USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > History of Norwich, Connecticut: from its possession by the Indians, to the year 1866 > Part 47
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"On Friday evening last, Mr. John Thayer, Catholic Missionary, delivered to a large audience at the Rev. Joseph Strong's meeting-house in this City, a learned and ingenious discourse in which he undertook to prove that the Catholick Church was the only true Church of Christ. On Sunday evening following at the same place he de- livered a discourse on the propriety and true piety of invoking departed saints and the utility and efficacy of addressing prayers to them."
473
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
some of his congregation had accepted the mistaken exposition of the "itinerant stranger," took an opportunity to elucidate the same text. The merchant he regarded as the representative of man, seeking happiness, but ignorant of the chief good; when he finds Christ, the pearl of great price, he gives up the world and all its blandishments, and takes the Saviour for his everlasting portion .*
Mr. Murray subsequently made several annual visits to Norwich, and was allowed to preach in all the churches, but at the Landing he usually occupied the pulpit of the Episcopal church, and it was popularly reported that the Rev. Mr. Tyler coincided with him in the main point that sepa- rated him from orthodoxy,-to wit, the final restoration of all mankind to holiness and consequent happiness. Mr. Murray, however, never claimed him as a disciple, but in his notes ranks him with those who had acted toward him the part of Christian friends.
Mr. Niles, who was then the acting minister of the Congregational society in Chelsea, was disposed to examine and discuss the points at issue with Mr. Murray. A public debate was therefore held by the two cham- pions, but with what result does not appear. The sermon of Mr. Niles on the text, "Take heed therefore how ye hear," preached in July, 1778, and published by request of the congregation, was doubtless designed to guard his hearers against the alluring, heart-pleasing doctrine that had been pro- claimed among them.
Mr. Murray was a man of wit and humor, fluent in speaking, with the manners of a gentleman. He built up no society in Norwich, but he left an abundance of seed sown, the produce of which might be traced through the whole of that generation.t Many of those, however, who were drawn aside for a time by his fascinations, and entangled as it were in his silken net, ultimately regained their former stand-point. He died at Boston, Sept. 3, 1815, aged 74.#
In the old part of the town, the Separatist meetings gradually took the form of Universalism. They were held at first in the academy, but after- wards at the house of Mr. Ebenezer Grover. Mr. Reynolds, who acted
* This discourse was delivered Sept. 27, 1772: printed by Green & Spooner, Nor- wich, 1773.
t A Universalist Hymn-Book, published by subscription in 1776, has a list of nearly forty subscribers in Norwich.
# Mr. Murray's wife, a very interesting woman, sometimes accompanied him in his visits to Norwich. Lodging at one time with a friend on Chelsea Plain, at breakfast the next morning the lady visitor was not to be found, and the husband could give no account of her. Soon afterward she came in, flushed with exercise, but with wet feet and dripping with dew. She had risen early, and with a child for a guide, had visited the Indian graves, copied inscriptions, explored the ravine to the falls, and wrought herself into a state of lively enthusiasm. Mrs. Murray was authoress of a serial work called the Gleaner, collected in 1798 and published in three volumes.
474
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
as their minister without having received any regular ordination or ap- pointment to office, was a man of original strong sense, of powerful frame and imposing appearance, but untaught and illiterate. Mr. Murray said of him,-"He is an honest soul, and we all love him, but he can not yet speak the language of heaven."
At a later period Mr. Elhanan Winchester, who was born in the vicinity of Norwich and had many warm personal friends in the place, often came hither in his preaching tours, and was allowed the free use of the pulpits, Congregational and Episcopal. The persuasive eloquence of Mr. Win- chester, his unblemished life, and the affectionate simplicity of his man- ners, all operated in his favor. His knowledge of the Scriptures was so minute, and his memory so retentive and amenable to his will, that his friends were accustomed to say if the Bible were to be struck out of exist- ence, Mr. Winchester could replace it from memory.
The last time that he preached in Norwich was in the pulpit of the First Society, Sept. 18, 1794. He died at Hartford in 1797.
Winchester's Lectures on the Prophecies, embodying and explaining the principles he had disseminated in his sermons, were published at Nor- wich in 1794 and '95. The first two lectures were printed by Trumbull, the remainder by Thomas Hubbard.
Another work of a kindred bias in doctrine was printed at Norwich in 1796. This was "Calvinism Improved," by Rev. Joseph Huntington, D. D., a native of Norwich, and minister of Coventry, Ct. The work was not published until after the author's decease, but had then an exten- sive circulation.
Still another work in the same direction, explanatory and defensive of the doctrine of Universal Salvation, was published at Norwich in the year 1815. It was entitled, "The Law and the Gospel clearly demonstrated in Six Sermons." This work was popularly attributed to the Rev. Mr. Tyler, but not acknowledged by him.
These early developments of Universalism were of the Trinitarian school, and while agreeing with the current orthodoxy in various articles of belief, diverged from it on one important point. They represented the two doctrines of redemption and salvation as co-extensive and equally uni- versal. The question at issue was, How far the efficacy of divine grace extended ? Were there any limits to it? Here was the gulf that sepa- rated them.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE WEST INDIA TRADE.
THE Proclamation of Congress announcing a cessation of hostilities be- tween Great Britain and the United States, was published April 11, 1783.
Christopher Leffingwell was the first naval officer of the port of Nor- wich, under the United States government. He was appointed in 1784. Thomas Coit, collector of the revenue.
The commerce of Norwich shared in the general impulse that the peace gave to maritime pursuits. Her merchants and ship-masters hav- ing suffered less by the war than those of more exposed ports, were better prepared for action, and launched at once into the tide of adventure. Yet in reviewing the marine incidents connected with the place, it is not easy to keep the current distinct from the interests and ownerships of other towns that had the same port of entry, and in some instances vessels of similar capacity bearing the same names.
Moreover, Norwich and New London were actually connected in various mercantile partnerships. The cargo of an incoming vessel was often distributed among the merchants of both places, and masters belong- ing to one port frequently shipped in vessels fitted out from the other. Neither the marine records nor the current newspapers were careful in their discriminations, and it is sometimes very difficult to assign items of intelligence to their right place.
While gathering up the memorials that relate to Norwich, and giving due honor to her merchants and seamen for their enterprise, we do not design to claim that they engrossed more than an honorable share of the industry and activity of the times .*
The West India trade was an alluring path of adventure. The horses, cattle and alimentary produce of a thriving back country converged at Norwich and sought a market abroad. For the first ten or twelve years after the peace, it met with but few obstacles except those arising from tropical storms or tropical diseases. It was prosecuted with vigor, and was rich in its returns.
* The commercial details of this and the following chapter have been gathered from the custom house records at New London, newspaper files, and other contemporary documents.
476
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Most of the voyages of that day were undertaken in vessels of very light burden and small draft. A large proportion of the trade of New England was accomplished in sloops, schooners and brigs, from 35 to 70 or 100 tons burden. Ships,-that is, merchant vessels, ship-rigged, with three masts,-were generally from 100 to 200 tons burden, scarce equal- ing an ordinary brig of the present day .*
Live-stock, provisions and lumber were the articles demanded for the West India market. Even flour was then an article of export rather than of import. Considerable wheat was raised in the eastern part of Con- necticut, where it is now a very uncertain crop, and less profitable than other grains.
The Norwich vessels seldom took in their live-stock from the wharves. Sheep and swine might however be received directly from the land, or from light craft as they lay in the stream; but horses, oxen and cows were driven to New London, and there taken on board. It was rare for a vessel to carry her deck cargo down the river.
The following table of the exports and imports of Norwich, from Jan. 1, 1788, to March 4, 1789, is taken from the report of the naval officer :
EXPORTS.
£
d.
549 horses,
valuo,
12
s. 00 00
£ 6588
s. d. 00 00
205 mules,
15
3075
205 horned cattle,
"
7
1435
321 sheep,
10
160
10
1,903 bbls. beef,
40
3806
1,774 " pork,
60
5322
25,000 lbs. butter,
6
625
92,120 " cheese,
4
1535
6
8
6,600 " ham,
5
137
10
16,000 bu. grain,
2
6
2000
175 M. hoops,
70
612
10
160 M. staves,
80
640
14,600 lbs. hayseed, 586 bbls. potash,
66
6
365
5
2880
25,000 yds. homemade cloth, 631 hhds. flaxseed,
40
1264
276 tons pressed hay,
60
828
4 bbls. gingerbread,
5
20
Total,
£34,218
6
8
* Six prominent trading vessels, in 1791, owned principally by Joseph Williams, and kept in the West India trade, were of the following tonnage :
Ship Josephns, 228 tons.
Schooner Nabby, 87 tons.
Sloop Prosperity, 70 tons.
Brig Enterpriser, 130 tons. Snow Federal, 110 tons.
Sloop Negotiator, 70 tons.
The Snow was thus described : " This vessel is all Federal ; hull, rigging, sails, and every material manufactured from the produce of America."
566 hogs,
15
424
10
2
2500
.
477
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
IMPORTS.
£
s. d.
European goods, value
3909
1,500 hides,
12s.
900
7,675 bu. salt,
1s. 8d.
639
11 8
112,625 galls. molasses, 1s. 4d.
7540
18,300
rum,
2s. 6d.
2287
10
1,271 lbs. bohea tea,
2s.
127
2
20,700
" coffee,
1s.
1045
417,200
" sugar,
8344
Total,
£24,793
3 8
Shipping belonging to the port at this time :
Twenty sloops, -
940 tons.
Five schooners,
325
Five brigs,
545
One ship,
200
Total,
2010
No custom-house records of the New London district, prior to the Revolution, are known to be extant. They were either carried away by Duncan Stewart, the last royal collector, in 1776, or more probably de- stroyed in the conflagration of the town in 1781. The first U. S. Col- lector under the Federal Constitution, appointed by General Washington, was
GENERAL JEDIDIAH HUNTINGTON.
The coast of Connecticut formed two districts, those of New Haven and New London. The New London district extended from Killingworth to Rhode Island, and included the commerce of the two rivers, Connecti- cut and Thames. General Huntington immediately relinquished his mer- cantile concerns in Norwich, and removed to New London, taking posses- sion of his office, as the record states with characteristic accuracy, "August 11th, 1789, 7 o'clock, A. M."*
The appointments made for Norwich were :- Benajah Leffingwell, guager ; Joseph Gale, measurer and weigher.
The regular packets at that time running from Norwich to New York were the Juno, Robert Niles ; the Venus, Christopher Vaill; and the Lady Washington, Stephen Culver. The Norwich Packet, Benjamin Culver, plied regularly to Newport, and the Swallow, Zephaniah Jen-
* The first vessel entered at the new custom-house was the brig Sally, Capt. Moses Tryon, which arrived that morning from Cape Francois with a cargo of molasses. She was owned by Jeremiah Wadsworth of Hartford.
478
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
nings, to Boston. Several other coasting sloops kept the river lively ; among them were the Lark, Jonathan Roath ; and the Royal Oak, Tim- othy Parker.
The first clearances from Norwich for a foreign port, under the new collector, August, 1789, were :
Sloop Sally, Frederick Tracy, for Martinico. Sch. Friendship, Absalom Pride, for St. Martins. Sch. Nabby, Joseph Pierce, for do.
The earliest entries of note were :
Aug. Brig Neptune, Hezekiah Perkins, from Hispaniola. " Enterprise, Jerahmeel Williams, with 690 tubs of salt.
The ship Josephus, Elisha Huntington, cleared for Demerara, Sept. 12, 1789. A memorandum of her lading will give a good idea of a West India cargo. Her live-stock consisted of 62 horses and mules, a few cows, a yoke of oxen, and a dozen sheep and swine. Of provisions she carried 4500 bunches of onions, 18 hhds. of potatoes, 86 boxes of cheese, 18 firkins of butter, nearly 80 hhds. of beef and pork, 30 kegs of crack- ers, 34 bbls. of bread, and 30 bbls. of flour. She had a large amount of brick and lumber, planks, clapboards, staves, joints, and spars ; 115 water hogsheads; a lot of parlor furniture, such as mahogany tables, green chairs and sofas, and a few saddles and bridles.
We are struck with astonishment at the quantity of live-stock carried even by the smaller vessels, or sloops, popularly called horse-jockeys, in these voyages. That same season, the Betsey, Jabez Lord, took out 35 horses, and the Nancy, John Fanning, 36. These were small sloops .*
The brig Neptune, which cleared Oct. 1st for Hispaniola, carried 49 horses. The Enterpriser, Isaac Williams, sailing for Demarara, Nov. 2d, besides provisions, brick, and lumber, carried 20 horses, 17 cattle, 9 mules, 20 sheep, 20 swine, 150 geese, and 100 turkeys.t
The return cargo consisted of rum, molasses, sugar, wine, pimento, pepper, limes, tamarinds, sweetmeats, aniseed, bags of coffee, bales of cotton, tobacco, indigo, and salt.
The trade to the northern coast of South America, especially to Dutch Guiana, was lucrative, and the cargoes brought from thence paid a higher duty than others. As an example of the success and spirit with which
* Capt. Isaac Hull was for many years engaged in the West India trade, sailing from New London in the employ of Norwich and New London merchants. In one of his voyages in the ship Minerva, (1798,) he carried 98 oxen on his deck.
The Enterpriser on her return from this voyage was libeled by the government for importing goods not contained in her manifest, concealing and delivering them at Nor- wich without a permit, viz., 13 hhds. spirits, 10 bales cotton, 1 bbl. sugar, 1 cask cocoa.
. 479
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
this line of trade was prosecuted, and the risks run, take a horse-jockey sloop of 90 tons burden, called the Prosperity, fittted out by Joseph Wil- liams.
We first notice her on a voyage to Essequibo, in March, 1790, with 38 horses on her deck; Jerahmeel Williams, master. From that time she continued the line for eight or nine years, averaging two voyages per year. At her entry in March, 1792, the duties on her cargo amounted to $2,446, and in October of the same year, to $2,747. In one of her trips, (1793,) she carried out 40 mules, 12 horses, 190 sheep, and 25 swine, besides the usual variety of other lading. In 1799, she was taken by one of the bel- ligerent cruisers, found to have contraband goods on board, condemned, and forfeited.
The brig Enterpriser, Hezekiah Freeman, entering from Essequibo in April, 1793, with goods to Joseph Williams and other merchants, paid an import of $3,241 ; the highest of any single Norwich cargo before 1796.
The ship-masters were generally part owners of vessel and cargo. A large proportion of the merchants had been sea-captains, and it was no uncommon thing for them to alternate between trading at home and trad- ing at sea,-leaving their business with a partner, and taking command of a vessel to the Islands or to Europe. The names of Backus, Coit, Fitch, Perkins, &c., were borne by persons as familiar with the deck as the counter ; with the ports in tropical seas, as with the departments of; busi- ness at home. In point of fact, it was necessary that the captain of a merchant vessel should not only be an able mariner, but practiced in trade; for he generally carried no supercargo, and transacted all the busi- ness of the voyage himself.
Ships owned and chartered from the New London district, during the year 1791 :
9 ships, 1 barque, 1 snow, 65 brigantines, 32 schooners, 57 sloops.
Horses, cattle and mules exported, 7,403.
During the year preceding, 7,072.
What proportion of these were from Norwich, we have not the means of ascertaining.
American commerce began to meet with its first serious obstructions in 1793. Ten years of great prosperity had multiplied the merchant vessels till they literally swarmed in the usual routes of trade. From sixty to eighty American vessels were sometimes reported as lying at once in a single port in the West Indies ; Cape François, for instance. The richest part of St. Domingo belonged to the French, with the islands of Martin- ique and Guadaloupe, and the trade to these French colonies was im- mense. In 1793, nearly 1400 American vessels, with a tonnage of 160,- 000 tons, were engaged in it. The stern edicts of France and England, the two belligerent powers, fell upon this trade with crushing weight-
480
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
American vessels were seized, now by one party and now by the other, carried into port, and there libeled and condemned, the government and the captors sharing the spoils. By far the greater part of these destruct- ive seizures were made by the British; they obtained possession of Mar- tinique and Guadaloupe, and preyed upon American commerce without restraint, condemning every vessel from a French port that carried sugar, cotton, or coffee .*
Capt. John Fanning, of the brig Union, arrived from the West Indies July 10, 1793. He reported that 200 sail of American vessels had en- tered the harbor of Cape Francois between the 19th and 23d of June. While Capt. Fanning was there, a terrific battle was fought between the races : whites, mulattoes and negroes struggling for the mastery. The town was plundered and burnt, and it was said that 5000 persons were massacred. Many took refuge in the mountains, and others on board the ships in the harbor. At this period great numbers of refugees from St. Domingo came to the States, seeking an asylum. Norwich had her share of these unfortunate exiles.
In May, 1794, Congress laid an embargo of thirty days duration. A war with Great Britain was seriously apprehended, and a general spirit of arming in defence of the country prevailed. Public meetings were held in all the larger towns and thriving sea-ports of the Union, and patri- otic resolutions carried by acclamation. At New London the public meet- ing was held March 19th. In Norwich the merchants convened on the 18th of April at the house of Elijah Lathrop: Ebenezer Huntington in the chair; Thomas Fanning, clerk ; and drafted a memorial to Congress, com- plaining of British depredations, and urging immediate retaliatory action. This memorial was forwarded to the House of Representatives.
But the storm at this time blew over. The difficulties with England were temporarily settled in November, by Jay's treaty, and American commerce resumed its flourishing course. It was still subject to many vexatious impositions,-to the plundering of French privateers and im- pressment by British men-of-war,-yet still it prospered. In the West India trade, the most hazardous undertakings were frequently crowned with splendid success. This encouraged enterprise and kept the track lively with adventures for a second period of ten years. Never was any business more exciting. The gain was alluring, but the hazards were great. When a vessel left port often a shuddering fear of the deadly fever of the tropics must have swept through the minds of parting friends.
It is wonderful that in a line of trade attended by such dangers there
* Jan. 14, 1794. Capt. Meech, arrived from Cape Nichola Mole, in the schooner Polly, reports that all the West India Islands are in possession of the British, except Cape Francois and Aux Cayes. Norwich Weekly Register.
481
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
should have been no difficulty in obtaining seamen. Young men were eager for the chance ; a crew was always at hand; the love of adventure was stronger than the fear of shipwreck and death, and one of the great parental trials of the day was that the boys of the family were persever- ingly bent on going to sea. If a vessel was deficient in her crew, it was only necessary to hang out a signal to that effect from mast-head, and applicants would soon appear to fill the vacancies.
Two successful voyages in a year appears to have been the climax of good fortune in the West India trade. A few instances have been noticed of three entrances or three clearances during the year, but none of three whole voyages with full cargoes in and out. In 1791, the schooner Chloe, Jabez Lord, entered 7 March, 15 June, and 3 Oct. In 1793, the brig Union, John Fanning, entered 11 March, 11 July, and 7 Dec. The brig Minerva accomplished fourteen voyages in a little more than five years, from Feb., 1801, to the spring of 1806: four under Capt. John French, the last seven under Capt. Sangar.
The sloop Negociator, James Munsell, sailed with a cargo for the West Indies, June 10, 1798, and returned into port July 30th, having completed her voyage in fifty days. This was noticed at the time as an example of a voyage remarkably short and prosperous. The voyage to or from the islands usually occupied from twelve to thirty days; to or from Demerara, from twenty to forty. The sloop Swallow in 1788 was fifty days on her passage from New London to Demerara, having met with opposing winds and heavy storms.
In 1795, a list of vessels and tonnage belonging to the place was made out in order to favor a petition forwarded to government for the establish- ment of a post-office in Chelsea. The following is a copy of this list, taken from a draft in the hand-writing of Joseph Howland, Esq., than whom no man was better acquainted with the maritime affairs of the place.
"List of Shipping belonging to the port of Norwich, October 12, 1795.
Ship Mercury, 280 tons.
Brig & Sally, 60 tons.
" Columbus, 200
" Betsey, 90
Modesty, 240
Schooner Polly, 90
Young Eagle,
200
Allen, 85
George,
364
Elizabeth, 75
Portland,
220
Chloe,
75
Charlotte,
90
Washington 65
Brig Union,
130
Schr. Shetucket, 70
Endeavor,
120
Robinson Crusoe,
120
Friendship,
120
Schooner Beaver, 60
Betsey,
130
« Jenny, 70
" Charlestown,
60
Sloop Farmer,
85
‹‹
" Polly,
180
Crisis,
72
Sally,
180
Honor,
65
31
482
HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Sloop William,
70 tons.
Sloop Mary,
45 tons.
Prosperity,
90
¥
Hercules,
70 “
Polly,
80
Juno,
55
¥ Negotiater,
90 66
Hunter,
45
Friendship,
90
Patty,
35
Bud,
35
Nancy,
70
3 Betsey,
45
-
65
"
Total seven ships, nine brigs, nine schooners, seventeen sloops=forty-two. Total 4312 tons, of which only 210 tons is owned in the old Parish, and 4102 is owned in the port or what is called Chelsea. The above does not include a number of river packets, or four New York packets."
When this list was made out, the shipping interest of the port had not reached its maximum of prosperity. Though it had suffered from the annoyances of foreign powers, it was in a condition to bear losses without being crippled in its pursuits. For several years after 1795, the importa- tions increased in value, and larger vessels were employed. Heavy car- goes were brought in from Jeremie, Cape François, and Martinique.
In four successive voyages of the ship Hope, in 1797 and '98, two in each year, three with Elijah Clark, master, and one with Sylvester Bill, bringing rum, molasses, &c., to Howland & Bill, J. Perkins, and B. Coit, the duties were from $7,000 to nearly $0,000 each. The cargoes of the ship Sally, at this period, were still more valuable, three in succes- sion paying an impost of more than $9,000 each.
Probably the highest duty ever paid by Norwich merchants on a single cargo was in October, 1798, when the ship Sally, John L. Boswell, enter- ing from St. Domingo, was charged at the custom-house $12,121.
After 1800 the trade of the port was less flourishing, yet from twenty to thirty brigs, schooners and coasting sloops or packets were generally kept in active service, and West India cargoes continued to arrive. The three-masted schooner Urania, the brigs Antelope, Atalanta, Dove, Hope, and Harriet, made a series of voyages, with varying success, under John and Thomas Backus, Christopher Colver, George Gilbert, Oliver Fitch, Francis Smith, &c., with goods to Jesse Brown & Son, Peter Lanman, Jabez Perkins, Jabez Huntington, Dwight Ripley, Thomas Lathrop, and others.
The hostile decrees of England and France, though directed mainly against each other, struck heavily upon neutral commerce. From 1803, onward for several years, English ships of war were so numerous in the West Indies that it was scarcely possible for a merchant vessel to enter a port (windward or leeward) without being overhauled. Moreover, French privateers were active ; from sixty to seventy American vessels were taken by them and carried into Cuba during the year 1804. They were lurking in retired places, or traversing the more open seas, and it was equally haz- ardous to seek a market at an island belonging to either of the belligerent
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