USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > History of Norwich, Connecticut: from its possession by the Indians, to the year 1866 > Part 27
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" Mrs. Knight accused her maid, Ann Clark, of selling the liquor. Refusing to acquit themselves by oath they were each sentenced to pay a fine of 20s. to the County Treasury."
"July 20, 1720. Samuel Sabin appeareth before me R. B. Justice of the Peace, and complaineth against himself that the last Sabbath at night, he and John Olmsby went on to Wawwecoas Hill, to visit their relations, and were late home, did no harm, and fears it may be a transgression of ye law and if it be is very sorry for it and dont allow himself in unseasonable night-walking."
" An inferior Court held at Norwich ye 19. Sept. 1720. Present R. Bushnell Justice of ye Peace. Samuel Fox juror pr. complaint, Lettis Minor and Hannah Minor Pts. for illegally and feloniously about ye 6 of Sept" inst. taking about 30 water-milions which is contrary to Law and is to his damage he saith ye sum of 20s. and prays for justice. This Court having considered ye evidence dont find matter of fact proved, do therefore acquit the Dts. and order ye Ptf. pay the charge of Presentment."
"May 6, 1721. A complaint was entered by the constable against Samuel Law, doctor, for profane swearing : he was fined 10s."
The same year, Henry Holland of Plainfield was proved guilty of a like offence, and adjudged to pay the fine and cost. Not long afterward, Holland was bound over to appear at the next county court, and answer for breaking the peace and the law, by saying "in a tumultuous violent threatening manner, yt he would take the head of Jona'n Tracy off his shoulders."
" 1722, Nov. 16. Complaint made by Mr. Isaac Wheeler of Stonington against William Holdridge of Stonington, for an assault with sword, at the house of said Hol- dridge in Stonington : he was bound to appear at the County Court, giving £20 secu- rity."
An Indian being found drunk, was brought before Mr. Justice Bushnell, and sentenced according to the statute, namely, to pay a fine of ten shil- lings, or receive ten lashes on his naked body. The Indian immediately accuses Samuel Bliss of selling him that afternoon that which made him drunk, to wit, two pots of cider. The fine for selling cider or ardent spirits to an Indian was twenty shillings, one-half to go to the complain- ant. The Indian thus obtained just the sum requisite to pay his own mulct, and set his body clear. The record of this affair is as follows:
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
"Feb. ye 7-1722-3. Apenanucsuck being drunk was brought before me R. Bush- nell, Justice of ye peace. I do sentence ye sd Apeonuclisuck for his transgression of ye law to pay a fine of 10s. or to be whipt ten Lashes on ye naked body, and to pay ye cost of his prosecution, and to continue in ye constable's custody till this sentence be performed.
" Cost allowed is 6s 6.
"John Waterman promises to pay 6s 4.
" Apeanuchsuck accused Samuel Bliss yt he sold him 2 pots of cider this afternoon. Mr. Samuel Bliss appeared before me and confessed he let sd Indian have some cider and I do therefore sentence sd Bliss to pay ye fine of 20s. for ye transgression of ye law one half to ye town and one half to complainant.
R. BUSHNELL, Justice."
Isaac Huntington, Esq., was another noted justice, some of whose min- utes have been preserved .* A few cases will be given in an abridged form.
In 1738 a charge was brought against Thomas Avery, Ebenezer Bald- win, Abiall Marshall, and David Bingham, single men and boarders or sojourners in the town, that they "did convean and meet in company with sundry others att ye house of William Waterman ye 4th day of June last, it being Sabboth evening."
No complaint was made of any disturbance or impropriety of conduct ; it was the bare fact of a social meeting on Sunday evening, which was presented as contrary to law.j
Ebenezer Baldwin pleaded Not guilty, and replied to the charge as follows :
" True it is we did convean with the company and att ye time and place sett forth in ye Complaint, but he saith, he is not guilty for these reasons, first, he is not a single person, as having an apprentice by indenture, 2dly, he is not a boarder, having ye care of a family, 3dly, he is not a sojourner as living in ye place where he was born and bred."
The Court is of opinion he is guilty, and fines him 5s. and costs. Appeal granted to be heard in ye County Court.
July 12. John Downer and Solomon Hambleton for profaning the Sabbath day by oystering, fined 5s. and costs.
2d day of November, 1738. Present Isaac Huntington Justice of Peace.
Mary Leffingwell daughter of Daniell Leffingwell of Norwich, single woman, was brought before this Court to answer the complaint of one of ye grand jurors of our Lord the king who upon oath presents that ye said Mary Leffingwell on ye 24th day of September last, it being Saboth or Lord's day (and not being necessarily detained ) did not duly attend ye publick worship of God on the said 24th day in any congregation by law allowed as by the presentment dated October 7th 1738 and the writt dated Oct 30. 1738 on file may appear.
* Original in Otis Library.
t In County Court, 1715, Paul Davenport of Canterbury appeared and acknowledged himself guilty of a breach of the law by riding from Providence to Canterbury on the Sabbath day, and paid the fine of 20s.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
The said Mary pleaded not Guilty. Butt not being able to prove to the satisfaction of this Court that she was necessarily detained ; nor that she did attend the said wor- ship, this Court is of opinion that she is guilty in manner and form.
And it is therefore considered the said Mary Leffingwell pay as a fine to ye treasury of ye town of Norwich the sum of five shillings and cost of suit. Taxed £0.10.8. Judgment satisfied.
In 1749, Mr. Huntington's record shows that a person was fined 20s. for playing cards, and another 5s. for laughing in meeting.
In 1756, three sons of Capt. John Fillmore, Jr., viz., Nathaniel, Com- fort, and Amaziah, were brought before Mr. Justice Huntington, charged with driving the rate-collector from their father's house, armed with clubs and making use of threats and abusive language. Being minors, they were released without penalty, but the record intimates that their father was implicated in the misconduct of his sons. The family were probably Separatists, and refused to pay rates for the support of the regular min- istry.
These lads were between thirteen and seventeen years of age. Na- thaniel, the oldest, was subsequently a soldier in the French war, and also in the war of the Revolution. He settled at Bennington, Vt., and was grandfather of Millard Fillmore, thirteenth President of the United States.
To show that this rigid supervision of the public morals continued until a late period, a few minutes of cases of trespass will be given from MS. papers of Richard Hide, Esq., Justice of the Peace, between the years 1760 and 1780.
A man presented for profane swearing, having been heard to say at the public house -damn me. Sentenced to pay the fine of 6s. and the costs, 6s. 3d.
Another for a similar offence, the culprit using the words Go to the Deril. Fine 6s., costs 8s. 10d.
A breach of peace by tumultuous behavior,-fine 10s., costs 18s. 8d.
1771. A young woman presented for laughing, in a meeting for public worship, at Mr. Grover's, Sabbath evening-two females for witnesses-culprit dismissed with a reprimand.
1774. Eben' Waterman Jr. presented by a grand juror, for profaning the Sabbath in the gallery of the meeting-house in West Society, by talking in the time of divine service in a merry manner, to make sport. Plead guilty-fine 10s.
" To Richard Hide, Esq., of Norwich, one of his majesty's Justices of the Peace for the county of New London, comes Ezra Huntington of said Norwich, one of the grand jurors of said county, and on oath informs and presents, that Asa Fuller, apprentice to said Ezra Huntington, and Ede Trap, son to Thomas Trap, and Lemuel Wentworth, son to James Wentworth, and Hannah Forsey, and Elizabeth Winship, a minor, and daughter of the widow Winship, all of Norwich aforesaid, did, in Norwich aforesaid, on the evening following the 27th day of May last, it being Sabbath or Lord's Day
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
evening, meet and convene together, and walk in the street in company, upon no relig- ious occasion, all which is contrary to the statute of this colony in such case made and provided.
For evidence take Peter Latham and Unice Manning.
Dated in Norwich, this 11th day of June, 1770."
Five endorsements are made on the back of this presentment-one for each of the offenders-of the following import :
"June 13, 1770. Then personally appeared Hannah Forsey, and confessed guilty of the matter within, and sentenced to pay 3s. to the Treasury of the Town and Is. cost .- Before Richard Hide, Justice of Peace .- Judgment satisfied."
Number of persons admitted as freemen of Norwich, from 1764 to 1777 inclusive, of the following family names :
Abell, 12. Huntington, 22.
Perkins, 11.
Backus, 10. Hyde, 22.
Smith, 11.
Bushnell, 10. Lathrop, 24. Tracy, 25.
Edgerton, 10.
Leffingwell, 8. Waterman, 14.
Other names of early proprietors had not increased in similar propor- tion :
Adgate, 1. Elderkin, 1.
Mason, 1.
Baldwin, 4.
Fitch, 6. Post, 3.
Bingham, 3.
Gager, 5. Reed, 5.
Birchard, 2.
Gifford, 1. Reynolds, 1.
Bliss, 3.
Griswold, 2. Rudd, 6.
Calkins, 4.
CHAPTER XVIII.
ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS. MINISTERS WOODWARD AND LORD.
IN 1708, the town was presented with a bell by Capt. René Grignon, a French Protestant who had recently established himself in the place. This is supposed to have been a Huguenot bell, brought from France by a band of French exiles, who purchased lands at Oxford, Mass., and began a settlement, which the hostile visits of the Indians obliged them soon to abandon. Capt. Grignon was one of this dispersed company, and the bell had doubtless resounded on the shores of France and amid the woods of Oxford, before it came to Norwich.
A vote of thanks was tendered to the generous captain, and the bell was ordered "to be hung in the hill between the ends of the town," and to be rung on the Sabbath and "on all publie days and at nine o'clock in the evening, as is customary in other places where there are bells."
The phrase, "in the hill," is a doubtful one, but according to tradition the Grignon bell was suspended from a scaffolding erected upon the ridge of the hill west of the meeting-house, near the path by which foot-people from the upper part of the town came across lots to meeting. Here it remained for many years unconnected with the church, and midway be- tween the east and west ends of the town-plot. The position was grand and imposing. The bell dominated from its lofty site over the wide land- scape from Yantic and Plain Hill to Waweekus Hill at the Landing.
Capt. Grignon was admitted to the privileges of an inhabitant in 1710, but enjoyed them only for five years before he was removed by death. The town lost in him a liberal and esteemed citizen. His wife preceded him to the grave, and he left no children .*
Dec. 6, 1709, a vote was passed to build a new meeting-house, the di- mensions not to exceed 55 feet by 45, to be modeled by a committee of the church, and completed by March 1, 1712.
But now a long and vehement dispute arose with respect to its location. One party was for having it stand upon the site of the old one upon the hill; the other, on the plain. Both sides were exceedingly violent and
* See note at the end of the chapter.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
obstinate, and for two or three years the whole town was absorbed by the question. At length they agreed to submit it to three impartial gentlemen of Lebanon. Capt. William Clark, Mr. William Halsey, and Mr. Samuel Huntington were designated as umpires. These persons came to Nor- wich, examined the premises with care, heard all that either party had to allege, and after due deliberation recommended that it should be built on the plain.
The frame was accordingly prepared upon the plain, but the community was not satisfied, and the town refused to concur. Another meeting was called, at which only twenty-eight persons voted, but of these, twenty- seven were for setting the house upon the hill, and this party prevailed .*
The new building stood near the site of the old one, and was completed for service in December, 1713. A vote was then passed to sell the old edifice, which had lasted forty years.
John Elderkin, 2d, son of the old church builder, was the architect of this new building. After its completion he presented his petition, stating that he had suffered considerable loss by his agreement, and praying "the worthy gentlemen of the town to make some retaliation." He was accord- ingly relieved by a grant of fifty acres of land.
The expense of this edifice was mainly defrayed by sales of land. A meeting-house committee was in the first place appointed, who offered land in lien of money to be advanced for the work. Capt. Grignon, among others, advanced small sums at several different times, and re- ceived in return portions of land.
One of the fixtures of this meeting-house was an hour-glass, placed in a frame and made fast to the pulpit ; [cost 2s. 8d.] This hour-glass, in 1729, was placed under the particular charge of Capt. Joseph Tracy, who was requested to see that it was duly turned when it ran out in service time, and that the time was kept between meetings; the bellman being charged to attend his orders herein.
Nothing has been found on record that furnishes any hint respecting the architecture of this church. It was probably crowned with a steeple and belfry, but it is doubtful whether the Grignon bell was ever removed to it.
Among the worshipers in this sanctuary was Mrs. Sarah Knight, a trades-woman from Boston, who resided for a few years in Norwich, and has been identified as the Mrs. Knight whose Diary of a Journey from
* The place finally decided upon, and the actual building of the house, are not stated in the records ; and the fact that the frame-work was prepared and set up on the plain, led the author, in the first edition of this work, to adopt the opinion that this third meeting-house was built upon the plain. But further investigation and the uniform testimony of tradition, which show that the hill-top was crowned with a church, where the congregation gathered for worship till 1760, or later, have led to a reverse conclu- sion.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Boston to New York, made on horseback in 1704, was preserved in man- uscript and first published in 1825.
The following extract is from the town record, Aug. 12, 1717 :
" The town grants liberty to Mrs. Sarah Knight to sitt in the pue where she use to sit in ye meeting house."
This evidently refers to a previous residence in the place. According to tradition, she presented to the church a handsome silver goblet to be used in their communion service.
Colonel John Livingston of New London, who married Elizabeth, the daughter and only child of Mrs. Knight, died in England, but the inven- tory of his personal effects was taken at the house of Mrs. Sarah Knight, in Norwich, March 10, 1721. She removed afterward with her daughter to the Livingston farm in the Mohegan territory, where she died in 1727, and was buried in the old cemetery at New London .*
The old meeting-house was sold to Nathaniel Rudd for £12.5.6; but the purchaser afterward representing to the town that he was "sick of his bargain," the price was considerably reduced .; The inhabitants of the West Farms were at that time looking forward to a separate ecclesiastical organization, and the relinquished edifice was designed by Mr. Rudd for their use. The frame was doubtless left behind, but the old pews, pulpit, galleries, &c., afterward performed a second period of service on a com- manding height in the present town of Franklin.
Ecclesiastical dissensions began to agitate the town immediately after the promulgation of the Saybrook Platform in 1708. The Norwich Church was of the independent Congregational order, firmly planted upon the Cambridge Platform, and jealous of extraneous influences, whether civil or ecclesiastical. The members claimed the right of ordering church affairs in their own way, and denied the jurisdiction of magistrates and presbyteries.
The Saybrook Platform-a body of rules for the regulation of churches -was drawn up and adopted by a council of delegates from various churches in Connecticut, at Saybrook, where this instrument was signed, Sept. 9, 1708. The delegates were sixteen in number, twelve ministers and four laymen. It was confirmed by the General Court in October of the same year, and established as a law of the colony. No churches were acknowledged by law, as churches, that did not subscribe to this platform.
But the Legislature added a proviso to the law, allowing churches and
* Five deeds, to "Sarah Knight, widow and shop keeper," or to " Mistress Sarah Knight, shop-keeper," are recorded at Norwich from 1716 to 1718. In the inventory of her estate, her property in Norwich was valued at £210. She had made large pur- chases of Indian land in partnership with Joseph Bradford.
t The accounts of the West Farms parish show that they gave for it £5 10s.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
societies that dissented, to exercise worship and discipline in their own way, according to their consciences.
Mr. Woodward had been one of the delegates, and Secretary of the Synod. He was a warm advocate of the Platform, and strenuous for its adoption by the church of which he was pastor. It is said that when he received the act of the Legislature, accepting and establishing the Plat- form as the ecclesiastical constitution of the colony, he read off the first clause of it to his congregation, but withheld that part of it which allowed dissenters to regulate their worship in their own way ; whereupon the rep- resentatives of the town, Richard Bushnell and Joseph Backus, rose in their seats and laid the whole act before the people.
Mr. Woodward appears at this time to have been sustained by a ma- jority of the church, but the rent that had been made widening daily, the two members mentioned above and many others withdrew from the con- gregation and held meetings on the Sabbath by themselves. At the next session of the Legislature, the two representatives from Norwich were called upon to answer for the course they had taken, and expelled from the house with a vote of censure.
Mr. Woodward made no entry upon the records respecting the dissen- sions that disturbed the community. The registry of baptisms and ad- missions to the church is all that appears under his hand after 1709. The town records are also chary in their allusions to this overshadowing trouble, merely giving results, or referring to papers kept on file, which have not come down to us.
The difficulties between minister and people were increased by repeated complaints on his part of the insufficiency of his salary. In 1711, he stated that his family expenses had one year risen to seven-score pounds, and the previous year to six-score. The town, however, voted that they "did not see fit to add to their burdens," and granted only the stipulated sum of £70. Winter wheat was at this time six shillings per bushel, and Indian corn half that price. But to every application of Mr. Woodward from year to year for an increase of salary, the town gave a steady neg- ative.
March 11, 1713-4. A writing was received from Mr. Woodward and twice read and considered. After which the question was put, " Whether it was their mind soberly to dissent from the new Platform of Church discipline; "-the vote passed in the affirmative.
Nov. 16, 1714. This town grants liberty to those that are dissatisfied with the Rev. Mr. Woodward's management in the work of the ministry to call another minister to preach to them, at their own charge until the difficulties they labor under are removed.
A protest against this vote was signed by seventeen persons,-Hunting- tons, Lothrops, Tracys, Watermans, and others,-good names and true.
286
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
They were now upon the verge of disunion. Several councils were held, one succeeding another, but the waves of discord rolled too high to be soothed by such expedients. Mr. Saltonstall, then Governor of the col- ony, and a strenuous advocate of the new platform, visited them and used his influence to restore harmony of opinion, but no reconciliation or com- promise could be effected.
Mr. Joseph Backus, who was one of the leaders of the party opposed to Mr. Woodward, went to Ipswich to consult with the minister of that place, Mr. John Wise, a noted opponent of ecclesiastical platforms, and to Boston, where he visited Dr. Increase Mather, whose opinions in regard to church independency were of a similar stamp. He came back, con- firmed in determination not to yield the point.
5 Oct. 1715. "The inhabitants reflecting with great grief and sorrow on ye divis- ions and contentions that is yet continuing and increasing in this town, respecting the management of ecclesiastical affairs and no likelihood of a good agreement to go on together, agree to address ye General Assembly for liberty to be two societies.
Voted by a full vote."
Before the above vote was acted upon, Gov. Saltonstall recommended the calling of a council to dismiss Mr. Woodward, as a measure that might possibly prevent an actual rupture of the church. This proposition being laid before the town, resulted in a vote of 44 in his favor against 25 opposers .*
A council consisting of a select number of the most respectable minis- ters of New England was accordingly convened. Mr. Stoddard of North- ampton was appointed moderator. After long deliberation, the council recommended a dissolution of the connection with Mr. Woodward, and he was accordingly dismissed, Sept. 13, 1716.
The difficulties with Mr. Woodward, and his ultimate dismission, excited a deep interest in the churches of the country. A disruption of the ties between pastor and parish was then an uncommon event, and not easy to be brought about. The state, as well as the church, ecclesiastical coun- cils, minister and people, must all consent to the canceling of the sacred bond.
Mr. Woodward and the town parted very ungraciously ; he, demanding arrearages of salary, and they, contending that he had been overpaid his just dues. Each party afterward instituted legal proceedings against the other for debt or damage, and the accounts were not settled till 1721, when Mr. Woodward recovered judgment against the town, and had his just claims satisfied.
* This was called a paper vote. Those for dismission wrote something on their papers ; the others brought in clean paper. Capt. Robert Denison was active at this meeting, and assisted the clerk in counting the votes.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Mr. Woodward was a native of Dedham, Mass. After settling in Nor- wich, he married in 1703, Sarah Rosewell, and when he left the place in 1716, had a family of six children-four daughters and two sons, Rose- well and John. He was never settled again, but lived on a farm in East Haven, where he died in 1746.
The dismission of Mr. Woodward did not calm the excited minds of the people. To the act itself there was strong opposition,-a protest against it, signed by thirty-four persons, having been presented to the council. The protesters, however, were mostly farmers upon the outlands, not inhabitants of the town-plot.
On the 19th of September, only a few days after the act of dismission, the town voted to invite Mr. Willard to preach for them as a candidate. This was probably Mr. Joseph Willard, who graduated at Yale College in 1714. He is not again mentioned in the records, and it may be inferred that the invitation was not accepted. The excitement in the church con- tinued, and a rupture seemed inevitable.
Fortunately, Providence had provided a peace-maker who was ready to step forward and in the temper and spirit of the gospel allay the disturb- ances of the church and bring the members together again as one body. A town vote of Dec. 6, 1716, was the precursor of this better state of affairs.
" Voted to call Mr. Benjamin Lord on tryal."
Mr. Lord was a native of Saybrook, and then about twenty-four years of age. He graduated at Yale two years before, and was now just enter- ing into the ministry. He came immediately to Norwich, and made him- self acceptable to all parties. In June, the next year, he was invited by a unanimous vote of the church to become their minister, with the offer of £100 per annum for salary, with the use of the parsonage lands, and wood sufficient for his use, to be dropped at his door,-"provided he set- tle himself without charge to the town."
He was ordained Nov. 20, 1717; both parties uniting in their esteem for him, so that he was accustomed to say he could never tell which was most friendly to him. At his ordination the church explicitly renounced the Saybrook Platform as their code of faith.
The following members of Mr. Fitch's church were still alive:
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