USA > Connecticut > Windham County > History of Windham County, Connecticut. Volume I, 1600-1760 > Part 18
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The settlement of the bounds was followed by an influx of population. Some, indeed, were " vagabond fellows," introduced by Major Fitch, who bought and sold land but never " bore any public charges either in church or commonwealth, not so much as one penny," but others
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
were men of character and position. Edward Raynesford, of Cam- bridge, purchased land of Jeremiah Plympton, and removed to Canterbury in 1714. James Bradford, of Norwich, and John Dyer, brother of Thomas of Windham, settled in Canterbury in 1715. The train-band company was so enlarged that Joseph Adams was made its lieutenant, and Edward Spalding ensign. Elisha Paine, Samuel Adams, Samuel Butts and Joseph and John Adams served successively as representatives to the General Court. As no justice of the peace had yet been appointed for the town, the clerk was vested with unusual powers, while Major Fitch, as magistrate, managed other public affairs.
XXII.
MAJOR FITCH. DIVISION OF LAND. GENERAL PROGRESS.
M AJOR Fitch, during these years, was unquestionably the leading citizen of Canterbury, though his pretensions and exactions in- volved him in frequent quarrels with his fellow-townsmen. In public and political affairs he was still very prominent, though often in collision with the government and its officials. The Mohegan land claim, by which he had gained possession of such large tracts of country, involved the Colony in great difficulty. False representations of her treatment of the Mohegans laid before the British Government, had led to a thorough investigation of the whole question, resulting in the conviction that this claim was untenable and that the land held by Fitch and Mason under it, rightfully belonged to the Colony of Con- necticut. A more stringent Indian policy was now adopted. No attempt was made to take away lands already sold and appropriated, or to disturb townships previously settled, but further sales of Mohegan land and the laying out of new townships within this disputed terri- tory were precluded as far as possible. Major Fitch entered into this contest with characteristic energy and impetuosity, aided and abetted the Masons and Dudley in their efforts to secure possession of the whole Mohegan and Pequot Country, and resolutely refused to relin- quish any part of his claim. In 1707, he sold the territory afterward incorporated as the township of Ashford to several gentlemen, but the General Court refused to confirm the purchase. In 1717, he proceeded to lay out lots and make arrangements for settling a township north of Tolland, whereupon Governor Saltonstall, with advice of the Council, issued the following proclamation :-
"Feb. 19, 1719. Whereas, I have been credibly informed that some persons, under color of the countenance and approbation of the Governor
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and Company of this Colony, have presumed to lay out a certain tract of land within the same, adjoining to the town of Enfield on the west and Tolland on the south, under the denomination of a township, and have proceeded so far as to divide the tract into lots and invite inhabitants, encouraging them to make settlements there, and many may be tempted to commit great trespass upon the said land, which, of right, appertains to the said Government and Colony.
For the preventing of which mischief, I have thought good, with the advice and consent of the Council, to signify that all pretensions whatsoever of any grant of leave, labor, countenance or approbation of the Government for the settling of a township there are wholly false; that the said tract has not been granted to any person whatever, as also, that special order is taken for the prosecution of such persons as shall be found to commit any trespass."
Major Fitch, who was unwell at the time and greatly harassed by business perplexities, was thrown into such a tempest of rage by this prohibition that he entirely forgot his respect for the Government and position as a magistrate, and as if he were indeed "Lord Proprietor of the Colony," replied by the following counter proclamation :-
" The Honored James Fitch, Esq., Proprietor of a certain tract of land to the east of Enfield :--
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, I have seen fit, with ye advice of good and able counsel, to give further encouragement for the settling of a new town to the east of Enfield, by informing ye good men that hath taken up lots and are going to settle-I may first observe, That the land is certainly within the stated recorded Mohegan Sachem bounds and in ye very foundation as to property of Woodstock, Pom- fret and several other towns, and hath for more than forty years been owned in both Governments; by our General Assembly in times of Governors Leet and Treat, who acknowledged the natives' rights to be good: 3, the stated recorded Sachem east, west, north and south bounds-approved in England by her Majesty's attorney-general and ye return of ye Lords ye commissioners, attested copies out of England I have by me-it not appearing to them that the land claimed by the natives was intended to pass to ye Corporation of ye English Colony of Connecticut, or that it was intended to dispossess ye Indians or proper natives, who before and after the grant were the possessors of the land.
I add not here, in that I have been persuaded to make public at large the which here I only give hints of ; as, also, ye heads of three noble pleas in England to prove native rights in America, that neither King nor Parliament can take it from them without agreement or their consent, &c.
As to a kind of proclamation lately come forth from the Honorable Governor and Council in February last, I had thought to have taken it to pieces, and I think I could have done it and cut it into as many pieces as the Protestants did the Popish wooden god, but on second thought hope to have an oppor- tunity ye next General Assembly to lay this and other law cases before them, in order to bring it orderly before King and Council if occasion requires.
ENFIELD, March 22, 1717.
God save the King and Colony of Connecticut from self-designing and self- seeking men."
Upon the publication of this most insolent manifesto, a warrant was issued, summoning Major Fitch to appear before Richard Christopher, of New London, assistant, and answer for its "false and seditious expressions," but he-" lame and not able to ride "-refused to obey, and sent the following missive :-
" To Mr. Richard Christopher :
Last March, you sent the sheriff with a great and special warrant to
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
seize me body and bones and bring me before yourself as if I had been a felon, whereupon I presume to offer some Canterbury notions.
1. Warrant not legal under Charter Government.
2. Not customary, a signification to any person that hath been in respect and interest, must be seized body and bones, Ipse facto, in a moment, carried away-say they-it hath not been heard in this Colony.
3. Say they, where is ye complainor or why not bonds given? «Some will plainly talk as that I might cause you to be so served, sent to Fairfield; with some other idle discourse.
But now, worshipful, to say two or three words-if not too much boldness for a very little person under any circumstances to offer a word of advice, it should be thus : Call in your warrant-be it as it will, and to one constable send a summons for me to appear before ye next Gen. Assembly and I will appear and answer, if God gives mne life and health; or by my attornies, men of brain, and purses to manage it in both England [and America], and then I will promise to send or give the Hon. Council in New London a copy of my com- plaint. I can only add, that being informed by ye sheriff you were going to Boston, I was unwilling to hazard my life and health and you not at home- and if speedy banishment or imprisonment be designed, whether three or four bondmen may not prevent it at present. In these two things pray inform me, and it will oblige him who hath and will love and esteem you-though I suppose I have suffered more under your administration than any one in the country-a friend to law, justice and peace, ve defender of law. Do as you would be done unto, then I will be your real friend, JAMES FITCH.
CANTERBURY, April 24, 1717.
Sir. If anything amiss in these lines, pray ascribe it to ye great pain I am in my leg, pray excuse me this time."
In a private letter to Governor Saltonstall, Major Fitch complained most bitterly of the treatment he had received in two especial particu- lars ; first, that the Governor had himself inquired about the new plantation east of Enfield, received report of its progress and " made not a word of objection ;" secondly, in that he had so largely improved his own political influence for the governor's re-election-" for had I let you out of my hands, know assuredly yourself and Mr. Christophers had been next year at liberty." Had the Governor sent him a few lines with " ye reason " there had been no need of a proclamation which had turned some of his friends. Many objected that a Council should take on them to judge men's betters and charge them with falseness, and they having no notice, nor time, nor opportunity to speak for themselves. Many were strongly dissatisfied with the Council in New
London, but he had done, and would do, all that he could to still the clamor. Had he been in health, he had intended to have waited upon his Honor, but now a " stroake of New London authority " would force him down as if he were guilty of treason. With regard to certain public measures-if the Governor would say in two lines to him that, on further consideration, he supposed plantation work should not be hindered if it appear at the General Court that Major Fitch hath a right as to property then he would make things as easy as he could ; if not, let them run. He humbly desired the Governor or Mr. Chris- tophers to send him a few lines ; if not, he should take the best advice he could, up and down.
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MAJOR FITCH, DIVISION OF LAND, ETC.
No answer was apparently vouchsafed to these communications. At the General Assembly, May 19, 1717, a complaint was laid against Major James Fitch "of slighting, contemning and contemptuously contriving to abuse and ridicule" a proclamation issued by the Governor, and of publishing " a proclamation, wherein are contained false, scandalous, abusive, undutiful and contemptuous expressions," whereupon-" upon consideration that when the sheriff was sent to arrest Major Fitch, he was lame and not able to ride "-ordered :-
" That a messenger be sent express with a warrant, signed by the secretary, to arrest the said Fitch and have him before the Assembly now sitting, to be dealt with as the law directs, and that the pretence of lameness shall not be allowed of or hinder the execution of said writ but what is approved to be a sufficient obstruction to travelling by some known surgeon, or, in want of such, by other or judicious person as can be found."
This requisition was passed in the Upper House but dissented from in the Lower. Committees of conference were appointed, but before any decision had been reached a message was received from the offender. The impulsive major, left to his own meditations, had been led to see the impropriety of his conduct, and thus acknowledged it to the Assembly :-
" Whereas, I did very precipitately and indiscreetly at Enfield, write, give out and publish an advertisement in the form of a proclamation, containing several unsuitable expressions and reflections upon the Government, and matters and things appearing to me now with another face than at that time when I labored under great temptations, do now freely confess that I have in so doing acted very indiscreetly and disrespectfully, and am heartily sorry and condemn myself therefor and ask forgiveness of his Honor and of this Honora- ble Assembly, promising that for the future I will maintain a good circum- spection and carry. a better deportment, and if it shall please you to grant my prayer herein will lay me under great and lasting obligations.
May 27, 1717.'
The Upper House, after hearing this confession, proposed to impose a fine of twenty pounds, "which fine, for so high a misdemeanor, was reduced to so low a sum in consideration of Major Fitch's humble acknowledgment." The Lower House, " having considered the full and ingenuous acknowledgment," voted "the confession sufficient," and both Houses finally concurred in an unconditional discharge.
Major Fitch, with all his faults, was an ardent patriot, a firm friend of popular liberty, contending "as strenuously against Governor Salton- stall and the Council for the rights and privileges of the Lower House " as he did thirty years earlier against the encroachments of Andross, nor did he allow his personal feelings and prejudices to hinder him from promoting what he deemed the public good. He was a friend of pro- gress, ready to initiate and carry on public improvements; a friend of education, endowing Yale College in 1701 with over six hundred acres of land, in what was afterward Killingly, and furnishing glass and nails for the first college edifice in New Haven.
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154
HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. .
In private life, Major Fitch was genial, generous, hospitable, agree- able in manners and conversation, but somewhat over-convivial in his habits, so that he was sometimes compelled to make confessions to the Church, as well as to the State. In spite of censures and occasional suspension from communion, he retained through life his connection with the church of Norwich, though ever ready to do his part in sus- taining public worship at Canterbury. The homestead at Peagscom- suck was long a noted business and social centre. Of his numerous sons, only Daniel and Jabez remained in Canterbury. His daughter Abigail, married in 1715 to John Dyer, and Jerusha, married to Daniel Bissel, also resided in Canterbury.
The declining years of Major Fitch were embittered by personal and political controversies and pecuniary embarrassment. His large pos- sessions were of little real value to him. A tract of land, four miles square, in Ashford, and another, two miles square, in the southwest of Pomfret, were early taken from him by Solomon Stoddard, of Boston, " on execution of judgment for debt." Other large tracts were sold for a trifle ; the Government refused to confirm the sale of others, and he was more than once obliged to put his Peagscomsuck establishment out of his hands to save it from creditors. Owaneco, the former sachem of Wabbaquasset, the claimant of Mamosqueag and the Quinebaug Country, once so courted and flattered by the foremost mnen of the Colony, was in his later years a drunken vagabond, roaming about the country with his squaw and praying for charity in the following doggerel, written for him by Richard Bushnell :-
" Oneco, King, his queen doth bring To beg a little food. As they go along, their friends among, To try how kind, how good.
Some pork, some beef, for their relief; And if you can't spare bread She'll thank you for pudding as they go a gooding, And carry it on her head."
Owaneco died, it is believed, in 1715, and his son, Cæsar, succeeded him as " Prince and Sachem of Mohegan."
In 1718, Canterbury resumed her efforts to secure a more regular and orderly division of the land within her borders. In making these new arrangements, a book was ordered for the selectmen and town acts and proceedings were thenceforth duly recorded. Its first report of town-meeting was on December 10, 1717, more than fourteen years after town organization. John Woodward was chosen moderator; Samuel Adams, constable; Joseph Adams, town-clerk and first select- man ; Edward Spalding, second selectman; Elisha Paine, third; Samuel Butt, fourth ; Henry Smith, fifth. John Woodward and
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MAJOR FITCH, DIVISION OF LAND, ETC.
Solomon Tracy were elected grand-jurors ; Samuel Spalding and John Ensworth, fence-viewers ; John Dyer and Edward Raynsford, listers. Paul Davenport was surveyor; Deliverance Brown, collector ; Robert Green, pound-keeper; Richard Pellet, tavern-keeper. William Baker was made responsible " for decency of meeting house." It was voted, " That the act made for the killing of rattlesnakes, April 24, 1716, should stand in force the present year; " also, "That a highway be laid out, from the country road that leads to Norwich to the country road that leads to Windham." March 4, 1718, the town ordered, "that there should be a school kept in this town six months, viz., two months at ye upper end of ye town and two months in ye west row and two months at the lower end, at one place or more as either party shall agree." In 1719, the selectmen were empowered "to be a committee to get ye meeting-house glazed at the town's charge." A committee of three was also appointed, "to view the country road from Norwich line to ye upper end of this town, and to renew the bounds and monymets of said roade and to make their return to said town by the first of April next, with ye point of com- pass from bound to bound, at ye town's charge." It was voted, "That those persons yt had served ye town in laying out highways or peram- bulating ye town's bounds in times past that had not been paid, and for time to come ye towne on ye like occasions, shall have two and six-pence per day and no more. Sheep were permitted to go on the commons without a keeper, and a rate of a half-penny upon the pound allowed for the relief of John Jones, now under the doctor's hands."
The settlement of the land was achieved with much labor and diffi- culty. As a preliminary step, it was voted, June 25, 1718, "That all the inhabitants that were settled in this town in the year 1712, that have purchased any land of the natives or of any other person, their purchase not exceeding three hundred acres, shall have a confirmation of their lands as mentioned in their deeds-except such inhabitants which deeds or grants Enterfear on each other. Also, those claiming above three and under five hundred acres, provided they quit the right in the rest of land belonging to town. Same privilege granted to inhabitants of north addition." The selectmen were greatly impeded in their efforts by what they styled "a wicked, pretended deed of nine hundred and sixty acres," claimed by "honest Solomon and Daniel Tracy, who, when public charges were laid upon out-lands, were so wise as to claim none, but now cannot live without they can ruin seven or eight families and raze the foundations of the town." Whether they succeeded in establishing their claim is not apparent. A large number of the in- habitants received confirmation of their lands from the town authorities.
156
HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
After laboring for five years to bring affairs into order, the town voted in January, 1723 :-
" Whereas, there is a considerable quantity of land in said town, known by ye name of ye Thirds, which land was formerly given by deed to said town by Messrs. Samuel Adams and Obadiah Johnson, in consideration of ye town granting to said Adams and Johnson the other two-thirds of their purchase; the above two-thirds some do profess to lay claim unto within ye town, which ye town in general not approving of, but after searching ye records and con- sidering ye matter, do pass a vote that it shall remain to ye town in general and that it shall be divided according as ye town shall agree liereafter."
This proposal to take away land that had long been allowed to them was at first earnestly opposed by Messrs. Adams and Johnson and others to whom they had sold lands, " because they had disposed of it already to particular persons," but after further discussion an amicable settlement was effected, and on February 26, 1723, "the proprietary inhabitants convened together, in order to a regular settling of our properties and proportionating to each proprietor inhabitant his proportion in our undivided lands or commons." It was agreed and voted :-
" That those who were settled inhabitance and paid to ye building of ye meeting-house and minister's home shall have one share and one half-share in said undivided land; those who were settled when our patent was given and paid rates in ye town to have one share in said undivided lands, and those who settled since ye patent was given and now live within ye bounds of our patent to have a half-share. It is to be understood that none shall accrue any right by this vote but such as are now settled within ye bounds of our patent, neither those that have granted these rights to their individual lands to ye town, and also, that there shall be no advantage taken by this vote to hinder us from granting any lands in a general way."
Edward Raynsford and Elisha Paine immediately entered their pro- test against this vote, " as it belonged to those proprietary inhabitants established by the patent of 1710, and not to the town in general town- meeting to make division and dispossession of land and to admit pro- prietors." No others objecting, a committee was chosen to search the list and apportion the divisions according to the town vote. This arrangement was carried out to general satisfaction and on April 30, 1723, the long-contested Canterbury land was equally distributed. Those who received one and a half shares as first settlers and planters were Major Fitch, Elisha Paine, John Pike, Thomas Brown, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Sen., Samuel Cleveland, Sen. and Jun., Robert Burwell, Richard Pellet, Robert Green, Joseph and Obadiah Johnson, Richard Woodward, Stephen Frost, David Munrow, William and Timothy Backus, Benjamin Baldwin, Tixhall Ensworth, Samuel and Henry Adams, Jun., Joseph Adams, Solomon Tracy, Samuel Butt, Joseph Smith and Joseph Cleveland,-twenty-seven in all. Lieut. Ed- ward Spalding, John Welch, Edward Cleveland, Jun., Richard Smith, James Bradford, Ephraim Davis, David Raynsford, Nathaniel Bond, Henry Adams, Sen., David Adams, Deliverance Brown, Thomas
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MAJOR FITCH, DIVISION OF LAND, ETC.
Adams, Benjamin Fasset, Abraham Paine, Elisha Paine, Jun., Daniel Fitch, James Hyde, John Port, John Dyer, Moses Cleveland, John Ensworth, John Cady and John Carter received each one share as pro- prietors under the patent. The later settlers, who had but a half- share, were David Carver, Thomas Davenport, Joseph Adams, Sen., Solomon Paine, Henry Cleveland, Theophilus Fitch, John Bacon, Jonathan Davis, Jacob Johnson, John Baldwin, Isaac Cleveland, Edward Raynsford, Joseph Ensworth, Richard Gale, Jabez Fitch, Nathaniel Robbins, Aaron Cady and Samuel Cook. The whole number of land-proprietors in the township was thus sixty-eight-of whom some eight or ten were non-resident. Many of the later pro- prietors were sons of the first planters. John Bacon of Norwich bought land west side of Rowland Brook of Timothy Backus in 1720. Samuel Parish, Sen., bought land and settled in the west of Canterbury in 1724.
From the scantiness of public records, little can be gathered of the progress of the town. In 1720, a full military company was organized with Joseph Adams for captain, Edward Spalding for lieutenant and Daniel Carue for ensign. Captain Adams was now one of the leading men of the town, chosen every year as deputy and in 1724 was appointed a justice of the peace. Schools received considerable attention, though as yet no school-houses were provided. A school-master was employed to perambulate the town, teaching "one month at ye Widow Ens- worth's ; one month at John Fitch's ; one at Deliverance Brown's ; one at Nathaniel Bond's and one at David Adams's." Twenty shillings a month were allowed out of the school money and if a suitable person could not be procured for that price, those who sent their children were to pay their proportion of "over-plush." In 1726, the town was arranged in three sections, "a school to be kept three months in each squadron." A committee was appointed to lay out highways where they were wanting, and two additional pounds instituted. A burying- cloth of black broadcloth was also provided at the town's charge.
The unwillingness of Plainfield to relinquish any land east of the Quinebaug and the resultant irregularities and disorders have been already detailed. In the border warfare maintained for so many years between the sister townships, Canterbury bore her full share. Her citizens were frequently called to account for hay and grain forcibly carried off and other acts of aggression and retaliation. Nor were her settlers always at peace among themselves or obedient to the whole- some laws of the Colony. Even such prominent men and active church members as Elisha Paine and Obadiah Johnson were not exemplary in behavior, the latter complaining, "That Paine had struck him with a club, knocked him down and thrown a hatchet at him." The
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complaint was not sustained and Paine recovered cost of prosecution. Paul Davenport was also unable to procure the conviction of Samuel Ashley " for saying that he did say that the said Ashley was drunk at an Indian house." It is said that the same Davenport had much authority over the Indians and when they became too uproarious with drink in their camp-ground near his dwelling, he would march in among them with his cane and beat them into quiet. If himself obliged to break the laws of the land he was willing to pay the pen- ality, as is evident from his appearing voluntarily before the Court at New London and "acknowledging himself guilty of a breach of the law by riding from Providence to Canterbury on the Sabbath-day, paid the fine of twenty shillings."
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