USA > Connecticut > Windham County > History of Windham County, Connecticut. Volume I, 1600-1760 > Part 28
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The four years release from country tax-paying having expired, Ashford was summoned in 1725, by the General Court, to make a list of polls and ratable estates, but was compelled to crave a further exemption. " The righteous providence of God in his dispensations " had greatly afflicted the inhabitants. A protracted drought cut off the crops the year preceding, a heavy frost had blighted their hopes for the ensuing season, and in addition a family in the town had been brought so low by sickness as to bring a charge of thirty or forty pounds upon the public. Philip Eastman was sent to the Assembly with the tale of their calamities, in the hope "that their deplorable circumstances would move their Honors' tender hearts to drop their goodness upon them, and excuse them from paying taxes for two or three years.' His request was granted, with the proviso, "That they pay one penny upon the pound in their list for each year to the Rev. Mr. Hale, in
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
addition to what they now give him, and that they neither send depu- ties, nor draw money for their school during said term." With this release, the town again attempted to finish the meeting house and Mr. Hale's house. A committee was also appointed to seat the meeting- house, regarding first planters, age and estates. January 6, 1726, voted, " That the committee shall compleat their work by the first of March and read it off the first lecture-day after, and wave having a school- master." Five men were allowed to build a pew in the hind part of the front gallery, "provided they take it for their seat and do not Rong the light of ye window nor Rong the other seats in the front gallery."
In the spring of 1726, the inhabitants of Ashford, with those of adjoining towns, suffered greatly from scarcity of food, occasioned by the failure of crops two successive seasons, and such pitiful stories of the destitution and sufferings of the poor in eastern Connecticut reached Governor Talcott, that he recommended the Assembly to con- sider their case and relieve the necessity. He had just been informed "that a poor man from Ashford had come to beg relief, and in a mourn- ful, afflicted and affecting manner declared that neither he nor his family had eaten bread or flesh for more than a month, but had lived wholly on brakes, roots and herbs, and wished a committee to inquire into the circumstances." Hezekiah Brainard and John Hooker were accordingly appointed, and upon their report and recommendation, thirty pounds were granted for the relief of "poor and indigent per- sons in Ashford, Voluntown and Willington, who by frost in the past year were generally cut short in their crops and reduced to a suffering and almost perishing condition." The sum thus granted was to be lodged in the hands of the minister or selectmen of each town, who were to proportionate its distribution.
An unsuccessful attempt was made at this time to procure an addi- tional rate of five shillings a hundred acres upon Mr. Stoddard's land for four years, and Philip Eastman was again employed to press this suit-if successful, to have three pounds when gathered, if not to have nothing. It was probably through the influence of Mr. Stoddard and his representation of the straitened circumstances of the people, that the Old South Church of Boston was induced to give fifteen pounds in money to the Rev. James Hale, for his encouragement.
Notwithstanding the pains taken to ensure a final settlement of the land controversy, new troubles arose. The conditions of compromise had been faithfully carried out, and the territory of Ashford laid out and confirmed to the several parties according to agreement. The needful highways in New Scituate had not been laid out within the time specified, and in May, 1725, the town petitioned to have the time extended, and also for additional ways through this section without
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SUFFRAGE DISPUTE, SCHOOLS, ETC.
purchase of land, on the ground that at the time of settlement they did not know how many would be needed. At the same session, James Corbin preferred a memorial to the General Assembly, alleging that the annexation of a strip of Ashford land to the town of Willington had prevented his taking up the twenty-five hundred acres assigned him ; that Chandler's New Scituate tract contained 2,476 acres more than the deed allowed, and praying that this surplus land might be granted to him and a patent executed in due form. A committee appointed by the Court had already surveyed New Scituate, and found it over- measured, and a plot of the portion now asked for had been made by the county surveyor. This petition was at once granted to Mr. Corbin, provided that in the following session the owners of New Scituate did not show sufficient cause to the contrary,
Captain-now Colonel-John Chandler, who had bought out the other claimants and owned all that was left of this tract, accordingly appeared before the Assembly in October, and in most forcible and indignant language protested against the transfer of this land to Corbin, for the following reasons :-
" I. That the twenty-five hundred acres allowed to Corbin and partners in settlement were in express terms restrained to their own claim, and that he had never purchased any of the land petitioned for, nor pretended to claim any part of them; that the New Scituate purchase was prior to his, and that he was well acquainted with its bounds before he made his purchase, and had never made any question about them either at the settlement of the committee or at the Gen. Assembly, and had he but imagined he could have gained any- thing by objecting against our lines it was not likely he would have been silent for he did not use to be so short in his politics as to lose anything for want of asking.
II. Corbin had been favored in his claims far beyond the claimers of New Scituate, making his petition more unreasonable; had never had a partner, and thus large tracts of land confirmed to him and partners had fallen to him alone; expected to reap the benefit of 1,856 acres lying beside Stoddard land, being so much more than was expressed or supposed at time of purchase, and also of 224 acres on the north, both which he liad glided smoothly over with- out giving an account of,-cases mentioned to show how unreasonable it is for him to covet his neighbor's property and do his utmost to defraud honest poor men of their just rights and possessions, under a feigned representation of having been a great sufferer.
III. That whatever is suggested in Mr. Corbin's petition relating to his loss by Willington, there is land enough to be found within his own purchases in Ashford to lay the 2,500 acres upon, and after that a considerable quantity will remain for common use-unless Mr. Corbin has deceived the committee in his account of the sales he had made in his claims; that as for the committee intending that he should take up his portion in that half-mile now cut off, it was a mere chimera, for it does not contain so much, nor did they confine him to any place but to the unsurveyed land in his own claim-but if this be true, why did not Corbin petition the Assembly for an equivalent in some of the unappro- priated land in the Colony ? But as he has given up a specimen of his veracity, so is this of his justice. The force of his argument is this-the Gen. Assembly having wronged him to favor us, now they should wrong us to favor him
IV. That the land is a part of New Scituate, and always so esteemed by Corbin himself, who had helped survey, lay out and renew the bounds of it.
V. Property already fully settled in 1719.
VI. That the lands petitioned for are the accommodations or individual
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
property of several others-if the grant of the town of Ashford, the agree- inent and contract of New Scituate claimers with inhabitants, the solemn settlement of that contract by the Gen. Court's Committee, the acceptance and confirmation by the Gen. Court, and finally the compliance of the people in fulfilling conditions of contract on their part-could make them so. The New Scituate owners have fulfilled conditions and have good estates, and expected to hold them and be protected in their just rights, and now for a patent to be granted to eject these poor honest men of their freeholds, so solemnly settled, against all law or reason-seems to me an intolerable piece of hardship, and beyond all precedent, and I cannot, and think I ought not, .silently to see such a designed fraud and piece of injustice carried on as is pursued by Corbin-who positively knows the truth of every article in this plea-and that so amicable and solemn a contract should be broken in upon, and the poor town of Ashford reduced again to confusion, as it most certainly will be if the patent be granted, and hope your Honors will see sufficient cause why the prayer of the petitioners should not be granted."
Having thus closed his argument, Colonel Chandler begged leave to observe that he desired no more land than his proportion, had per- formed all conditions according to contract, given Mr. Hale, the worthy minister of Ashford, two hundred acres of land, beside ten acres for a green and sixty for a parsonage, had paid large taxes and expected to pay more, and to promote the peace and quiet of the town had con- descended to take up the rags and scraps and refuse of all their claim, and notwithstanding the great charge he had borne had not been able to come to the true knowledge of one lot, for the people had taken it up and sold it hither and thither. He hoped it might be possible that, some time or other, if not cut off by the law of possession, some small scrap of the worst of the lots might be set off to the claimants, and prayed the Court to enable them to take up their complement within the lines of their survey and patent, after which he would most willingly submit the residue to the town for commons and highways, as he had promised and offered to the people at town-meeting, and they had sufficient ground to be persuaded he would make good his word. By granting their requests, the settlement of 1719 would be inviolably preserved, neither claimants or inhabitants damaged and all good men satisfied.
Upon hearing this plea, the Court pronounced the reasons insufficient, and allowed Corbin a patent for the land demanded, with this proviso, " that all the claimers that have regulated themselves according to the order of the committee in 1719, shall not be prejudiced thereby." Even this decision, so favorable to Corbin, did not satisfy this selfish and unscrupulous speculator. Though no settler was probably ejected from his freehold, yet many of the evils anticipated by Colonel Chand- ler resulted from the re-opening of this question. Although some fifteen thousand acres of Ashford territory must have been appropriated by Corbin, his claim was urged by successive generations of descend- ants, involving the town in expensive and harassing lawsuits, and finally subjecting it to the loss of its remaining commons.
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THE VOLUNTEERS' LAND, DIVISION, ETC.
XXXV.
THE VOLUNTEERS' LAND. DIVISION. SETTLEMENT. ADDITION.
TN October, 1696, Lieutenant Thomas Leffingwell of Norwich, and Sergeant John Frink of Stonington, moved the General Court, "that they, with the rest of the English volunteers in former wars, might have a plantation granted to them." A tract of land six miles square was granted in answer to this request, "to be taken up out of some of the conquered land," its bounds prescribed and settlement regulated by persons appointed by the Court. The volunteers sent " out upon the discovery " of a suitable tract found their choice very limited. Major Fitch, the Winthrops and others had already appro- priated the greater part of the conquered land, and the only available tract remaining within Connecticut limits was a strip bordering on Rhode Island, a few miles east of Norwich, and upon reporting this " discovery " to the General Court, " Captain Samuel Mason, Mr. John Gallup and Lieutenant James Avery were appointed a committee to view the said tract, and to consider whether it be suitable for entertain- ment of a body of people that may be able comfortably to carry on plantation work, or what addition of land may be necessary to accommo- date a body of people for comfortable subsistence in a plantation way." After taking three years for viewing and considering, the committee reported favorably, and in October, 1700, Lieutenant Leffingwell, Richard Bushnell, Isaac Wheeler, Caleb Fobes, Samuel Bliss, Joseph Morgan and Manasseh Minor, moved for its confirmation to the volun- teers, which was granted, " so far as it concur with the former act of the General Assembly, provided it bring not the Colony into any inconvenience "-or, as afterwards expressed, -" do not prejudice any former grant of the Court." A large part of the tract thus granted is now comprised in the town of Voluntown. Its original bounds were nearly identical with those of the present township, save that eastward it extended to Pawcatuck River.
Little can now be learned of the primitive condition of this region. It was a waste, barren frontier, over-run by various tribes of Indians, and after the Narraganset War claimed by the Mohegans. Massasho- witt, sachem of Quinebaug, also claimed rights in it. No Indians are believed to have occupied it after the war, nor were any white inhabit- ants found on it when made over to the volunteers.
July 1, 1701, the grantees met in Stonington, to make arrangements for survey and appropriation. Richard Bushnell was chosen clerk of the company, and desired to make out a list of names of volunteers,
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
and also to make entry of such votes as should be passed. Thomas Leffingwell, James Avery, John Frink and Richard Smith were chosen a committee, " to pass all those that shall offer themselves as volunteers." Captain Samuel Mason was granted by the company an equal share or interest in that tract of land.
Some years passed before the division was completed. The territory was still in dispute. The Mohegan claim was not adjusted till 1705, when their bounds were formally surveyed and established by Captain John Chandler-Captain John Parke, Edward Colver and Samuel Sterry, assisting. Quatchiack, an aged Pachaug Indian, familiar with this region, a Mohegan and two Shetuckets, helped point out the bounds. Beginning at Ahyohsupsuck-a pond in the north bound of Stonington-they ran the line north one mile, to a pond called Mah- mansuck, near the present west bound of Voluntown ; thence, a little east of north, three miles, to a very small pond with the very large name of Toshconwongganuck ; thence, a mile and a half to a pine hill-the site of the present Line-meeting-house. Proceeding northward over a neck of land, " from whence they could see Egunk Hill and the Flat Rocks," they came to Egunk, near the great cold spring-Egunksunkapong,- at which place, being dark, they took up their lodging. In the morn- ing they were joined by Major Fitch, and proceeded on their course, measuring and laying the line over the rough hill-top till they came to Pathigwadchaug-the north end of Egunk Hill, six and a half miles from Egunksunkapong, where a great spring issued out, "forty rods west of Moosup River, where the road goes from Plainfield to Provi- dence," and ran down into the river. Thence, leaving the Moosup on the west, they traveled on to the Whetstone Country.
Only a narrow strip of the Volunteer's Land was appropriated by the Mohegans under this survey, but so large a slice was taken from them by Rhode Island during the summer, " that they feared their intended purpose of settling a plantation so accommodable for a Christian society as they desired," was frustrated. A meeting of the volunteers was held, November 14, 1705, when, finding that though their tract was greatly broken by the late agreement made by the Commissioners for the Colonies, there was still considerable left-a committee was empowered to go forth and use such methods as were necessary for finding out the number of acres left within the boundaries, make a thorough survey of the same, which should be computed and laid out in as many lots as there were volunteers, and to number them and lay them equally for quantity and quality, only reserving one thousand acres for the disposal of the company to pay necessary charges. This work was accomplished during the winter, and the Volunteer's Land made ready for distribution. One hundred and sixty persons had enrolled
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THE VOLUNTEERS' LAND, DIVISION, ETC.
their names as desirous to share the benefit of this grant-residents of New London, Norwich, Stonington, Windham, Plainfield, and other neighboring towns. The list comprised not only officers and soldiers but ministers, chaplains and such as had served the Colony in civil capacity during the war. April 17, 1706, a meeting was held, and in accordance with a vote, "To go on and draw lots upon that part of the land laid out," the grant was made out to the following proprietors :-
Thomas Wooster. John Fish.
Jonathan Armstrong.
Major Edward Palmes.
-Samuel Fish. Wm. Williams. Robert & Daniel Stanton.
- Capt. George Denison.
Sergt. Thomas Leffingwell .- George Denison.
James Morgan.
-Major Wait Winthrop.
Wm. Denison.
John Kinne.
Rev. James Fitcli.
Nath. Bidlow.
John Lashum.
"Capt. James Avery.
Henry Stephens.
John Woodhouse.
-Sergt. John Frink.
Edward Fanning. Joseph Morgan.
James Avery.
John & Thomas Fanning. Nath. Parke.
John Bennet. William Douglas.
-John and Thomas Avery. Joshua Baker.
William Bennet.
Manasseh Minor. James Willet.
Ephraim Colver.
Philip Bill.
James Noyes.
William Potts.
Dewey Springer.
John Stanton.
Edward Colver.
Ezekiel Maynor,
Josepli Stanton.
Samuel Yeomans.
William Wheeler.
Joshua Abell.
John Levins.
Wm. Roberts.
Thomas Rhoad.
Aaron and John Stark.
John Denison.
William Knight.
James York.
Matthew Griswold.
Matthew Jones.
Thomas Bill.
Richard Lord.
Richard Dart.
-Thomas Minor.
Stephen De Wolf.
Samuel Hough.
Richard Bushnell.
Henry Peterson.
William Hough.
Samuel Lothrop.
Daniel Crumb.
Abel More.
Solomon Tracy.
Richard Smith.
Jeremiah Blaque.
John Wiley.
John and Francis Smith. John Plumb.
Samuel Fitts.
Samuel Stephens.
Tho. Hungerford.
Robert Plank.
Nicholas Cottrell.
John Packer.
Peter Spicer.
Moses Hintly.
Samuel Packer.
Jonathan Rudd.
Henry Hall.
Nath. Holt.
Richard Cook.
Jolın Pamiton.
Robert Lord.
Thomas Parke.
Henry Bennet.
Jolın Wade.
Henry Elliot.
William Champlin.
Richard Smith.
Thomas Bliss.
Samuel Rogers.
Edward De Wolf.
Ira Wheeler.
John Choler.
Aaron Huntley.
Peter Crosse.
Capt. Pembleton.
James Murphy.
Jonathan Gennings.
John Hill.
Robert Holmes.
Caleb Hobbes.
Samuel Frisbie.
Daniel Comstock.
John Gallup.
Samuel Struther.
George Chappel.
Adam and William Gallup. John Plant.
-Nath. Cheesborough.
Samuel Fox. Jacob Foye.
John Lothrop.
John and Samuel Minor. John Ashcraft.
-Clement Minor.
James Welch.
Joshua Holmes.
Daniel Grubbins.
Edward Shipman.
Capt. Ebenezer Johnson.
John Hough.
Joseph Ingraham. James Danielson.
Moses Wheeler.
Joseph Waterhouse.
Joseph Colver.
Daniel Tracy.
Samuel Robbins.
William Billings.
-Edmund Fanning. John Shaw.
Stephen Richardson.
Jonathan Birch.
Roger & Sam'l Richardson. William Johnson, -Gershom Palmer.
31
-Ebenezer Billings.
William Pendall. Daniel Clark.
Joseph Wheeler.
Thomas Williams.
Thurston Risnond.
Hugh Rowland.
~Ephraim Minor.
-Samuel Stanton.
John Wicknor.
Thomas Rose.
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
One hundred and fifty equal lots were laid out in the Volunteers' Land, some of the proprietors receiving but half a share. Samuel Coy was allowed eighty acres-a parcel of land already surveyed-and Samuel Fish to take his lot where he had made improvement. The latter was probably the first settler. Very little progress was made for several years. The soil was poor, the location remote and incon- venient, offering few inducements to settlers. Landed affairs were managed by the previous committee. The thousand acres reserved for the use of the company were laid out in the south of the tract, in a strip four miles from east to west, and twenty-five rods from north to south, and sold to Thomas Banister for £130, May 22, 1703. At the request of the proprietors, the name of Voluntown was appropriately given to the plantation. The settler next following Samuel Fish is believed to have been John Gallup-the Plainfield " land-grabber " ___ choosing a home in. a plantation where land grabbing could be more freely exercised, and settling in the northeast of the township on Wassaquassick Lake, about 1710. Very few of the volunteers took personal possession of their allotments. John and Francis Smith, Robert Parke and one or two others, settled after a time within the township. Some of the proprietors sold out their rights at an early date, receiving five, six, eight, eleven and twelve pounds an allotment. " A pair of come-four year-old steers " was once exchanged for eighty- six acres. Others retained their shares through life, renting out farms whenever practicable. Settlers came in slowly, taking up land in various localities. Thomas Reynolds settled near Pawcatuck Lake ; Thomas Coles in the south of the tract. John Campbell, John Safford, Obadiah Rhodes and Samuel Whalley were among the earliest in- habitants of Voluntown. In 1714, attempt was made to lay out more land and facilitate settlement. At a meeting of the committee in Norwich, it was agreed, " To send out three persons to gain as good understanding as they can come at where Uncas' hereditary bounds go from station to station, so far as Voluntown is concerned." Manasseh Minor was appointed for this work, with liberty to call out such Indians as were best able to give light. Lieutenant Leffingwell, Captains Richard Bushnell, James Avery, John Hough and John Prentts, Lieutenant Solomon Tracy, Deacon Manasseh Minor and Mr. John Gallup were elected committee for the management of the plantation, and granted by the General Assembly " the liberty of appearing and maintaining the rights of the volunteers as there should be occasion."
One hundred and forty-four lots were laid out during the summer by Prentts, Minor and Gallup on behalf of the committee. The one hundred and forty-fifth lot was laid out to John Stoyell on Benajah Bushnell's right, adjoining the southeast corner of Plainfield at the
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THE VOLUNTEERS' LAND, DIVISION, ETC.
foot of Egunk Hill. Three other lots in this vicinity were also laid out to Mr. Stoyell. 3 This gentleman-afterwards " school-master in Pomfret"-purchased much other land in Voluntown and became a prominent actor in some very important controversies.
The loss of so large a portion of their territory to Rhode Island was very serious to the Volunteers and their right to a suitable equivalent, was the first to be urged and maintained by the committee. In Octo- ber, 1715, they petitioned the General Assembly, that the Colony land lying north of their tract might be annexed to it in place of that taken from them. This was the "vacant land" so persistently besought by Plainfield, and already occupied by some of her former inhabitants. A grant of three hundred acres allowed to the Reverend Mr. Coit of Plainfield, in this country land-laid out north of Egunk Hill, where the Providence road crossed Moosup's River-was conveyed by him to Francis Smith and Miles Jordan, who there established themselves, north of Voluntown. Smith soon put up a mill and opened his house for the accommodation of travelers. The lack of a bridge at this point was found a great inconvenience, as the river was high and often dangerous. Smith and Jordan prepared timber and petitioned in 1714, for a committee to select a suitable place, and there erected a suitable and convenient bridge, receiving in payment, one, ninety and the other sixty acres of land, on the Providence road. This convenient road and pleasant locality soon attracted other settlers-John Smith, Ebenezer and Thomas Dow, Robert and John Park, Robert Williams, Nathaniel French and others-who attended church and enjoyed privileges in Plainfield and joined with its inhabitants in 1715, in petitioning for annexation of the country land to that township. The Assembly con- sidered the applications and ordered a plot of the land in question to be made-if either of the parties petitioning would be at the charge of it-together with an account of said land that so it might be able to resolve upon its future regulation.
Probably neither party chose to assume the charge of this survey as the matter was left unsettled for several years. Voluntown meanwhile increased slowly in population, but made few other advances. May 8, . 1718, William Roberts, John Stoyell, Samuel Butler, Miles Jordan, Richard Williams and Samuel Church-inhabitants of Voluntown and the country land north of it-represented to the General Court, " their miserable estate and condition, living in Voluntown and being at a great distance from any meeting-house and destitute of ye public wor- ship of God and ever likely to be, land being so much broken and nothing but barren pine-holes and never likely to be inhabited so as to maintain a minister (unless it be remedied by your Honors)." The remedy proposed by these petitioners, was that the Voluntown proprie- tors should have their property to themselves, as specified by the grant,
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