USA > Connecticut > Windham County > History of Windham County, Connecticut. Volume I, 1600-1760 > Part 23
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A strip of land south of the Adams tract was purchased of Major Fitch, by John Allen of Aspinoek, in 1703, and conveyed by him in 1705, to his son Isaac, who soon took personal possession. John Woodward settled south of Allen and north of Canterbury line in 1706. In 1707, Edward Spalding of Plainfield, bought land north of Canter- bury bounds at the foot of Tatnick Hill, and there settled with his family. These four families were for several years the only white inhabitants within the limits of Blackwell's patent. In 1706, a rumor that Major Fitch was petitioning to have their lands included within Canterbury precincts gave these settlers much anxiety. Richard Adams was deputized to go to the General Court and "give light and information that the court might not be misled to do what would be extremely prejudicial to the inhabitants, and also interfere with the former grant to Captain Blackwell." "Tagious sickness and long weakness" prevented Mr. Adams from fulfilling this commission, but before he was " able to ride half so far as Hartford," he sent a memo- rial to the General Court showing :-
" That Captain Blackwell had been granted a town seven miles square under the name of Mortlake, which if laid out would reach Canterbury bounds or near it ; that it was judged four miles from the north bound of Canterbury to the place they have ordered Canterbury meeting-house to be, and that for us to be taken from where the middle of Mortlake may be or near it and stated in Canterbury and thereby expected to travel seven or eight miles every Sabbath day to Canterbury meeting-house, will be extremely burthensome when we might as well be stated in Mortlake and not half so far to go to meeting, and begs the Court to consider the case and not state us to Canter- bury without giving notice."
This request was granted and Richard Adams and his neighbors were left unstated to any township for several years-a few isolated families, remote from settlements and civilization. They paid rates to Canterbury and attended religious worship there when practicable. Communication with the outside world was difficult and sometimes dangerous. The road from Canterbury to Woodstock passed near Edward Spalding's residence, which soon became a place of entertain- ment for travelers-his first barrel of rum coming up from Norwich on horse-back, lashed between two poles and dragged behind the rider.
The Adams tract was divided after a time into eight equal and
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
parallel allotments, running from east to west and made over to the seven children of Richard Adams of Preston-Richard, Junior, receiv- ing a deed of the two lower allotments in 1712. Twenty-five hundred acres west of the Adams tract were secured by Captain John Chandler in 1707. The several tracts held by Fitch, Blackwell, Stoddard and Chandler were left vacant and neglected till the death of Sir John Blackwell, when the Mortlake manor fell to his son, and was sold by him to Jonathan Belcher of Boston, April 3, 1713. Mr. Belcher- who subsequently became one of the most prominent public men of his day-governor of Massachusetts and New Jersey and founder of Princeton College, was then just entering active life and engaging in extensive business operations. He had already secured mining privi- leges in several Connecticut townships, and now with characteristic promptness and energy undertook the settlement of Mortlake. Cap- tain John Chandler was at once employed to lay out, survey and take possession of this territory. He found a wild and savage wilderness, with one rude bridle-path running through it from north to south, and one family of white inhabitants settled on a small clearing. To this squatter, Jabez Utter, " for his labor, charge and expense, in build- ing, fencing, clearing, breaking up, improving and subduing seventy acres," Belcher granted a deed of the land thus taken up and the use of thirty acres adjoining, but upon further consideration preferred to free his purchase from every incumbrance and secured a quit-claim deed from him. Unfavorable reports of the character of his self-elected ten- ants may have influenced this decision. The Utters were one of those lawless, disreputable families often found hanging about the outskirts of civilization. Charges of petty pilfering and even of highway rob- bery were alleged against them, and at about the time that Belcher took back his land deed, Jabez Utter was arraigned before the County Court at New London, for stealing " a two- year-old black horse from Daniel Cady." He was declared guilty and sentenced to pay Cady ten pounds and the horse ; if unable to pay, make satisfaction by service at the rate of eight pounds a year : also, to pay the County Treasury forty shillings or be whipt ten stripes on his naked body, and also pay the charge of his prosecution, and stand committed till said charge be paid. His wife Mary, a woman of great spirit and resolution, remained in charge of their little home in the wilderness, and when summoned by Captain Chandler to relinquish it, positively declined to yield posses- sion. Captain Chandler brought a suit in the name of Mr. Belcher, " that the said Jabez Utter do deliver one hundred acres of land," and went on with the survey and division of Mortlake. A highway was laid out from north to south. Two noble farms or manors, called Kings- wood and Wiltshire, were laid out for Mr. Belcher's own occupation.
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SALE AND SETTLEMENT OF MORTLAKE.
" For the promoting of public good and the better settling of the land," large tracts were sold-fourteen hundred acres on the Quine- baug to Governor Saltonstall, five hundred acres to Samuel Williams of Roxbury and three hundred to Mr. Belcher's brother-in-law, Wil- liam Foye. A public training-field was reserved between one of Foye's farms and Nantasket Brook. About twelve hundred acres were left in forest and meadow for future disposal.
PLOT OF MORTLAKE.
M
X
F
V
K
R
W
F
T
S
V
k. Kingswood. t. Training-field. f. Foy's land. s. Saltonstall's tract. w. Wilt- shire. x. William's land. v. Vacant. r. Road to Woodstock. q. Quinebaug River. m. Mashamoquet.
The laying out of Mortlake was accomplished in 1714, but before its farins and manors were made over to the several owners it was neces- sary to free it from all incumbrance. The Court had judged, that Utter should give up to Belcher "land and appurtenances, houses, fences and other improvements," and he had "surrendered by yielding the lease." The sheriff of New London County was sent to demand possession of the premises of Mary Utter, but the fearless frontier-woman had barri- caded doors and windows, and resolutely refused compliance. Seeing no resource but forcible ejection, Captain Chandler entrusted the affair to his oldest son, John, then just of age, who accepted the commission with great alacrity. News of the coming contest spread through all the surrounding country and all the wild young fellows in the different towns hastened to join in this raid upon the one lone Mortlake woman. On the 19th of January, 1715, a great company came to the little log hut in the clearing-young Chandler with the sheriff; Edward Morris, Jahn Frizzle and Jacob Parker from Woodstock ; James Danielson,
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
Jun., from Killingly ; David Bishop and Benjamin Franklyn, from Pomfret ; Samuel and John Rice, from Ashford ; John Pelton and Jeremiah Plimpton from Canterbury, and others-bringing with them drums, clubs, axes and all things needful for a siege. Though her hus. band was in prison and a family of little children around her, Mary Utter was ready to resist then. The sheriff again demanded possession and declared, " That if she did not surrender he would besiege her to death. Mrs. Utter replied that she did not care for him or his authority. 'Yesterday,' says young Chandler, 'the sheriff made demand on Captain Belcher's account, with an execution, but now I am come on my father's account to make demand of it, and will have it, else we'll starve you to death, and your daughters shall die in the house.'"
Even this fearful threat, and the dreaded name and authority of Captain John Chandler, did not daunt the stout heart of Mary Utter, whereupon the young men proceeded to pull down her fences and put up a fort or barricade to command both doors, from which they battered the house with stones and other missiles, and becoming more and more uproarious with drink and frolic, " set up ensigns or banners, colors of divers sorts, one of red and another of blue, upon their fort, and said they did it in defiance of King George, and drank a health to King James," and went about beating their drums, shouting and carousing till late in the night, committing "many high and heinous enormities, treasons, profaneness and other grievous wickedness," "and once," says poor Mary, " as I looked out of the window, John Pelton, like an inhuman bruit, spat in my face, and the others laughed at it." After a brief interval of comparative quiet about midnight, "as it grew towards the latter part of the night they revived their noise," and marched round and round the house, beating their drums and singing psalm-tunes, and presently young Chandler made proclamation, "That now we have got the victory ! now the day was our own!"-whereupon they raised poles against the house and Chandler, Pelton and Edward Morris vaulted on top and came down through the chimney into the chamber, opened the doors, and admitted the sheriff, who thus at length gained forcible possession of the little log-house so valiantly defended by its mistress. Even then, Mary Utter would not quit without a struggle, and had to be pushed and dragged and flung down backward out of the door, but in the afternoon, she tells us, her assailants finally con- quered and "drove me away from my home, and drove my children with me into the wilderness, and set a guard about me till near sun-set, and then left us there to perish without any shelter but the heavens, nor anything to refresh nature." How she obtained relief and shelter does not appear. Perhaps she found her way through the woods to
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SALE AND SETTLEMENT' OF MORTLAKE.
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the hospitable house of Richard Adams, or some chance traveler may have aided her to Edward Spalding's. However this may have been, two days later, January 21, 1715, she was able to tell her pitiful story to a magistrate and as "his Majesty's distressed, forlorn subject," enter complaint against the various parties concerned in her ejection. In the May following, her complaint was brought before the General Assembly, and the Worshipful Captain Bushnell ordered, "to in- quire into the premises and proceed against the offenders according to law," but as the leaders in the affair were without the limits of Con- nectient no action was taken. Jabez Utter, after lying in prison a considerable time, and " not getting any way to answer the charges of his prosecution for horse-stealing," was allowed to work them out in the service of Elisha Paine for eight pounds a year, and when that was served out, he was delivered over to Daniel Cady, according to sentence. A suit subsequently brought against him, " for taking up public land in Canterbury," is the latest record concerning the first white inhabitant of Mortlake.
A more serious obstacle to the settlement of Mortlake was its political status. The right of jurisdiction was transferred with the land title, and Belcher's purchase recognized as a distinct township by the Government, but this separate independent township was included within the limits of another distinct township. The original south bound of Pomfret crossed Gray Mare Hill, and was afterwards removed a mile southward. To remedy the difficulties occasioned by this com- plication, Mr. Belcher proposed to annex his township to Pomfret on the following conditions :-
" 1. That his two farms should be called Kingswood and Wiltshire.
2. That he and his heirs male be made capable of serving, if chosen by Pomfret, as deputies, although not actually resident.
3. That the inhabitants of his land, for encouragement of keeping good houses of entertainment, be free from impost.
4. That the same should be exempt or discharged from offices of charge in the town of Pomfret, or Colony of Connecticut.
5. That one of the said inhabitants shall always be-if he will accept it-a townsman or selectmen, provided that when there is more than one, Pomfret shall eleet whichever they please.
6. In all votes or meetings of town, Mortlake proprietors shall have a right of voting according to the proportion said manors bear to town in quantity of land-the petitioner having so paid his proportion of charge towards the settlement of Pomfret.
7. The inhabitants of Mortlake, as to militia, to be solely depending on the government of the Colony.
8. That no person shall have liberty of hunting.
9. Though the six thousand acres have been voted by the Hon. Court to be a township, in and of itself, by name of Mortlake-yet, for the encourage- ment of Pomfret, the petitioner now desires that the same be annexed to Pomfret, and always for the future be and remain a part of that town."
This proposition was laid before the inhabitants of Pomfret at a town-meeting, October 4, 1714, who agreed to it, and consented that
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
Mr. Belcher should apply to the General Court for confirmation. The Upper House granted his prayer with several exceptions and emenda- tions ; the Lower House consented only to the first and last articles. Mr. Belcher, thereupon, the same day, October 14, declared :-
" That your memorialist having purchased, with a considerable sum of money, a tract of land belonging to Captain John Blackwell, which he had held with ye privilege of township by ye name of Mortlake by an act of this Colony, and being willing, for encouragement of the town of Pomfret, to which said Mortlake lies very convenient to be annexed, to part with and dis- claim all such privileges as now do or may hereafter appertain to it did, in petition, declare my consent that the said Mortlake should be annexed to and become a part of Pomfret, upon certain conditions, desiring that some small part of these privileges, which he might more fully have claimed in said Mortlake had he reserved and kept it distinct from Pomfret-might be secured to him by act of Assembly, within said town .. And your memorialist, having full consent of ye town of Pomfret, made no doubt but that the Assembly would easily have allowed him these privileges, upon his consenting that Mortlake should be entirely annexed to Pomfret and be divested of the name and privi- lege of a township formally annexed to it-which the memorialist was more willingly induced to do by a representation made to him by the town of Pom- fret, that unless the said Mortlake was added to their town they should not be able to carry on the necessary affairs of the town, or make a confortable settlement there-but forasmuch as the Assembly has not thought fit to allow the said privilege, he cannot, without apparent wrong to himself and his heirs, forego the just rights he has to have and hold Mortlake as a distinct town, with all ye privilege appertaining to it as such, and for that end does in this manner lay before the Assembly his claim of right to Mortlake as a distinct township, made so by act of Assembly, thereby to obviate all incon- venience arising by any after act at the motion of Pomfret or any other person, for ye making of Mortlake to become a part of Pomfret or any other town, or to be brought under the laws, duties or regulations of ye same with- out consent of the memorialist, his heirs, &c. And, particularly, your memorialist must insist upon it and declare against it, as what he cannot but believe will be judged by all indifferent men as directly opposed to his just rights, that ye said Mortlake should for the future be reckoned or taken as any part of ye town of Pomfret-since all his transactions with, and conces- sions to, said Pomfret have been upon the supposition that the Assembly would allow him certain privileges, which would further oblige liim to be, as he always is, with the greatest regard and respect,-Your most obedient, JONATHAN BELCHER."
This forcible representation called out from the Lower House the resolution, " That the vote of both houses granting the first and last condition, be not improved to the prejudice of Mr. Belcher." Further negotiations were held with Pomfret. A letter was sent to the select- men of that town, renewing the offer to unite the township of Mort- lake to their town forever, upon receiving certain privileges for his farms or manors. A town-meeting was called, December 27, 1714, when the demand was considered and fully debated, and, by a very clear vote, it was decided :-
" That, on condition the town of Mortlake be united to this town forever, to be always hereafter one entire township, to be called Pomfret, the town unanimously consent and agree that the inhabitants of Kingswood and Wilt- shire shall enjoy the following privileges, viz. :-
I. The privilege of voting in any town-meeting about town affairs, accord- ing to the proportion the said farms bear to said town in quantity of land, it being as one to fifteen.
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MINISTER AND MEETING-HOUSE, ETC.
II. That no vote of the town shall conclude any inhabitant of the manor to any chargeable or burdensome public office unless they be willing to accept the same, saving one selectman out of Kingswood.
III. The militia to depend solely on the Governor of the Colony."
These conditions were not accepted. The privilege of voting in town-meeting as one to fifteen, did not appear to Mr. Belcher a suf- ficient compensation for the loss of jurisdiction, and so the matter rested. Mortlake was left in its original status, as manorial property, with the rights and privileges of a township : its government vested in an individual and not in a corporation. The land south of it in- cluded in the township patented to Captain Blackwell, was divided between Canterbury and Pomfret in 1714.
XXIX.
MINISTER AND MEETING-HOUSE. CHURCHI ORGANIZATION. SECOND LAND DIVISION.
THE first care of Pomfret, after securing confirmation of bounds, was to settle religious worship. October 28, 1713, the town voted :-
" To give an orthodox minister, such an one as shall be acceptable to the people, one hundred and fifty pounds in money for and towards buying his land and building his house; also, to break up four acres of land and plant two with an orchard; and for his salary, fifty-five pounds in money for the first year, until such time as there shall be sixty families settled in the town, and then seventy pounds a year ever after, so long as he shall continue his minis- terial relations to us-and Ebenezer Sabin and Samuel Warner are chosen to go and bring a minister to preach and settle here. And it is voted, in the first place, that they shall make their application to Mr. Ebenezer Williams of Roxbury, and show him a copy of the votes respecting the settling of a minister here, and if he will accept of what is offered and come and be our minister, they shall seek no further; but if he may not be prevailed upon to come, then they shall make their address to such others as shall seem advisable."
In pursuance of their commission, Messrs. Sabin and Warner hastened to wait upon Mr. Williams, but he, "being newly come off from a journey, could not be prevailed upon to come," whereat the town, November 19, " expressing their great value for the said Mr. Williams, desired he might be further addressed by letter, to come and preach with us for the space of six months." This invitation was accepted, and, December 23, 1713, Mr. Williams arrived in Pomfret and began his ministrations, and soon made himself so agreeable to the people that long before the six months had expired, they were every way willing to accept of him for their minister. His boarding-place was with Captain John Sabin, in the northeastern corner of the town, then, according to tradition, the only framed house in the settlement.
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
Public religious services were held on the Sabbath in some convenient residence. December 22, 1713, the town voted, "That there should be a meeting-house built with all convenient speed." Deacon Benjamin Sabin, Captain John Sabin and Philemon Chandler were chosen com- mittee in that behalf, with ample power in all respects. February 16, 1714, voted, " That the meeting-house shall be set on White's Plain, at sneh part of it as the committee hereinafter named shall determine, viz. : Captain and Deacon Sabin, Cornet Sawyer, Nathaniel Gary, Leicester Grosvenor, Abiel Lyon, Nathaniel Sessions, Ebenezer Trues- dell and Joseph Chandler." At the same meeting, a formal call was given to Mr. Williams, the people agreeing, " that if the said Mr. Williams doth like the town, and will and shall settle here in the work of the gospel ministry, they will give him one hundred and seventy pounds in money, towards buying his land and building his house, and for his salary sixty pounds yearly, for four years, and after that to rise twenty shillings yearly until it shall come to seventy pounds, and there to stand so long as he shall continue his ministerial labors among us." And, Mr. Williams being personally present, for several weighty and serious considerations, him thereunto moving, "freely, faithfully and sincerely promised to settle in Pomfret in the work of the ministry, and endeavor to discharge aright all the duties belonging to his profession." Two hundred acres of land, reserved for the encouragement of preaching, were made over to Mr. Williams, June, 1714, by James Fitch, Samuel Ruggles and the other Mashamoquet proprietors, each one a propor- tionable share.
Having thus liberally provided for their pastor, the people engaged with great spirit in building their meeting-house. Early in the spring the work was inaugurated. Some of the building committee, "finding it difficult to discharge their duty in that respect by reason of living remote and ont of the way, so that others were exposed to and over- burthened with an over proportion of care and trouble "-Leicester Grosvenor and Samnel Warner were joined with them. A rate of three hundred pounds was voted to defray the charges of building. A single hand was allowed two and sixpence a day and subsist himself ; a man and team, for ordinary work, five and sixpence a day ; for going to Ashford or Stoddard's Cedar Swamp, eight shillings per day. The house was raised April 27, and covered during the summer. It stood on the east side of the road, about a quarter of a mile south of the site of the present Congregational Church edifice. A burial spot, adjacent, was selected by an especial committee. At a town meeting, August 27, 1714, it was voted, "That the meeting-house shall be carried no further at present than to have the floor laid, the pulpit set up, the doors made and hung, the windows finished, and the body of
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MINISTER AND MEETING-HOUSE, ETC.
seats and the minister's pew made. Fifty pounds were added to the rate to be levied.
" Voted, That Mr. Belcher shall have liberty to build a pew in our meeting- house, next ye pulpit, at ye west end of it.
That Captain Chandler (John of Woodstock) shall have liberty to build a pew at the northwest corner of our meeting-house.
It was also considered, that Captain Sabin shall have liberty to build for himself a pew in some convenient place in the meeting-house.
Also, that Lieutenant Samuel Williams have the same privilege."
In the autumn, the house was completed so far as had been specified, and was probably opened for public worship and town-meetings. December 6, 1714, various new officers were chosen. Deacon Sabin, Ensign Grosvenor, Cornet Sawyer, Jonathan Hide and Nathaniel Gary were appointed selectmen; Nathaniel Sessions, constable and tavern- keeper ; Benjamin Sitton, collector ; Philemon Chandler, grand-juror ; Joseph Tucker and Samuel Carpenter, fence-viewers ; William and. Samuel Gary, listers; Nathaniel Johnson, sealer ; John Hubbard was ordered to build a strong pound for horses. During this winter, town- meetings were infrequent and ill attended, so that in March, 1715, it was found needful to vote that, "insomuch as the inhabitants in time past have wholly failed in attendance or come very unseasonably, and others, loth to act without the conference of their neighbors, have long waited until there was not time orderly to dispatch business, therefore, that so many as assemble within half an hour after the time prefixed may proceed to business, and the laws as binding as if all were present." It was also voted, " That non-residents that own land shall have free liberty to vote at our town-meetings in all matters that con- cern them." The military company had now been fully organized, with John Sabin for captain, Philemon Chandler for lieutenant and Leicester Grosvenor for ensign, and the latter gentleman, "chosen and pitched upon to treat with Windham gentlemen about the line and bounds of our township." All other public matters were deferred till the completion of the meeting-house.
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