USA > Connecticut > New London County > New London > History of New London, Connecticut, From the First Survey of the Coast in 1612 to 1852 > Part 35
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The records of the town do not contain the slightest allusion to this act of atrocity. Tradition, however, has faithfully preserved the history, coinciding in important facts with the account contained in documents on file among the colonial records at Hartford. John Bolles, the infant thus providentially preserved from slaughter, in a pamphlet which he published in after life, concerning his peculiar religious tenets, alludes to the tragic event of his infancy, in the fol- lowing terms:
" My father lived about a mile from New London town, and my mother was at home with only three little children. I being the youngest, about ten months old, she, with the other two were murdered by a youth about sixteen years of age, who was afterward executed at Hartford, and I was found at my dead mother's breast."
1 In some papers at Hartford, this child is called Thomas; at his baptism the name registered was Joseph.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Tradition states that the blood of the child Mary, who was killed as she was endeavoring to escape from the door, flowed out upon the rock on which the house stood, and that the stains long remained.1
Thomas Bolles married, 2. Rebecca, daughter of Matthew Waller, who died February 10th, 1711-2. His third wife was Hopestill, relict of Nathaniel Chappell, who survived him, and died in 1753, aged about ninety. Mr. Bolles was much employed in town affairs, and for nearly twenty years was in the commission of the peace. It does not appear that he had any children after the death of his first wife.
John Bolles married Sarah, daughter of John Edgecomb, July 3d, 1699, by whom he had eight sons and two daughters. By a second wife, Elizabeth Wood, of Groton, he had five more children : Samuel, the youngest, was born May 10th, 1744. Mr. Bolles died in 1767, aged ninety, and in his will enumerates thirteen children then living. Similar instances in our early history, where the heads of a family and six, eight or ten children all live beyond the span allotted to our race, occur with sufficient frequency to produce the impression that life to maturity was more certain, and cases of medium longevity more numerous in the first three generations after the settlement, than in the three that succeed them. Certainly such instances were of more frequent occurrence than at the present day, in proportion to the population.
Samuel Fox, died September 4th, 1727, aged seventy-seren.
Samuel and John Fox were sons of Thomas Fox, of Concord. Samuel Fox married Mary, supposed to be daughter of Andrew Les- ter, and born in Gloucester, in 1647, March 30th, 1675-6. They had a son Samuel, born April 24th, 1681. After this he contracted a second, third and fourth marriage, and had sons, Isaac, Samuel and Benjamin, which should probably be assigned to the second wife, Joanna, who died in 1689. The third wife was Bathsheba, relict of Richard Smith, and daughter of James Rogers, (born in Milford, 1650.) There is no record made of any marriages or births in the family after 1681. A singular caprice led Mr. Fox and some others in that day to give the same name to two children by a different
1 This house is said to have stood a little south of the stone mansion built by Capt. Daniel Deshon, now owned by Capt. Lyman Allyn. The platform of rock, near which the house stood, has been partly blasted away.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
mother. When a name, therefore, is repeated in a list of children, it is not always an indication that the first named had died before the birth of the other. Samuel Fox, in his will, makes bequests to his two sons, Samuel the elder and younger. The former had settled in the North Parish, at a place still known as Fox's Mills. He is the ancestor of the Fox families of Montville.
John Fox, son of Thomas, of Concord, married Sarah, daughter of Greenfield Larrabee, June 2d, 1678. They had a son John, born June 1st, 1680, who died December 12th, 1711, leaving a wife, Eliz- abeth, but no children. They had other sons and daughters, but all died without issue, except Benjamin. In a deed of 1718, he calls Benjamin, " my only child which it hath pleased God to continue in the land of the living."
John Fox married, 2. Hannah, relict of Thomas Stedman; 3. Mary, daughter of Daniel Lester, 2d. His last wife was fifty years younger than himself, and granddaughter to his sister.1
Mrs. Sarah Knight.
A cloud of uncertainty rests upon the history of Mrs. Knight. She was born about 1665, but where, of what parentage, when mar- ried, who was her husband, and when he was taken from her by death, are points not yet ascertained. All that is known of her kin- dred is, that she was related to the Prout and Trowbridge families, of New Haven. The few data that have been gathered respecting her, in this vicinity, will be rehearsed in order. In 1698, she appears at Norwich, with goods to sell, and is styled widow and shopkeeper. In this connection it may be mentioned that among the planters, in a settlement then recently commenced by Major James Fitch, of Nor- wich, at Peagscomtuck, now Canterbury, was a John Knight, who died in 1695. It is possible that Mrs. Knight was his relict; she appears to have had one child only, a daughter Elizabeth ; and it is probable that John Knight had no sons, as the continuation of his name and family has not been traced. He is not the ancestor of the Knight family afterward found at the West Farms, in Norwich, which originated with David Knight, who married Sarah Backus, in 1692, had sons and daughters, and died in 1744.
Mrs. Knight remained but a short time in Norwich, perhaps three
1 The wife of Daniel Lester, Sen., was Hannah Fox, of Concord. This singular connection is mentioned in the New England Weekly Journal, printed in Boston, April 20th, 1730, after noticing the death of John Fox.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
or four years. At the time of her celebrated journey from Boston to New York, in 1704, she was a resident of Boston. In 1717, she was again living at Norwich; a silver cup for the communion service was presented by her to the church, and the town by vote, August 12th, gave her liberty to " sit in the pew where she used to sit." In 1718, March 26th, Mrs. Knight and six other persons were presented in one indictment " for selling strong drink to the Indians." They were fined twenty shillings and costs. It is added to the record, "Mrs. Knight accused her maid, Ann Clark, of the fact." After this peri- od, Mrs. Knight appears as a land purchaser in the North Parish of New London, generally as a partner with Joseph Bradford ; she was also a pew-holder in the new church built in that parish, about 1724, and was sometimes styled of Norwich, and sometimes of New Lon- don. This can be easily accounted for, as she retained her dwelling- house in Norwich, but her farms, where she spent a portion of her time, were within the bounds of New London. On one of the latter, the Livingston farm, upon the Norwich road, she kept entertainment for travelers, and is called innkeeper. At this place she died, and was brought to New London for interment. A gray head-stone, of which an exact impression is given below, marks the place.
HERE LYETH TE
BODY
OF M
rs SARAH KNICHT
T
WHO DIED
SEP THE
25
1727
IN THE
62 YEAR
OF
HER
ACE
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
The only child of Mrs. Knight, Elizabeth, relict of Col. John Livingston, survived her and presented her inventory, which com- prised two farms in Mohegan with housing and mills-£1,600, and estate in Norwich-£210. Mrs. Knight was a woman of consider- able distinction in her day. She certainly possessed more than a common portion of energy, talent and education. She wrote poetry and diaries, transacted various kinds of business, speculated in In- dian lands, and at different times kept a tavern, managed a shop of merchandise and cultivated a farm. Her journal kept during a journey from Boston to New York, performed on horseback and in company with the post or with chance travelers, in the year 1704, was published a few years since under the editorial supervision of Mr. Theodore Dwight. This journal in manuscript had been care- fully preserved in the Christophers family, to whom it came after the death of Mrs. Livingston ; Sarah, wife of Christopher Chris- tophers, who was a Prout, of New Haven, and a relative, being ap- pointed to administer on her estate. From a descendant of this , Mrs. Christophers, viz., Mrs. Ichabod Wetmore, of Middletown, the manuscript was obtained for publication. It had been neatly copied into a small book. The original was not returned to Mrs. Wetmore and is now supposed to be lost.1
George Geer, died in 1727.
The Isbell farm bought by George Geer Oct. 31st, 1665, was bound- ed north by the line between New London and Norwich, (now Led- yard and Preston.) George Geer married Sarah, daughter of Rob- ert Allyn, Feb. 17th, 1658-9. They had six sons and as many daughters. Capt. Robert Geer was one of the leading inhabitants of North Groton during the first half of the eighteenth century, and his mill was one of the three places where all warnings were to be posted.
Fargo.
The first of this name in New London was Moses, who became a resident in 1680. He had nine children, of whom the five youngest were sons-Moses, Ralph, Robert, Thomas and Aaron. Moses
1 These particulars were communicated by the daughter of Mrs. Wetmore, Mrs. Andrew Mather, of New London.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Fargo, or Firgo as it was then often written, and his wife Sarah, were both living in 1726.
Thomas Leach, died Nov. 24th, 1732.
He was eighty years of age and had dwelt in the town upward of fifty years. By his first wife, Abigail, daughter of Richard Haugh- ton, he had but one child ; viz., Sarah, who was born in 1684 and married in 1706 to Andrew Crocker. His second wife was Mary daughter of Clement Miner ; and his third, the relict of John Crock- er. His children by the three wives amounted to thirteen. The sons who lived to have families were, Thomas, born about 1690; Clement, in 1693; Samuel, in 1707; Joseph, in 1709; Richard, in 1711, and Jonathan, 1716.
John Ames, died June 1st, 1735.
He had been about forty years an inhabitant of New London, and had sons, John, Robert and Samuel. No registry of their births has ' been found.
CHAPTER XX.
From 1700 to 1750 .- Death of Governor Winthrop .- The Minister of New London chosen Governor .- Settlement of Rev. Eliphalet Adams .- List of 1708 and 1709 .- Expedition of 1711 against Canada .- Death of Governor Saltonstall .- War with Spain .- Memorials and petitions for fortification .- Petition to the King .- Expedition to Cape Breton.
WHEN post-offices and post roads were established in America, which was near the commencement of the eighteenth century, the great route from Boston to New York was through New London, which was then reckoned 110 miles from Boston and 156 from New York. By act of Parliament in 1710, New London was made the chief post-office in Connecticut ; single letters from thence to New York paid ninepence; to any place sixty miles distant, fourpence ; one hundred miles distant, sixpence.1
From the Boston News Letter, which began to be issued in April, 1704, and was the first newspaper published in North America, the following extracts are taken.
" New London, Aug. 9th, 1704. On Thursday last marched from hence, Capt. John Livingston with a brave company of volunteers, English and In- dians to reinforce the frontiers."
" Boston, June 11th, 1705. Captain John Livingston, with the other messen- gers sent by our Governor to the Governor of Canada at Quebeck to concert the exchange of prisoners, returned this day."
" Boston, Nov. 27th, 1707. About 4 o'clock this morning the Honorable John Winthrop, Esq., Governor of his Majesty's Colony of Connecticut, departed this life in the 69th year of his age: being born at Ipswich in New England, March 14th, anno 1638 :- Whose body is to be interred here on Thursday next the 4th of December."
The event announced in this last extract claims some further no- tice from the historian of New London. Governor Winthrop had
1 See this act in Mass. Hist. Coll., 3d series, vol. 7, p. 71.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
gone to Boston for medical aid, in an enfeebled state of health. He died in the tenth year of his office, and was interred in the same tomb with his father and grandfather, in the church-yard of King's Chapel. His public duties since the year 1690 had kept him much of the time away from New London, yet this always continued to be his home. His death was an important event to the town. As a member of the commonwealth it had lost its head, and as a com- munity it was bereaved of a tried friend and influential citizen. It led the way also to another removal-that of their minister. On the death of the governor, a special assembly was convened to elect a temporary successor, and a majority of the votes were given for the Rev. Gurdon Saltonstall, of New London. He accepted the appointment and on the 1st of January, 1708, took the oath of office. · At the annual election in May, he was chosen governor by the votes of the freemen and was annually reelected to the office from that time until his death.
A transition so sudden from the sacred desk to the chair of the magistrate is an unusual, if not a solitary event. How the appoint- ment was received by the church and congregation under Mr. Sal- tonstall's charge, we do not learn, as no entry was made on either the town or church record respecting it. But from the known pop- ularity of Mr. Saltonstall, we may suppose that in the first instance they were filled with grief and amazement. We are told by the historian Trumbull, that the Assembly addressed a letter to his peo- ple, acquainting them that their minister was called to engage in another important course of service and using arguments to induce them to acquiesce in the result.
Mr. Saltonstall himself has been freely censured for thus resign- ing a spiritual incumbency to engage in the routine of temporal affairs. The Rev. Isaac Backus, the venerable Baptist author of the Church History of New England, says of him with severity : " He readily quitted the solemn charge of souls for worldly promo- tion." But Mr. Saltonstall doubtless acted upon his own convictions of duty and believed that he could more effectually benefit his gen- eration in the charge which he now assumed than in that which he laid down. He had been the messenger of the town for twenty years and may even have thought that a change of ministration would not be injurious to his flock, especially as he still remained in the church and stood ready as before to assist them with his counsel.
The personal gifts of Mr. Saltonstall added much to his influence. He was tall and well proportioned, and of dignified aspect and de -
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
meanor. Some points of his character carried perhaps to excess, acquired for him the reputation of being severe, imperious, and of seeking self-aggrandization. But among his brethren of the clergy he enjoyed unbounded popularity. He strove to exalt the minis- terial office and maintain its dignity, and was himself the exponent of rigid orthodoxy. It was perhaps clerical influence, acting invis- ibly, which raised him to the chief magistracy. He loved synods and councils and was for giving them large powers. A friend to law and order, he would have men submit to authority and live soberly, taking reason and religion for their guides. In his view, the affairs of both church and state should be managed by rules, judiciously established and then made firm and unalterable. The platform of ecclesiastical discipline formed at Saybrook, accepted by most of the churches, and established as the law of the state in October, 1708, was the embodiment of the principles which he favored. That instrument owed much to his counsels and influence.
Being thus an advocate for rigorous ecclesiastical authority, he was disposed to check all who dissented from the established rule, with the harsh strokes of discipline. It was during his ministry that the principles of the regular Baptists were planted in Groton. On that side of the river, within the circle of his own church, many were discontented with his ministry. A list of "Complaints against the Elder of the Church of Christ in New London," was drawn up in 1700, signed by five members of the church, viz., James Avery, John Morgan, Samuel Bill, John Fox and James Morgan, Jr., and carried before the General Court in May, who referred it to an ecclesiastical council that was to convene at Killingworth in June. Of the nature of these complaints we are not informed. The result of the council was communicated to the church in New London, June 19th ; and this was followed by a vote of suspension from church privileges of the offending members. The difficulty did not end here. A paper of remonstrances was next drawn up and signed by several persons, who were dealt with in the same way-suspended from membership until they should acknowledge their offense and tender their submission. These persons were termed subscribers in a way of reproach ; but most of them were afterward reconciled to the elder and restored to the church.
Mr. Saltonstall's register of baptisms commences Dec. 6th, 1691, and ends Dec. 21st, 1707. The number is about six hundred and forty. The admissions to the church during this period of sixteen years, were one hundred and fifty-four. The number of marriages
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
recorded by him is thirty-seven. The first is in March, 1697, and this is the earliest notice we find of the marriage rite performed by a clergyman in New London. It may be inferred from the limited number in his register, that even at this period the magistrate had more business in this line than the minister.
A town meeting was held, June 7th, 1708, to determine on the means to be employed in order to obtain "an able and faithful min- ister of the gospel." It will be remembered that at this time the whole town (since the separation of Groton) contained but one meeting-house, one regular church and congregation, and one or- dained minister. The whole, therefore, were concerned in the vacancy of the pulpit. It was decided that Deacon William Doug- lass and Deacon John Plumbe should repair with all convenient speed to Boston and ask advice of the reverend ministers there, with respect to a fitting person, and " to mention to them particularly the Reverend Mr. Adams, who now preaches in Boston, and ask their thoughts concerning his being called to the work of the minis- try here." Whatever person should be recommended they were to invite in the name of the town to come and preach "for some con- venient term in order to a settlement, if it may be, and to wait upon him in his journey hither." Finally, it was ordered "that the select- men furnish the deacons with money to defray the charges of their journey."
This mission was successful ; the services of Mr. Eliphalet Adams, a young minister of great promise, were engaged, and on the return of the deacons with this favorable report, the town expressed entire satisfaction at the prospect before them and complimented the en- voys with a gratuity in lands. In their vote they say : "Mr. Adams is well accepted by the town for the ministry, and if he shall see cause to settle, we will do what is honorable for his settlement and support."
Mr. Adams was the son of Rev. William Adams, of Dedham, Mass., by his first wife, Mary Manning. The second wife and relict of Rev. William Adams had married Major James Fitch, of Can- terbury ; and one of his daughters was united in marriage with the Rev. Samuel Whiting, of Windham. Eliphalet Adams having these connections in Connecticut, had spent considerable time in the colony, and his character and style of preaching were well known. No long delay, therefore, was necessary to enable the people of New London to decide on his qualifications. He arrived in town August 20th, and an invitation to settle was extended to him Sep-
0
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
tember 8th, with a request for a speedy ordination, and offering him as a settlement the hundred pounds given by the country to the town toward the settlement of a minister.
The gratuity here mentioned was bestowed by the legislature as a compensation in part for depriving the town of its former minister, Mr. Saltonstall-oil in return for light. To this sum £88 were added by subscription. The salary was fixed at £90 per annum, which was to be made up in three several ways-by rates, by inter- est of the Liveen fund, and by strangers' money : that is, contribu- tions from visitors in the town who should attend church. It was customary for strangers of distinction to make a handsome donation on such occasions, and it was usually kept distinct from the offerings of the inhabitants ; the latter being often deducted from their rates.
Mr. Adams was ordained Feb. 9th, 1708-9. Gov. Saltonstall appeared as the representative of the town to declare their accep- tance of the candidate. The assisting ministers were Mr. Samuel - Whiting, Mr. James Noyes and Mr. Timothy Woodbridge.
A committee was soon afterward chosen to seat the meeting-house, or rather to fill the vacancies, for it was ordered that no person should be removed, unless it was to be seated higher, and in graduating the places, the committee were instructed to consider age and service done to the town and charges borne in town affairs. Leave was given to Gov. Saltonstall to build himself a pew on the north side of the meeting-house, between the pulpit and the north-west corner pew ; "his honor agreeing with the successors of the late Gov. Winthrop for removing the pew he sat in, either home to the pulpit, or home to the corner pew, to make room for building the pew afore- said." The capacity of the meeting-house was soon afterward en- larged by building an additional gallery on each side above the first.
At this period, the pews of greatest honor were each side of the pulpit. As we pursue the line of years downward, we find the pew always a subject of interest. No woman of spirit and ambition re- garded it as a matter of indifference in what pew she should sit in church.
" In town meeting April 30, 1723, it is voted-
" That Mrs. Green the deacon's wife be seated in ye fore seat on the woman's side."
" Mercy Jiggels is by vote seated in the third seat on the woman's side where she is ordered by the town to sit."
" Jan. 13, 1723-4. Voted, that for the benefit of setting the psalm Mr. Fos- dick is seated in the third seat at the end next the altar."
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON ..
It almost excites a smile at the present day to see so much grave legislation about the seats of individuals at church ; but birth, rank and station had certain privileges in those days which are no longer conceded, and this was one of the channels in which emulation ran. In 1723, a controversy between two families nearly related, about the possession of a pew, reached such a height, that it was brought before the town meeting, and a committee appointed to hear the matter and order one of them to desist going into the pew. It ap- peared that the two men, brothers-in-law, occupying the pew together, the wife of each claimed the upper seat, which was the post of honor, and neither would yield the precedence.
While inside of the church, and treating of its arrangements, a few details from the Hempstead diary may be interesting.
" July 23. (1721) A contribution to build a house for the Rector of Yale Col- lege ; a very small one."
" Aug. 5. (1722) A contribution for the support of the Presbyterian ministers to preach at Providence-per order of the Governor and Company."
" Nov. 14. (1725) A contribution for a Canterbury woman, who had three children at a birth and all living."
" May 19 (1731.) I paid Mr. Adams 30s. which I subscribed to give him to buy him a negro man."
" Aug. 17. (1734) A large book of Mr. Baxter's works is brought into the meeting house and left there to read in, between meetings for those who stay there."
The following vote was passed at a meeting of the church, in 1726 :
" Whereas divers persons of good character and deportment stand off from joining us because a relation of experience is insisted on-it is agreed that here- after this is not to be considered a test, but indifferent, and those who have great scruple and difficulty may be excused."
The list of New London, returned to the General Court in Octo- ber, 1708, was £8,476, 14s. Number of males, 249. Hartford, New Haven, Windsor and Norwich, stood higher in point of prop- erty, but only Hartford and Windsor in the number of men.
In Oct., 1709, the list was £10,288, 3s .; males, 188. The re- duction in one year of the number of males, is sixty-one. Norwich also was reduced from 174 to 155 ; Hartford from 320 to 230. Con- necticut raised that year a body of 350 men, under Col. Whiting, for the Canadian frontier, and it is probable that the returns were made while they were in the field. In that case, New London furnished beyond her proportion of the quota.
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