the Bay colony, having preached several months in the place, entered into a contract to become the minister of the town. This was merely an engagement for a term of years, and contained no reference to a settlement or ordination. The town pledged a salary of £80 yearly for three years, and afterward more, if the people found themselves able to give more, or "as much more as God shall move their hearts to give, and they do find it needful to be paid." It was to be reckoned in provisions or English goods ; and for the first three years he was to have "all such silver as is weekly contributed by strangers, to help towards the buying of books." The town was to pay for the transportation of himself, family and effects from Concord ; provide him with a dwelling-house, orchard, garden and pasture, and with upland and meadow for a small farm ; supply him yearly with fire-wood for the use of his family, and " do their endeavor to suit him with a servant-man or youth, and a maid, he paying for their time." Finally, if Mr. Bulk- ley should die during the continuance of his ministry, his wife and children should receive from the town "the full and just sum of £60 sterling."
This contract was afterward modified. To obviate some difficul- ty which occurred in building the parsonage, Mr. Bulkley proposed to provide himself with a house, and free the town from the engage- ment to pay £60 to his family in case of his decease, for the sum of £80 in hand. To this the town consented on condition that he re- mained with them seven years, but they added this clause.
" In case he remove before the 7 yeer, he is to return the Sol. agen, but if he stay the 7 yeere out, the 80l. is wholly given him, or if God take him away be- fore this tyme of 7 yeeres, the whole is given his wife and children."
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Mr. Bulkley was a son of the Rev. Peter Bulkley, first minister of Concord, Mass. His mother, the second wife of his father, was Grace, daughter of Sir Richard Chitwood. It has been often rela- ted concerning this lady, that she apparently died on her passage to this country. Her husband supposing land to be near, and unwilling to consign the beloved form to a watery grave, urgently entreated the captain that the body might be kept one day more, and yet another and another day ; to which, as no signs of decay had appeared, he consented. On the third day symptoms of vitality were observed, and before they reached the land, animation, so long suspended, was restored; and though carried from the vessel an invalid, she recovered and lived to old age. Her son, Gershom, was born soon after their arrival, Dec. 26th, 1635. He graduated at Harvard College, in 1655, and married, Oct. 26th, 1659, Sarah Chauncey, daughter of the presi- dent of that institution. His father died in 1659. His widowed mother, Mrs. Grace Bulkley, followed her son to New London, where she purchased the homestead of William Hough, " hard below the meeting-house that now is," and dwelt in the town, a householder, so long as her son remained its minister.
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