History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 62

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1317

USA > Connecticut > New London County > History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 62

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253

NORWICH.

CHAPTER XX.

NORWICH-(Continued).

ORIGINAL PROPRIETORS AND OTHER EARLY SETTLERS.

Maj. John Mason-Rev. James Fitch-Adgate-Allyn-Buckus-Bald- win-Bingham- Birchard-Bliss-Bowers-Bradford-IIngh Calkins -John Calkins - Edgerton - Gager - Gifford -Griswold-Hendy- Howard - Huntington-Hyde-Leffingwell-Olmsted-Pease-Post- Reed-Reynolds-Royce-Smith-Tracy-Wade-Wallis-Waterman -Abel - Brewster - Buslinell-Elderkin-Lathrop -- Allen-Allerton -Ames-Andrews-Armstrong-Arnold- Avery- Baker - Bacon - Badger-Barrett-Barstow-Bates-Belden-Bell-Blackmore-Boom - Burton - Burley- Capron - Carson - Carpenter -Carter-Case- Cathcart-Chapman-Chappell-Cleveland-Coolidge-Cole-Cotteral -Crant-Crocker - Cross-Cullenin-Culver-Culverswell-Darby- Davis-Deans - Dean - Decker - Denison - Dennis-Dowd- Edge- combe - Fairbanks-Fales-Fargo-Field - Fillmore-Ford-Fowler -Fox - Frasier -French-Gaylord-Gibbons-Gookin-Gonld-Gor- ton -Gove-Green-Grist-Grover - Hull - Hamilton-Hammond- HIarrington - Harris - Hartshorn - Haskins-Hazen-IIeath-Hen- drick-Hill - Hodges-Hough-IIntchins- Hutchinson-Jennings- Jones - Johnson - Kelly-Kennedy- Kimball -King-Kingsbury- Kirby - Knowles - Knowlton - Ladd - Lamb - Lawrence - Lee- Loomer -Lord-Low-Lyon - Marshall -Meade-Metcalf-Merrick -Moore-Morgan-Moseley-Munsell-Norman-Ormsby-Palineter -Pasmore- Peck-Pember-Pettis-Phillips-Pierce-Pike-Pitcher -Polly- Prior - Raymond - Richards - Roberts - Rogers-Rood- Rosebrough - Rudd-Sabin-Sluman-Smalbent-Spalding-Stone- Stickney-Stoddard - Story-Swetland-Tenny-Todd - Thomas - Tubbs-Walker-Warren-Way-Welsh -- White-Whitaker-Wight- man-Williams-Willoughby -- Wood-Woodworth.

Sketches of Original Proprietors and Other Early Settlers.1-MAJ. JOHN MASON. Every memoir of Mason is obliged to take him up at the prime of life, for of his birth,2 parentage, and early years no certain information has been obtained. When he first appears in history he is in the English army, under Sir Thomas Fairfax, fighting in the Netherlands in behalf of the Dutch patriots against the bigotry and tyranny of Spain.

He is supposed to have emigrated to this country in 1630, with Mr. Warham's company, that sailed from Plymouth, England, March 20th, and arrived at Nan- tasket May 30th of that year. But this cannot be stated with absolute certainty, as he has not been actually traced on this side of the ocean before De- cember, 1632, when he was engaged in a cruise with John Gallop, under a commission from the Governor and magistrates of Massachusetts, to search for a pirate called Dixy Bull, who had for some time annoyed the coast with petty depredations. He was then called Lieut. Mason, but soon afterwards attained the rank of captain. In 1634 he was one of a committee ap- pointed to plan the fortifications of Boston Harbor, and was specially employed in raising a battery upon Castle Island.

In March, 1635, he was the representative of Dor- chester to the General Court, but in the latter part of the same year or early in the next removed with the major part of Mr. Warham's people to the Connecti- cut Valley. Here the emigrants planted themselves,

on the western bank of Connecticut River, above Hartford, and founded the pleasant and honorable town of Windsor.

With the residence of Capt. Mason at Windsor all the stirring scenes of the Pequot war are connected. This was the great event of the early history of Con- necticut, and the overshadowing exploit of Mason's life. He was instrumental in originating the expe- dition, formed the plan, followed out its details, fought its battles, clinched, as it were, with iron screws its results, and wrote its history. This war was begun and ended when Connecticut had only two hundred and fifty inhabitants, comprised princi- pally in the three towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor. Out of these Mason gathered a band of seventy men, and passing down Connecticut River, landed in the Narragansett country, and being joined by a band of friendly Indians, marched directly into the heart of the hostile territory, assailed the Pequots in their strongest fortress, destroyed it, laid waste their dwellings, and killed nearly half of the whole nation. This expedition occupied three weeks and two days. The skill, prudence, firmness, and active courage displayed by Mason in this exploit were such as to gain him a high standing among military com- manders. From this period he became renowned as an Indian-fighter, and stood forth a buckler of de- fense to the exposed colonists, but a terror to the wild people of the wilderness.

In 1637 he was appointed by the General Court the chief military officer of the colony, his duty being " to train the military men" of the several plantations ten days in every year ; salary, forty pounds per annum.3 At a later period (1654) he was authorized to assem- ble all the train-bands of the colony once in two years for a general review. The office was equivalent to that of major-general. He retained it through the remainder of his life, thirty-five years, and during that time appears to have been the only person in the colony with the rank and title of major.

When the fort at Saybrook was transferred by Col. Fenwick to the jurisdiction of the colony, Mason was appointed to receive the investment, and at the spe- cial request of the inhabitants he removed to that place and was made commander of the station. Here he had his home for the next twelve years.

The people of New Haven were not entirely satis- fied with their location, and formed a design of re- moving to a tract of land which they had purchased on the Delaware River. In 1651 they proposed this matter to Capt. Mason, urgently requesting him to remove with them and take the management of the company. This invitation is a proof of the high opinion his contemporaries had formed both of his civil and military talents. The offers they made him were liberal, and he was on the point of accepting,

1 Condensed from Miss Caulkins' History of Norwich.

2 That he was born about 1600 may be inferred from his age at the time of his death-upwards of seventy-in 1672.

3 " The saide Capt. Mason shall have liberty to traine the saide mili- tary men in every plantation tenn dayes in every yeere, soe as it be not in June or July."-Conn. Col. Rec., i. 15.

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when the Legislature of Connecticut interfered, en- treating him not to leave the colony, and declaring that they could by no means consent to his removal. Finding that his presence was considered essential to the safety of Connecticut, he declined the offers of New Haven. If he went there was no one left who could make his place good ; neither had New Haven any person in reserve who could fill the station de- signed for him, and therefore the projected settlement never took place. The active disposition of Mason, however, never lacked employment. There was scarcely a year in which he was not obliged to go on some expedition among the Indian tribes to negotiate, or to fight, or to pacify their mutual quarrels. At one time his faithful friend Uncas was in danger from a powerful league of the other tribes, but the season- able preparations of Mason for his relief frightened the foe into peace and submission. At another time he was sent with arms and men to the assistance of the Long Island Indians against Ninigrate, the pow- erful sachem of the Nahanticks, who threatened them with extirpation. This service he gallantly per- formed, but only two years afterwards was compelled to appear again on that island with a band of soldiers, in order to chastise the very Indians, mischievous and ungrateful, whom he had before relieved.

We find him at the same time, and for several years in succession, holding various public offices, all ardu- ous and important. He was Indian agent, Indian umpire, and the counselor of the government in all Indian concerns; captain of the fort, justice of the peace, and empowered to hold courts as a judge; a member likewise of two deliberative bodies, the Con- necticut Legislature and the Board of Commissioners of the United Colonies; major-general of the militia at home, and the acting commander in all expeditions abroad. In 1660 he was chosen Deputy Governor, to which office he was annually re-elected for eight years, five under the old form and three under the king's charter, which united Connecticut with New Haven. The same year he was actively employed, in conjunction with Mr. Fitch and others, in effecting the settlement of Norwich, and also in purchasing of the Mohegans a large tract of land in behalf of the colony.

At this time also, for nearly two years, he per- formed all the duties of the chief magistrate of the colony, Winthrop, the Governor, being absent in England engaged in negotiations respecting the charter.

Thus. the life of Mason on this continent may be distributed into four portions. The first was given to Dorchester, and the remainder, in nearly equal parts, to the three towns in Connecticut that he assisted in planting :

Lieutenant and captain at Dorchester, five and a half years.

Conqueror of the Pequots, magistrate and major at Windsor, twelve years.

Captain of the fort and commissioner of the United Colonies at Saybrook, twelve.

Deputy Governor and assistant at Norwich, twelve. He was not chosen Deputy Governor after 1668, but continued in duty as an assistant, and was present for the last time at the election in May, 1671.

Of the original band of Norwich purchasers, Mason was one of the carliest laid in the grave.1 He died Jan. 30, 1671-72. According to Trumbull, he was in the seventy-third year of his age. His last hours were cheered by the prayers and counsels of his be- loved pastor and son-in-law, Mr. Fitch. Two years before he had requested his fellow-citizens to excuse him from all further public services, on account of his age and infirmity, so that the close of his life, though overshadowed by suffering from an acute disease, was unharassed by care and responsibility. There is no coeval record that points out his burial- place, but uniform tradition and current belief in the neighborhood from generation to generation leave no reason to doubt that he was interred where other in- habitants of that generation were laid,-that is, in the Post and Gager burial-ground, or first cemetery of Norwich.

He had been for twelve years an inhabitant of Norwich. It was his chosen home, and no urgent motive can be assigned for his interment elsewhere. Moreover, it was midwinter, when a traveling proces- sion in a new country, with the imperfect accommo- dations of that period, would have been almost im- practicable. Had he been removed under such cir- cumstances to any other place for interment (to Saybrook or Windsor, for example) the event would have been of public notoriety throughout the colony, and must inevitably have been recorded somewhere in the annals of the day.

All the probabilities, therefore, are in favor of his having been buried in Norwich.

Mason is one of the prominent figures in our early history. He shines forth as a valiant soldier and a wise counselor. He was prudent and yet enterprising, fertile in resources, prompt and heroic in the field of action. The natural ardor of his mind, fostered by early military adventures, and continually called into exercise by great emergencies, made him a fearless leader in war. Sturdy in frame and hardy in constitu- tion, regardless of danger, fatigue, or exposure, he was invaluable as a pioneer in difficult enterprises and a founder of new plantations. He was also a religious man and a patriot, of virtuous habits and moderate ambition. Though he sustained many high and hon-

1 Richard Hendy had deceased before this period, but no prominent proprietor except William Backus, Sr. The precise date of Mason's death is ascertained from a contemporary journal kept by Rev. Simon Brad- street, of New London, whose record is as follows :

" Jan. 30, 1671 (O. S.). Major Jno. Mason who had severall times been Deputy Governt of Connecticut Colony dyed. He was aged about 70. He lived the 2 or 3 last years of his life in Extream misery with ye slone or strangury or some such desease. He dyed with much comfort and assure it should be well with him."-Hist. and Gen. Reg., 9, 46.

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orable offices in the infant colony, he is best known by the simple title of captain. Trumbull comprises his peculiar traits in these few words: "He was tall and portly, full of martial fire, and shunned no hard- ships or dangers in the defense and service of the colony."

Yet, viewing the character of Mason at this distance of time, we become aware of some rigid and imperious features. Though faithful to his convictions of duty, he was stern and unrelenting in the execution of jus- tice, and as a magistrate and commander, dictatorial and self-reliant.

Roger Williams, in his correspondence with Win- throp, of New London, refers to Mason in terms which lead us to infer that the latter, as a neighbor, was not particularly acceptable to other plantations :

"Since I mention Capt. Mason, worthy sir, I humbly beg of the Father of Lights to guide you in youre converse and neighbourhood with him." " Sir, heape coales of firo on Capt. Mason's head, conquer evil with good, but be not cowardly and overcome with any evill."

Again, alluding to dispatches that he had received from Capt. Mason, he says,-

"The letters are kind to myself but terrible to all these natives, es- pecially to the sachims."

Uncas and his tribe were peculiarly the wards and adherents of Mason, and he seemed pledged to defend them against all complaints. We may be disposed to charge him with cruelty to a vanquished foe, but the same taint lies on most of the early colonists. He only shared in the ferocious character of the age, and, we may add, in that misconstruction of the spirit of Christianity which devoted its enemies to immediate and vindictive destruction.

Of the first marriage of Capt. Mason no date or specification has been recovered. A memorandum in the old church-book at Windsor gives the number of those who had died in the plantation before the year 1639, and mentions as one of them the captain's wife. No other inhabitant is known to have had at that time the title of captain, and therefore this may be pronounced without hesitation the wife of Mason. In July, 1639, he was married to Anne Peck, who was the mother of the seven children recorded at Nor- wich, which list is supposed to comprise his whole offspring.

Mrs. Anne Mason died at Norwich before her hus- band. A memorial sermon, preached by Mr. Fitch, represents her as a woman of eminent piety, and "gifted with a measure of knowledge above what is usual in her sex."

" I need not tell you," says the preacher, " what a Dorcas you have lost ; men, women, and children are ready with weeping to acknowledge what works of mercy she hath done for them."

The family is registered at Norwich with this head- ing : "The names and ages of the children of Maj. Mason." The day of the month is not given, nor the place of birth. The list is as follows : Priscilla, born in October, 1641; Samuel, born in July, 1644; John,

born in August, 1646 ; Rachel, born in October, 1648 ; Anne, born in June, 1650; Daniel, born in April, 1652; Elizabeth, born in August, 1654.

The first three were probably born in Windsor, the others at Saybrook.

Of this group three were ingrafted into the Fitch family. Rev. James Fitch married for his second wife, in October, 1654, Priscilla Mason ; John Mason (2) married Abigail Fitch ; and James Fitch (2) mar- ried Elizabeth Mason, Jan. 1, 1676.

Rachel Mason became the second wife of Charles Hill, of New London. They were married June 12, 1678, and she died in less than a year afterwards.

Anne Mason married, Nov. 8, 1672, Capt. John Brown, of Swanzey.

John Mason, second son of the major, succeeded to his father's accommodations in Norwich.

This gallant young captain was severely and, as it proved, fatally wounded in the great swamp fight at Narragansett, Dec. 19, 1675. It is probable that he was brought home from that sanguinary field by his Mohegan warriors on an Indian bier. His wounds never healed. After lingering several months, he died, as is supposed, in the same house where his father ex- pired, and was doubtless laid by his side in the old obliterated graveyard of the first comers. Though scarcely thirty years of age at the time of his death, he stood high in public esteem, both in a civil and military capacity. He had represented the town at three sessions of the Legislature, and was chosen an assistant the year of his decease. In the probate of his estate before the County Court he is called "the worshipful John Mason." The Rev. Mr. Bradstreet, of New London, records his death in these terms :

" My hou'd and dear Friend Capt. Jno Mason one of ye magistrates of this Colony, and second son of Major Jno Mason, dyed, Sept. 18, 1676."1

He left two young children,-Anne, who married John Denison, and John, born at Norwich in 1673, afterwards known as Capt. John Mason, being the third in lineal succession who had borne the name and title. He is best known as an Indian claimant, visiting England to assert the rights of the heirs of Maj. Mason to those lands which the latter purchased as agent of the colony. His connection with this long Mohegan controversy will bring him at another period within the range of our history.

The other sons of Maj. Mason, Samuel and Daniel, settled in Stonington, on an ample domain given by the colony to their father, near the border of Long Island Sound. Samuel was chosen an assistant in 1683, and acquired the same military rank as his father, being known also as Maj. Mason. He was one of the four purchasers of Lebanon, but never re- moved thither. He died at Stonington, March 30, 1705, leaving four children, all daughters. His only son, John, died ten days before him, aged twenty- eight, and ummarried. The male branch in this line

1 Hist. and Gen. Reg., 9, 46.

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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

here became extinct, but the name was continued in the line of the oldest daughter, Anne, who married her cousin, the third John Mason, before mentioned.

Lieut. Daniel Mason, the early schoolmaster of Norwich, died at Stonington, Jan. 28, 1736-37, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. His first wife was Mar- garet Denison, of Roxbury, and his second Rebecca Hobart, of Hingham. His oldest son, Daniel, mar- ried Dorothy Hobart, and settled in Lebanon, where he died, July 4, 1706, thirty years before the deccase of his father, leaving only one child, an infant son, named Jeremiah, after his grandfather, Rev. Jere- miah Hobart.

REV. JAMES FITCH died at Lebanon, and the monu- mental tablet that marks his grave bears the following judicious and comprehensive summary of his life and character :

" In this tomb are deposited the remains of the truly Reverend Mr. James Fitch : born at Bocking, in the county of Essex, England, Decem- ber 24, 1632: who after he had been well lustructed in the learned lan- guages, came to New England at the age of 16, and passed seven years under the instruction of those eminent divines, Mr. Hooker and Mr. Stone. Afterward he discharged the pastoral office at Saybrook for 14 years, from whence, with the greater part of his church, he removed to Norwich, and there spent the succeeding years of his life, engaged in the work of the Gospel, till age and infirmity obliged him to withdraw from public labor. At length he retired to his children at Lebanon, where scarcely half a year had passed, when he fell asleep in Jesus, Nov. 18, 1702. in the 80th year of his age. He was a man, for penetration of mind, solidity of judgment, devotion to the sacred duties of his office, and entire holiness of life, as also for skill and energy in preaching, in- ferior to none."

Mr. Fitch was, next to Capt. Mason, the most influ- ential man in the little settlement. As a pastor he was zcałous and indefatigable, and labored earnestly to advance the material as well as the spiritual wel- fare of the plantation.

THOMAS ADGATE was a deacon of Mr. Fitch's church, but at what period chosen to that office is not known. He was older than his pastor, and perhaps his coeval in office. It is probable that he exercised the functions for at least half a century. His will, dated May 22, 1704, commences, " I, Thomas Adgit, being in the eighty-fourth year of my age," etc. He died July 21, 1707. Mrs. Mary Adgate, his relict, died March 29, 1713.

ROBERT ALLYN was of Salem in 1637, and en- rolled as a member of the church May 15, 1642. He removed to New London in 1651, where he obtained a grant of a large farm on the east side of the river, at a place still known as Allyn's Point, in the town of Ledyard. He was one of the first company of purchasers of Norwich, and resided for several years in the western part of the town plot. In 1661 he styles himself of " New-Norridge," and held the office of constable in 1669, but in a deed of 1681 uses the formula, " I, Robert Allyn, of New London."

Robert Allyn had doubtless relinquished his house in Norwich to his son John, and retired to his farm on the river, within the bounds of New London, where he died in 1683. His age is unknown, but he

was freed from training in 1669, probably upon at- taining the age of sixty, the customary limit of mili- tary service ; this would make him about seventy-five at death.

BACKUS .- Little is known of the history of Wil- liam Backus, Sr. He is supposed to have been living at Saybrook as early as 1637.

William Backus, before removing to Norwich, mar- ried Mrs. Anne Bingham, and brought with him to the new settlement three daughters, two sons, and his wife's son, Thomas Bingham. The three young men were of mature age or near maturity, and are all usu- ally reckoned as first proprietors. The daughters were subsequently united in marriage to John Rey- nolds, Benjamin Crane, and John Bayley.

The house-lots of the younger William and of Stephen Backus are both recorded as laid out in 1659, but the latter was the allotment of his father, who dying at an early period after the settlement, and the land records being made at a later date, it was regis- tered in Stephen's name, who had received it by be- quest from his father. Hence William Backus, Sr., does not appear on the town record as a landholder.

STEPHEN BACKUS .- The rights and privileges of William Backus, Sr., were transferred so soon after the settlement to his son Stephen that the latter is accounted the original proprietor. The house-lot was entered in his name, as to a first purchaser. It lay upon the pent highway by the Yantic, between the town green and the allotment of Thomas Bliss.

WILLIAM BACKUS, JR. - The second William Backus married Elizabeth, daughter of Lieut. Wil- liam Pratt, of Saybrook. She was born Feb. 1, 1641. The date of the marriage is not registered at Norwich, and it is probable that the young couple did not re- move to the new settlement till after the birth of their first son, William, May 11, 1660. John, the second son, born Feb. 9, 1661-62, married Mary, daughter of Thomas Bingham. Hannah Backus, one of the daughters of the family, found a partner in the sec- ond Thomas Bingham. Both marriages have the same date, Feb. 17, 1691-92. It was not uncom- mon in that day for families to be linked and inter- linked and the knots doubled and twisted, as in the case of the Backuses and Binghams. William Backus (2) is found on record with the successive titles of sergeant, ensign, and lieutenant, though he styles himself in deeds simply yeoman. His will and in- ventory were presented for probate in April, 1721.

William Backus, third son of the above, sold his accommodations in Norwich to his father in 1692 and removed to " the nameless new town lying about ten miles northwest of Norwich." His brother John also emigrated to the same place, afterwards named Windham, and both are reckoned among the early proprietors of that town. The present, Windham green was part of the original home-lot of William Backus.

Joseph and Nathaniel, the younger sons of William

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Backus (2), remained in Norwich. Joseph married Elizabeth Huntington, and Nathaniel, Elizabeth Tracy, daughters of the proprietors Simon Hunting- ton and John Tracy. Joseph and Simon Backus, the first two graduates of Yale College of the name of Backus, were sons of Joseph. The former graduated in 1718, and some eight or ten years later was styled by his contemporaries Lawyer Backus of Norwich.

A large number of the Backus family have acquired distinction in the various walks of life. Elijah Backus, whose iron-works at Yantic were so serviceable to the country in the Revolutionary war, was a grandson of Joseph. He married Lucy, daughter of John Gris- wold, of Lyme. His sons, and his son-in-law, Dud- ley Woodbridge, were among the first emigrants to the banks of the Ohio. James Backus, one of the sons, as agent of the Ohio Company, made the first surveys of Marietta, and is said to have built the first regular house in that town. He afterwards returned to Norwich, and died at the family residence, Sept. 29, 1816.

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History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 62

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1317

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1317