USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > History of Norwich, Connecticut: from its possession by the Indians, to the year 1866 > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
Capt. Fitch sold this grant in 1694 and '95, to certain purchasers from Ipswich, Mass., viz., Joseph Safford, Richard Smith, Meshach Farley, Matthew Perkins, and Samuel Bishop.
Joseph and Jacob Perkins, also of Ipswich, purchased a tract between the rivers in 1695, of John Fitch, and subsequently bought also a part of the 1800 acre grant from the former purchasers.
Settlements were immediately commenced, and in 1718, sixteen persons on the roll of accepted inhabitants were characterized as
Farmers in ye Crotch of ye Rivers.
Samuel Bishop.
Samuel Lothrop.
Samuel Coy. Eleazer Jewett.
Jabez Perkins.
Joseph Perkins.
David Knight.
Josiah Read.
Daniel Longbottom. 17
Josiah Read, Jr.
258
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Joseph Read. John Read. William Read.
Samuel Rood.
Samuel Rood, Jun.
Henry Wallbridge.
Samuel and John Bishop were early settlers in this district. They were probably brothers and sons or grandsons of Thomas Bishop of Ips- wich. Samuel married in 1706, Sarah Forbes. John, in 1718, married Mary Bingham. Samuel was adm. 1702, and John in 1710.
Matthew Coy obtained a grant of land east of the Shetucket in 1685. His cattle-mark was registered still earlier. He was probably that Mat- thew Coy (son of Matthew) whose birth was recorded at Boston Sept. 5, 1656.
Samuel Coy of Newent may have been a brother or a son of Matthew, but no such connection has been traced. He had a son Abraham baptized in 1719.
Eleazer Jewett, Dec. 5, 1698, purchased of Messrs. Waterman and Bushnell, agents of the town, 75 acres of land near the Shetucket river. He is supposed to have come from Rowley, Mass. His son, the second Eleazer Jewett, died in 1747, at which time the father was still living. The third of the name was the founder of Jewett City village.
David Knight married, March 17, 1691-2, Saralı Backus. Land was granted him in 1700, for repairing the meeting-house and school-house. He died in 1744.
Daniel Longbottom was an inhabitant in 1698, and was chosen one of the surveyors in 1702. Himself, wife and six children were baptized by Mr. Woodward in September, 1718. He died in 1729.
Jabez and Joseph Perkins, adm. 1701, were sons of Jacob Perkins of Ipswich, and commenced their agricultural improvements between the rivers in 1695, holding their land in common until 1720, when it was equally divided between them. Joseph died in 1726, and Jabez in 1742. They left large estates and thriving families.
Josiah Read has been already noticed as one of the original proprietors of Norwich. His four sons are here enumerated with him as independent land-owners and accepted inhabitants.
Samuel Rood was the son of Thomas and Sarah Rood, and born in 1666. In 1687 he became a householder, having his residence "below Showtuckett Falls."
Henry Wallbridge was an accepted inhabitant in 1702. William is mentioned in 1719 ; Amos in 1721.
259
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Richard Adams, though not on the list of 1718, was an early proprietor between the rivers. He probably came from Sudbury, and may have been the soldier of that name who was wounded in the great swamp fight with the Narragansetts, Dec. 19, 1675. His wife, Rebecca, was received into full communion by Mr. Woodward in 1708, and three of his children baptized. He died Aug. 24, 1728. ITis will mentions ten children, among whom were four married daughters, Hannah Bacon, Mary Baldwin, Abi- gail Brown, and Rebecca Ilaggitt.
William Adams, perhaps brother of Richard, died in 1727. Eliashib Adams, of Preston, died May 15, 1733.
John Safford is mentioned as an inhabitant of Norwich in 1698. John, Joseph and Solomon of the next generation were probably his sons.
John Lambert was an early resident in Newent Society. He died July 30, 1727.
Another name found in this society at an early period is that of Burn- ham. Eleazar Burnham was recognized as an inhabitant in 1703. He was probably the son of Thomas, and born at Ipswich in September, 1678. He married Lydia Waterman, Nov. 20, 1708, and died in 1743.
James Burnham, admitted as an inhabitant in 1710, married, in 1728, Elizabeth Hough, and died May 22, 1757.
Aaron Burnham, a seaman, first mentioned in 1718; cattle-mark en- rolled in 1720; died Aug. 18, 1727. His will was proved at Ipswich, Oct. 9 of that year. His wife was the sole legatee. .
Benjamin Burnham, adm. 1726, married April 20, 1727, Mary Kins= man. He died Oct. 15, 1737.
These four persons came from Ipswich before 1720. The Kinsmans, Palmers and Stevenses were later emigrants, probably from the same place. The Lovetts came from Beverly ; the Rathbuns from Block Island ; and Thomas Crosby from Barnstable .*
Robert Kinsman was admitted an inhabitant Dec. 5, 1721. He was one of the selectmen in 1725 and 1728.
The settlement of Newent was for many years obstructed by the diver- sity of claims arising from a confusion of grants and conveyances. In 1723 a committee was appointed "to enquire into and gain as good an understanding as they can come at respecting the Indians land in the Crotch of Quinebaug and Showtucket rivers."}
* Half-Century Sermon of Rev. Levi Nelson of Lisbon, 1854.
t After this Indian reservation had been entirely cleared of native occupants, one of the English owners found at a certain time an old Indian woman, who had come from a distance, barking his birch trees and otherwise trespassing upon his grounds ; and
260
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
'In 1725, the proprietors of the common and undivided land put an end to all controversy by giving a quit-claim deed to Capt. Jabez Perkins, Lt. Samuel Bishop, Mr. Joseph Perkins, and Mr. John Safford, of all the Indian land in the crotch of the rivers, and of all contained in Major Fitch's 1800 acre grant, for the sum of £75, money in hand, paid to said proprietors, provided that the Indians should be allowed to remain and occupy the tract that had been secured to them. To these purchasers and to those who should claim under them, the town confirmed the title of reversion. The Indians dwindled away, and in 1745 the descendants of Owaneco and other principal Mohegans, for the sum of £137, executed a quit-claim deed of the Indian reservation in favor of the English claim- ants. This instrument, which extinguished the last aboriginal claim to land in the nine-miles-square, was in substance as follows :
Ann alias Cutoili, Betty Aucum widow, Wedemow daughter of Mahomet deceased, Ann, otherwise young Ben's wife, all of whom are descendants of Owaneco, late sachem of Mohegan, and the said young Ben or Ben Uncas Jr. and Daniel Pauganeek, all of Mohegan, for the consideration of 137 pounds in bills of credit-to Capt. Samuel Bishop, Joseph Perkins, Jacob Perkins, John Safford, Joseph Safford and Solomon Safford, to all of them in proportion as they now possess-do now relinquish all right and title to the tract of 300 acres more or less in Newent, in the crotch of the rivers Quinebaug and Showtucket, called the Indian Land, abutting southeasterly on the Quinebaug .- April 9, 1745 .*
Witnesses, ISAAC HUNTINGTON. ASA WORTHINGTON.
upon remonstrating with her, was met with a fiery and indignant rejoinder. "This land yours !" she exclaimed. " How you get it ? Indian land, all of it,-you white folks come here,-drive away poor Indian and steal his land,-that the way you get it !"
This no doubt expresses, in a homely way, the feeling of many of the aborigines, as from time to time they have relinquished their ancient seats to the whites, and retired into the wilderness.
* Norwich Deeds.
CHAPTER XVI.
MOHEGANS AND THEIR SACHEMS. MASON CONTROVERSY.
IT is a singular fact that while the Indian Sachems were conveying to the English large tracts of land, they were at the same time complaining of want of room for their own accommodation. The habits of the race made a large extent of territory necessary for their subsistence. They must have a different haunt for every varying season ; forests for hunting, thickets where they could procure materials for mats, baskets, brooms, pails, bowls, and all the varieties of their rude manufacture, as well as corn-fields, and stations upon the sea-shore and river banks for fishing. In a general form they had ceded all their inheritance to the English, except the tract upon the river between Norwich and New London, where Uncas had his royal residence ; and here the fresh settlers were crowding upon them, and constraining them to adopt agricultural occupations and fixed habitations very repugnant to their roving habits.
More than thirty deeds are recorded in the Norwich books, bearing the signatures of Uncas, Owaneco, or Joshna, conveying to various individuals tracts of land, most of them comprising hundreds of acres. Similar deeds are on record at New London. Often these Indian grants overlapped and covered others, leading to many disputes as to titles, and perplexities as to bounds, which entangled the rights and claims of the settlers in an inextricable maze. One is almost inclined to join in the declaration of Sir Edmund Andross, that he did not value an Indian deed any more than the scratch of a cat's paw.
The following record shows that an amicable settlement of all differences with respect to land claims and boundaries took place between the town and the aged chieftain of the Mohegans :
Whereas Uncas, Sachem of Mohegan, hath of late made application to the Town of Norwich for some Releife with Reference to a small Tract of Land which fell out to be within the bounds of the Town, on the south Bonnds, over the Traiding Cove Brook . This Town, Considering of his Request, and of him as an OLD FRIEND, see Cause to Gratify him with the said Land as a Gift to him and his heirs forever, and Whereas the sd Uncas doth also Recon upon three pounds yet due to him as arrears of the payment of the purchas of Norwich Township, though there is nothing appearing how the said money is due, neither by written nor any other Evidence-Yet notwithstanding the
262
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Town have Granted his desire as not willing to dissatiefie an OLD FRIEND in such a small matter, and the said Uncas Also Declaring himself to he in some fears Respect- ing his Posterity, whether they may not be infringed of their Liberty of Fishing and making use of the Rivers and other Royalties by some English : that being the Reason why he Gave place at the first that we should run the line of the Two miles on the East side of the Great River, Beginning at the River: We also satisfie him in this writing about it, that he and his successors shall from Time to Time, and at all times have full and free Liberty to make use of the Rivers and ponds, with other Royalties as abovesaid, not debaring Ourselves, and having thus done, we whose names are sub- scribed being appointed by the town of Norwich to treat with him the said Uncas upon the premises, or any thing Elce that might Conduce to mutual satisfaction, we asked him whether now he was fully satisfied as to the former, so Concerning any thing Elce depending between him and us, and he hath declared himself : as witness by his hand that he is FULLY SATISFIED with us concerning the premises, so Respecting all our Bounds and boundaries, and particularly Concerning the Running of the Line on the East side of the River, and Concerning the beginning of the said Line at the River, and the end of said Line to a Tree marked near the Dwellinghouse of Robert Allen : Dated in Norwich, September 1st, 1682 :
The mark
of UNCAS.
Thomas Leffingwell. William Backus. John Birchard. John Tracy. 7
Entered in Libr the second folio Ist,
October 18th, 1682.
By me, CHRISTOPHIER HUNTINGTON, Recorder.
The exact period of the decease of Uneas has not been ascertained. It is supposed to have occurred in the fall of 1683. The latest notice of him that has been discovered is the acknowledgment of a deed before Samuel Mason in June, 1683, According to tradition, the last two or three years of his life were mostly dozed away, half stupid in his wigwam. It was very common for old Indians to wear out in that way, becoming physically inert, sinking into indifference, and dying as it were for want of thought. An active mind undoubtedly assists largely in keeping the vital powers in motion. It is said that the English in passing through Mohegan, between Norwich and New London, would often turn aside to the royal wigwam of Uncas, in order to pay the chief a visit, and in these latter years of his life were wont to find him sitting at the door on a rude bench, sleeping in the sun ; sometimes with his head lolling on his breast, and sometimes bent forward upon his hands, leaning on a staff. It was difficult to rouse him any further than to elicit the guttural ugk ! waugh! or perhaps a listless Hosh-ah-me ? How do you do? or, Ty-an-noh ? How do you feel ?
All accounts, Indian and English, agree that he was brought to Norwich and interred in a spot previously known as the burial-place of the Indian sachems. This spot, though not reserved for the Indians in the deed of
263
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
the town, nor made sure to them afterwards, as far as is known, by any legal instrument, has ever since been used by them as the cemetery of their royal race ; and this right of sepulture has not only been conceded to them by the successive proprietors of the land, but several times ex- pressly recognized by the town. In the first division of the common lands, April, 1661, "the Indian Graves" was included in the grant to Thomas Tracy ; upon which the town, by way of exchange, gave him eight acres of pasture land in another place. And though the same spot was afterwards granted to Elderkin, it was stipulated that the Indians should always be allowed to pass and repass up the cove and ravine to their burying-place, and to cut wood, if they chose, half-way up the side- hill.
The following subsequent grants seem also to admit the Indian priv- ilege :
Dec. 26, 1679. Given to Richard Bushnell a small piece of land upon ye little plaine near the land of the Indians where the burying place is, upon a deep valley that goeth down to goodman Elderkin's.
Granted to Samuel Tracy (1690) six acres on the Little Plain, " by the Indian bury- ing place, abutting west on Indian land," and running south to the brow of the hill and John Elderkin's land.
The Plain and the land around the Falls were regarded as peculiarly Indian land, probably on account of the vestiges left behind of former Indian occupation. We have ventured to fix the residence of that old Indian sachem who claimed the territory before the English came to Con- necticut, in this neighborhood.
The savage loves the waterfall ; it diverts his loneliness. He settles in its neighborhood ; its roar is his music; the smooth water below is the path for his canoe ; the fish at its feet are his food. Here he lays up his winter store, and the plains above are the fields for his corn .*
Here then, perchance, stood the wigwams of that ancient tribe, and either by them or their immediate successors, the Mohegans, this spot was set apart for the burial-place of their sachems. Here the father of Uncas, with Uncas himself, and his sons, and his grandson Cæsar, and his great- grandsons, those nominal sachems, Ben and Sam Uncas, were gathered. And in later days, from time to time, as the descendants of the old chief have melted away, the earth in this romantic cemetery has opened to receive their remains.
* About the year 1830, the gardener of Mr. William C. Gilman, in turning up the soil, struck upon a considerable deposit, half a peck or more, of Indian arrow-heads, not only of quartz, but flint and other hard stones not indigenous to the region. This was on the high bank of the Cove below the Falls.
On the Plain above, numerous arrow-heads have been gathered from time to time, and are still occasionally turned up by the spade or plough.
264
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
But it has probably received its latest guest, and henceforth it is a sealed tomb. The race of the Sachems is extinet. The last feeble cur- rent of its blood has ceased to flow. No one remains who has any elaim to the coveted privilege of sleeping at the feet of Uncas and Owaneeo.
Owaneeo died in 1710. The deeds signed by him, on record in Nor- wieh, New London, Preston, and some other towns, are numerous and of vast import ; comprising large farms and small farms, towns and distriets, estimated often by miles. The condition expressed is frequently of this nature : "To my very good friend John Post, for the love and friendship received from him," 200 acres in 1685 ; to Israel Lothrop, "for kindnesses received and three coats in hand paid," 150 acres in 1695; "to Richard Bushnell, for kind and free entertainment for many years," 400 aeres in 1699.
Attawanhood, alias Joshua, the brother of Owaneco, was another noted land-grantee, but his deeds are less numerous than those of the elder chief. Titles in Colchester, Lebanon and Windham are in most instances derived from Joshua Uncas, who was considered rather as a river chief, his prin- cipal haunts lying towards the Connecticut.
The signatures or totems of these three sachems, affixed to the various deeds executed by them, display as much uniformity as is usually found in common hand-writing at different periods. The signatures of the deed of Norwich present a fair sample of each. Uncas in that instance drew only the arms and body of a man, with a stroke to represent, perhaps, the heart. He seems always to have subseribed the rude outline of a human figure, or the prominent parts of it. The totem of Owaneeo is supposed to rep- resent a turkey. The head is turned to the right. Joshua's sign-manual is a slender four-legged animal, with a conspicuous tail, and the head to the left. It might be taken for a fox, rabbit, or woodchuck, but in all probability was designed by the sachem to represent the familiar ehip- muek, or striped squirrel.
Notwithstanding the title of Sachem, and the lordly idea attached to the disposing of such extensive regions as they were accustomed to convey to their friends, these chieftains were but little elevated, either in their habits or morals, above the common level of savages. Owaneco was in his youth a bold warrior, and an enterprising partizan. His exploits at the Narra- gansett fort fight, and through the whole of Philip's war, obtained for him considerable renown.
But in maturer years, destitute of the stimulus of war and the chase, he used to wander about with his blanket, metomp and sandals, his gun and his squaw, to beg in the neighboring towns, quartering himself in the kitchens and out-houses of his white acquaintances, and presenting to strangers, or those who could not well understand his imperfect English, a brief which had been written for him by Mr. Richard Bushnell.
265
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
It was as follows :
Oneco king, his queen doth bring, To beg a little food; As they go along, their friends among, To try how kind, how good.
Some pork, some beef, for their relief, And if you can't spare bread, She'll thank you for pudding, as they go a gooding, And carry it on her head.
The last line alludes to the Indian custom of bearing burdens in a sack upon the shoulders, supported by a bark strap called a metomp, passing across the forehead.
After the death of Joshua, his son and heir, Abimilech Joshuason, claimed the greater part of what is now Lebanon. In 1693, he gave a power of attorney to Major James Fitch and Lieut. Thomas Leffingwell, to settle the bounds between his land and the towns of Norwich and Wind- ham. Toward the latter he claimed that the Willimantic river was the true boundary.
In 1716, Cæsar, who is styled "the Prince and Sachem of Mohegan," made several conveyances of land to individuals. One was to Capt. Rob- ert Denison ; another to Lieut. Benajah Bushnell, of two parcels, lying between Trading Cove brook and the south line of Norwich.
Denison's purchase lay "northward of Norwich purchase line and south of the bounds granted by the town to ye Mohegan Sachem." The title was allowed by the town, and all claim to the land released in 1720.
Cæsar was the youngest son of Owaneeo, and died in December, 1722. He was succeeded by Ben Uncas, usually called Major Ben, a descendant of Uncas by an inferior wife. The exact date of the decease of Major Ben is ascertained from a private diary kept at New London.
Feb. 11, 1725. Ben Uncas, the king of the Mohegans, died yesterday.
His son and successor, Ben Uncas 2d, had been brought up in the fam- ily of Capt. John Mason, and was the first of the sachems who discarded the old Indian customs, and adopted the dress and modes of living current among his neighbors, the English residents. He married Ann Mazzeen, a grand-daughter of Uncas in the female line.
266
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
MASON CONTROVERSY.
It seems to have been generally coneeded by the English, that the ulte- rior right to dispose of land in this region belonged to Uneas. The Gov- ernor and Company, however, elaimed that he transferred this right to them by a deed of Sept. 28, 1640. They asserted, moreover, that he had confirmed and ratified the surrender at a subsequent period through the agency of Capt. Mason.
In 1659, before the settlement of Norwich, Mason had obtained of Uncas and his brother a general deed of all the lands belonging to them, not then actually occupied by the tribe. In this business, it was generally understood that he acted as the agent of the colony, and it was proved by the State Records that he formally surrendered his claim to the General Court, March 14, 1660 .*
The descendants of Mason denied the validity of this transaction, or questioned its design, asserting that the conveyance made to their ancestor was with the intent to seeure those lands to the Indians, by putting it out of their own power to convey them to others, that Mason received them as their trustee, and had passed over to the colony merely the right of jurisdiction, not the ownership of the lands.
The Indian sachems were thus encouraged by the Masons and their party to regard themselves as the rightful owners of all the unsettled lands in this part of Connecticut. Out of these premises a long and troublesome dispute arose ; the case every year becoming more complicated and im- portant. The Masons and Mohegans became closely linked in a elaim against the colony for the possession of large tracts of land, occupied by numerous settlers, and comprising the major portion of Colchester, Wind- ham, Mansfield, Hebron, and considerable tracts in some other towns. A vigorous and persevering effort, extending over a period of seventy years, was made by Mason and his descendants to recover the possession of this territory for the Indians.
The professed objeet of both parties was the benefit of the Indians, but the real controversy was between two classes of the English inhabitants, each actuated by political partizanship or pecuniary interest. The Indians were little more than tools in the hands of their nominal friends, and would have gained but little if the ease had been at the outset ostensibly decided in their favor. There was a rage among the white residents for speeula- ting in Indian lands, and the natives would sell either drunk or sober, and often sold the same land several times over. Had it not been for the guardian care and restrictive legislation of the colony, they would have disposed of every foot of their inheritance before 1700, and reduced them- selves to the condition of landless, homeless vagrants.
* Conn. Col. Rec., 1, 359.
267
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
The citizens of Norwich entered into the Mason controversy with great warmth and zeal, most of them espousing the cause of the Indians, some doubtless from an honest opinion that they had been injured and defrauded, and others from interested motives. The case was often tried without being brought to an issue. Many persons put themselves to great incon- venience and expense in entertaining and clothing the Indians, and for- warding their cause, expecting to be remunerated when they should recover their rights. On the Indians themselves it had a very unhappy effect, puffing them up with hopes never to be realized, and leading them into courses of idleness, itineracy, and extravagance. Norwich suffered se- verely for her indiscretion, her streets and houses being often filled with these exacting and troublesome guests.
The case was first submitted to Commissioners chosen out of all the New England Colonies, and acting under the immediate authority of Queen Anne. This court was held at Stonington in 1705. Thomas Leffingwell of Norwich, a tried friend of the Indian Sachems, was one of the Commissioners, and from his intimate acquaintance with the affairs of the tribe, had great influence with the other members. The colony pro- tested against the authority of this court, and, refusing to appear before it, no defence was made. The decision, as might be expected, was against her, but no attempt was made by the English Government to enfore the decree.
A subsequent investigation of this case, under the authority of the General Court, was made at Norwich, in the winter of 1717-18, and was pending at the time of the great snow-storm, famous over all New Eng- land, Feb. 17. The proceedings of the Commissioners, who met in the house of Richard Bushnell, Esq., were much impeded by the snow. For several days the members were scarcely able to get together.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.