USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > History of Norwich, Connecticut: from its possession by the Indians, to the year 1866 > Part 6
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Hartford, May 20, (59.) This Court haveing considered the petition presented by the inhabitants of Scabrook, doe declare yt they approve and consent to what is de-
* This worthy successor of Mr. Fitch, forms another link uniting Norwich with its ancient nursing mother Saybrook. Some of his descendants of the present generation, passing by way of Lebanon, have chosen Norwich for their home, and given to it the distinction of furnishing a second Chief Magistrate to the State. William Alfred Buckingham, Governor of Connecticut since 1858, is of the sixth generation in de- scent from the Rev. Thomas Buckingham of Saybrook.
antes .
Ened by Geo. E. Perine & CONY.
nowBuckingham
WER NUR F
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
sired by ye petitioners, respecting Mohegin, provided yt within ye space of three yeares they doe effect a plantation in ye place propounded.
It is to be regretted that no copy of the petition has been preserved. A list of the signers would be invaluable. The action of the court speaks of it as emanating from "the inhabitants of Seabrook," not from a com- pany or a portion of the planters. This would seem to imply that the greater part of the people, or at least a majority, were proposing to re- move to the new settlement; and this coincides with the current opinion, that the company consisted of Mr. Fitch and the major part of his church.
It would be gratifying also, to ascertain the motives which led these solid and considerate householders to determine upon a change of resi- dence. What should induce them to abandon improvements which they had long labored to obtain, lands which they had subdued by toilsome cul- tivation, comfortable abodes and a civilized neighborhood, to plunge again into a wilderness and begin life anew, upon another savage soil, near a frontier bristling with alarm and terror. It was undoubtedly wise as a measure of State policy, to advance the settlements and erect a fresh bar- rier against Indian invasion, and this consideration may have been of weight with Major Mason and Mr. Fitch. But the majority must have had some alluring prospect of individual advantage, to counterbalance the sacrifices they were to make. Undoubtedly the moving cause was to be found in the sheltered vales and fine grazing lands, the sparkling, dashing streams, the wide ranges of upland forest, and the rich provisions for hunting and fishing which were included in the broad extent of the pro- posed township. These were the bright attractions that charmed the planters of Saybrook from their fertile plains and stoneless soil, and fixed their longing eyes upon the frowning cliffs and wild varieties of surface in the neighborhood of the Yantic, the Shetucket and the Quinebaug.
Another reason dissimilar, and apparently inadequate and frivolous, has been assigned, by local tradition, as the immediate, provoking cause of the removal. It has been said that the Norwich settlers, being for the most part farmers, were driven from Saybrook by the crows and black- birds. This story is at least suggestive of a great nuisance in the early days of our country. It is well known that clouds of these gormandizing fowls, darkening the sky, and filling the air with elamor, would come down upon the newly planted maize, in the late May or early June, when the young shoots could be easily torn up, and in a few days leave the fields of a whole district in ruin. These cormorants were peculiarly trouble- some upon level corn-fields, near the sea, or large rivers, obliging the farmer to plant and replant, and sometimes destroying prematurely the whole barvest.
In most of the settlements by-laws were made rendering it obligatory upon every man to destroy, during the three spring months, a certain
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
number of crows, black-birds, wood-peckers, jays, and other grain-devour- ing birds. A dozen was the usual number required, with a preminm for all over a dozen, and penalties imposed on those who fell short .* Thus it appears that the early inhabitants of nearly all our towns were obliged to wage an annual war, not only with wild beasts, venomous serpents and pilfering animals that burrowed in the ground, but with predatory fowls swarming in the air.
But that the people of Saybrook were routed from their habitations, and forced into exile by the inroads of voracious birds, was doubtless a pleasant satire rather than a fact. President Styles notices the tradition in his diary, but dismisses it, expressing an opinion with which most peo- ple who consider the circumstances will coincide, that Mr. Fitch and his congregation relinquished their Saybrook grants in the hope of finding accommodations better adapted to their pursuits and aspirations at Nor- wich. .
The enterprise having been sanctioned by the General Court, and the deed obtained from the Indians, the proprietors began to prepare for a removal. The township was surveyed, the town plot or central village laid out, a highway opened, and house-lot; measured and assigned to the purchasers in the fall of 1659. By what rule the distribution was made is not known. The probability is that Mr. Fitch and Major Mason had the privilege of a first choice.
No removal of cattle or goods appears to have taken place until the next year. Doubtless some small cabins were erected, and a few persons remained on the ground to keep watch and guard. The flying attack made by the Narragansetts, already mentioned, shows that there was one English house and five Englishmen at Norwich during the winter; and this, as far as is known, comprises the whole settlement previous to the spring of 1660.t
The Mohegan territory, comprising all the lands claimed by Uncas and
*A similar regulation was enforced at Colchester, so late as the year 1717.
" Voated to oblige every person in the town of sixteen years of age and upwards to kill one Duson of blackbuds, or wood-peckers or gay burds, and bring their heads to the Select Men; and what are killed in the months of march aprell or may, six shall be counted as a duson ; and if any person kills more than his Duson he shall be alowed one penne pr head-and he that doth not kill his dusen shall pay to the town Rate one shilling."
Taintor's Extracts from Records of Colchester, p. 19.
1 In the MS. Journal of Thomas Minor of Stonington, this memorandum occurs, under date of 1659, Nov. 8th :
" We wer at Mohegon."
It is tantalizing not to have him say more. But this being the precise month when the proprietors were laying out their lots in the Mohegan purchase, it may be conjec- tured that Minor went there as an assistant in surveys and measurements.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
his tribe, by whatever name known, within the bounds of the Connecticut colony, was ceded by Uncas to the colonial authorities at Hartford, Sept. 28, 1640 .* This appears to have been regarded as a cession of jurisdic- tion only ; for whenever afterward settlements were about to commence, a regular purchase of the place was made. Often also additional gratu- ities were made for special tracts within these purchased towns, by indi- viduals.
When the settlement of Norwich was projected, the township was con- veyed to the proprietors by Uncas and his sons, for the sum of seventy pounds. This was in June, 1659. Major Mason was at this period act- ing under a commission from the General Court, the object of which was to obtain a fresh conveyance to the colony of all the Mohegan lands not actually planted and improved by the tribe. In this business he was suc- cessful. A deed of cession was obtained, signed by Uncas and his brother Wawequaw, Aug. 15, 1659.t Thus it appears that the nine-miles-square of the Norwich purchase was three times legally transferred from the abo- rigines to the whites, and each time, apparently, in the way of fair and honorable dealing.
" On just and equal terms the land was gained ; No force of arms hath any right obtained."#
The original deed of Norwich is not extant. In March, 1663, the General Court ordered it to be placed on record at Hartford.§ Appa- rently, in recording the deed, some slight variations from the original copy were allowed, for the phrase used by one of the contracting parties, viz., Town and Inhabitants of Norwich, seems to imply that a settlement had been made.
DEED OF NORWICH.|
Know all men that Onkos, Owaneco, Attawanhood, Sachems of Mohegan have Bargined, sold, and passed over, and doe by these presents sell and pass over unto the Towne and Inhabitants of Norwich nine miles square of land lying and being at
* Proceedings in the Mason controversy, transmitted to the Board of Trade and printed in London, 1743.
t Ibid. This deed was witnessed by Wm. Thompson, Thomas Leffingwell, and Benjamin Brewster.
# Roger Wolcott.
§ Conn. Col. Rec., 1, 393.
|| This is taken from the first book of Norwich Proprietary Records, into which it was transcribed abont 1680, not apparently from the original deed, but from the copy recorded at Hartford in 1663. It has, however, some slight variations from the Hart- ford record. The latter has Monhcag for Moheagen, and after Great River (line 11) is added, "commonly called Monheag river."
This deed is also recorded at New London, (Deeds, V. I, 226,) where the orthogra -- phy is Unchas, Owaneca, and Monheage.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Moheagen and the parts thereunto ajoyneing, with all ponds, rivers, woods, quarries, mines, with all royalties, privileges, and appurtenances thereunto belonging, to them the said inhabitants of Norwich, theire heirs and successors forever-the said lands are to be bounded as followeth, (viz.) to the southward on the west side of the Great River, ye line is to begin at the brooke falling into the head of Trading Cove, and soe to run west norwest seven miles-from thence the line to run nor north east nine miles, and on the East side the afores'd river to the southward the line is to joyne with New Lon- don bounds as it is now laid out and soe to run east two miles from the foresd river, and soe from thience the line is to run nor noreast nine miles and from thence to run nor norwest nine miles to meet with the western line .- In consideration whereof the sd Onkos, Owaneco and Attawanhood doe acknowledge to have received of the parties aforesd the full and juste sum of seventy pounds and doe promise and engage ourselves, heirs and successors, to warrant the sd bargin and sale to the aforesd parties, their heirs and successors, and them to defend from all elaimes and molestations from any whatsoever .- In witness whereof we have hereunto set to our hands this 6th of June, Anno 1659.
UNKOS
his marke
OWANECO
marke
ATTAWANHOOD
marke
Witness hereunto JOHN MASON THOMAS TRACY.
This deed is recorded in the Country Booke Agust 20th 1663 : as atests JOHN ALLYN, Sec'y.
The bounds of this tract, as more particularly described in the first volume of the Proprietors' Records, were as follows :
The line commenced at the mouth of Trading Cove, where the brook falls into the cove ; thence W. N. W. seven miles to a Great Pond, [now in the corner of Bozrah and Colchester, ] the limit in this direction being denoted by a black oak marked N that stood near the outlet of the " Great Brook that runs out of the pond to Norwich river ;" thence N. N. E. nine miles to a black oak standing on the south side of the river, [Shetucket,] " a little above Maw-mi-ag-waug;" thence S. S. E. nine miles, crossing the Shetucket and the Quinebaug, and passing through " a Seader Swamp called Catantaquck," to a white oak tree, marked N, thirteen rods beyond a brook called Quo-qui-qua-soug, the space from the Quinebaug to this tree being just one mile and fifty-eight rods; thence
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
S. S. W. nine miles to a white oak marked N, near the dwelling-houses of Robert Allyn and Thomas Rose, where Norwich and New London bounds join ; thence west on the New London bounds, crossing the south- ern part of Mr. Brewster's land, two miles to Mohegan river, opposite the mouth of Trading Cove brook, where the first bounds began.
Such were the bounds, as reviewed and renewed in October, 1685, by an authorized committee, accompanied by the two sachems and some of the chief men of Mohegan. The former deed of 1659, with the bounda- ries thus described and explained, was then ratified and confirmed by "Owaneca, sachem of Mohegan, son and heire unto Vnchas deceased," and "Josiah, son and heire unto Owaneca," in a new deed, signed by them Oct. 5th, 1685, witnessed by John Arnold and Stephen Gifford, and acknowledged before James Fitch, Assistant .*
The southern boundary line, it will be observed, is nine miles in length, two east of the river, and seven west, without counting the breadth of the Thames, and the length of Trading Cove to the mouth of the brook, which would make this line nearly ten miles long. This is explained in the deed to be designed as a compensation for "the benefit and liberty of the waters and river for fishing and other occasions," reserved to the Indians.
* Recorded at Hartford, Liber D, folio 104. Also at New London, Book 6, folio 226.
CHAPTER IV.
PROPRIETORS AND HOUSE-LOTS.
WHO were the original proprietors of Norwich? The current state- ment that they were just thirty-five in number, is based upon the author- ity of historians writing more than a century after the settlement. Dr. Trumbull in his History of Connecticut gives this number, relying, it is supposed, upon a list furnished in 1767 by the Rev. Dr. Lord, pastor of the First Church of Norwich. Dr. Lord's manuscript is extant. He says :
" The town of Norwich was settled in the spring of 1660 : the Purchase of sd Town was made in ye month of June, 1659, by 35* men."
He then gives a list of the names, which includes several who were minors at that time, and one at least [John Elderkin ] whose earliest grant at Norwich was in 1667.
Laying aside therefore all subsequent statements, and recurring to the oldest records remaining at Norwich, from which these abstracts must have been derived, it is found that the original records were very defi- cient in giving dates to the early grants. Resolutions passed at different periods, in the town meetings, refer to this defect.
In 1672, a new record of lands was made under direction of the town authorities, by James Fitch, Jr. It was commenced May 1st of that year, and the book contains a registry of the town lands and grants, "so far as copies of said lands were brought in by the inhabitants." The number of land-owners recorded is seventy-eight, three or four of whom were non-residents.
In 1681, the inhabitants declaring themselves sensible of a deficiency in their original records, appointed three of the first-comers, Thomas Lef- fingwell, Thomas Adgate, and John Post, to search for the original dates of former acts and grants, but nothing appears to have been done under this commission.
May 3d, 1684, Christopher Huntington, Recorder, at the request of John Olmstead, who, he says, "desireth to have the primitive date set to his record of land, which hath not been done heretofore for the want of
* Altered in the MS. from 34, and John Elderkin interlined.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
an orderly dating by the first recorder, Mr. Birchard," ascertains the true date, and affixes it under his signature,-"which date we find out of an antient wrighting which respects our purchase interest, and right, to be in the yeare of our Lord upon the 30th day of June 1659."
Again, Dec. 18th, 1694, the town, after adverting to their former neg- ligence in the record of proprietary lands, nominated a committee of six men "to search out and do the best they can to find the names of first purchasers, and what estate each of them put in, and report to the town."
The striking fact is here disclosed, that in little more than thirty years after the settlement, the number of the first proprietors, the amount of each one's subscription, and the names of all the purchasers, were not generally known and could not be determined without some difficulty.
No report of the last commission is recorded. Not long afterwards Capt. James Fitch was employed in the same business. He began a new registry of lands, copying original records where he could find them, stating bounds as they then existed, and affixing dates as nearly accurate as could be ascertained. It is from this registry that the various lists of the thirty-five proprietors have been gathered. Home lots, that seem to have constituted original grants, not having been alienated or purchased, were in general dated November, 1659. But the whole number that appears to be included under this date, either expressly or by implication, is thirty-eight, and it is difficult to decide which of these should be rejected, so as to leave the number just thirty-five.
The following list comprises those against whom not only nothing is found to militate against their being ranked as first proprietors, but, on the contrary, the records either prove conclusively, or favor the idea, that they belonged to that class :
Rev. James Fitch,
Christopher Huntington,
Major John Mason,
Simon Huntington,
Thomas Adgate,
William Hyde,
Robert Allyn,
Samuel Hyde,
William Backus,
Thomas Leffingwell,
William Backus, Jr.,
John Olmstead,
John Baldwin,
John Pease,
John Birchard, Thomas Bliss,
John Post,
Morgan Bowers,
Thomas Post, John Reynolds,
Hugh Calkins,
Jonathan Royce,
John Calkins,
Nehemiah Smith,
Richard Edgerton,
Thomas Tracy,
Francis Griswold,
Robert Wade.
Others having original home-lots and all the privileges of first proprie- tors, were :
.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Thomas Bingham, John Bradford, John Gager, Stephen Gifford, Richard Hendy,
Thomas Howard,
Thomas Waterman,
John Tracy,
Josiah Reed,
Richard Wallis.
Of this second class, Bingham, Gifford, Howard, Reed, Tracy and Waterman, were probably minors when the plantation commenced. They were all married between 1666 and 1670, inclusive, and were all living, except Howard, in 1702, when a roll of the inhabitants was made in ref- erence to a division of lands which distinguished the surviving first pro- prietors from the list of accepted inhabitants. Bingham, Gifford, Reed, Traey and Waterman, were enrolled with the latter, which would seem to settle the point that they were not original proprietors.
Most of these names, however, are necessary in order to make up the charmed number thirty-five. From the position these young men took, and the prominence of their descendants in the history of the town, they seem to have a higher claim to be ranked as proprietors than some of the earlier class, Hendy and Wallis, for instance, of whom we know little more than their names, and Wade, who soon alienated his possessions. By dropping these three names, and accepting the six minors, we are brought back to the time-honored prescriptive number, Thirty-five.
Stephen Backus, another minor, became a proprietor in the right of his father, William Backus, who died soon after the settlement.
The Town-plot was laid out in a winding vale, which followed the course of the rapid circuitous Yantie, and was sheltered for the greater part of the way, on either side, by abrupt and rocky, but well-wooded hills. A broad street or highway was opened through this valley, on each side of which the home-lots were arranged.
A pathway was likewise cleared from the center of the settlement, to the Indian landing place below the Falls of the Yantic, near the head of the Cove; following the old Indian trail from Ox-hill to Yantie ford. This path, ealled by the settlers Mill-Lane, was the most eligible route by which the effects of the planters could be conveyed. In some places the forests had been thinned of their undergrowth by fires, to afford scope for the Indians in their passionate love of the chase, and the beaver had done his part towards clearing the lowlands and banks of the rivers. A few wigwams were scattered here and there, the occasional abodes of wandering families of Indians at certain seasons of the year, who came hither for supplies of fish, fruit, or game; and the summits of some of the hills were crowned with disorderly heaps of stones, showing where some rude defence had been constructed in the course of their wars. But in every other respect the land was in its natural wild state. It was a laborious task to cut down trees, to burn the underbrush,
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
to mark ont roads and pathways, to throw temporary bridges over the runs of water, and to collect materials for building.
The home-lots comprised each a block of several acres, and were in general river-lands, favorable for mowing, pasture and tillage. Here lay the prime advantage to be gained by a change of residence, the first pro- prietors being, with scarcely a single exception, agriculturists and farmers.
Each homestead had a tract of pasture land included in it, or laid out as near to it as was convenient. Where the street approached the river, the planters had their pasture lots, in the same line with the house lots on the opposite side of the stream.
Near the center of the Town-plot an open space was left for public buildings and military parades. This was soon known as the Green, or Plain. Here stood the first meeting-house, toward the south side, with the open Common around it, and a steep pitch to the river. Of its erec- tion there is no record. It was probably built as the bridges were, by a general turn-out of the effective inhabitants, laboring under the direction of the best workman among them.
The dwellings of Mr. Fitch and Major Mason were near together, facing the Green, and with the river in their rear. The road running from the Green to the river, and spanning the stream with a bridge, sepa- rated the two homesteads. The allotment of Mr. Fitch, consisting of eleven acres, was on the south-east side of the Green; the home-lot of Mason, "eight acres more or less,"-the early measurements were ex- tremely liberal,-was on the south-west side.
The first wife of Mr. Fitch died at Saybrook, in September, 1659. He came to Norwich a widower, with six children; two of them sons, five and eleven years of age, who became active business men, and ap- pear in so short a time taking part in the affairs of the town that it might be a pardonable inaccuracy were they ranked as original planters.
Three acres of Mr. Fitch's home-lot he afterward transferred to his son, Capt. James Fitch.
On the north-west side of the Green, covering the ledgy side hill, was the allotment of Stephen Gifford. This was afterward bought by the town for parsonage land. On this hill, in the time of Philip's war, the meeting-house, the second sacred edifice of the town, stood.
At the east end of the Green was the homestead of Simon Hunting- ton. His lot was laid out on both sides of the street, with a pleasant rivulet running through it and a lane winding into the woods on one side, separating his land from that of his neighbor, Bradford. The dwelling- house of the late Gen. Z. Huntington, stands on a portion of the original lot, which has never been alienated, but is still in the possession of de- scendants to whom it comes by inheritance.
On the river, south-east of Mr. Fitch, was the lot of John Olmstead,
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
eight acres ; and next to him that of William Backus, Senior, six acres. Mr. Backus died soon after the settlement, and left his accommodations to his son Stephen, in whose name they were subsequently registered.
"Memorando : the footeway six foote broad which goes through the home lot of Mr. Fitch John Holmstead and Steven Backus was laid out by Towne order and agreement for the use of the towne, in August 1661."
This path, for more than a century, remained a pent-way, with a gate and turn-stile at each end, and when at last, that is, a little before the revolutionary war, it was widened into a road and thrown open to the public, it was dark with shrubbery and overhanging trees, and known as the road through the Grove.
Thomas Tracy's home-lot lay east of Simon Huntington's, on the south side of the street, which here runs nearly east and west. It consisted of nine acres, measuring thirty-four rods on the street. His son Solomon afterwards built a second Tracy house on a part of the same lot.
John Bradford, four acres, opposite Tracy, with the street and high- ways on all sides. "Mr. John Bradford's corner," was quoted as a land- mark. This was at the east end of his lot, where what was then called "the road to Shetucket" began.
Christopher Huntington, six acres, east of Thomas Tracy, with the brook between them. His house was at the corner, and the homestead remained in the family down to the present generation.
By the detours of the street, first east and then south, a large central space was left in the town plot which included a dark and dolorous swamp, antecedently the haunt of wolves and venomous serpents, from whence it is said, often at night-fall low howlings issued and phosphorescent lights were seen, very fearful and appalling to the early planters. In this swamp Huntington's and Bradford's brook united and flowed into the Yantic. These are now insignificant rills, confined in channels, or only gleaming like silvery lines amid the grass ; but when the country was in its natural state, they were loud-voiced, swift-footed streams.
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