USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Seymour > History of Seymour, Connecticut, with biographies and genealogies > Part 5
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"Chieftains of a vanished race, In your ancient burial place, By your fathers' ashes blest, Now in peace securely rest. Since on life you looked your last,
Changes o'er your land have passed; Strangers came with iron sway, And your tribes have passed away, But your fate shall cherished be In the strangers' memory ; Virtue long her watch shall keep, Where the Red Men's ashes sleep."
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HISTORY OF SEYMOUR.
In the early days of New England not only negroes, but Indians, were held as slaves to the whites. In the old records of Derby are occasional en- tries of Indian slaves. Following are deeds of this kind :
"Know all men by these presents that I, Joseph Gorham of Stratford, in the connty of Fairfield, in the colony of Connecticut, for and in consideration of sixty pounds money in hand received, and well and truly paid by Col. Ebenezer Johnson of Derby, in the county of New Haven and colony aforesaid, to my full satisfaction and content, have sold and made over unto the said Ebenezer Johnson and to his heirs, executors and assigns forever, one Indian woman named Dinah, of abont twenty-six years of age; for him, the said Johnson, his heirs, executors or assigns, to have, bold and enjoy the said Indian woman Dinah as his and their own proper estate from henceforth forever, during tho said Dinah's life; affirming the said Dinah to be my own proper estate, and that I have in myself full power and lawful anthority to sell and dispose of the said Dinah in manner as aforesaid, and that free and clear of all incumbrances whatsoever. In witness I set to my hand and seal in Stratford. this eight day of June in the year of our Lord God 1722.
SAMUEL FRENCHI, Attorney for Capt. Gorham.
"Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of us, JOHN CURTISS, JOHN LEAVENWORTHI."
" Know all men by these presents that I, Hannah Jonson, widow of the late de- ceased Colonel Ebenezer Jonson of Derby, in the county of New Haven, in the colony of Connecticut in New England, for the parently love and good will which I have towards my beloved son Timothy Jonson of Derby, in the county and colony aforesaid, and for divers other good and well-advised considerations mne thereunto moving, have given and do by these presents fully, freely and absolutely give, grant and confirm nuto my beloved son Timothy Johnson, him, his heirs and assigns forever : that is to say, one Indian woman called Dinah, and also a feather-bed that he hath now in pos- session ; and by these presents I, the said Hannah Jonson, do give grant and confirm, and firmly make over the above-named Dinah and feather-bed with all their privi- leges and profits ; and nnto him, the said Timothy Jonson, his heirs and assigns for- ever, to have and to hold, to occupy, nse and improve, as he, the said Timothy Jonson, his heirs and assigns, shall think fit, without any interruption, trouble or molestation any manner of way given by me, the said Hannah Jonson, or any of my heirs, execu- tors or administrators, or any other person or persons from, by or under me. And furthermore I the said Hannah Jonson do by these presents for myself, my heirs, ex- ecntors and administrators, covenant and promise to and with the said Timothy Jon- son, his heirs and assigns, that we will forever warrant and defend hun the said Timothy Jonson, his heirs and assigns, in tho peaceable and quiet possession and en- joyment of the above-named Dinah and feather-bed against the lawful claims and demands of all persons whomsoever. In confirmation of all the above-mentioned per- tiknarlyes [particulars ], I the said Hannah Jonson have hereunto set my hand and seal this 22nd day of November, in the second year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King George the Second, and in the year one thousand seven hundred and twenty- eight. HANNAH JOHNSON,
" Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of JOSEPH HULLS, CHARLES JOHNSON .
"Derby, November 22, 1728 .- This day Hannah Jonson, the subscriber of the above-written instrument, personally appeared and acknowledged this to be her own free act and deed, before me JOSEPH HULLS, Justice of the Peace."
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HISTORY OF SEYMOUR.
The following entry is "verbatim et literatim":
" these may certifi whome it may consarn that tobee a Ingan that liv ed with me I had of a moheg Indian at new london 30 7 years agoo. he liv ed with me 12 year and is now and has bin a free man ever senc october the 6 1713
EBENEZER JOHNSON "
It is thought that Col. Johnson came in possession of Toby in 1688, the year of the beginning of King William's war, and perhaps Toby was one of the northern Indians in alliance with the French, taken prisoner in that war. A tradition has been handed down that Col. Johnson, with his forces, sur- rounded an Indian village, and cut down, as they supposed, every one in it, and that early the next morning as the Colonel was walking over the scene of the fight, a little Indian boy ran out of the bushes and ching to his leg with such a pleading look that the Colonel spared him, and brought him to his home by the Naugatuck. The manuscript quoted above seems to conflict with this interesting narrative.
Tobee's name is perpetuated by the appellation "Toby's Rocks," as ap- plied to the rocky hills and cliffs south of High Rock, which, with the sur- rounding land, was given to him when he became a freeman.
The day of the Indian is passed, and that of the railroad and telegraph has come; yet we do not need to ride or walk far from our daily haunts to find a few mixed descendants of the aboriginees. These are mainly offshoots from the Pequots. They have lived for a long time in a narrow valley where a small stream and a large one unite, a spot which they have named, as Mr. Lossing tells us, Pish-gach-ti-gock-"the meeting of the waters." The name on white lips was changed to Scatacook, and the Indians became known as the Scatacook Indians. During a former generation these wards of civilization used to frequent the villages, peddling baskets and small wares to gain a live- lihood.
At the beginning of the present century a remnant of the Paugussetts were still living in Woodbridge, bearing the name of Mack, and within a few years some, who were supposed to be their descendants, have frequently been seen in our streets offering for sale the baskets they had made.
Arrow heads of flint and quartz are still found in our fields, and oc- casionally an excavation reveals the resting place of some dusky warrior, dis- tinguishable only by the relics which kindred hands had placed in his grave, hoping they might be of service to him in "the happy hunting grounds" to which they supposed his spirit had taken flight.
The last full blood Indian of this tribe, now reduced to a mere hand- ful, mixed with negro and white blood-was the famous Eunice Mauwehn. She lived on a state reservation, as do now her dwindling descendants,
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HISTORY OF SEYMOUR.
and died in 1859, aged about 104 years. Her father was the last chief who ruled, and she was, consequently, of royal blood-a princess, in fact, as she would have been in name, had the tribal condition of her people continued.
Until within a few weeks of her death, she often talked with freedom of the Indians and their habits. It was interesting to hear her pronunciation of the Indian words which have now become local property, and are attached to so many places. In almost every instance the modern use of them is merely a reduction of larger and more unmanageable ones-words which, as they are now used, have been shorn of a half or a third of their original syllables. She was intelligent, and accustomed to talk, and remembered, of course, many curious things. She made a striking statement that she saw, when a little girl, an old Indian who had seen King Philip. The Indian was telling her father of the personal traits and appearance of this doughty hero, and uarrating, perhaps, some of his unrecorded exploits ; and she was a wrapt listener to the conversation. To see an Indian who had seen King Philip was like putting your hand backward upon the vessel which landed on Plym- outh Rock. When one sits down to think the matter seriously over, it does not seem so long as it did since Columbus discovered America, or since William the Conqueror set foot in England, or in fact, since anything ancient happened, when a few memories pasted together cover an arc of time."
The Early Settlers.
Benajah Johnson and Timothy, his brother, who settled in what is now Beacon Falls, came from Derby, but were natives of New Haven. Their father lived in a house which stood where the Exchange building now stands, and had eight sons. The wives of Timothy and Benajah Johnson were grand- daughters of the Rev. Nathaniel Brewster, (son of Jonathan Brewster, who came to Plymouth in the Mayflower,) of Setauket Village, Brookhaven, Long Island, and great-granddaughters of Roger Ludlow, who was one of the four principal men who came over from England in 1630 with Gov. John Win- throp, and who began to settle the town of Dorchester, Mass. Mr. Ludlow was soon made deputy governor of Massachusetts. In 1636 he and seven others were invested by Massachusetts with all the powers of the government of the new colony of Connecticut. He removed to Windsor, where he lived till 1640, having been in the meantime appointed deputy governor of Con- nectient and to other high offices of trust. In 1640 he and several others bought of the Indians Uncou, including the region now called Stratford, Bridgeport and Fairfield. The name belonged particularly to Fairfield, where Gov. Ludlow and his associates lived, and which was first discovered by Capt. Mason when pursuing the Pequot Indians westward after their memorable defeat in 1637. Thompson, in his history of Long Island, speaking of Mr. Brewster says : " He was a nephew of the Elder William Brewster of the Mayflower. He was a graduate in the first class of Harvard College in 1642, which consisted of nine young men.
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HISTORY OF SEYMOUR.
During the Commonwealth, (from 1650 to 1660,) he was a minister in Norwalk, England, but on the restoration of monarchy, he returned, to Amer- ica and was settled at Setauket, L. I., in 1665. His three sons, Jolm, Daniel and Timothy, had resided there several years before his arrival from England. Ilis wife was Sarah, danghter of Roger Ludlow, one of the most eminent men of New England. Mr. Ludlow was a member of the council and deputy governor of Massachusetts and Connecticut. He composed the first code of laws for the Connecticut colony, which was first published in 1650. Mr. Lud- low's daughter Sarah, the wife of Mr. Brewster, was represented as a person eminently distinguished for her genius and literary attaimnents. The three sons of Mr. Brewster were men of excellent character and highly useful during their lives. The wife of Benajah Jolmson was first married to Joseph Haw- kins of Derby, son of John Hawkins, Nov. 17, 1720, when she was 19 years old. He or his son Joseph, who was the ancestor of the Hawkinses of Derby, bailt the first house on Derby Point, where Birmingham now is, and a store for the purpose of importing and selling West India goods. This house and store were torn down not many years ago.
At this time the Housatonic below Derby was navigable for vessels which could come up to where now is the rolling mill of the iron works. This was the location of the store. There was no made land below the causeway, east of Birmingham. Where the two rivers met was a kind of triangular lake, deep and free from mud. Joseph Hawkins died about the year 1725. He had a daughter Mary, born Sept. 5th, 1721, who married Ebenezer Judd, of Waterbury, Nov. 17th, 1742, and was the mother of Brewster, Enoch, Eben- ezer, Sarah, David, Benajah and Amos Judd, also a son Joseph, born April 30th, 1724, who carried on business in the store mentioned above. The wid- ow Sarah (Brewster) Hawkins and Benajah Johnson were married Oct. 10th, 1728, and they soon occupied, as pioneers, the first house in Seymour, which was built at the foot of the first hill north of the house of Mr. Chatfield, posite the present house of William Gilyard. She took her name from her grandmother, Sarah Ludlow. About 1750 he built the house which was recently torn down to make room for Chatfield's present house. They had three children, Isaac, Zeviah and Sarah. Isaac was born in 1735 and died April 10th, 1813, aged 78 years. Zeviah was born in 1739 and died May 29th, 1816, aged 77 years. Isaac married Lois Hopkins, daughter of John Hopkins of Waterbury, and first consin of the celebrated divine, Dr. Samuel Ilopkins, who was the son of her uncle Timothy. The date of their marriage was Jan- uary 21st, 1758, by Rev. Mark Leavenworth, the pastor of the church in Waterbury. Lois, his wife, was born in 1738, and died Oct. 16th, 1814, aged 76 years. Zeviah, sister of Isaac, was married to Abiel Fairchild, and their house was about three-fourths of a mile northwest of Pinesbridge. Mr. Fairchild was an excellent man. One of his neighbors said of him that he was an " Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile." Sarah married John Hopkins of Waterbury. (Derby Records, vol. 9, p. 452.)
Benajah Johnson died April 13th, 1763, aged 59, and his remains were carried on a horse litter to the original burying ground of Derby. His widow, Sarah, died May 7th, 1773, at the house of her daughter, Mrs. Abiel Fair- child. Her remains were interred in a new burying ground which had been begun about five years previous to her death,-about 1768,-on a terrace above and west of the Naugatuck railroad, about a mile above the depot in Seymour. This place of burial was abandoned before the year 1800, when the present Pinesbridge cemetery was chosen and given by Alexander Johnson,
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HISTORY OF SEYMOUR.
son of Timothy. This early burying ground of 1768 is now in the woods and overgrown with bushes and entirely neglected. The last burial in it was that of a mulatto by the name of Shubael, son of Pero, a pure-blooded African. When it was proposed to bury the remains of Shubael in the Pinesbridge ground, Mr. Alexander Johnson forbade it, and so they took them to the ground in the woods. The gravestones of Benajah Johnson and Sarah his wife were placed by their son Isaac, and are still standing.
Timothy Johnson and Abigail Brewster, sister of Sarah (Brewster) Haw- kins, were married Feb. 21st, 1725. Their house was a little way below Pines- bridge, at a crossing-place on the Naugatuck, where a grandson, Elijah, died in 1847, aged 75. They were much annoyed by wild animals, especially by bears, which came down from Rock Rimmon and destroyed their crops, and by snakes which seemed to have a common rendezvous in that vicinity. After a while they went back to Derby, where they lived several years and then re- turned. They were both buried in the old burying ground in Derby. They had but one child, Alexander, who was born in 1730, and died in September, 1817, aged 87. The children of Capt. Alexander and Hannah Johnson were Timothy, born Jan. 21st, 1766, died Jan. 21st, 1836; David, Elijah, Nathaniel, Charles; Peter, born Oct. 9th, 1784; Alexander, born Feb. 224, 1786; and Abigail Brewster, who married Moses Clark of Nyumphs.
Capt. James Wheeler of Derby, living in the section known as Turkey Hill, married Sarah Riggs, and had three daughters and seven sons-Samuel, Moses, John W., David, James, JJoseph and Simeon. Capt. James Wheeler died in 1768. Samuel built the first house in Nyumphs, the eastern part of the town of Beacon Falls, and around him settled his brothers, Moses, David and James. Simeon built on Rimmon and had two sons, Nathan and Timo- thy, and a daughter who married Bradford Steele of Ihumphreysville. Sam- nel Wheeler was the father of Judge Abel Wheeler of Oxford, who built and lived in the house now occupied by S. P. Sanford. John W. Wheeler was the father of Mr. John Todd Wheeler, who recently died in Seymour at a great age. He was born at the house of his uncle, James Wheeler, which stood north of the woolen factory. Simeon's large two-story house stood oppo- site the auger factory north of the covered bridge.
What is called Lopus was first settled by Zadoc Sanford and Hezekiah Clark, grandfather of Sheldon Clark, about the year 1700. He and his brother David lost their lives in the Revolutionary war.
The dead were buried in Derby till about one hundred and ten years ago, when a few were interred in the burying ground opposite Rock Rimmon. The principal mode of carrying the dead to Derby was on a horse litter, which was extemporized as follows : Two horses with saddles were placed with their heads in the same direction, one forward of the other about seven or eight feet, and a long, stout linen bag turned or looped up at each end was put over each saddle to receive the ends of two long, smooth and strong poles, one on each side of the horses, and two or three cross pieces were put on the poles between the horses. On this littter the coffin was placed lengthwise, and fastened to the cross pieces by cords. As the horses moved on, the bearers walked on each side and steadied the coffin. The mourners and their neigh- bors followed on foot and on horseback. The roads in those days were narrow and rough. When the distance from the house to the burying ground was not more than two or three miles, the coffin, placed on a bier, was usually borne on the shoulders of bearers, four and four. The coffin was often made of whitewood boards and colored with lamp black, but the most costly were made of cherry.
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HISTORY OF SEYMOUR.
There were three principal ways to go from Derby to Waterbury in those old times. One way was on the east side of the Naugatuck by the house of Benajah Jolinson and his son Isaac, on Skokorat, then up over Beacon Hill to Salem, &c. A second way was along the banks of the Naugatuck, crossing the stream sixteen times. This was often the way in summer, when the stream was low. A third way was over Great Hill, Rock'us (Rock-house) Hill, Quaker Farms, &c. When a man and his wife or daughter made the journey to Waterbury she rode behind him on a pillion.
The road across Great Hill was laid ont previous to 1745, as appears inci- dentally in the following extract from the records :
To all whom it may concern, know ye, that we, the subscribers hereunto, at the desire of the selectmen of Derbey, were by the ciril authority in Milford appointed and sworn to affix and sett up bounds between a certain highway within the bounds of Derbey aforesaid, on a place called the Great Hill, the land on the Northward side of the Highway claimed by Capt. Sam'l Bassitt on the rights of Suml. Hawley of Stratford, and on the Southward side of said highway claimed by Samuel Tomlinson, Abraham Wooster and Jonathan Lum. According to sd. appointment are on the second day of instant May did go upon the land, and consider- ing the records and hearing the witnesses there present, set up, affix and renew the bounds on each side of sd. highway, and a heap of stones at the South west corner of said Bassitt's lying within the fence, and a heup of stones lying at the root of a great chestnut-tree that is blown down at the Southeast corner of said Bassitt's Claim, are the true original corners of Sd. Hawley's piece of land as laid out by a Committee December 21, 1698, and that a straight line from said Corners is the northward side of the Highway. And four rods Southward from said heap of stones at the root of said Chestnut tree there is a heap of stones at the root of a black oak tree in Sd. Jonathan Lum's fence, and another heap of stones by Woodbury roud four rods Southward from a heap of stones at the corner of Sd. Bassitt's land, lying near to the corner of Sd. Tomlinson's land that was formerally Silvester Wooster's, and a straight line from said corners is the Southward side of said Highway. Done by us, Derbey, May 2d, 1745.
NATHANEL FAIRCHILD, NATHAN BALDWIN, THOMAS CLARKE,
Freeholders.
Entered July the 1st, A. D., 1745, By me, Charles French, Regtr.
Joseph Mauwehu, or Chuse, about 1720, was presented by his father with a tract of land "near the falls of the Naugatne," where a little band of In- dians gathered around and recognized him as their chief. At first there were but two or three white families in the vicinity, but the number soon increased. Joe received the name Chuse from his manner of pronouncing choose, and from this the place was called Chusetown for more than fifty years. Chuse was a skillful hunter and captured not only small game, but occasionally a deer, wild turkey or bear. Finally the little tribe became scattered, and in 1763 Chuse and Houde sold a part of their land to Ebenezer Keeney, John Wooster and Joseph Hull, Jr. The following is a copy of the deed :
Know all men by these presents that we, Joseph Chuse, John Houde, Indians of Derbey, in the County of New Haven, and Colony of Connecticut in New England, with the advice of Samuel Baset, Esqr, Agent for the said Indians, according to the Allowance and Liberty Giren to Ebenezer Keency, John Wooster &. Joseph Hull, Jr. of Derby in the county and colony aforesaid hy the general assembly of the Colony of Connecticut on the first Thursday of Mag, A. D. 1760, & we the said Joseph Chuse, John Houde, Indians aforesd-with the Liberty and advice aforesd-do quit-claim and make over and confirm unto the said Ebene- zer Keeney, John Wooster & Joseph Hull, Jur., for the consideration of Eight Pounds Lawfull
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SEYMOUR AND VICINITY.
money to us paid by the said Ebenezer Keeney, John Wooster & Joseph Hull, Jr., which is to our full satisfaction, and we the said Joseph Chuse &. John Houde do by these Presents Quitclaim, make over and Confirm to them the sd Ebenezer Keeney, John Wooster and Joseph Hull, Jr., a Certaine Parcell of Land Lying in sd Derby at the Falls, 80 called, Bounded as followeth, beginning at a heap of stones near the foot of the Great Bridge which is the original corner of the Falls Land, and run east four rods to a heap of stones on the edge of the hill by a walnut tree, then run north 46 degs. west eleven rods to a heap of stones on the edge of a knole, then Wext 14 Degs. north fourteen rods to a heap of stones four rods from the bank of the river, then run north 34 Degs. west fifteen rods to a heap of stones on the top of the high bank, then run west 45 Degs. north to a heap of stones by the river eighteen rods, and then it bounded southerly and westerly around to the first mentioned bounds near the foot of the Bridge all the way on the river, taking in the falls Rocks, Containing one acre against the falls and one acre and a half of land for highway to the said acre, with all the prevelidges and appurtenances belonging to said falls and land, and we the said Joseph Chuse, John Houde, Indians, as aforesaid do by these presents quitelaim, release and relinquish and make over to them, the said Ebenezer Keeney, John Wooster and Joseph Hull, Jr., and to their heirs and assigns forever without any molestation given by us or by our heirs or assigns. In Confirmation of the premises we have hereunto set our Hands and Seals this forth day of October, A. D., 1763.
Signed, Sealed and delivered in presence of
JOSEPH CHUSE
SEAL
CHARLES FRENCH, JOHN HOLBROOK,
JOHN HOUDE
SEAL
Derby, in the County of New Haven, on the day and date above said personally ap- peared Joseph Chuse and John Houde, signers and sealers to the above instrument and ac- knowledged the said instrument to be their free act and deed.
Before me, CHARLES FRENCH, Justice of the Peace.
It appears however, that some Indians remained in the vicinity long after this, as at a town meeting held Mar. 8, 1780, "Capt. Bradford Steel and Mr. Gideon Johnson were appointed a committee with full power to take care of the Indian Lands in Derby, and let out the same to the best advan- tage for the support of said Indians and to take care that there be no waste made on said land, and to render an account of their doings to said town of Derby."
Francis French, one of the original grantees of Derby, when it was set apart from the Milford plantation, came over in the ship "Defence" in 1635, being then but ten years of age. Savage, in his Dictionary of First Settlers of New England, says he came over with William, his * * * uncle, who settled at Cambridge, Mass. The English records of emigration of about that time record the departure of one Francis French, aged ten years, and his mother. This Francis French was one of the selectmen of the town in 1666, when the usual pay of town officials for their services was 2s. 6d. per day. His son Francis, born Feb. 11, 1677, was the father of Israel French, who built his house where now stands the house of William Gilyard, on Sko- corat, in 1740, and so was a near neighbor of Benajah Johnson. This Israel French married Sarah Loveland Sept. 11, 1739. He was elected a Surveyor of Highway at a town meeting held Dec. 10th, 1764, and held the office several years. As the highway to Derby was then little better than a forest path, the office was probably no sinecure. His oldest son, David, born in 1741, lived in Bethany, then a parish of Woodbridge. He was familiarly known as King David, and the records mention him as a land holder of Nyumphs in 1766, and years afterward as prominent among the early Metho- dists. He died Aug. 4, 1821, aged 80 years. Another son of this pioneer,
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