USA > Connecticut > New London County > New London > History of New London, Connecticut, From the First Survey of the Coast in 1612 to 1852 > Part 7
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On the 19th of October, 1650, grants were made by the towns- . men to
"Mr. Blynman, Obadiah Bruen, Hughe Caukin, Hughe Roberts, John Coite, Andrew Lester, James Averye, Robert Isbell."
These were all from Gloucester, a town on the eastern coast of Massachusetts, situated upon the peninsula of Cape Ann. Mr. Rich- ard Blinman had been the minister of Gloucester, for eight years, and was now engaged to become the minister of the Pequot planta- tion. The others were a party of his friends, who purposed to re- move with him, and came on to make preparatory arrangements. William Keeny, Ralph Parker, William Wellman, Robert Brookes, Thomas Stanton and John Elderkin,1 all had grants of nearly the
1 One of the grants to Elderkin was " four acres of upland on the neck by the Eng- lish house." This is supposed to refer to the ruins of the building erected by the Mas-
68
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
same date, and the three first named probably belonged also to the Cape Ann party.
Thomas Stanton's house lot consisted of six acres on the Bank, north-east of Brewster's. This locality might be now designated as fronting on Bank Street, north of Tilley, and extending back to Methodist Street. He sold it in 1657 to George Tongue. Robert Brookes had a house lot given him, but forfeited it.
Before the end of the municipal year, Feb. 25th, 1650-1, we find the names of George Chappell, William Comstock, Thomas Doxey, John Gallop, Thomas Hungerford, Mrs. Lake, Captain Sybada, Ed- ward Scott, Edward Stallion, Thomas Stedman, and Matthew Waller, all applicants for house lots.
Kempo Sybada, the Dutch captain, was accommodated with a lot fronting on Mill Cove, the town street running through it, and extend- ing west to the present Huntington Street. In later times it was Shapley property, and Shapley Street was cut through it. Next south was Thomas Doxey's lot, reaching to the present Federal Street, and still farther south the lots of Edward Stallion and Thomas . Bayley, (Bailey,) extending nearly to State Street. Bayley's lot of three acres was granted in August, 1651. West of Stallion and Bay- ley, was Peter Blatchford's lot, that had been laid out the previous year and was estimated at eight acres, but much encumbered with swamp and rock. Church Street now intersects this large lot, which had its front on State Street, extending east and west from Union to Meridian Streets.
On the town street, east of Stallion and Bayley, a lot of ample dimensions was laid out to John Gallop, eight acres in the very heart of the town, covering the space east of the town street to the beach, and extending north from State Street to Federal.
George Chappell's lot, granted Feb. 20th, 1651-2, was afterward the Manwaring homestead, on Manwaring's Hill.
William Comstock's location was on Post Hill, near the present corner of Vauxhall and Williams Streets. Mrs. Lake and John Elderkin had a lot of eight acres divided between them, next south of Comstock. The dividing line between them was directly opposite the intersection of the highway now called Granite Street. South of
sachusetts forces as related in Chapter I. It is never referred to in such a manner as to designate its locality. But it seems ts have been near the town plot, and on a neck. Winthrop's Neck was engrossed by his house lot. Where could it have been. if not on the upland part of Mamacock, i. e. where Fort Trumbull now stands ?
.
69
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
them, near the intersection of the present Broad Street, was Matthew Waller. This elevated neighborhood was called Waller's Hill. Thomas Hungerford had a lot on the Bank, next above Stanton's. Edward Scott and Thomas Stedman forfeited their grants, though at a period fifteen years later, Stedman, or another person of the same name, became an inhabitant.
Trumbull, in the History of Connecticut, treating of the plantation at Pequot, places the removal of Mr. Blinman under 1648 :
" This year Mr. Richard Blinman, who had been a minister in England, re- moved from Gloucester to the new settlement; in consequence of which a con- siderable addition was made to the numbers who had kept their station."
This date is too early. A comparison of the records of Gloucester with those of New London shows that he did not remove till 1650. The records of neither place afford us any clue to the causes which led to this change of abode. No disagreement of Mr. Blinman with his parishioners at Gloucester is mentioned. Ecclesiastical dissen- sions, however, existed in the colony, from which he may have wished to escape. He appears to have been desirous also, of living near to some settlement of the natives, in order to devote a part of his time to their instruction.
The original contract of the town with Mr. Blinman has not been preserved ; but from subsequent references it appears that a committee had been sent to confer with him, who had pledged liberal accommo- dations of land, with a salary of £60 per annum, which was to be enlarged as the ability of the town increased. A house lot of six acres, on Meeting-House Hill, was confirmed to him Dec. 20th, 1650, "three acres whereof, (says the record,) were given by the town's agents, as appears in the articles, and the other three by a public town meeting." This house lot covered some of the highest land in the town plot and was directly north of that of Mr. Parke. De- scribed by modern boundaries, it occupied the space between the old burial-ground and Williams Street, along the north side of Gran- ite Street. The town built his house for him, as appears from vari- ous references and charges respecting it, but on what part of the lot it stood is uncertain.1
The whole eastern or Cape Ann company that proposed removing with Mr. Blinman, could not have been less than twenty families.
1 If conjecture might be allowed, we should fix the site on the slope of the hill upon the north-west side, nearly opposite Richard Post's lot, where is yet remaining an ancient well on the street side.
70
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Nearly this number of planters came on the next spring, but some of them merely to explore and view the country. Perhaps a dozen brought with them their families, cattle and goods, and became per- manent inhabitants. Several of these are supposed to have been members of Mr. Blinman's church at Chepstowe, in Monmouthshire, England, before his ejection. They had accompanied him over the ocean, had kept with him at Marshfield and at Gloucester, and now followed his fortunes to the shore of the Sound. They were farmers and mechanics, who had found Gloucester, which was then little more than a fishing station, an unfavorable place for their occupations, and hoped by coming further south to meet with a less sterile soil and a fairer field for enterprise. It was certainly an object for the faithful pastor and his tried friends to keep together, and as Pequot was without a minister and casting about to obtain one, the arrange- ment was an agreeable one on all sides. The settlement of the Parkes in the plantation was also very probably linked with the re- moval of Mr. Blinman, he being connected with them by family ties.1
In March, 1651, the principal body of these eastern emigrants arrived ; in addition to those already named, John Coite the young- er, William Hough, Thomas Jones, Edmund Marshall and his son John, William Meades and James Morgan, belonged to the same company. With them came also Robert Allyn, from Salem, and Philip Taber, from "Martin's Vineyard." The plantation at this period was a place of considerable resort, and a number of persons enrolled their names and obtained grants, whose wavering purposes soon carried them elsewhere. The younger Coite, the two Marshalls, and Thomas Jones, after a short residence, returned to Gloucester. Philip Taber commenced building a house on Foxen's Hill, which he never occupied or completed. It was sold by his brother-in-law . Cary Latham, in 1653.
Several other persons also appear among the grantees or planters of the town at this flood time of increase, but no certain date can be given for their arrival. These are Matthew Beckwith, the Beeby brothers, (John, Samuel and Thomas,) Peter Collins, George Har- wood, Richard Poole and John Packer. Samuel Beeby, and per- haps John, had been for some time in the plantation, in the service
1 It is probable that Mr. Blinman's wife Mary, and Dorothy, wife of Thomas Parke, were sisters. In various deeds and covenants on record, Mr. Blinman calls Thomas Parke his brother; and in a deed of 1653, he conveys land which he says "I had of my brother-in-law Thomas Parke."
71
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
of Mr. Winthrop. Thomas is supposed to have come with the east- ern company. All had house lots given them in the spring of 1651.
Next to Mr. Blinman, the person of most note in the Cape Ann company, was Obadiah Bruen. He had been recorder and one of the townsmen of Gloucester for several years, and in transferring his residence seems to have taken his pen and his official duty with him. His latest registration in Gloucester was made in December, and the succeeding February he was recorder and one of the townsmen of Pequot. The house lot accorded to him was on Meeting-House Hill, and covered a considerable part of what is now the town square, leaving only narrow highways on the north and west, and extending south to the present Broad Street. Portions of it were afterward given up to the town, by himself and subsequent owners. He sold it in 1653 to William Hough.
Early in 1651, New Street, in the rear of the town plot, was opened for the accommodation of the Cape Ann company. This position was designated as "beyond the brook and the ministry lot." It was carved into house lots and took the name of Cape Ann Lane. The lots on this street were nine in number, of six acres each, ex- tending both sides of the narrow street, from the alder swamp in front to Cedar Swamp on the west. Beginning at the lower end, Hugh Calkins had the first lot by the Lyme road, or highway to Nahantick, as it was then called, and next him was his son-in-law. Hugh Roberts ; then Coite, Lester, Avery, Allyn, Meades, Hough, Isbell. The Beebys and Marshalls were yet farther north. James Morgan was "on the path to New Street," (i. e., Ashcraft' Street.) William Keeny was nearly opposite the south entrance to New Street, on the Nahantick road. Parker was next below him, at the head of Close Cove, and Wellman on the same cove, south-east of Parker. Wellman and Coite, however exchanged lots : the latter was a ship- carpenter and wished to be near the water, where he could be accom- modated with a building yard.
The house lots accorded to the new comers were mostly in the rear of the town plot, where the position was inconvenient and dreary, and the soil hard to cultivate. Many were discouraged and went away, who would perhaps have remained, had their home lots been more inviting. These remarks particularly apply to that series of home lots laid out at this time through New Street and northward of it. Even those who had the courage to settle down in this part of the plantation, soon abandoned the land to pasturage or waste, and found other homesteads. It is but recently that this quarter of the town has resumed some importance. Cape Ann and Lewis Lanes,
72
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
after nearly two hundred years of desolation, are beginning once more to be peopled and cultivated.
EARLIEST BIRTHS.
" Mary, daughter of Robert Hempstead, was born 26 March, 1647."
This is supposed to be the first birth after the settlement. It is not recorded in the town book, but is taken from the will of Robert Hemp- stead, at the close of which is an indorsement of the births of all his children, certified by himself. No birth anterior to this date can be ascertained ; and the uniform current of tradition gives to this the priority. Joshua Hempstead, great-grandson of Robert, in a memo- randum made in his diary about seventy years after the settlement, stated that the above-named Mary Hempstead was the first born of English parents in New London.
Robert Hempstead may also have been the first person married in the settlement. The above-named Mary was his oldest child. His wife Joanna is supposed to have been a daughter of Isaac and Joanna Willie. Winthrop was undoubtedly the officiating magis- trate, in the earliest marriages, but no record of any marriage by him, or incidental notice of any other than the one at Bride Brook, has come down to us.
It should be noticed that in the town registry of births there are several which bear an earlier date than that of Mary Hempstead ; but on a close investigation, it will be found that these took place in other towns. The registry entitled "Births in New London," be- gins with the following record :
" Hannah, the daughter of James Avery, was born 11 Oct. 1644.
" James, the son of do .- 15 Dec. 1646.
"Mary, the daughter of do .- 19 Feb. 1647."
Yet James Avery did not settle in the place till 1651, and upon ex- amination of the records of Gloucester, Mass., from whence he re- moved, we find the births of these children recorded there. This is not a solitary instance of loose and inaccurate registry, calculated to mislead inquirers.
Next after Mary Hempstead, and the first-born male of New London, was Manasseh, son of Thomas and Grace Miner, born April 28th, 1647. Nor can we find any other births recorded earl- ier than the next two children of Thomas Miner. But we know from other authority, that Winthrop's daughter Martha1 was born here in July or August, 1648. Other births, also, may have taken place, of which the record, if any were made, is lost.
1 Savage's Winthrop, vol. 2, app., p. 355.
CHAPTER V.
New Recorder and Moderator .- Extracts from the Moderator's Memorandum Books, with a running commentary .- Grants, Grantees and Town Affairs, 1651-1661.
FEB. 25th, 1650 [51.] The four townsmen chosen were Messrs. Winthrop, Stebbins, R. Parke and Bruen. This was the last year in which Winthrop acted in that capacity, though he continued to be consulted in all important affairs. His duties as an assistant of the colony, and his various private undertakings, in setting up mills and forges, and his large trading and farming operations, sufficiently account for his retiring, in a great measure, from town concerns.
At the same annual election of town officers, a very important ap- pointment was made.
" By a generall consent Obadiah Bruen was chosen Recorder of the towne of Pequot."
Mr. Bruen continued in this office without interruption for sixteen years, and was usually moderator of the town meetings; so that scarcely any record of deeds, votes, choice of officers, accounts, bills of lading, or copies of legislative acts, can be found belonging to that period, in any other handwriting than his. Ten years after this appointment, a resolution was adopted by the five townsmen, which shows a laudable desire to preserve the public documents, and as it relates to the matter now in hand, it may be copied here, though not in the order of time.
" Feb. 6, 1660.
" For the settling perfecting and fairly recording of all records, for the town's use and good of after posterity, wee agreed that there shall be a towne booke, with an Alphabet in it, wherein all acts passed, orders or agreements, shall hereafter be fairly recorded, whether past or to come, for the effecting here- of, we agree that all the old bookes of records shall be searched into for what is material concerning the public good, to be drawn out into a booke provided
7
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
and paid for by the Recorder, who shall have Gd. paid him out of the town rate for every act, law or order recorded."
[Signed by the townsmen, Obadiah Bruen, Hugh Calkin, James Rogers, James Avery, William Nichols. ]
"The old bookes of records" were those sheets which furnished matter for the foregoing chapter, and several subsequent small mem- orandum books kept by the moderators and town-clerk. Extracts from these were now engrossed into a larger book, which is labeled "Town Book No. 1, Letter E." Those regulations which continued in force, and other items important to the well-being of the town, were transferred to the new book, but not in regular order, and some- times strangely intermixed with the current affairs of the period when the copy was made. Grants were copied and registered with more precise bounds, in a book by themselves, which is referred to as the "old book under Mr. Brewster ;" the registration having been commenced by him.
Fortunately, a part of the series of memorandum books from which the extracts were made, remain, though in a fragmentary state and sometimes illegible. But even in this state, they are of far greater value than the subsequent copy. They are more ample and minute in detail, and being made by the clerk upon the spot, they bring us nearer to the scene and make the picture more vivid. These brief jottings down, therefore, will be followed as far as they go. . Their suggestive tendency and the bold outlines they sketch, will more than compensate for breaking the regular course of historical narrative. Such explanations as may render them intelligible will be interwoven.
The earliest minute in Mr. Bruen's hand is on a scrap of paper, apparently part of the first leaf of a memorandum book. It is dated July, 1651, and affords a full list of the actual inhabitants at that time.
" The names of all y' wrought at the Mill Dam.
Kary Latham Jnº Gallope Jnº Gager Thom. Parke
Taylor
Willey
Hanshut
Jnº Stubbin
Tabor Waterhouse half a day.
Longdon
Comstock
Mynor
Beeby pr Mr Parke
Chappell
O Bruen
Thos Welles Lewis
Nichols
Masters
Bemas
Blatchford
Mudg
1
75
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Keny
/ Hungerford
Parker
Stallon
Wellman
Waller
Brewster
Harwood
Bartlet
Burrows
Morton
Packer
Waterhouse
Doxe
Hempsted
Burden
Fossiker
Marshall.
Stanton
Four names on the list belong to transient or fluctuating resi- dents, viz., Thomas Hanshut, Nathaniel Masters, John Fossiker and John Borden ; who, after remaining a year, or two years, and com- ing and going several times, finally left the plantation.
" July 30-Richard Hauton a Boston man desires a lot."
Though here called a Boston man, the name of Richard Haugh- ton is not found on the early records of that place, except in the conveyance of a dwelling-house and garden to Samson Shore, tailor, 27 of 8 mo. 51,1 which probably was about the period that he re- moved his family to Pequot. He had married the widow Charlet, of Boston, and the tenement had probably belonged to her. Haugh- ton had a house lot granted on Foxen's Hill.
" Aug. 15th, 1651.
" It is agreed that there shall be a common field fenced in ; the fence begin- ning about Greene Harbor, and to run through the woods to Robin Hood's Bay."
This was for the planting of Indian corn. Robin Hood's Bay is now Jordan Cove. The former appellation was retained but a short time. The name Green Harbor, still in familiar use, came in with the emigrants from Cape Ann, and was probably so called in remem- brance of Green Harbor, now Marshfield, where Mr. Blinman and his friends had dwelt before going to Gloucester.
Aug. 29th. The following sketch is supposed from the votes that follow, to show the result of a ballot for deputies to the General Court.
Brewster
7
Mynor 1
10
1
9
Parke 1
1
2
3
Stanton 1 1 1
3
2
Bruen
1
1
.
1
Calkin,
5
1 10
1 James Savage, Esq., (MS.)
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
" The Towne have sent to the Court by there Deputys Hugh Calkin & Thomas Mynor that the Towne's name may be called London.
" And to know there enlargement to Pockatuck.
" Also about indians powther."
This second application concerning the name of the town, was no more successful than the former had been. The Court in Septem- ber, while it confirmed the enlargement of the bounds to Pawka- tuck River, called the town by its old name, "Nameage."1
"Memorandums for town meeting, Sept. 20.
" To propound bying of Mr. Parks barne.2
" A rate for Mr. Blynmans half yeer : chuse rater.
" Speak about new drum,
" Chuse one to run the lyne to Pockatuck.
" Read the Towne grant from the Court.
" A training day. A rate for the book of lawes.
" Amos Richerson is to have a lot."
Richardson was from Boston, and had commercial dealings with the planters. Instead of taking up a new lot, he purchased that of Richard Post, on Post Hill. The conveyance was made to him by Richard Post, hammersmith, who henceforth disappears from the roll of inhabitants.
Under this date a minute is made of several rate lists, which are interesting as illustrative of the simplicity of the times. They are the statistics of a fresh-settled, frugal people, with food, raiment and housekeeping of the plainest kind that could be called comfortable, abounding only in land and the hope of future good. After enum- erating house and house lot, meadow, marsh and upland, the planter had from two to four cows; half a dozen calves, yearlings and two years old ; a litter of swine, and two or three sheep, or perhaps only a share in a stock of two or three sheep. This was all the ratable property of even some of the oldest settlers, as Willey, Waterhouse, and Lewis. Waterhouse had one ox, and it is the only one men- tioned on five rate lists.
:
" October.
" John Picket, Mr. Stanton enformed mee, (3 or 4 yeares agoe) desired a lott- now desires to renew it, and desires a lott by the Dutch Captins, a seaman,- granted.
1 Col. Rec. Conn., vol. 1, p. 224.
2 Mr. Parke's barn was used for the meeting-house, and the call to service was by beat of drum.
77
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
" Mrs. Lake requests for upland and meddo to her house lott.
"Cowkeeper expects pay for Cowes he desires to know from us what every one must pay.
" About 6b. to make up the mill dam.
" Another rate for the ministry.
" A rate for the new meeting house."
Other names that make their first appearance during the year 1651, principally as grantees, are :
" Richard Aerie, f. 1 John Davies,
Edward Messenger,
Goodman Barker, f. Capt. Denason,
John Pickworth, f.
(of Charlestowne,)
Goodman Garlick, f. John Read, f.
Lieutenant Bud, f.
John Gesbie, f.
Thomas Roach,
John Coale, f.
John Ingason, f.
William Vincent, f."
Edward Codner,
Very few of these persons became permanent settlers. Most of them, after a short residence and several changes of location, for- feited their grants. It was the rule that lots not built upon or fenced within six months, were forfeited. Grants made in the early part of the year and neglected, were declared forfeit at Michaelmas ;2 but on application the time was often extended to nine months or a year.
Richard Aery was from Gloucester, and probably a mariner, as he often visited the place in subsequent years.
Lieutenant Budd was from New Haven colony. The house lot given him was directly in the center of the town plot, covering what is now called the Parade, leaving only a strip for fort land on the water-side and a highway on the north. The grantee forfeited his lot, and it was given to Amos Richardson in exchange for his Post lot.
John Cole is called "a ploo-right," (plow maker.) Among oth- er grants, "the marsh upon pyne island" was given him. This isl- and, or islet, which lies on the Groton shore, still retains its desig- nation, though long since denuded of the original growth of pines from which it was derived.
Capt. George Denison, from Roxbury, Mass., had a house lot giv- en him on what is now Hempstead Street, opposite the present jail. It has since been known as the old Chapman homestead. .
Goodman Garlick was probably the Joseph Garlick afterward of
1 f., forfeited.
2 The 20th of September. Mr. Bruen wrote the word mighelstide. 7*
78
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
East Hampton, L. I., who became conspicuous in 1657, on account of the arrest of his wife on suspicion of witchcraft.1
Thomas Roach is not recorded as a grantee of this year; but in a deposition made by him in 1708, he states that he came to the town " nearly fifty-eight years ago," which would place him in this list.
Nov. 15th, a house lot in the lower part of the town, near Close Cove, was laid out to William Chesebrough; from which it may be inferred that the grantee was purposing to transfer his residence from Pawkatuck, where he had been living a wild and solitary life for up- ward of two years, to the town plot. There is no evidence that this plan was accomplished, or that he in any way occupied the grant in town. It was afterward given to Mr. Bruen.
Just a month later, Mr. Chesebrough was again before the towns- men, in regard to a private grievance, and obtained an order in his favor.
" Whereas Goodman Cheesbrough is as we are informed hindered of John Leighton to fetch home his haie wee the townsmen of Pequot doe order that the said Goodman Cheesbrough2 shall have liberty to goe any way he shall see most convenient for him to bring it home without any let or hindrance from the said John Leighton. This is determined by us untill the Towne shall take further order to dispose both of the way and land."
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