USA > Connecticut > New London County > New London > History of New London, Connecticut, From the First Survey of the Coast in 1612 to 1852 > Part 5
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The majority again gave their voice in favor of Connecticut, assigning this reason-"Jurisdiction goeth constantly with the Patent."2
Massachusetts made repeated exceptions to this decision. The argument was in truth weak, inasmuch as the Warwick Patent seems never to have been transferred to Connecticut,-the colony being for many years without even a copy of that instrument. The right from conquest was the only valid foundation on which she could rest her claim, and here her position was impregnable.
Mr. Peters appears to have been from the first, associated with Winthrop in the projected settlement, having a coordinate authority and manifesting an equal degree of zeal and energy in the under- taking. But his continuance in the country, and all his plans in re- gard to the new town, were cut short by a summons from home,
1 Sav. Winthrop, vol. 2, p. 265.
2 Records of the United Colonies. (Hazard, vol. 2.)
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
inviting him to return to the guidance of his ancient flock in Corn- wall. He left Pequot, never to see it again, in the autumn of 1646.1 In November he was in Boston preparing to embark.2
Mr. Winthrop removed his family from Boston in October, '46 ; his brother, Deane Winthrop, accompanied him. They came by sea, encountering a violent tempest on the passage, and dwelt during the first winter on Fisher's Island. A part of the children were left behind in Boston, but joined their parents the next summer; at which time, Mr. Winthrop having built a house, removed his family to the town plot.3 Mrs. Lake returned to the plantation in 1647, and was regarded as an inhabitant, having a home lot assigned to her, and sharing in grants and divisions of land, as other settlers, though she was not a householder. She resided in the family of Winthrop until after he was chosen governor of the colony, and re- moved to Hartford. The latter part of her life was spent at Ips- wich.
. Governor Winthrop, of Massachusetts, regarded the new planta- tion with great interest. As a patriot, a statesman and a father, his mind expatiated upon it with hope and solicitude. A few days after the departure from Boston of his son, with his family, he wrote to him :
" The blessing of the Lord be upon you, and he protect and guide you in this great undertaking."
" I commend you and my good daughter, and your children, and Deane, and all your company in your plantation, (whom I desire to salute,) to the gracious protection and blessing of the Lord."
To this chapter may properly be added the relation of a romantic incident that occurred at an early period of the settlement, and which
1 Edward Winslow, in his work " New England's Salamander Discovered," written in England in 1647, has this passage: Mr. Thomas Peters, a minister that was driven out of Cornwall by Sir Ralph Hopton in these late wars, and fled to New England for shelter, being called back by his people, and now in London, &c.
2 Sav. Win., vol. 2, app., p. 352. His wife never came to this country. See Gen. Reg. vol. 2, p. 63, where in a letter to the elder Winthrop, he complains that though he had written many letters to his wife and brother, he " never could receive one syl- lable from either."
3 See letters from the elder Winthrop to his son, in the appendix to Savage's Win- throp. They are directed to Fisher's Island, until May, 1647, when the address is " To my very good son, Mr. John Winthrop, at Nameage, upon Pequot river." Mr. Winthrop's children, Elizabeth, Wait-Still, Mary and Lucy, were left for the first sea- son in Boston. Probably Fitz-John and Margaret, the latter an infant, came with their parents. Martha was born at Pequot in July or August, 1648. Anne, the youngest child, was also in all probability born here, but neither of these births are on our records.
48
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
had an important bearing on the western boundary question that sub- sequently threw the town into a belligerent attitude toward Lyme.
In March, 1672, when the controversy in respect to bounds be- tween New London and Lyme was carried before the Legislature, Mr. Winthrop, then governor of the colony, being called on for his testimony, gave it in a narrative form ; his object being to show ex- plicitly, that the little stream known as Bride Brook, was originally regarded as the boundary between the two plantations. The pre- amble of his deposition is in substance as follows :
" When we began the plantation in the Pequot country, now called New Lon- don, I had a commission from the Massachusetts government, and the ordering of matters was left to myself. Not finding meadow sufficient for even a small plantation, unless the meadows and marshes west of Nahantick river were ad- joined, I determined that the bounds of the plantation should be to the brook, now called Bride Brook, which was looked upon as certainly without Saybrook bounds. This was an encouragement to proceed with the plantation, which otherwise could not have gone on, there being no suitable accommodation near the place."
In corroboration of this fact, and to show that the people of Say- brook at first acquiesced in this boundary line, the governor related an incident which he says "fell out the first winter of our settling there." This must have been the winter of 1646-7, which was the first spent by him in the plantation. The main points of the story were these :
A young couple in Saybrook were to be married : the groom was Jonathan Rudd. The governor does not give the name of the bride, and unfortunately the omission is not supplied by either record or tradition. The wedding day was fixed, and a magistrate from one of the upper towns on the river, was engaged to perform the rite ; for there was not, it seems, any person in Saybrook duly qualified to officiate on such an occasion. But, " there falling out at that time a great snow," the paths were obliterated, traveling obstructed, and in- tercourse with the interior interrupted; so that "the magistrate intended to go down thither was hindered by the depth of the snow." On the sea-board there is usually a less weight of snow, and the courses can be more readily ascertained. The nuptials must not be delayed without inevitable necessity. Application was therefore made to Mr, Winthrop to come to Saybrook, and unite the parties. But he, deriving his authority from Massachusetts, could not legally officiate in Connecticut.
" I saw it necessary [he observes] to deny them in that way, but told them for an expedient for their accommodation, if they come to the plantation
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
it might be done. But that being too difficult for them, it was agreed that they should come to that place, which is now called Bride Brook, as being a place within the bounds of that authority whereby I then acted ; otherwise I had exceeded the limits of my commission."
This proposition was accepted. On the brink of this little stream, the boundary between two colonies, the parties met : Winthrop and his friends from Pequot, and the bridal train from Saybrook. Here the ceremony was performed, under the shelter of no roof, by no hospitable fireside ; without any accommodations but those furnished by the snow-covered earth, the overarching heaven, and perchance the sheltering side of a forest of pines or cedars. Romantic lovers have sometimes pledged their faith by joining hands over a narrow streamlet ; but never, perhaps, before or since, was the legal rite per- formed, in a situation so wild and solitary, and under circumstances so interesting and peculiar.
We are not told how the parties traveled, whether on horseback, or on sleds or snow-shoes ; nor what cheer they brought with them, whether cakes or fruit, the juice of the orchard or vineyard, or the fiery extract of the cane. We only know that at that time conven- iences and comforts were few, and luxuries unknown. Yet simple and homely as the accompaniments must have been, a glow of hal- lowed beauty will ever rest upon the scene. We fancy that we hear the foot-tramp upon the crisp snow; the ice cracks as they cross the frozen stream; the wind sighs through the leafless forest, and the clear voice of Winthrop swells upon the ear like a devout strain of music, now low, and then rising high to heaven, as it passes through the varied accents of tender admonition, legal decision and solemn prayer. The impressive group stand around, wrapped in their frosty mantles, with heads reverently bowed down, and at the given sign, the two plighted hands come forth from among the furs, and are clasped together in token of a life-long, affectionate trust. The scene ends in a general burst of hearty hilarity.
Bride Brook issues from a beautiful sheet of water, known as Bride Lake or Pond, and runs into the Sound about a mile west of Giant's Cove. In a straight line it is not more than two miles west of Niantick Bay. The Indian name of the pond, or brook, or of both, was Sunk-i-paug or Sunkipaug-suck.1
1 " Sunkipaug means cold water. In Elliot's Indian Bible, Prov. 25: 25, he has, As sonkipog [cold water] to a thirsty soul, &c. So in Matthew, 10: 42 .- Whosoever shall give sonkipog [a cup of cold water] to one of these little ones," &c. (S. Judd, MS.)
5
50
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
EAST LY ME
Waterford
Bride Lake
8
Bride
Br.
Millstone Pt.
0
Niantic Bay
Giant's Neck.
Black Pt.
SKETCH OF BRIDE BROOK.
It received the name of Bride Brook on the spot, at the time of the nuptial celebration. Winthrop in his deposition, (which is on file among the state records at Hartford,) says, "and at that time the place had (i. e., received) the denomination of Bride Brook." That a considerable company had assembled is evident from the narrative, which alludes to those present from Pequot, and to the gentlemen of the other party, who " were well satisfied with what was done."
Thus it appears that Bride Brook was originally the western boundary of New London. It had been fixed upon as the terminus between her and Sayboook, anterior to the marriage solemnized upon its eastern brink, though it obtained its name from that occurrence.
CHAPTER III.
Indian neighbors .- The Nameugs and Mohegans .- Hostility of Uncas .- Pro- ceedings of the Commissioners relative to the Pequots.
THE whole extent of the new settlement was a conquered coun- try. No Indian titles were to be obtained, no Indian claims settled. It was emphatically, as it was then called, Pequot ; the land left by an extinguished tribe ; or if not extinguished in fact, legally held to be so, and doomed to extinction. According to Winthrop's own tes- timony,1 before laying out the plantation, he collected all the neigh- boring Indians in one assembly in order to ascertain the legitimate bounds occupied by the Pequot tribe, that no encroachment might be made on the rights of the Mohegans, and that Uncas then made no pretence to any land east of the river, nor claimed on the west side any further south than Cochikuack, or Saw-mill brook, and the cove into which it flows.2 This therefore was the northern boundary.
Uncas was at first much in favor of the settlement of Winthrop in his neighborhood, and made him a present of wampum in token of satisfaction. He was then in want of aid against the Narragansetts. But his strong attachment to Major Mason, and others of the Con- necticut magistrates, operated to produce distrust of a company that belonged to another jurisdiction. To add to this estrangement, a local jealousy arose. The remnant of the Pequots that survived the struggle of 1637, (and they were more numerous than had been sup- posed at the time,) were principally assigned to the care of Uncas, and subjected to a burdensome tribute. A small settlement of these Indians was found by the English on the site selected for their plan- tation. They were Pequots, but called, from the place they inhab-
1 Letter of the governor, June, 1666, on Co. Court Records.
2 About six miles north of New London Harbor, where is now the village of Uncas- ville.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
ited, by the distinctive name of Nameaugs or Namearks. The chief man among them was Cassasinamon, to whom the English gave the familiar name of Robin.
These Indians received the English with open arms. Themselves, their huts, and all their scanty accommodations, were at their dispo- sal. They served as guides, messengers, assistants and servants, and they were repaid with friendship and protection. The English interfered to soften the rigor of Uncas, and abate his unreasonable exactions. The courtesy with which he at first received them, there- fore, was soon changed to jealousy and distrust. The first years of the plantation were rendered tumultuous and uneasy by his threats. Straggling bands of savage warriors, surly and defying, were often seen hovering about the settlement, to the great terror of the inhab- itants.
The agents of the plantation say :
" He quickly took offence and fell to outrages; his carriage hath been since as if he intended, by alarums and affrightments, to distrust and break up the plantation."1
The first considerable breach of the peace occurred in the summer of 1646. The circumstances were briefly these. Mr. Peters had been indisposed, and while recovering, requested the Nameaugs to procure him some venison. The latter hesitated, through fear of Uncas, their liege lord, who arrogated to himself the sole privilege of making a hunt within his dominions. Being encouraged, however, to make the attempt, and counseled to hunt east of the river, and to go, as if from an English town, with Englishmen in company, Robin, with twenty of his men, and a few of the whites, crossed the river, and uniting with another band of Pequots and Eastern Nahanticks, under Wequashkook, went forth in bold array, to drive the deer through the vast wilderness on that side of the river. But Uncas obtained notice of their design, and lay in wait for them with 300 men, armed for war. Seizing the favorable moment, he burst forth upon the unprepared sportsmen, with all the noise and fury of an Indian onset, and pursued them with great clamor and fierceness back to the plantation. The arrows flew thick, and some of the Pe- quots were wounded. Some Indian habitations were plundered, and cattle driven away. Slight losses were also sustained by the Eng- lish. The Mohegan warriors, on their return homeward, showed
1 Records of the Commissioners in Hazard, vol. 2.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
themselves on the hills near the town plot, making hostile demon- strations, that filled the small band of settlers with perplexity and apprehension.
The Court of Commissioners of the United Colonies, to whom the adjustment of all Indian affairs belonged, met in September at New Haven. Mr. Peters, by letter, complained of the outrage committed by Uncas. Wm. Morton also appeared in person as agent of the plantation, accompanied by three Nameaugs, and preferred various charges against Uncas ; all corroborating the fact that he maintained an insolent and threatening attitude toward the English, and was uniformly cruel and oppressive to the Pequots. The sachem being confronted with his accusers, had the address to prove them in the wrong, except in the matter of alarming and disturbing the English, by vindicating his right, and punishing his rebellious subjects, so im- mediately in their vicinity. For this offense he apologized, and was let off with a reprimand. Mr. Morton and his three witnesses were rather unceremoniously dismissed, and the Nameaugs were impera- tively commanded to return to their allegiance to Uncas.
At the next meeting of the commissioners, (July, 1647,) Winthrop was himself present, and presented a petition signed by sixty-two Indians "now dwelling at Namyok," entreating to be released from subjection to Uncas, and allowed to settle together in one place un- der the protection of the English. In the debate upon this petition, the whole conduct of Uncas was reviewed, and the court acknowl- edged that the outrage of the preceding summer had been too lightly treated by them. In addition to former complaints, it was stated that he had been more recently guilty of extensive depredations upon the Nipmucks, who had settled on the Quinebaug river, under the protection of the Massachusetts government.
The charge also of insolent bearing, and hostility toward the new settlement at Pequot was reiterated against the sachem. Winthrop stated, that Nowequa,1 the brother of Uncas, had made a descent with his men upon the coast of Fisher's Island, destroyed a canoe and alarmed his people who were there. The same chief, on his re- turn to Mohegan,
" Hovered around the English plantation in a suspicious manner, with forty or fifty of his men, many of them armed with guns, to the affrightment not only of the Indians on the shore (so that some of them began to bring their goods to the English houses) but divers of the English themselves."2
1 The same as Waweequa or Waweekus. 5*
2 Hazard, vol. 2.
54
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Foxon, the deputy of Uncas at this court, was a prudent and skill- ful counselor, esteemed by the natives "the wisest Indian in the country."" He used his utmost endeavors to exculpate the sachem from the various charges brought against him, but admitted the guilt of Waweequa, under whom, he said, and without the knowledge of Uncas, the hostile incursion had been made on the Nipmucks.
The court rebuked Uncas for his "sinful miscarriages," and amer- ced him in one hundred fathoms of wampum, but repeated the order that the Pequots should return to his sway and become amalgamated with his people :
" Yet they thought fit that the old men who were at Nam-e-oke before Mr. Winthrop's coming, should continue there, or be so provided for as may best suit the English at Pequot, but under subjection to Uncas as the rest."
The refusal of the court to comply with the earnest petition of the oppressed Nameaugs, may seem harsh at the present day. But it must be remembered that the Pequots were then a terror to the whole country. The very name caused an involuntary shuddering, or excited strong disgust. The commissioners excuse their decision by saying, that they had not forgotten "the proud wars some years since made by them, and the decree subsequently passed that they should not be suffered to retain their name, or be a distinct people."2
It can not be denied that in all controversies between the Mohe- gans and other Indian tribes, the colonial authorities were inclined to favor Uncas. This chief, by the destruction of his enemies, and the gratitude of the English, was daily rising into importance. The elder Winthrop counseled his son, to cultivate the friendship of a chief, whose proximity would render him an inconvenient enemy :
" I hear that Uncas is much at Connecticut, soliciting, &c. Seeing he is your neighbor, I would wish you not to be averse to reconciliation with him, if they of Connecticut desire it."3
Several years elapsed before these amicable relations were estab- lished. It is doubtful whether Mr. Winthrop and the sachem were ever cordial friends.
The decision of the commissioners that the Nameaugs should be amalgamated with the Mohegans was never carried into effect. The . English planters countenanced them in throwing off the yoke, and
1 Letter of Elliot. Mass. His. Coll., 2d series, vol. 4, p. 57.
2 Hazard.
3 Letter of 1647. Savage's Winthrop.
55
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
boldly stood between them and their exasperated chief.1 The de- cree was solemnly reenacted by the court in October, '48. " And it was now thought fit," says the record, " that Mr. John Winthrop be informed of the continued minds and resolutions of the commis- sioners for their return;" that in case Uncas should be obliged to enforce the order, he should not be opposed by him and his company, nor the Pequots sheltered by them. Again in July, '49, the com- missioners uttered their testimony against the continued withdrawing of the Pequots from Uncas. The country at large could not allow the hated name to be perpetuated. Though some of the Nameaugs had never taken any part in the strife with the English, others had undoubtedly been numbered among the warriors of Sassacus, and some were even accused by the Mohegans of having been in the Mystic fort fight, and to have escaped under cover of the smoke. Those of the tribe that had taken part in the barbarous outrages committed at Saybrook and Wethersfield in 1636, were regarded with yet greater detestation.
So late as 1651, Major Mason and Thomas Stanton were commis- sioned by the General Court to make a rigid inquest whether any of those "murtherers of the English before the Pequett warres," could be found, that they might " be brought to condign punishment."
1 Letter of R. Williams to Winthrop in Oct., 1648, notices " the outrageous carriage of Onkas among you."
CHAPTER IV.
Ancient Records .- Early Regulations .- First Grantees .- First division of lands. Court orders for the Government .- Enlargement of Bounds .- Indian trading house .-- First Minister .- Earliest Births.
THE earliest records of the town were made in a loosely stitched book, which is now in a fragmentary state. Some succeeding scribe has labeled it "The Antientest Book, for 1648, 49, 50,"-but a few fragments are found in it dated yet earlier,-in 1646 and '7.
Who was the clerk or recorder of this old book is not ascertained. He uses the orthography, Hempsteed, Lothroup, Winthroup, Isarke Willie, Minor, &c. Instances of provincialism in employing and omitting the aspirate occur, as huse for use ; eavy for heavy. The two Winthrops, John and Deane, are uniformly entitled Mr., as are also Jonathan Brewster and Robert Parke, when they appear in the plantation ; but all others are styled Goodman, or mentioned by Christian and surname, without any prefix.
The public officers at this time were one constable, five townsmen, among whom Winthrop held a paramount authority, two fence-view- ers and clearers of highways, and two overseers of wears. The an- nual meeting was held on the last Thursday in February. The legal or dating year began on the 25th of March. Subsequently, though not in this oldest book, the double date was used between the 25th of . February and 25th of March. In one end of the book was kept the account of town meetings and regulations made by the inhabitants, or by the townsmen, and in the other, (the book being turned,) a record of house-lots and other grants.
That which appears to be the oldest remaining page of this " An- tientest Book," and consequently the oldest fragment of record extant in the town, begins with No. 13 of a series of by-laws; the first twelve being lost. It is dated July, the year gone, but we learn from the dates following that it was 1646.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
13. " It is agreed by the inhabitants of Nameeug1 that the land liing between the oxe pastuer at the end of the field by John Robinsons and so between the highway and the great river aloung to alwife brooke? shall be for a coren [corn] field for the use of the town to make a generall filde.
" The 17 of Desember William Mortons meadow was recorded and the same day Robert Hempsteeds plot by the cove 2 pole."
The ox-pasture was on the river, north of Winthrop's Neck. The fencing of this pasture, to receive the cattle of the planters, and the building of a bridge over the brook at the north end of the town plot, were probably some of the first preparatory steps toward the settle- ment.
The next regulations are unimportant ; relating to trespasses of cattle and laying out of lots.
"John Stubens and Robert Hempsteed are chosen to view the fences for this year, [1647.]"
" 25 of februarrie 1647, [1648, New Style ]
" The inhabitants of Nameeug did chuse with a joynt consent Mr. John win- throup, Robert hempsteed, Samuell lothroup, Isarke willie and Thomas Minor to act in all Towne affaires as the other fouer did the last yeare with Mr. John winthroup having the same power as he did have the last yeare only no plant- ing grounde must be granted or laid out for this yeare but in the generall coren [corn] fielde at foxens hill3 the other side of the great river4 we may lay out, by lot only must it be laid out.
" the same day Isarke willie was granted by the said inhabitants to have a planting lot at the other side of the cove by Mr. deane winthroups lot.
" It is ordered the 2 of march [1648] whosoever from this time forward shall take up any lot that if he com not in six months time to inhabit his lot shall be forfite to the Towne-and further it is agreed that no prsons or pson [person] shall have admittance into the Towne of Nameeug there to be an inhabitant except the pties or ptie [party] shall bring some testimonie from the mages- trates or Elders of the place that they com from or from some neighbor planta- tions and some good Christian, what their carriage is or have been."
This'last order has a line drawn over it as expunged. It was prob-
1 This rugged Indian name is the only one used in the records to designate the plantation till 1649.
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