USA > Connecticut > Windham County > History of Windham County, Connecticut. Volume I, 1600-1760 > Part 20
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as were remote from Woodstock. Several of the settlers were inem- bers of the Woodstock church and many frequented its house of wor- ship but were so remiss in paying their dues that a committee was ordered to report their failure to the Government of Connecticut.
One of the first objects of the town, was to settle religious ordinances among themselves-manifested by "the humble request of Lieuten- ant Peter Aspinwall in behalf of the inhabitants of Killingly to the General Court convened at New Haven, October 12, 1710, showing :-
That whereas said town having been legally convened did pass a vote, That the non-residents of said town should bear a proportion in a tax laid, or to be laid, of fifteen shillings on the hundred acres of all the divided lands through- out said town for the building a meeting-house, a minister's house and for settling a minister-the inhabitants humbly move that the General Assembly would pass their sanction on this vote, which will be a lightening of their burdens and no urgent imposition on the non-residents. Thus in humble confidence of your favor in passing your order with respect to the premises ever imploring the divine blessing to attend the great and honorable Court, we subscribe ourselves your humble petitioners."
This request was graciously granted and power given to levy this rate upon the land of any proprietor who should neglect or refuse to pay. Freedom from the payment of Colony rates had been previously accorded-the sum levied to be improved for building a minister's house and meeting-house. A minister was soon procured-Mr. John Fisk of Braintree, Mass., a son of Reverend Moses Fisk and a graduate of Harvard College in 1702. Religious services were now held in dif- ferent parts of the town. July 16, 1711, the town agreed to give Mr. Fisk three hundred and fifty acres of land for his encouragement to set- tle in the work of the ministry. James Leavens and Sampson Howe were appointed a committee to lay out this land; Eleazer Bateman and Ephraim Warren to survey it. Two hundred acres were laid out to him on French River, beyond the bounds of Killingly as it after- wards proved. Seventy-five acres for the homestead were selected on the eastern slope of Killingly Hill, and seventy-five on Assa- waga or Five-Mile River. Stated religious services were proba- bly held after this date by Mr. Fisk, though some years passed before his settlement. Special services were held September 9, 1711, when the sacrament was administered by Mr. Estabrook of Canterbury and three children were dedicated to God in baptism. Arrangements were also made for the erection of the meeting-house and minister's house, but no records concerning them have been preserved.
Immigration was still progressing. In 1711, a Massachusetts Colony took possession of Chestnut Hill, an extensive rise of land in the east of the town, with steep sides heavily wooded and a broad open . plateau on the summit. This fine site was included in the grants laid out to John and Joseph Haynes, Timothy Woodbridge and Governor
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
Treat ; sold by them to John Allen ; by him to Captain John Chandler, who sold the whole tract-twenty-four hundred acres for £312 -- to Eleazer and Thomas Bateman of Concord, Samuel and Thomas Gould, Nathaniel Lawrence, Ebenezer Bloss, Thomas Richardson and Ebene- zer Knight, joint proprietors. John Brown, Moses Barret, Josiah Proctor, Daniel Carrol, Samuel Robbins, Daniel Ross and John Grover were soon after admitted among the Chestnut Hill proprietors. Most of these purchasers became valued citizens of Killingly. Home lots were laid out on the hill summit ; the remainder of the land was held in common for many years. A road was laid over the hill-top, and carried on to Cutler's mill and the Providence way. The remainder of Haynes's grant was laid out east of Assawaga River, bordering south on Whetstone Brook and was purchased by Nicholas Cady, who in 1709, removed his residence to this more southern locality. This tract, together with Breakneck Hill on the east and much other land in this vicinity, passed into the hands of Ephraim Warren, son of Deacon Jacob Warren of Plainfield and one of the first settlers of Killingly centre. The Owaneco land in the south of Killingly, held by Plain- field gentlemen, was still unsettled and undivided, though many rights were sold and bartered. Edward Spalding bought the rights of James Kingsbury and William Marsh, for £1. 10s. each. In 1708, Michael. Hewlett purchased Parkhurst's right for one pound ; Jacob Warren sold his right to this land to Nicholas Cady in exchange for land north of Whetstone Brook, southwest from Chestnut Hill," in 1710. Thomas Stevens, at the same date, sold his share to Ephraim Warren of Killingly. John Hutchins bought out the rights of Nathaniel Jew- ell and Samuel Shepard.
In the north part of Killingly, settlement was rapidly advancing. William Larned, a young adventurer from Framingham, bought land of Winter in 1712. The two Richard Evanses now sold their home- steads and removed to Providence. The northern farm was purchased by Samuel Converse of Woburn in 1710; the southern establishment -"a tenement of houses, barn, orchard, tanning pits, fulling-mill" with about three hundred acres of land-was sold to Simon Bryant of Brain- tree for £224, who to his other valuable possessions added seven blooming and capable daughters. James Wilson of Lexington bought land of Converse, adjoining Bryant, and Samuel Lee also settled in this thriving neighborhood.
In 1713, the long-disputed boundary between Massachusetts and Connecticut was rectified, Woodward's and Saffery's Line abrogated and a new line run some six or seven miles northward. Killingly at once assumed that this new Colony bound was now her northern boundary-line and proceeded to take possession of the annexed
LAND TAX, CHURCH ORGANIZATION, ETC. 169
territory, whereupon the Governor and Council, who had other plans for its disposal, sent the following order :-
"January 7, 1713. This board being informed that the town of Kellingly purpose to lay out lands as within the township of Kellingly, up to the line of this Colony as lately run by the commissioners for that end appointed, whereas the grant of that township which bounds them by the north line of this Colony, was made at a time when a line from Woodward's and Saffery's first station to Bissel's house on Connecticut River in Windsor was the only line between this Colony and the Province of Massachusetts, which had been run by the order of the Massachusetts Colony, and there was no other line at the said time to be given them as the north bounds of said town : by which line they had the full extent of miles from south to north, given them for the extent of their township ;- and there being now by the late running of the line, a tract of land within this Colony to the northward of the said township of Kellingly sufficient to make a township and to which the town of Kellingly can have no right by their grant of the said township.
It is agreed, that the selectmen of the town of Kellingly be, and they are hereby strictly charged, to give immediate notice to the said town in a town meeting for that end to be by them forthwith called, that they do not presume to make or lay out any grants of land to the northward of the antient line run by Woodward and Saffery to Bissel's house afore said, as they will answer the contrary."
In spite of this prohibition Killingly continued to encroach upon the land northward, and not only laid out land but assumed jurisdiction and presumed to assess its inhabitants.
At the expiration of the four years' release from the payment of country rate, the meeting-house was scarcely begun and the minister
yet unsettled. The settlers labored under great difficulties and dis- couragements. Much of their land was poor and rough, hard to subdue and cultivate. Money was scarce, inhabitants widely scattered and many public works to be accomplished. Mr. Fisk continued to officiate in the ordinary Sabbath service, and the neighboring ministers- Messrs. Coit, Estabrook and Dwight-at times administered the sacra- ment and baptized many children. In 1713, Killingly sent her first representative to the Assembly-Mr. Peter Aspinwall-but made no provision for paying colonial rates. The selectmen were thereupon enjoined to provide a list of polls and ratable estates, but when among them were included inhabitants north of Killingly's prescribed limits, Governor Saltonstall was required-"to order the selectmen of the said town not to enter in the said list any polls or estates, living and being above nine miles to the northward of a line parallel to the north bounds of the town of Plainfield, or to the south bounds of the said town of Killingly : the grant of the said township of Killingly limiting the same not to be above nine miles to the northwards of the said south bounds."
In the summer of 1714, the meeting-house was raised and covered. Its site was east of the Plainfield road, about one-fourth of a mile south of the present East Putnam meeting honse. Nothing is known of its size and appearance, or of the circumstances of its building. In the
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ensuing summer it was made ready for occupation and preparations made for church organization. September 15, 1715, was observed in Killingly as a day of solemn fasting and prayer, preparatory to the gathering of a church and the ordination of a pastor. Mr. Estabrook conducted the services in the morning, preaching from Heb. XII : 28. Mr. Dwight officiated in the afternoon-taking for his text, Canticles VIII : 8. Mr. Peter Aspinwall and Simon Bryant then repaired to the General Assembly and in behalf of "a company of communicants or inhabitants of the town of Killingly," thus petitioned :-
"It having pleased Almighty God in his merciful providence to bring his own work so far forward among us, notwithstanding the many and great dif- ficulties we have met in forming our new plantation, as to unite our hearts in the choice of the Reverend John Fisk to be the minister of this town-of whose accomplishments for the evangelical service we have had experience for a con- siderable season to our great satisfaction, and with whom we have agreed for a settlement in the ministry among us. And as there appears among us a competent number of persons to form themselves into a particular church of Christ, that we may have the aforesaid gentleman installed into the pastoral office over us, and the blessed institutions of Christ dispensed to us, and also being informed of our duty and obligation established by law to endeavor the countenance of the Government over us that the communicants here may coalesce into a church estate and fellowship-we, therefore, your humble pe- titioners, affectionately pray this Great and General Court in their great wis- dom and extensive benignity to exert their authority for our benefit as the law directs, by passing an act that the brethren in full communion among us may enjoy the leave and approbation of this Honorable Assembly for embodying into church estate, that so a gospel candlestick may be erected in the fields of the wood, with a burning and shining light fixt in it, to the glory of our ascended Lord and for the comfort and edification of ourselves and latest posterity-which good work we have appointed (God's gracious providence permitting) to accomplish very speedily."
This request being granted,-" October 19, 1715, a church was pub- licly gathered in Killingly and John Fisk ordained the pastor of it." Mr. Dwight of Woodstock, opened the service with prayer. Reverend Mr. Baxter of Medford, preached from Romans I : 16. Reverend Mr. Thatcher of Milton, gave the charge to the minister and made the preceding and subsequent prayers ; Mr. Estabrook gave the right hand of fellowship; part of a psalm was sung. John Fisk, James Danielson, Peter Aspinwall, James Leavens, Sampson Howe, Eleazer Balınan, Richard Blosse, George Blanchard, Isaac Jewett, Thomas Gould and Stephen Grover united in church fellowship-Danielson, Aspinwall, Leavens, and Howe bringing letters from the church of Woodstock ; the others from different Massachusetts churches, with the exception of Thomas Gould and Stephen Grover, who were admitted by the Council. The original covenant adopted by the church has not been preserved. Sixteen additional communicants were admitted into the church before the close of the year. At the lecture preparatory to its first commun - ion, December 29, 1715, Peter Aspinwall and Eleazer Balman were chosen deacons. The first marriage recorded by the young minister was that of William Larned to Hannah, the first of the seven notable
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daughters of Simon Bryant. Mr. Fisk was himself married November 26, 1717, to Abigail, daughter of Reverend Nehemiah Hobart of New- ton, Mass., and sister of Mr. Samuel Estabrook of Canterbury. The only incident of his domestic life that has come down to us, is the burning of his house and all its contents one Sabbath, when the family were attending public worship. The ministry of Mr. Fisk was acceptable and prosperous, and large numbers were added to the church. His pastoral charge comprehended also the inhabitants north of Killingly, who were allowed to pay church rates, if not other town charges. Mr. Fisk was remarkably minute and methodical in the registry of church records, keeping separate lists of those uniting with the church by profession and by letter and of those owning the covenant. Very full lists of marriages and baptisms were preserved by him, which acquired additional value from the total lack of town records during the greater part of his ministry. Of the salary and settlement allowed to him nothing further is known, save that the hundred acres of land given by Captain Chandler to the first settled minister of Killingly, "which land by the ordering of Divine Providence appertains to John Fisk"- were laid out to him in 1721, west of Five-Mile River, a half-mile east of the meeting-house.
The population of Killingly continued to increase. Daniel Cady removed to the south part of Pomfret; Nicholas Cady to Preston, but others took their places. Robert Day settled south of Whetstone Brook in 1717. Nell-Ellick Saunders-afterwards called Alexander- bought land of the non-resident Mighills in 1721, near Lake Masha- paug, which soon took the name of the new resident-proprietor. Joseph Covill, Philip Priest, Andrew Philips and John Comins of Charlestown, were admitted among the Chestnut Hill company. John Hutchins of Plainfield is believed to have taken possession of the the north part of the Owaneco Purchase about 1720. In 1721, Jacob Spalding, then just of age, received from his father, Edward of Plainfield, a deed of "the twenty-first lot in Plainfield Purchase, cornering on Horse Hill." Jacob at once built a forti- fied house and established himself there with his young wife, the first settlers of South Killingly and the only white inhabitants within many miles. Unoccupied Colony land stretched north and south of them and Rhode Island's barbarous border land lay at the east. Wild beasts abounded and still . wilder savages, wandering Nip- mucks, Quinebaugs and Narragansets, craving food and shelter, now kind and friendly, then cross and quarrelsome, but in the main submis- sive to the whites. Jacob's triumph over the Indian, who attempted to make him pay twice for a deer-skin soon after his settlement, secured for him permanent respect and authority. The drunken
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
savage mislaid the bill and forgot the payment, and after a fruitless demand, persuaded some of his friends to go with him to kill Jacob. They found him busily engaged shingling the roof of his new barn The Indian again demanded pay for the skin. Jacob refused, where- upon the Indian raised his bow and sent an arrow to bring him to terms. Jacob jumped to the other side the ridgepole; his assailant followed him below, and so they went on, dodging back and forth over and around the barn, till the wearied Indian stopped to refresh himself with some tobacco, and pulled out from his pouch the very tenor bill paid by his antagonist. He stood amazed and conscience-stricken. The other Indians burst out against him-" He was a liar and Jacob an honest man." According to one version of the legend, "they would have killed him, but Jacob came down from the barn and interceded for the man's life ;" others say, that Jacob referred his punishment to the chief Indian, who had him tied up to a tree and soundly flogged.
The difficulty of procuring supplies in this remote settlement was a serious annoyance to these young settlers. In the first summer they broke up land, raised grain and stock, but ere the winter was over there was nothing left for themselves or their cattle, and the snow was so deep that supplies could not be brought to them, and their only resource was to return to Plainfield,-"so starting the oxen ahead to break out a path, the cows followed and then Mr. Spalding and his family." Even after some years settlement, with children to feed, they often suffered from scarcity of food, and various privations. The only accessible grist-mill was that on the Moosup, five miles distant, a whole day's journey through the winter snow drifts, so that Mr. Spalding was obliged to pass the night when he carried his grain there. On one such occasion the family was very short of provisons. An enor- mous beef-bone, which had perhaps served as basis for many messes of bean-porridge, was given over to the children, picked clean and scraped over and over, and again laid up lest every particle of flesh or gristle had not been removed. Night came on. The children went to sleep ; the anxious mother watched and listened. Indians had been around through the day unusually insolent and troublesome, and she had given them what food she could spare through the window-a square hole, closed with a sliding-board-but had not suffered them to enter. Now, she was sure she heard them prowling about the house. She listened more intently. After a time, she was certain that she heard some one climbling up to the window, intending doubtless to break in and assault her and her sleeping children. She looked around the room for some defensive weapon and her eye caught the great beef- bone. Quick as a flash she seized it, opened the window and hurled it with all her strength into the face of an advancing Indian. He gave
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a most horrible howl, dropped to the ground and fled with all the company, frightened out of their wits by this most extraordinary projectile, and fearing worse things were in store for them. The prowess shown by both Mr. and Mrs. Spalding in this and other ren- contres, put an end after a time to these annoyances and brought their unruly neighbors under some degree of subjection. Other settlers in time removed to this neighborhood, but the progress of the settlement was very slow for several years.
In 1721, the town of Killingly laid out and distributed its first divis- ion of public lands,- Peter Aspinwall, James Leavens and Joseph Cady, committee. About eighty proprietors received shares of this land, showing a large increase of population. No record is preserved of the terms and extent of this division. During this year the train- band was reorganized. Mr. Joseph Cady chosen captain ; Mr. Eph- raim Warren, lieutenant ; Mr. Thomas Gould, ensign. Peter Aspin- wall, Simon Bryant, George Blanchard, Thomas Whittemore and Ephraim Warren served successively as representatives. Peter Aspin- wall was chosen a justice of the peace in 1716; Joseph Leavens in 1725. Of the progress of schools, roads and many public affairs in Killingly, no knowledge can be obtained. A burial ground south of the Providence road was given to the town by Peter Aspinwall at an early date.
XXV.
QUINNATISSET.
"THE territory north of Killingly, known to the Indians as Quinna- tisset, now incorporated into the township of Thompson, remained for many years in its aboriginal condition. Part of this tract was granted by the Massachusetts Government to its native proprietors, Black James and his associates, and was conveyed by them to Stough- ton and Dudley, laid out in farms in 1684, and then left for thirty years to wild beasts and savages. Thompson and Freak, the largest land-holders, were non-resident Englishmen, and Dudley and Stoughton too much occupied with public affairs to attempt the settlement of a remote and contested section, which they could not but know must in time revert to Connecticut. New Roxbury grew up into a thriving township, settlements were initiated in Mashamoquet and Aspinock, Killingly was laid out southward, and still Quinnatisset was left to
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solitude and desolation, traversed only by Indian hunters and passing travelers. Its fort and wigwam had fallen into ruins, forests had over- grown its once open hill-tops, its surveyor's lines were over-run with thickets and brambles, the bounds that marked the farms were de- cayed and obliterated. The old Connecticut Road, spanning its north - west corner and the "gangway to Boston," braved by valorous Plainfield and Killingly settlers, were long the only vestiges of civiliza- tion in this benighted region.
The first known settler within Quinnatisset limits was one Eleazer Spalding of Woodstock, who, without purchase or license, took pos- session of land laid out to Josiah Cotton on the Quinebaug and occupied it for many years, in spite of remonstrance and attempted ejection. Other "squatters " may have inhabited the vicinity of Wood- stock. The first regular and datable settler within the limits of the present Thompson, was Richard Dresser of Rowley, who, after a year's trial of the new settlement at Mashamoquet, purchased of Captain John Chandler in 1707, for £120, " the place called Nashaway." This name, originally designating the point of land between the Quinebaug and French Rivers, was also extended to the land west of this point, on which Mr. Dresser settled. The road from Woodstock to Providence passed near his dwelling, which was a little south of the site of the present West Thompson village. Richard Dresser married Mary Peabody of Rowley, in 1708, and their son, Jacob, born in 1710, was the first white male child born within Thompson territory. In 1708, Richard Dresser sold "the land between the rivers " to Sampson Howe of Roxbury, who took immediate possession and was at once claimed as an inhabitant of Killingly, becoming one of its most prominent and useful citizens. The land west of the Quinebaug was never claimed by that township.
Isaac Jewett of Rowley and John Younglove soon followed Samp- son Howe, settling further north between the rivers, on land purchased of Jabez Corbin in 1711. Their farms were much infested with bears, wolves and Indians, and a log fort or garrison found needful for protection. The first settler in the vicinity of Quinnatisset Hill was Samuel Converse of Woburn, who secured a deed of land from Richard Evans in 1710, and with his wife and five sons settled about a mile south of the hill-top. The Killingly settlers were near him on the south, but northward to the old towns of Oxford and Mendon the country was a savage wilderness, its rude paths only designated by marks on tree trunks. Mr. Converse's dwelling-house stood near the Boston road, and furnished rest and entertainment to many a passing traveler.
By the settlement of Massachusetts boundary line in 1713, the land
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north of Killingly was allowed to the Colony of Connecticut. Massa- chusetts was forced to admit that Woodward's and Saffery's line ran some miles south of the bound prescribed by her patent, and in the course of settlement it was also found that the south part of the town of Woodstock and nearly half of Thompson's and Freak's farms lay south of this erroneous Colony line. That Connecticut had a lawful right to the fee as well as jurisdiction of this land no one could deny, but beset by enemies at home and abroad she was forced to yield it to the stronger Colony, and allowed Massachusetts, by formal agreement and covenant, to keep the towns laid out by her in Connecticut territory, and the various grantees to retain possession of this land, receiving as equivalent an equal number of acres in distant localities. Under this arrangement, Connecticut yielded :
To the town of Woodstock, 50,419 acres.
To Joseph Dudley, 1,500 60 To the heirs of Robert Thompson, 2,000 66 66 6. Thomas Freak, 2,000 66 66 " William Whiting, 1,000 66
To John Gore, 500 66
To Gardner and Gambling, each, 500
To John Cotton, 500 66 To John Collins, 500 66
To Black James and Company, 2,228 66
The land between the Quinebang and Woodstock, appropriated by Major Fitch as a part of Wabbaquasset, had been purchased by Captain John Chandler, and much of the land between the Quinebaug and French Rivers was also in the possession of Woodstock gentlemen. The land east of the French River not covered by previous grants and claims, reverted to the Colony of Connecticut.
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