USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Stamford > History of Stamford, Connecticut : from its settlement in 1641, to the present time, including Darien, which was one of its parishes until 1820 > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
Nor was the resemblance scarcely less, in the engraving found
11
INTRODUCTORY.
in Britton's "Beauties of England and Wales." The landscape seemed the same. Hills and intervales wore the same contonr, and were cleaved by not dissimilar river beds. And if the self same mold gave form and feature to the two, why should not the same express them both ?
But how completely, a careful study of these pictures of the English Stamford, would dispel the illusion that they designed to illustrate the trans-Atlantic town.
The artificial of the two is all unlike. The architecture of the one antedates by long centuries the other. The institutions and customs which the one illustrates, are equally antiquated and foreign to the other. Long ages of time and a wide ocean in space must certainly separate them.
Witness those huge uplifted arms of that slow grinding wind- mill, and you need not ask them if their unwieldy and unsightly aerimotion belongs to the age or to the neighborhood, even, of the modern cis-Atlantic town.
Witness those circular arches and wavy moldings of that old Benedictine convent, which plainly tell of an age far earlier than the very oldest of the many styled architecture of the Con- necticut town. Witness those ancient monasteries and friaries, in which, ages before the white man had even found the site of the new Stamford, there must have been gathered successive generations of men who practiced or simulated the holiest self- denials of the Christian life. Witness, too, those mouldering ruins, that tell us the presence here, in ages long since gone by, of the old Roman and his power; and those other dismantled halls, where other generations were trained in all the most courtly and elegant culture of that early age.
This English Stamford dates from a very early period. Henry Huntington gives us our first account of it. As early as Bla- dud, one of the British kings of the ninth century, it was a place of some note. The Romans called it Durobevia, from the rocky ford over the Welland here. The Saxons translated the same feature into their language, and called it the Stane-ford or rocky
12
HISTORY OF STAMFORD.
ford which in the progress of orthographie change has come to be Stamford. Our first spelling of the modern names, it will be seen, is Stanforde; and we may, without serious misgiving, ae- cept as its prototype, the ancient Stanforde in the Wapentake of Ness.
We have already alluded to the local records from which a portion of these details are drawn. But quite as fortunate is it, that so many of the papers of the town have been preserved by the care of the state. But for the aid of these papers, now ar- ranged and indexed in the state library in Hartford, but few of the older towns of the state could furnish material for an intel- ligible record of their local history. Certainly, Stamford, one of the oldest of these towns, is greatly indebted to this state providence for many of the records which this history pre- serves.
Next to these sources of our history, stand the ecclesiastical records of the First Church and those of the Middlesex Church and Society, (Darien) ; the former commencing with Dr. Welles' ministry in 1747, and the latter with the organization of the Society in 1739.
It must always be regretted that the records of the First Church, down to the settlement of Dr. Welles, are not to be re- covered. The Society records of that period are identical with such town records as are preserved, and are scarcely less va lua- ble to the history than those of the town itself.
Next in value are those faithful transcripts of the records of the New Haven colony, from 1638 to 1649, and from 1653 to 1665, published by C. J. Hoadly, Esq., State librarian ; and a like faithful transcript of the Connecticut colony records, from 1636 to 1677, executed by J. Hammond Trumbull, Esq, Secre- tary of State. Nor should the old Dutch records of the New Netherlands be lost sight of in this research. Of the history of this region, anterior to the date when our colonial records be- gin, and of the earlier conflicts with the Aborigines, they give us many facts and hints of great interest.
13
INTRODUCTORY.
Besides these, which have the force of original records, we find of great service to the satisfactory elucidation of our local history, such works as Trumbull's Connecticut, which abounds in material for its earlier periods, and the later work of Hollis- ter which brings the collection down almost to the present date. Hall's Norwalk, Mead's Greenwich, Prince's and Thompson's histories of Long Island, and Bolton's thorough work on West- chester County, have also great value, treating as they do of localities whose earlier history was so inwoven with ours. Nor are the printed histories of our revolutionary period to be over- looked in this list of authorities. Especially are we indebted to the local records supplied by Hinman in his report of the part which Connecticut bore in that contest ; and scarely less to the faithful account which Sabine gives us of the opposers of the war. Still more important are the contemporaneons records, collected at such cost of time and money in the American Ar- chives.
In family history and genealogy, much use has necessarily been made of Savage's great thesaurus of abbreviated genealog- ical lore; and for reporting the prominent family of which it treats, no work or works could readily take the place of Mr. A. B. Davenport's "Davenport Family."
Besides these sources of our history, the author has had free access to several of our best historical libraries, from which have been drawn many of the facts here recorded. Especially is he indebted for this indulgence granted him, at the Yale Col- lege Library and that of the New Haven Colony Association, in New Haven; at the State Library and the Connecticut His- torical Society, in Hartford; at the Astor and Merchants and New York Society Libraries, of New York city; and at that of the Long Island Historical Society, in Brooklyn, N. Y.
CHAPTER II.
-
THIE SETTLEMENT .- 1640-42.
In the spring of 1640, a company of dissatisfied and restless men in Wethersfield, were anxious to end the contentions and feuds which for four or five years had rendered their home in that new colony comfortless and unprofitable. The reasons for that distracted condition, among a band of men who had left the father land not six years before, to seek a quiet and peaceful home for themselves, may never be fully made known. Cer- tainly no contemporaneous record which I have been able to find has reported them. But, both the town records, and those of the Connecticut colony, which then included only the three settlements at Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield, agree in representing the Wethersfield disagreement so positive as not likely to be harmonized, as long as the spirited factions should remain together. So thought the Peace Commissioners who went down from Hartford to see if the peace could be preserved. So decided the Church Committee from Watertown, who had been sent out into the wilderness to look after the brethren who had so recently emigrated from their company. So decided, also, that princely pioneer among our Connecticut worthies of that age, the Rev. Mr. Davenport, who had gone up from New Haven to see if fraternal counsel would not restore harmony to that disturbed community ; and so believed the discerning men among the contestants themselves. Their judgment accepted the judicious advice of Mr. Davenport, and they proceeded to arrange the terms of a peaceful separation.
The church at Wethersfield had only seven voting members,
15
THE SETTLEMENT.
six who had come from Watertown, and one who had joined them. Four of them were on one side in the controversies which had divided the people, and three on the other, but the latter constituted the majority of the community. As a peace measure the majority of the church agreed to emigrate with the minority of the planters; while the majority of the planters conceded them the right of taking with them the records, and so transferring their church organization to the new field.
But whither should, or could they go? All the region to the west of them, until they should reach the Dutch settlements in New Netherlands was as yet an unbroken wilderness. To the south, at New Haven, and down the river at Saybrook, new settlements were just established, but offered no inducements to so large a company of emigrants as they would muster. On the Sound, at Guilford, Milford, Fairfield, and Stratford, com- panies of pioneers were just breaking ground for the sites of their new colonies. Everywhere else the wilderness and savage held sway.
But Mr. Davenport, who had advised the separation, though the enterprise of the young colony to whose success he had so largely contributed, was prepared to offer them a place for a home. The New Haven colony, in its zeal to maintain an equal footing with the Connecticut colony, whose seat was at Hartford, had just made a purchase, through their agent, Capt. Nathaniel Turner, of that tract which lies to the west of the present town of Norwalk. This they offered to the, waiting company at Wethersfield. The Committee appointed by that company, accepted the purchase, and soon the arrangements were completed for the formal occupation of the place. The following record of the decision of the General Court of New Haven, held the 14th of ninth month, 1640, exhibits the title under which the colonists were to take possession of their new domain :
" Whereas, Andrew Ward and Robert Coe of Wethersfield were deputed by Wethersfield men the 30th of the 8th month,
16
HISTORY OF STAMFORD.
commonly called October, 1640, to treat at New Haven, about the plantation lately purchased by said town called Toquams, which being considered of it was agreed upon by the said court and justices aforesaid that they shall have the said plantation upon the terms following : first, that they shall repay unto the said town of New Haven all the charges which they have dis- bursed about it, which comes to thirty-three pounds as appears by a note or schedule hereunto annexed ; secondly, that they reserve a fifth part of said plantation to be disposed of at the appointment of this court to such desirable persons as may be expected, or as God shall send hither, provided that if within one whole year such persons do not come to fill up those lots so reserved that then it shall be free for the said people to nomi- nate and present to this court some persons of their own choice which may fill up some of those lots so reserved if this court approve of them; thirdly, that they join in all points with this plantation in the form of government here settled, according to agreement betwixt this court and Mr. Samuel Eaton about the plantation of Totokett. These articles being read together with Mr. Samuel Eaton's agreement in the hearing of the said parties or deputies, it was accepted by them and in witness thereof they subscribed their names to the articles in the face of the court."
Thus were the founders of Stamford supplied with a place for their future residence. Providence had opened it as a refuge for them; and they gladly fled to it. They hoped to find in their new home, equally, freedom from the tyrannous rule under which they had been exiled from the land of their birth, and from the petty annoyances which had tried their patience and their temper in their brief sojourn on the banks of the Connec- ticut. Few pioneers among the emigrants from the old world to this, had been more severely tested than they had been; and we may be assured that they hailed with no common satisfac- tion the pleasant and quiet retreat to which they had been thus conducted.
The story of their introduction to their new home, the com- pany they constituted, the community they established, the plans they made and matured, their trials and their triumphs, let it be our present business to learn. Reverently and duti-
17
THE SETTLEMENT.
fully let us ask after the men, who in times of great trial, through days and years of weakness and suffering, of hope deferred and pressing fears, sustained themselves in the great work of laying deep and broad foundations for the permanent prosperity of their children's children in this new world.
The following passage, providentially saved from the first book of the Stamford records, will introduce us to these men. Defaced as it is in some places, and wanting as it is in others, we may well be thankful that so much of it remains. It is the most effectual key we have to the earlier portion of our history. We will transcribe what remains of it, as a perpetual witness to some of the earliest and most vital faets of the story we are to trace. The portions of the record now effaced, which are supplied, will be included in parentheses. The remainder of it is the literal record as it was made by the original recorder himself. The first paragraph, which is a mere title, was evi- dently inserted after the name of the settlement had been changed, though written by the same hand which made the record following it. These earliest records are all in the handwriting of Richard Law.
1640-41. A town bo(ok of the) freeholders of the towne (of Stamford as it) was afterwards ealled, but now Rippowam, contay (n)in(g the acts) and conclusions of the companie of Wethersffeld men, to (begin a) removal thither this winter. And also their most matteriall acts and agreements, touching the place how they came by it, theire rat (es) and accounts, theire divisions and grants of land, and records of every man's land, and passages of land from one to another.
First these men whose names are underwriten have bound themselves) nuder the paine of forfiture of 5 lb a man to goe or sende to Ripp(owan) so begin and pseente the designe of a plantation there by ye 16th o(f) may next, the rest, theire familyes thither by ye last of novembe(r) 12 months, viz.
Ri Denton Ri Gildersleue Tho Weekes Sam Sherman
ma mitchell Edm Wood
Jon Wood II Hen Smith
Thur Rainor Jo Wood
Jer Jagger
Vineint Simkins
Robt Coe Jer Wood
J Jisopp Dan Finch
And Ward Sam Clark
Jo Seaman
Jo Northend 20
3
18
HISTORY OF STAMFORD.
And whereas the purchase of the place and vewing of it first mayde by our frends of new hanen and we stand indebted to them for it : it (is) ordered at the same time That 100 bushells of corne at 35 a bushell be paid in towards it we raised and sent them as followeth, m(r) ma mitchel
bu. p.
bu.
Sergt. M. M.
14.3 Jo. Reynoulds, 3.2
Jo. Northend. 2.3
Tho. We(eks), 2.2
T. R iner,
5.3
Jo. Whitmore, 3.1
Jonas Wood, H. 2.3
Jer. (Wood)
2.1
Mr. Denton,
4.1 Ro. Bates, 3.1
Edm. Wood, 2,2 Th(o Morehouse), 2.1
Aud. Ward,
4.1 Ri. Crab,
3.1 Jon Wood,
(Ro Fisher)
2.0
Ko. Coe,
4.1 Sa. Sherman,
3.1
Fam. Clarke, 2.2
(Jo. Jissop,) 2.0
Ri. Gilderslene,
4.0
Jef. Firries,
3.1
Fra. Bell, 2.2
(Hen. Smith), 1.3
ki. Law,
3.2
Dan. Finch,
3.0
Jer. Jaggar, 2.2
(Vineint), 1.3
*Jo. Not or M 3,2.1
Jo. Se wman,
1.3
40.3
22.3
20.1
16.1
40.3
22.3
20.1
16.1
100.0
Of the above list, all the names appear on our subsequent re- cords, excepting that of " Jo Nott." Though John Nott did not settle in the town, he is at this late date worthily represented in the seventh generation by Samuel Nott Hyde, Esq., son of Lucretia Nott, daughter of Samuel Nott, D. D. as in note.
Of the thirty men above named, only twenty-eight came to Stamford in the summer of 1641, as the record immediately following the list shows. On the 19th Oct. of that year they were notified by a "sufficient warning, to come in," to make choice of those who should administer the affairs of the new colony. Mr. Denton, Mathew Mitchell, Andrew Ward, Thurs- ton Rainer, and Richard Crab were this provisional government. Their commission, given by that pure democracy then assembled, made them in all essentials the authoritative rulers over the people. Enough of the record remains to show what their pre- rogatives were : to order the common affairs or intended plans of the people, and to determine the differences that shall arise; and "settle them according to equity, peace, law and conve- nienee." That they were not unequal to the honor put upon
*This is undoubtedly that of John Nott, of Wethersfield, who for some reason did not come to Stamford. His family remained in Wethersfield for two generations. His grand- son, Ahrahanı, went to Saybrook, where his son Stephen was born in 1728. This Stephen was the father of Samuel, D. D., so long the patriarch of Eastern Connecticut, and also of Eliphalet, D. D., so long and so successfully the president of Union College.
19
THE SETTLEMENT.
them, and that the people did not find their trust betrayed, the progress of our history will show.
The next item on the records of special interest to us in de- termining who the settlers of the town were, and how they sought the interests and rights of each other in the very begin- nings of their civil arrangements, is the account of the first assignment of lands to the settlers. The entire list of names is preserved on the records, though portions of the statement of the principles on which the appropriation is made are indistinct :
" Also this is to be noted, that in a full meeting of the com- pany that was intending to come hither the same spring that we came, every of those TWENTY-EIGHT men aforementioned and John Jisop were severally considered of and what quantity of (land) was meet for every man determined of-the man under consideration absenting himself while his case was in hand, and so successively ; and when he was called in again and demanded if so much gave him content, and so contentment and satisfae- tion was by every one of these men acknowledged; and they set down these numbers of acres of marsh and upland after the same proportion as followeth :
Acres.
Acres.
Acres.
Acres.
Math. Mitchell,
28 Jo. Renoulda, 11 Jonas Wood H. 08 Jer. Wood, G
Thuraton Rainer, 20
Jo. Whitmore,
10 Jo. Northend,
08 Thoa. Weeks,
G
Mr. Denton,
I4 Ri. Crab 10 Jer. Jagger,
07 Jo. Seaman,
G
And. Ward,
14 Jeff- Firries,
10 Edm. Wood,
07 Ro. Fisher, 5
Ro. Coe,
14 Ro. Batea,
10 Jon. Wood, O,
07 Jo. Jiasop, 5
Ri. Gilderslene,
13 Sam. Sherman 10 Sam. Clark,
07 Hen. Smith, 8
R. Law,
11 Dan. Finch,
09 Fra. Bell,
07
3
Tho. Marshall,
07 Vineint, - -
276
The above record is authoritative as to who the first twenty- nine landholders of Stamford were, The last name on the list undoubtedly should be SIMKINS, as it is found among the twenty who were bound to each other to begin the settlement, accord- ing to agreement with the New Haven colony. We shall now proceed to ascertain, as far as the record will enable us to do so, the other names which during the following season, were added to the twenty-nine. The following record is still legible in the original manuscript of the first recorder :
" And in town meeting, Dec. 7, was there granted, besides house lots as other men had, Tho. Armitage, ten acres ; Jo.
20
IHISTORY OF STAMFORD.
Ogden, ten acres ; Wm. Mayd, (Mead), five acres; with wood- land as chosable as those above.
" Also to these men, besides, house lots as others, (Joh)n Stevens, Tho. Pop, Tho. Hyoute, Hen. Akerly, Jo. Smith, senr., Jo Smith, jun., (John Ro)ckwell, Jam. Pyne, Dan Scoffeld, & Jo. Coe; every of them two acres (homelot) and three acres woodland in the field now to be inclosed."
The above record makes the resident landholders, by Dec. 7, 1641, to be forty-two. Immediately following the last record, are these:
" (Oc)tober 1642, in a general town meeting was given these, foll(owing), these lots as other men, marsh & woodland, viz: )ine, Jo. Underhill, eight acres; to Robert Hustice seven (
acres ; ) acres; Jo. Miller, five acres, to Jo. Finch, six
aeres ; )ree aeres ; & to every of them woodland after the same pro(portion, & to Willi)am Newman two acres marsh & three acres woodland.
( )ember 1642, was granted these men every man (a house lot &) land in the field to be inclosed, viz: Jo. Lum, Jam. Sw(ead), ( ), Symon Seiring, & to Jonas Weede a house and (pasture lan)d in the field to be inclosed. ( ) Pierson, Jo. Towne & Wm. Graves have had every one (a house lot) & Tho. Slawson house lot and three acres in the field ] and eight men are freeholders as above."
[
We have already seen whom on their arrival the founders of the town selected to arrange and administer their affairs. But very few other records of this early date are preserved. Yet, these few are of the more value, since they serve to exhibit to us the most we can know of these worthy men. In November, 1641, they made a second election of seven men for townsmen, viz. : "Math. Mitchell, Thurston Raynor, And. Ward, Jo. Whit- man, Ri. Law, and Ri. Crab." Their official work is defined to be, " to order town occasions."
It will be noticed that but six of the seven men are named in this list, and the omission of one name may be most exactly il- lustrative of the men and the times. By reference to the first appointment made in October, the name of Mr. Denton will be found first on the list. It will be marked by still another token of honor. The others are all recorded with their christian
21
THE SETTLEMENT.
names ; he alone with the title of Master. He was their MINISTER. Was it not tacitly understood that his voice was to be heard in all matters that concerned their welfare, or that of their fam- ilies ? Was there any need, therefore, of making a formal en- rolment of his magisterial name, when the very name to them had a leader's and master's authority ?
Another "general town meeting" is held in December, 1641. Enough of the record remains be show that the business of the meeting was to secure a suitable fencing " of fields for the freeholders." So much of both margins is gone as to render it difficult to recover the precise terms on which the fencing was to be done, but enough is left to show that each man's part of the work was to be determined by his share of the land to be inclosed-a certain number of " rodd for every acre he hath then, well [made] and sufficient." The fence was to be done "by the first day of April, 1642, and whosoever hath [not com - pleted his] fence according to this order by that time shall forf[iet ] shillings for every rod." Ri Guildersleeve and Ro Bates were appointed to view the fence after the first of April, and report all defaults, if any, to the "men chosen for town occasions, [under penalty] of forfeiture of five shillings a man if they do no[t]."
To secure passable roads we find this decree of the town passed. It was probably done before any of the last transac- tions recorded.
" It was ordered, That whereas every man may count [all as his] Right before his lott to the middle of the street to be his, [but the trees he may] fall for his own use, if he like not to let them stand so [ ] the ground and clear the way of them, and if do not ffall them and clear] the way of them, to forfite for every tree not so fallen [ ] two shillings six peence."
Immediately following the above is this record: "It was ordered by those that were now come that Matthew Mitchell and Fra. Bell shall lay out house lots and order the man [ner of assigning them]; rectify what is amiss and consider what al-
22
HISTORY OF STAMFORD.
lowance [is to be made for] holes, etc., not fit to be measured for land and to measure [their lots for) every man at two pence a acre, or three shillings a house lot."
Another public concern of these pioneers, and one which required their first attention, was the establishment of a grist mill. Probably the measures for doing this were taken before they left Wethersfield. We find, duly recorded, the entire transaction, a specimen of which must be recorded in these pages as illustrative of the age to which it belongs .. The for- mal order is passed as early as September 1641, to build at a common charge a mill. The frame and body of the mill was to be made by "Samuel Swane," for "51 li. ; and the other parts by those of the town that were fit to do such work." It seems that the mill was built and "set a going," but that during the year it was sold to Thurston Rainer and Francis Law for £74 10s.
It also appears that an agreement was made with Math. Mitchell and Jo. Ogden for building a dam, of which the town agreed to bear the charge. In January after these arrange- ments were made, it would seem that either by fire or freshet, or both, "the mill and the dam were brought to nought." It further is probable from the record, that the town were responsible for the mill, as they were to have the use of it until the " somer," (summer) of 1643. On the destruction of the property a rate bill is made out, of five shillings an aere, and twelve shillings a house lot, to meet the loss by this calamity. This assessment list is a curiosity, and if carefully preserved should be engrossed for perpetual preservation on our pages. In addition to the mill account there is also connected with it a charge for what in the record is called the "Capt. house." As many of the charges are considerably obliterated, a single specimen of one less defaced than the most of them, is here inserted. A modern accountant might use a smoother and more graceful chirography, but would fail of making a more exact
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.