USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > History of the Colony of New Haven, Before and After the Union with Connecticut: Containing a. > Part 15
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* The Gulf Neck is where the town should have been built, it being a most beautiful location for a town.
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planters, who owned large tracts of land in that section of the town, and were the first who settled there, which was about 1690. Many of their posterity reside there at present. The town farm, or alms house, is in Burwell's Farm. The land it embraces was originally "laid out to widow Mary Plum, widow of Robert Plum, for 23 acres. A highway, four rods wide, was run through it." It was bought by the town, in 1824, and cost, adding expense of repairing the house, and erecting a new barn, &c., about $1000. It is kept at present by Thomas Burwell, Esq. He hires the place for a stated sum annually, aud the town pay him a certain sum per week for boarding each person supported by the town. The in- mates of the house are not all made as comfortable as they might be. Owing to an ill-judged economy on the part of the town, one poor, deranged man, Elisha Sandford, is kept in a cage in the barn, and in the coldest weather in winter, without any artificial heat.
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Wheeler's Farm is the northwest corner of the township, and received its name from Joseph Wheeler, who settled there about 1705. Previous to this time it was called the Upper meadow, or Serg. Camp's hop garden, from the raising hops on the alluvial land by the river. Some of the wealthiest farmers of the town reside in this village.
The inhabitants of Milford are mostly farmers, and retain in an eminent degree the manners of the primitive settlers. It being difficult to change long established habits,* they are not celebrated for keeping pace with the improvements of the age. But they have many commendable qualities ; they are industrious and economical, and are uniformly friendly and obliging. But it is too true for any one to take it ill if it should be remarked, that the Quaker woman's sermon is not
* In illustration of this, the following fact is given: A man from Litchfield county came into the town, and hired out to a wealthy farmer during the summer months. In driving home a load of grain and going through a gap, one wheel of the cart went over a rock 12 or 14 inches in height, which threw off a few sheaves of the load; upon which he proposed to the farmer, who was near by, to let him dig out the stone, as soon as they had unloaded the grain. The farmer gave him no definite answer at the time; after the load was disposed of, he again told the farmer, that they had better go and dig out that stone. Well, said the farmer, I'll think of it ; and after considering it a few minutes, he told the man, that his father had always drove over that rock, and he must do the same, and so he could do nothing about removing it. 13*
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heeded by them as it should be, viz. : " It would be well if every one would mind their own business, and let other's alone."
The number of inhabitants in the town when the last cen- sus was taken, was 2256, and by the year 1840, they will probably have increased to about 3000, the number at this time, 1837, being 2800. There are at present in the town 400 houses, 480 freeholders, and 525 electors. The town was made a probate district in 1832.
Milford has sent out many colonists towards the settlement of other towns, which will be mentioned in the order of the time of settlement. In May, 1666, Robert Treat, Esq., of this town, and Mr. William Swaim, of Branford, in behalf of themselves and others of Milford, Branford, New Haven, and Guilford, made a purchase of " the Indian native proprietors," of a tract of land on the Passaic river, in New Jersey, in order to form a settlement there .* A part of the first planters im- mediately removed, most of whom were from Milford and Branford. On the 30th of October, 1666, the settlers adopt- ed the law of New Haven, which inhibited any person from becoming a freeman, who was not a member of some Con- gregational church.
Mr. Abraham Pierson, from Branford, was the first minis- ter. The cause of the removal of himself and congregation will be given under the history of Branford. He removed previ- ous to the first of October, 1667. The people of Newark, at a town meeting, September 10, 1668, " voted to allow Mr. Pierson the expenses of his removal, and digging his well, and also £80 for his services, from the 1st of October, 1667, to the 1st of October, 1668," and stipulated to allow him a salary of £80 a year, payable half yearly in produce, at the current price, from the Ist of October, 1668 ; and also to give him a pound of butter for every milked cow in the town.
It appears that Mr. Pierson, at this time, was advanced in years, and stood in need of an assistant. July 28, 1669, the town employed his son, Abraham Pierson, Jun., who gradua- ted at Harvard, in 1668, to assist his father in the ministry. On the 4th of March, 1672, he was regularly settled as a col- league with him. Mr. Pierson, Sen., gradually declined, so as not to be capable of much service after this period, and died
* This purchase was made under a grant from Governor Nicolls, of New York, dated Dec. 2, 1664.
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in 1680, at an advanced age. His son remained at Newark until the summer of 1692, when he removed to Connecticut, resided awhile in Milford, and, in 1694, settled in Kennilworth. In 1701, he was chosen rector, or president, of the new col- lege at Saybrook, which station he occupied till his death, in 1708. After Mr. Pierson graduated, and before he settled in Newark, he resided for some months in Milford, and it is thought pursued his theological studies with Mr. Newton. He married, while in Milford, Abigail Clark, daughter of George Clark, farmer, and sister of Sarah, the mother of Governor Law. His son, Mr. John Pierson, settled as a minister in Woodbridge, N. J., and from him are descended a number of families of that name, in that part of New Jersey. The original ancestor left other posterity, whose descendants are now in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. His daughter Abigail married John Davenport, Jun.
He was succeeded in the ministry at Newark by Mr. John Prudden,* from Jamaica, Long Island, but who was a native
* Mr. Prudden was the second son of the first minister in Milford, born November, 1645, and graduated at Harvard College, in 1668. He was a classmate of Mr. Abraham Pierson, Jun. Upon the com- pletion of his theological studies he settled at Jamaica, in 1670. On the 23d of August, 1692, the inhabitants of Newark, at a town meet- ing, "agreed to invite Mr. Prudden to become their minister, and settle among them," and " voted him 50l. a year, and his firewood, for his encouragement and the comfortable subsistence of his family," and also that he should have and hold such a propriety in the town as should be agreed upon between him and the committee appointed to confer with him. His acceptance of the invitation and offer was reported to the town the same day. Mr. Prudden continued the minister of Newark until June 9, 1699, when, for some cause or other not now known, he relinquished his charge. He continued to reside in the town, and seems to have enjoyed the esteem and confidence of the people. It appears from the records of the town, that when a vacancy in the ministry occurred, he was appointed one of the committe to procure another minister, and that he was actively engaged in the settlement of two who successively succeed- ed him; and that he was uniformly employed to supply the pulpit in the intervals.
Mr. Prudden possessed large property, which enabled him to live on his own means. He died December 11, 1725, aged 80 years. His descendants are numerous. They chiefly reside in Morris county, N. J., and are generally very reputable. The Pruddens in New Jersey shared half of the interest money received from the Prudden estate in England. [The share belonging to the Milford branch of the family, about sixty years ago was illegally leased to a member of the New Jersey family, and might probably yet be recovered+
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of Milford. Upon his settlement in Newark the town received another large accession of people from Milford. The de- scendants of Milford people in New Jersey are now very nu- merous. The county of Essex, in which Newark is situated, was named by the settlers of the place who were from Milford, they or their fathers being mostly from the county of Essex, England.
The town of GREENWICH, Fairfield county, about 1668, upon the settlement of Mr. Jeremiah Peck in the ministry in that place, received a large number of settlers from Milford.
The town of NEW MILFORD, in Litchfield county, was pur- chased and settled by Milford people.
At a town meeting of Milford, held January 1, 1701-2, it was voted to purchase land at Wiantinoque, of the Heathen, and if any freemen not present have a mind to come in for a share, they have liberty to do so, and if any present have a mind to exempt himself from a share, he likewise has liberty to do so. A commit- tee was then chosen, consisting of Col. Robert Treat, Ensign George Clark, Ensign Joseph Treat, Mr. Thomas Clark, Ensign Joseph Peck, Serg. Jonathan Baldwin, and Serg. Timothy Baldwin, to gain or purchase land at Wiantinoque, to treat with the Indians, and to secure the town's interest there to the best of their skill.
A company was formed in June, 1702, of those persons who had a desire to purchase land at Wiantinoque, consisting of 80 individuals.
The committee made the purchase of the governor and company, and received a patent of the tract, which is dated in the second year of Queen Ann, 1703, and signed by John Winthrop. The purchase of Wiantinoque was made by the committee, of the Indians, and a deed received from them on the 8th of February, 1702-3. The consideration for the tract was £60 current money, and £20 in goods, at money price. It was bounded, in the deed,* easterly by Woodbury, . and a parallell line running north into the country, westerly with the mountains, northwesterly with Wemeseag, a small brook running into the Housatonnuc, and from the head of the brook, by a line running easterly till it comes to the above said parallel line, with Danbury line on the southwest, and Woodbury line southeast. In this tract the Indians reserved their planting field, on the west side of the river, against the town, and the right of fishing at the falls. The deed was signed by
* Recorded in Milford Records, Lib. 3, page 135.
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SHEPAUG,
his
mark.
DE
WEWINAPOWK, his
mark.
B
CHASQUENEAG, his
mark.
WOMPOTOO,
his
mark.
D
TOWECOMIS,
his
mark.
YONCOMIS,
his
mark.
A, A, Indian forts; B, a line representing Housatonnuc river ; C, Indian planting field; D, Indian reservation for fishing at the falls.
The above is a reduced copy of a map, or sketch, of Wi- antinoque, as drawn by the Indians.
After the town was settled, an additional purchase was made by the inbabitants, which forms the north part of the town, and was called the north purchase. This was in 1722.
The first settlement made by the English in the town, was in the year 1707. The original purchasers and proprietors were 109 in number, mostly from Milford ;* 99 of whom were pur- chasers of whole rights, and 10 of half rights. Twenty-four shillings was the purchase of a whole, and twelve shillings of a half right. No individual had originally more than one right. The first division of land was granted in Dec., 1706, and was a home lot of 73 acres, and 10 acres for a pasture. The second division was in May, 1712, of two lots, of 40 acres each, on a right. Ten other divisions were granted before 1760.
The town plot, or center, was first laid on the hill next east of the present center, whence that hill is to this day called Town Hill. Afterwards it was concluded to remove the cen- ter to the top of the hill next north of the present center, for which Mr. Daniel Boardman,t the first minister, built and
* The list of the first settlers is in Mr. Griswold's sermon, which was entered on New Milford Town Records, in 1701.
t From Wethersfield.
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lived on that hill. But ultimately it was thought more con- venient to place the center where it now is.
The first settlers of the town saw troublesome times. It was common for them to carry their fire-arms into the field to labor; and were obliged to provide a fortified house to resort to in times of danger; and they were sometimes reduced to distress, through the failure of provisions, and the difficulty of supplying themselves.
At the time of the settlement, a considerable number of na- tives lived in the town, of whom there were reckoned about 200 warriors. They dwelt chiefly along the intervale, by the side of the river. Several of their burying-grounds are to be seen in various parts of the town. Their graves are of a conical form, and the persons were buried in a sitting posture. One of their burying places is on the west side of the river, opposite to, and in sight of the town, on the bluff, bounding the Indian field, so called, and contiguous to Fort Hill, the site of the last Indian fortress, known to have been in the town.
For some time after the white people settled there, an In- dian chief, or sachem, named Werauhamaug, had a palace standing near the great fall, where he resided. On the inside of it were pictured all sorts of animals. A considerable part of the parish of New Preston, now a part of Washington, was reserved for his hunting ground, which to the present is called Raumaug. It has been said, that all the tribes along by the Housatonnuc, from its source to the sea, were in strict alli- ance and friendship ; and that by means of certain sounds made on the guarding heights, an alarm might be spread, in the space of three hours, through the whole line of tribes, a dis- tance of nearly 200 miles. The oppression of the Mohawks probably had a tendency to keep them in alliance. Many of the New Milford Indians went off to Pennsylvania, with the Moravian missionaries, but most of them returned, and, join- ing with other tribes, eventually located themselves at Scati- cook, in the present town of Kent. At this time but a very few of their descendants are remaining.
The first bridge built over the Housatonnuc river, from the sea to its source, was built in this town, and was finished in 1737. The first school set up in the town, was in 1721; it was to be kept four months in the year, and the town to pay half of the expense. At this time there are 22 school districts in the town, and about 700 children attend school in them some part of the year. There are 9 meeting houses in the
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town, 2 Congregational, 2 Episcopal, 2 Baptist, 2 Methodist, and 1 for Friends, or Quakers. In the village of New Mil- ford there are about 60 houses, and 5 mercantile stores. It is the southwest town in Litchfield county, situated 36 miles northwest from New Haven, and 48 from Hartford ..
NEWTOWN, in Fairfield county, received a large part of its early settlers from Milford. The Indian name of the place was Potatuck. The Potatuck Indians being frequently at Milford, a company of about 25 persons, in 1707, bought of them a large tract of land. The next year the general as- sembly made a grant of the tract, and incorporated it as a town, by the name of Newtown. The purchase, as appears by Milford Records, was laid out into 25 rights, or shares. The center was laid out on the southern termination of a ridge of elevated land.
The principal seat of the Indians in the town, appears to have been at the mouth of the Potatuck, a mill stream which enters the Housatonnuc. At the settlement of the place, Mowehue, the sachem, with his Indians, removed to New Milford. About 1728, he built a hunting house at Scaticook, in the north- west part of Kent, on the west bank of the Housatonnuc river. He invited the Indians at New Milford, from the Ob- long in the province of New York, and from various other places, to settle with him at Scaticook, and it appears he was a man of so much art and popularity, among the Indians, that in about ten or eleven years, about the time when Kent was settled, he could muster an hundred warriors. The whole number probably was between 5 and 600. The Scaticook tribe in the revolutionary war furnished one hundred soldiers, or warriors. This tribe, like all other Indians in Connecticut, have nearly all disappeared.
The borough of Newtown, as already observed, is situated on a hill, which descends to the south. Just above the de- scent is a broad and level street, about 80 rods in extent. On this street the borough is principally built, which consists of about 50 dwelling houses, 3 churches, 1 Congregational, 1 Episcopal, 1 Methodist, and 4 mercantile stores. The place is 10 miles from Danbury, 25 from New Haven, and 22 from Fairfield.
The town of DURHAM, in Middlesex county, received from Milford a large proportion of its first settlers. The Indian name of the place was Cochinchaug. As early as 1698, some people of Guilford, 31 in number, petitioned the general as-
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sembly, that there might be a plantation at Cochinchaug, . which was granted. Very few of the petitioners, however, left Guilford, and no plantation was then formed. The set- tlement of the place being encouraged by the general assembly, about 1705, people from various places began to move in, and in 1708, it was invested with town privileges, by the name of Durham. It was about this time that the Milford people moved in.
The principal settlement was made on the road running north and south, on ground moderately elevated, bounded on the east by a considerable range of hills, on the west with a large tract of low land, and then a tract of higher land, and extend- ing to Wallingford mountains. The tract of low land lying westward of the village, was called Cochinchaug, or the Long Swamp, and from this the name was applied to the township.
This is now mostly cleared, and yields a large quantity of coarse grass. The central part of Durham is 20 miles south of Hartford, and 18 northeast from New Haven.
Many Milford people, in early times, settled in Wallingford, Cheshire, Farmington, Washington, Woodbury, Norwalk, and Ridgefield, in this state, and in Williamstown, Mass., and most of the first settlers of Talmadge, Ohio, were from Milford.
The township of DERBY once belonged to Milford. The original name of the place was Paugusset. It appears, that about 1653, Governor Goodyear and others made a purchase of a considerable tract there. The next year some few set- tlers located there, and, in 1655, they petitioned the general court of New Haven, to be made into a distinct town. The court granted their petition, and gave them liberty to purchase lands sufficient for a township. At the next court, the Mil- ford people, headed by Mr. Prudden, made such strong re- monstrances against the act, that the court decreed, that the people at Paugusset should continue as they had been, under the town of Milford, unless the parties should come to an agreement respecting the incorporation of the inhabitants into a distinct township. In 1657, it was agreed between the par- ties, and ratified by the general court : " 1st, that Paugusset people might purchase land; 2d, that they should bear equal share of men for the public defense ; 3d, that they should be free from watching in Milford, but should pay the jurisdiction watch,* and also their proportion of magistrate and meeting
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* The tax laid on those who did not watch in person.
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house charge,* and the bounty for killing wolves and foxes." In 1657 and 1659, purchase was made of the lands of the chief sagamores, Wetanamoe and Raskenoot. This purchase was afterwards confirmed by Okenuck, the chief sacher. Some of the first planters were Edward Wooster, Edward Riggs, Richard Baldwin, Samuel Hopkins, Thomas Langdon, and Francis French. In October, 1675, the planters renewed their application for town privileges. They represented, that . they then consisted of twelve families, and that eleven more were about moving into the plantation ; they had procured a minister, built him a house, and made provision for the sup- port of the ministry. Upon these representations the assembly made them a town, by the name of Derby. The bounds be- tween Milford and Derby were laid, in 1680, and about that time all differences appear to have been amicably settled.
Derby village now consists of about 50 dwelling houses, 5 mercantile stores, and a number of mechanic shops. The buildings are mostly situated on three short streets, running parallel with the river, and on the side of a high hill, which from its summit descends with considerable abruptness to the water, and of course the easternmost street is considerably elevated above the others. There are two churches in the village, one Congregational, the other Episcopal. Hum- phreysville, which owes its origin to Hon. David Humphreys, is in the north part of Derby. It was formerly known by the name of Chusetown, so called from Chuse, the last sachem of the Derby Indians. His proper name was Joe Mauwee. He obtained the name of Chuse from his method of pronoun- cing the word choose, which he much used. Chuse and all his Indians removed to Scaticook (Kent) about 1785.
A large part of WOODBRIDGE formerly belonged to Milford. It was originally two parishes, called Amity and Bethany. The west side of them belonged to Milford, and the east side to New Haven. The first mentioned was constituted a par- ish in 1739, over which Mr. Benjamin Woodbridge was or- dained in 1742. Bethany was not made a parish till some years after. The people of these parishes attended the town meetings of Milford, and their proportion of the town tax was expended for their benefit. In 1746, the town granted to Jo- seph Northrop and others, of Amity, £30, out of the town treasury, for building a school-house. A similar grant was
* Or the tax for the support of government and preaching. 14
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made to Bethany in 1759. About 1780, these parishes resolved to petition the assembly to be incorporated into . town, and Milford, a number of times successively, at their town meet- Maga, appointed committees to oppose their petition. But in 1784, their petition was granted, and the general assembly incorporated them into a town, by the name of Woodbridge, so called in honor of the minister of Amity. In 1784, Mil- ford appointed a committee " to settle all affairs with Wood- bridge, and to make a division of the town stock." Bethany was set off' a separate town from Woodbridge in 1832.
A part of ORANGE, North Milford parish, originally be- longed to Milford. Orange was incorporated by the general assembly holden at New Haven in May, 1822, and was formed by the union of North Milford parish and West Haven, a parish of New Haven. The first town meeting was holden at the meeting-house in the parish of North Milford, on the second Monday in June, of which meeting Charles H. Pond, Esq., of Milford, was previously appointed moderator by the legislature. At this meeting, Benjamin L. Lambert was ap- pointed town clerk.
The committee appointed by the two parishes to obtain the act of incorporation for a town, after having a variety of names under consideration, finally adopted that of Orange, in commemoration of the benefits received from William, Prince of Orange, by Connecticut, when a colony, particularly in the restoration of their charter privileges, after the tyranny and usurpation of Sir Edmund Andross.
The land of the North Milford part of the town was sur. veyed and laid out in 1687, but was not settled till forty years afterwards. Richard Bryan, Jr., was the first who settled in that part of the town, and for many years it was called Bry- an's Farm. At a town meeting held on the 10th of Decem- ber, 1750, it was " voted, that money should be appropriated to the inhabitants of Bryan's Farm, for the purpose of setting up a school in winter, it being so well settled that one is deemed necessary."
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The inhabitants of North Milford attended meeting in Mil- ford until 1805. They were incorporated into a society by the general assembly, at their session in October, 1804. The church was organized on Wednesday, March 13, 1805. Their first pastor, Erastus Scranton, A. M., a native of Madison, was ordained July 4, 1805. He preached with them for about twenty-five years, when he asked for a dismission, and remo-
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red to Burlington. While he remained with them, the society greatly prospered. The inhabitants of this parish, fourteen years before this, erected a meeting-house, 36 feet by 30, oo the green, where they had preaching in the winter season, by the alternate labors of the ministers of Milford. The present meeting-house of this society was raised June 27, 1810, and dedicated April 17, 1811. The burying-ground, containing half an acre, was laid out in 1804.
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