USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > History of the Colony of New Haven, Before and After the Union with Connecticut: Containing a. > Part 17
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The natural soil of the township is various. The lands along the sea-coast are level plains of rich black loam, having many small necks where the Indians dwelt, and which they filled with oyster and other shells from the sea. About two miles from the shore the soil is gravelly, and productive, if well manured. The rest of the township northward is hilly ; some of the lands good, others indifferent. In this part of the township there is much broken and rocky land, but it is valuable for the wood and timber growing upon it.
The township is well watered with springs from the hills, and brooks from the swamps. Two rivers run through the middle of the township, named the East and West river, which empty into the harbor near together, both of which furnish good mill seats. The harbor, south of the town and east of the great plain, is not good, being shallow and having many rocks. About two miles westward from it, is Sachem's Head, an excellent, though small harbor. It is shut in on all sides by the land, except the southwest. Its entrance or mouth, is narrow. It received its name on account of its be- ing the scene of the execution of a Pequot sachem, by Uncas.
The length of the township is about 11 miles from north to south, and the average breadth about four. At present it is divided into two parishes, or societies, Guilford and North Guilford. In the first society is the borough of Guilford, which was incorporated in 1815. It is handsomely situated upon a tract of alluvial or maritime plain, about two miles from the sea, near a small river, called the Menuncatuck, or West River. The borough embraces the ancient town plot, and is laid out very regular for an ancient town. In the center is an extensive open public square. The place is compactly built, consisting of about 150 dwelling houses,
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two churches, (one Episcopal and one Congregational,) and the town-house. The Congregational society boasts of hav- ing the first meeting house built in the present form, the first steeple, and the first town clock of any in the government. Many of the houses in this place are ancient and of venera- ble appearance.
Guilford is a place of considerable resort during the warm season of the year, for the benefit of the sea air, &c. There are two public hotels for the reception of people who come for that purpose, one about a mile and a half below the pub- lic square, the other at Sachem's Head, about three and a half miles to the southwest. Both of these places are acces- sible to steamboats. The scenery in the vicinity of Sachem's Head is wild and picturesque. Agriculture is the principal business of the inhabitants. They have long been celebra- ted for their industry, frugality, and good husbandry, and more than any other people of the state, they have retained the manners of the New England colonists ; and if search should be made for men approaching the nearest to the Pil- grims of the Mayflower, they would be found in Guilford.
The patent of Guilford was granted by the governor and company, on the 7th of December, 1685, to Andrew Legte, Esq., Mr. Josiah Rossiter, Lt. William Seward, Deac. Wil- liam Johnson, Deac. John Graves, Mr. John Collins, John Stone, Stephen Bishop, Serg. Daniel Hubbard, Abraham Crit- tenden, Serg. John Crittenden, and Josiah Meigs, in trust fo the rest of the inhabitants of the town. It is bounded by Durham on the north, Hammonasset River on the east, Long Island Sound on the south, and Branford on the west. The patent was signed by Robert Treat, governor of Connecticut.
MADISON was originally a part of Guilford, and was inclu- ded within the charter limits. It was incorporated into a town in 1826, and was composed of the second and fourth ecclesi- astical societies of Guilford. There are now two parishes, Madison, formerly called East Guilford, and North Madison, formerly North Bristol. The town is about nine miles in length, and from three to four in breadth. North Madison is rocky and hilly, and nearly one half of the land is unfit for cul- tivation, and is left for the growth of wood. The center is five miles from Guilford and twenty-one miles from New Haven.
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BRANFORD.
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BRANFORD is situated on Long Island Sound, seven miles east of New Haven. The purchase was made of the Indians by New Haven people, in December, 1638. . The Indian name of the place was Totoket. In the year 1640, the general court at New Haven made a grant of it to Mr. Sam- uel Eaton, brother of Governor Eaton, on condition of pro- curing some of his friends in England to emigrate and make a settlement upon it. He soon after took ship at Boston, and returned to England for his settlers ; but being desired to take the pastoral charge of the church at Duckingfield, in the parish at Stockfort, in Cheshire, and accepting the invi- tation, he never returned .* Mr. Eaton thus failing to per- form the conditions of the grant, New Haven, in 1644, made sale of it to Mr. William Swain and others, of Wethersfield. The settlers of Wethersfield removed from Massachusetts without their pastor, and having no settled minister they fell into unhappy contentions and animosities. These continued a number of years, and had the effect of scattering the in- habitants and the formation of new settlements and churches in other places. It was to accommodate a party of these seceders from Wethersfield, that Mr. Swain made the pur- chase. New Haven granted them the lands in question on condition of the company repaying the charges which New Haven had been at for their purchase, which was between £12 and £13, and their joining the colony in all the funda- mental articles of government, settled in October, 1643. This they readily consented to, and the settlement of the town was immediately commenced. Mr. Abraham Pierson, with a part of his church and congregation from South Hampton, on Long Island, removed and united with the people of Wethersfield in the settlement of the town. A reg- ular church was soon formed, and Mr. Pierson was unani- mously chosen pastor. He had been a minister in York- shire, in England, and emigrated in 1639. For a time he preached in Lynn, Mas. Some of the English emigrants, who had made a stand at that place, having agreed to make a settlement on Long Island, on a tract of land which they
* He died at Denton, in the parish of Manchester, Lancashire, England, Jan. 9, 1664, and was buried in the chapel.
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WEST VIEW OF BRANFORD, (CENTRAL PART.) The Congregational Church is seen on the right; the next building is the Acade- my, and the one with three windows in front is the Episcopal Church .- p. 172.
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had purchased of the natives, with the consent of the earl of Stirling, who had a grant of the island, they agreed with Mr. Pierson to accompany them as their minister. He organi- zed a church among them, and they entered into a civil combination, or covenant, for the support of order and good government, before they removed to the island. In Dec., .1640, they went on to the island and commenced the settle- ment of South Hampton. Shortly after the settlement of the town, the inhabitants found it necessary for their security to form a connection with some one of the New England colonies, and it appears they were divided in opinion relative to the one they should join. Mr. Pierson and a part of his church wished to unite with New Haven, because all public officers, as well as the right of suffrage, were restricted to the church. But the majority preferring more civil liberty, chose to unite with Connecticut, where all orderly persons might be freemen, and, in 1644, joined that colony. In con- sequence of this, Mr. Pierson and a portion of the people re- moved and settled in combination with New Haven.
The plantation thus commenced at Totoket was named Branford, after a town of that name in England. Mr. Swain was chosen a magistrate of the colony, as he had previously been of Connecticut. The plantation progressed rapidly in improvement until the union of the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven. With this proposed union, Mr. Pierson and his people were much displeased. Mr. Pierson and Mr. Davenport appear to have used all their influence to prevent it. They, with many of the inhabitants of the colony, were more rigid concerning the terms of church communion than the ministers and people of Connecticut generally were. Many of the churches of Connecticut were in favor of the propositions of the general council of Cambridge, in 1662, relative to the baptism of children whose parents were not in full communion. The ministers and churches of New Ha- ven were opposed to them. This, with the opinion that all government should be in the church, were important argu- ments against the union. Upon the consummation of the union, Mr. Pierson and his people not becoming reconciled, and being reprimanded for their perverseness, they deter- mined to leave the plantation.
Accordingly, in May, 1666, a purchase was made by a committee appointed for the purpose, on the Passaic River, in New Jersey, and the settlement immediately commenced. 15*
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To that place Mr. Pierson with his church and congregation removed, and the settlers from the other towns united with them. They called the town Newark, as is supposed after the town where Mr. Pierson was ordained in England. Here they had an opportunity to form their " fundamental articles of government" according to their own views, by re- stricting the right of free suffrage to church members, for which important privilege many of them had twice removed. Accommodations being provided for Mr. Pierson, he removed with his family the last of September, 1667. The town and church records of Branford were removed to Newark, and after the town had been settled 23 years it was left desolate. For 20 years afterwards there was no church in the town, but people from various parts of the colony gradually moved into it, and purchased the lands of the first planters, so that in about twenty years it became re-settled. In 1685 it was re- invested with town privileges.
The patent of Branford was granted by the governor and company on the 16th of February, 1685, to Mr. William Roswell, Edward Barker, Ens. Thomas Harrison, William Maltby, William Hoadley, Lieut. Elizur Stint, Samuel Pond,* John Frizby, and John Tayntor. Signed by Robert Treat, governor of Connecticut.
The township is about seven miles in length from east to west, and four in breadth. The surface is uneven, being composed of hills and valleys. The soil is good, but rather too cold. There is no considerable river in the town; the largest stream discharges its waters into the harbor, which is small but convenient, admitting vessels from 40 to 50 tons. There is a cluster of small islands belonging to the town, called Thimble Islands, and another cluster called Indian Isles.
In the center of the town is a large open area of irregular form, on which stands the public buildings, consisting of a Congregational church, an Episcopal church, academy, and town-house. .
NORTH BRANFORD, incorporated in 1831, was previously the upper part of Branford. It was formed of the societies of North Branford and Northford. A range of mountains from southwest to northeast pass through the center of the township. The face of the town is generally hilly, but the
* He was ancestor of the Pond family, of Milford.
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soil is strong and fertile. The inhabitants are mostly far. mers. There are five churches in the town, three Congre- gational and two Episcopal. The center of North Bran- ford society, the southern division of the town, is five miles northerly from Branford church, and nine from New Haven. Mr. John Merrick was the first minister of the parish; he was ordained in 1727.
STAMFORD.
STAMFORD is situated on Long Island Sound, in Lat. 41º 3 N., Long.73º 25' W., bounded on the north by the state of New York, west by Greenwich, east by Darien and New Canaan, and south by the Sound. The land comprising the town was purchased by the people of New Haven, in 1640; Capt. Nathaniel Turner was their agent. The Indian name of the tract was Rippowams. Capt. Turner " bought of Ponus Sagamore, of Toquams, and of Wascussue Sagamore, of Shippan, (the other Indians consenting thereto,) all the ground belonging to the said Sagamores, except a piece of ground which Ponus reserved for himself and the other Indians to plant upon. The consideration was 12 coats, 12 hoes, 12 hatchets, 12 glasses, 12 knives, 2 kettles, and four fathoms of white wampum." The liberty of hunting and fishing on the land was reserved by the Indians. This agreement was signed on the first of July, 1640.
Fifteen years after the settlement of the plantation, the Indians growing uneasy, another agreement, as appears from the town records, was made with Ponus, and Onux, his eldest.son, for land running 16 miles north and eight miles east and west, (the same as paid for before.) and as a further recompense, four coats of English cloth was given them. This agreement was signed by the Sagamores, and by Rich- ard Law, agent for the planters, on the 10th of August, 1655.
The first planters of the town were from Wethersfield. The cause of their removal and resettlement, was a division of church and town on account of a difference of opinion on some points of religion. . Removing without their pastor, Mr. Philips, from Watertown, the people were at full liberty to think for themselves, and their views not coinciding they fell
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into contention. After unsuccessful attempts made by min- isters on the river to heal the difference, they were visit- ed by Mr. Davenport, from New Haven, who suggested the expediency of one of the parties removing and making a new settlement. Some were pleased with this proposition, and others disliked it; but they could not agree which party should remove. The church at Watertown, from which they had not been dismissed, judged it their duty to make them a visit, and accordingly sent a delegation, but it was attended with no better success than the forementioned labors .It was now the prevailing opinion, that it was best for one of the parties to remove, and finally some of the principal men who were the most pleased with the advice of Mr. Davenport, and to whom the government of the colony was the most agreeable, concluded to remove and settle in combinatie's with New Haven. Therefore, on the 30th of October, 1640, Mr. Andrew Ward and Mr. Robert Coe, in behalf of them- selves and twenty other planters, purchased Rippowams of New Haven, for £33 sterling. The whole number agreed to remove with their families before the last of November, the succeeding year. Accordingly, in the spring of 1641, the settlement commenced. The principal planters were Messrs. Richard Denton, Matthew Mitchel, Thurston Raynor, John Underhill, Andrew Ward, Robert Coe, and Richard Gilder- sleeve. Mr. Richard Law was one of the first and principal settlers. Before the end of the year there were nearly forty families established there.
Mr. Richard Denton was their first minister. He was a preacher in Halifax, England, and came over to Watertown, Mass., between 1630 and $35, and removed to Wethersfield with the first settlers. For some reason not known at pres- ent, he did not often exercise his profession while in that plan- tation, but it is supposed engaged in agricultural pursuits. He remained in Stamford only about four years, when becoming displeased with the government of the colony, he, with some of the leading men of the plantation, again removed, went to Long Island, and began the town of Hempstead. This was in 1664. Mr. Denton continued the minister of that place till his death, in 1663.
Upon his removal from Stamford, the church sent two of their members to seek them another minister. They traveled on foot to the eastward of Boston, where they found Mr. John Bishop, who left England before he had finished his
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academical studies, and had completed his education in this country. They engaged him to go with them to Stamford, and he traveled . thither on foot. The people were satisfied with him, and he was settled in 1644. After preaching with them 50 years, he died in 1694. He was succeeded by Mr. John Davenport, (grandson of John Davenport, first minister of New Haven,) who was ordained in 1694. He died Feb. 5th, 1790-1, in the 36th year of his ministry.
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Mr. Raynor was the first magistrate in Stamford. Capt. Underhill, Mr. Mitchel, Andrew Ward, and Robert Coe, were commissioners, till their removal to Long Island. The planta- tion for many years was much disturbed and endangered by: the Indians, and more so than the other plantations belonging to New Haven, on account of the distance from the seat of government. The inhabitants fortified parts of the town, enclosed the meeting house with palisades, and a constant watch was kept up for many years. In 1643, the Dutch commenced a war with the Indians north of the Sound and west of the English settlements, which lasted till the summer of 1646, and was terminated in a general battle at Strick- land's plain, in Horseneck, in which the Dutch with difficulty obtained the victory. At the commencement of the war, Capt. John Underhill was invested with the chief command by the Dutch governor, and during it he destroyed 300 In- dians on the main, and 120 on Long Island, who had crossed the Sound in order to ravage and destroy the Dutch planta- tions there .* The Stamford Indians, in 1643, were insolent
* Capt. Underhill came from England to Massachusetts, soon after the first settlement of that colony. He had served as an offi- cer in the British forces, in the low countries, in Ireland, and at Cadiz. He had a command in the war with the Pequots, in 1637. He had some difficulty with the church in Boston, which seems to have been adjusted before he left that part of the country. At the end of the Dutch war with the Indians, he settled at Flushing, L. I., and rendered the English important service by discovering the in- trigue of the Dutch in inciting the Indians to hostilities against the English, and by repelling the incursions of the savages. In a let- ter which he wrote to the commissioner of the United Colonies, re- questing assistance to carry on the war against the Indians and Dutch, dated. May 23; 1653, he says : " I have put my life in my hands to save English blood." The commissioners refusing to " em- bark in a war between England and Holland," he applied to Rhode Island for assistance, and received a commission from that colony, (and the aid of a small number of volunteers,) under which he made an attack on the Indians at Fort Neck, (in Oyster Bay,) and
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and troublesome, and the plantation requested aid of New Haven towards their defense. In 1644, they, together with the Fairfield Indians, were hostile, and New Haven sent men to Stamford for their defense. The Indians of those parts appear to have designed a general massacre of the whites, both English and Dutch. They neglected to weed their corn, and abandoned their wigwams. After the battle of Strickland's plain, Stamford for a while appears to have been less troubled by them, though at different times they com- mitted a number of murders. Mr. John Whitmore (for a number of years deputy to the general court) was killed in 1648, by a son of the sachem. The Indians refusing to give up the murderer, the general court the next year sent fifty men to avenge the murder. About 1653, the Indians were incited to hostility against the English by the Dutch, and that year appears to have been a time of general distress to the English plantations west of the Housatonnuc, and on Long Island. Stamford, in that year, was on the point of a revolt, but was quieted by the prudent measures of the government. The town, however, appears to have been in a state of almost constant alarm till the end of the Dutch power in America, in 1664. After that time it progressed rapidly in settlement and improvement.
The patent of Stamford was granted by the governor and company on the 26th of May, 1685, to Mr. John Bishop, Mr. Jonathan Law, Capt. Jonathan Seleck, Lieut. Francis Bell, Licut. Jonathan Bell, Ensign John Bates, Mr. Abraham Ambler, Mr. Peter Ferrys, and Mr. Joshua Hoyte : bounded west by Tulomah brook and Greenwich, east by Norwalk, and to run twelve miles into the country. Signed by Robert Treat, governor.
Stamford is a pleasant and fertile township of nearly ten miles in length, from north to south, and between three and
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took their fort. This contributed much to arrest the defection of the Indians, to defeat the hostile designs of the Dutch against the English, and to preserve the peace of the island.
In 1665, he was a delegate from the town of Oyster Bay to the as- sembly, held at Hempstead by Governor Nicolls, and was appointed by him sub-sheriff of the north riding of Yorkshire, (Queens' county.) In 1667, the Matinecoe Indians gave him a deed of 150 acres of land, which is now possessed by one of his descendants that bears his name. He died at Oyster Bay, in 1672. He was a " hunter of Indians," of the same class as Gov. Treat and Capt. Church.
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four in breadth. The surface is undulating, exhibiting a pleasant diversity of moderate hills and valleys. 'The soil is a rich gravelly loam, adapted both to tillage and grazing. The borough of Stamford embraces the ancient town plot ; within its limits are four churches, an Episcopal, Congrega- tional, Methodist, and Baptist, 12 mercantile stores, an iron foundry, a slitting mill, a wire factory, two boot and shoe manufactories, and a bank, with a capital of $100,000, char- tered in 1834. The post office in this place is a distributing office. The number of inhabitants in the borough is about 800. A sloop canal from the sea to the village was excavated in 1834. It is 180 rods in length, 30 feet in width, and 7 in depth ; the expense of its construction, including three build- ings for stores, was $7,000. The harbor, at the mouth of Mill River, has at ordinary tides upwards of eight feet of wa- ter. Mill River runs one fourth of a mile west of the center of the borough, and is navigable for small craft to the bridge.
There are two beautiful tracts of ground bordering the harbor; that on the western side is called the South Field, that on the eastern is Shipan Point. For beauty of situation this last piece of ground is not surpassed in the state. The surface slopes in every direction, and is encircled by a collec. tion of fine scenery. It was originally designed to have laid out the town on this point, but the present site was fixed upon, on the supposition that it could more easily be defended from Indian assault. It would truly be a beautiful location for a village.
The town of DARIEN formerly belonged to Stamford, and consists of what was the parish of Middlesex. The town- ship is small, and is situated between Stamford and Norwalk. It was incorporated in 1820. Half of the town of New Canaan was also comprised within the limits of Stamford. The town was formerly Cunaan parish, lying in nearly equal parts in the townships of Stamford and Norwalk, (and north of Middlesex parish,) and was incorporated as a parish in 1731. Mr. John Eells, from Milford, was the first minister, ordained June 1733. After preaching there about eight years, he re- signed his pastoral charge and became a farmer. He died in New Canaan, in 1785, in his 85th year. New Canaan was incorporated into a town in 1801.
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SOUTHOLD, L. I.
SOUTHOLD, on the east end of Long Island, was purchased and settled under the authority of New Haven. The Indian name of the place was Yennicock,* and was purchased of the tribe called the Corchaugs, in the summer of 1640.t Most of the first planters were from Hingham, in Norfolk, England, and came to New Haven in the summer of 1640. Mr. John Youngs, who had been a minister in Hingham, was their leader. He reorganized his church at New Haven, on the 21st of October, 1640, and with them, and such others as chose to accompany him, in the latter part of the month, passed over to the island, and commenced the settlement of the plantation. They adopted the fundamental agreement, and commenced the settlement in combination with New Ha- ven.
Some of the leading men, besides Mr. Youngs, were Will- iam Wells, Barnabas Horton, Thomas Mapes, John Tuthill, and Matthias Corwin.t
The civil and ecclesiastical affairs of the plantation were managed in a similar manner with those of the other planta- . tions under the government of New Haven. All government was to be in the church, and none were to be admitted to the privileges of freemen but church members; and they institu- ted a court of judges (or a particular court) to hear and de- termine all causes, civil and criminal, whose decisions were to be according to the "laws of God." In their gen- eral courts (or town meetings) were transacted all the com- mon business of the plantation. In them orders were passed, as appears by the records of the town, relating to the divis- ion of their lands, and the enclosure of common fields for cul- tivation and pasture, and regulations agreed upon respecting fences, highways, and watering places, respecting cattle, sheep, and horses, that run at large, and in the common fields,
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