USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > History of the Colony of New Haven, Before and After the Union with Connecticut: Containing a. > Part 18
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* The Indian name of Long Island appears to have been Mattan- wak.
t On the 7th of December, 1665, a new deed of Southold was executed to Capt. John Youngs, Barnabas Horton, and Thomas Mapes, which was signed by the sachem and thirty-five elders of the Corchaugs.
# Their posterity in Southold and the adjoining town are at. ent numerous and respectable.
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and for the defense of the plantation. One of the first meas- ures adopted was to require every man to provide himself with arms and ammunition, and to assemble at an appointed place when warned, under a heavy penalty for neglect in any of these respects.
The plantation made early provision for the education of . children, for the preservation of good morals, and for the sup- port of their church. A committee was appointed to admit inhabitants, and no one could settle in the place without their consent ; and no planter could sell or let his house or land to any one but such as was approved by the said committee, un- der a heavy penalty.
The first meeting-house erected on Long Island was built in this plantation, in the summer of 1642. Mr. Youngs continued the minister of the place till his death. He died in 1672, aged 74 years .* The church and congregation of Southold, after the death of Mr. Youngs, sent a messenger to Boston, to seek "an honest and godly minister," who returned with Mr. Joshua Hobart, son of Mr. Peter Hobart, who was the first minister of Hingham, Mass. He settled with them in 1674, and continued their pastor during life. He died in 1717, aged 89. The succeeding ministers of this church have been, Benjamin Woolsey, settled in 1720, and removed in 1736 ; James Dav- enport, settled in 1738, and removed in 1746. He was a great-grandson of John Davenport, of New Haven, and son of John Davenport, minister of Stamford, by his second wife, and graduated at Yale College in 1732. About the time of his dismission, he became a Separatist or "New Light" preacher.t Next to him was William Thrope, who was settled in 1748, and died in 1756 ; then John Storrs, who was
Mr. Youngs had several sons and a daughter, to whom he left a large property, a number of whose posterity yet reside in South- old. Several of his descendants have occupied public stations, and have been distinguished for usefulness. Col. John Youngs, his eldest son, was appointed one of the judges of the court by Connec- ticut, (after the reception of the charter in 1662,) for the towns under the government of the colony on Long Island.
t About the year 1740, great attention was paid to religion in al- most every part of the country. The community were mostly divi- ded into two parties, the New Lights and the Old Lights. The New Lights were active and zealous in everything which they imagined to be their religious duty, and were in favor of Mr. Whitefield and others itinerating through the country and stirring up the people to reform. The Old Lights justly considered much of their zeal as wildAre, and endeavored to suppress it. 16
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settled in 1763, and dismisedi in 1787 ; John Hazard, settled in 1797, and removed in 1806; and Jonathan Hunting, in 1807.
The plantation found it very difficult to enforce the rule of the jurisdiction, which excluded all but church members from the privilege of freemen; and they soon departing from it, New Haven, about 1648, sent over to them a delegation of their principal men, to consult with them on "the necessity and importance of keeping the government in the hands of God's elect." They agreed, afterwards, strictly to conform to the law of the jurisdiction. It appears, however, that in about twenty years they again transgressed, which also crea- ted some difficulty, but which was removed in 1664, by the submission of New Haven colony to Connecticut.
After the reception of the charter by Connecticut, the col- ony claimed the legal jurisdiction over the English towns on Long Island, and the general court appointed such public offi- cers in the several towns as were not permitted by the charter to be chosen by the people. These towns were permitted to send deputies to the general court, and were liable to the same duties as the other towns ; and like them they paid their pro- portion of the expense of obtaining the new charter. In 1664, the general court organized quarterly and other courts on the island, on the same plan of those on the main.
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The towns of Southold, Southampton, and Easthampton, never submitted to the government of the Dutch, although the Dutch governor laid claim to the whole island, and, in 1673, un- dertook to reduce them by an armed force. Connecticut assisted them to repel these attempts, and at the time of the final estab- lishment of the government of the Duke of York, these towns were found attached to that colony. It appears that they dreaded the re-establishment of the duke's government over them, and that they used their utmost efforts to resist it. They chose delegates and sent them to Connecticut, to solicit their continuance under the protection and government of the colony. On the 14th of May, the general court took their case into consideration, and consented that they should continue in association with that colony, with the same privi- leges as other towns, as far as was in their power to make the grant. June 13, 1674, the town of Southold, in conjunction with Easthampton and Southampton, agreed "to petition the king to suffer them to continue under the jurisdiction of Con- necticut." Nov. 17th of the same year, the people of South -. old, by vote of their town meeting, declared themselves "to be under the government of his majesty's colony of Connec-
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ticut, and that they would use all lawful means so to con- tinue." Sir Edmund Andross, however, (who had arrived at New York on the 31st of October, as governor under the duke,) soon after took measures to compel them to submit ; but they did so with much reluctance.
At the time of the settlement, the Southold Indians, or the Corchaug tribe, were subject to the Montauks, who had prob- ably been the most warlike tribe on the east end of Long Isl- and. They had overrun the other tribes, and had reduced them to some kind of subjection. The Montauk chief was recognized by the first English settlers as the "grand sachem of Long Island." Before the destruction of the Pequots, he with his tributaries were in subjection to that people; and when the Pequots were subdued, the Long Island Indians came immediately to make peace with the English. The sa- chems voluntarily brought a tribute of twenty fathoms of wam- pum each. From that time, they appear to have considered themselves in subjection to the English, and to have paid an annual tribute, perhaps the same as they had paid the Pequots. In 1653, Ninnigrate, the chief of the Nehantic Indians, who were closely connected with the Narragansetts, made war on the Long Island Indians, which lasted several years, and redu- ced them to great extremity. The English gave them some assistance, stationed an armed vessel in the Sound, under the command of Capt. John Youngs, of Southold, with orders to stave Ninnigrate's canoes, and to destroy his forces, if they attempted to pass over to the island. This war against the Long Island Indians appears to have ended about the last of the year 1656. During the war, they were released from paying the annual tribute.
Although the Long Island Indians appear to have been generally on amicable terms, yet at times they gave the Eng- lish considerable trouble. In 1649, they evinced a hostile * disposition, rose against Southold and Southampton, and com- mitted murder. That year Southold kept watch and ward, and applied to New Haven for aid. A vote was passed at a town meeting, "to have a guard set, to protect the people in their worship on the Sabbath," and the house of Mr. Young, the minister, was fortified, for the security of women and children, in case of assault. This house is yet standing, and port-holes are to be seen in the gable end. The Indians were again troublesome in 1657. But it does not appear that they ever formed any general combination against the first settlers, or materially interrupted the progress of their improvements.
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It seems the Long Island Indians were much less troublesome than those north of the Sound.
The language of the Long Island Indians differed but little from that of the Narragansett, Massachusetts, and other New England tribes, all of which appear to have been radically the same .* The Indians on Long Island, like their brethren on the main, have gradually retired before the white people, and at present there are but very few remaining. In Southold, of the thousands that once dwelt on the shores of the bay, and ranged the sovereign hunters of their own deep woods, not a solitary red man remains.
The township of Southold embraces the northeast end of Long Island, which extends in a long narrow neck, bounding the Sound on the southeast. It is bounded as specified in the deed from the Indians, and also in the charter executed by Sir Edmund Andross, in the name of the Duke of York, da- ted Oct. 31, 1676, as extending from the Wading river across to the Red creek, and eastward to Plum Island, including all the adjacent islands. Little and Great Gull, and Fisher's Island, also belong to the town. Excluding the islands, the township is about 25 miles in length, and varies in width from one to four, according to the indentation of the shores on each of its sides. On the southeast is Poconic Bay, which divides the town from Southampton. The two Gull Islands, above mentioned, lie three miles east-northeast of Plumb Island. Great Gull contains about 15 acres, Little Gull but one. On Little Gull, which is merely a ledge of rocks, is a light-house,
* The following may serve as a specimen of their language, ex- tracted from a list of words which were taken down, as they were spoken by the Montauk chief: ·
Massakeat mund, great spirit.
Machees kund, evil spirit.
Sanchem, king.
Seaunskq, queen.
Squa-shees, little girl.
Wonnux, white man.
Yunk squa, young woman.
Weenai, old woman.
Wonnux skq, white woman. Wewauchum, Indian corn. Mausqueseets, beans. Ausgoote, pumpkins. Quahaug, round clam. Suxawaug, long clam.
Wedaums, roasted corn.
Kutdaus, boiled corn.
Seaump, pounded corn.
Yeokheag, parched corn pounded.
Weegan, good.
Cheaganan, a hatchet.
Mutta dea, bad.
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Massakeat mund sumana Inshun wewachum-Great Spirit, give Indian corn. The Indians throughout New England (from their inability to pronounce the word) called the English " Yengees," from whence we have now our name of Yankees. In their own language, they called the English "Saggenah."
Keage, land. Niep, water. Mashuee, canoe.
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and house for the keeper, belonging to the United States, which, being at the entrance of the Sound, is a very important one. In constructing these works, and a wall for protection against the sea, 24,000 loads of stone were used, which were brought from the Connecticut shore. In an easterly storm, the dash- ing of the waves shakes their very foundations. The soil of Southold is mostly a sandy loam, producing, by a sufficiency of manure, heavy crops of all kinds of grain. Whitefish are very much used to fertilize the soil. The coast is generally a sand bank.
Cochran's Hotel, (built in 1700,) and Universalist Church, Southold.
There are within the limits of the town, ten churches, five of which are Presbyterian, three Methodist, one Baptist, and one Universalist. The first meeting-house which was built in the infancy of the settlement, was taken down and replaced by another in 1684, which stood till 1803, when the present elegant one was erected. There is an endowed seminary in the town, which is in a flourishing state. According to a cen. sus taken in 1835, the number of inhabitants was 3,200. The census of 1840 will probably show an increase of about 500.
The village of Greenport, in the eastern section of the town, has arisen as if by magic. Eight years ago, there was but one small house in the place; now it contains about 100 buildings and 400 inhabitants. It has two marine railways, and a convenient ship-wharf. Four ships and one brig sail from this port, which are employed in the whaling business. From the different landings and villages on Southold or Pe- conic Bay, from 50 to 70 sloops are constantly running. There are two other villages in the township which retain their Indian names, viz., Mattatuck and Cutchogue.
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THE people who settled the colony of New Haven were mostly of those who left England to avoid persecution for non- conformity. It might reasonably have been supposed, that when they had become settled and their government organ- ized, they would have allowed free toleration in matters of religion ; especially as it was their boast, with the other set- tlers, that "they left their pleasant homes and settled in the howling wilderness, that they might enjoy liberty of con- science." And toleration they did allow to all who thought and believed according to their views, but were quite severe towards those who dissented from them. The New Haven people probably reasoned like the renowned Dr. Cotton, that " If the worship be lawful, (and they the judges,) the compell- ing to come to it compelleth not to sin, but the sin is in the will that needs to be forced to Christian duty." Whether or not they reasoned in this manner, it is certain that Mr. Davenport and his coadjutors, equally with their brethren of Massachu- setts, ruled with that severity which was in accordance with the spirit of the age. This assertion is abundantly proved by the colony records. The following may be taken for an ex- ample : Humphrey Norton, a Quaker, was brought from Southold on the 10th day of the first month, 1658, imprison- ed, brought forth, and allowed to dispute with Davenport on the tenets of the Quakers. But Davenport not being able to convince him, pronounced him incorrigible, and delivered him over to the secular power : he was fined £20, severely whip- ped, branded H on his hand, and banished from the jurisdic- tion. The court declared this was the least they could do, and discharge a good conscience towards God. Another poor Quaker was brought from Stamford, and dealt with much in the same manner. Baptists and Episcopalians at the first were also proscribed. It does not appear, however, that the New Haven people ever went quite to the extremity to put any one to death for opinions' sake, as did their brethren of Massachusetts .*
* In 1659, William Robinson, Marmaduke Stephenson, and Mary Dyer, Quakers, were brought to trial before the general court of
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As some palliation of the intolerance of the Puritan settlers, it may be remarked, that they considered the plantations as their own property, on which no one had a right to trespass of intrude. They left England that they might enjoy unmolesti ed their cherished opinions, and after having been at the labor and expense to resettle themselves, it was wounding to their feelings to have people of different religious sentiments come among them to reside. There was room, they said, without their jurisdiction, for others to settle by themselves. And besides, persecution was the spirit of the age. The world had not then learnt that it always defeats its own object ; that the most effectual way to propagate an opinion, is to oppose it.
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The colonists of New Haven, as before remarked, founded their civil polity on the Mosaic law ; as a consequence, Sun- day was observed with the greatest reverence. They put by their secular affairs at three o'clock on Saturday afternoon, and spent the rest of the day in catechising* and preparation
Massachusetts, and sentenced to death. On the 27th of October, the two first were executed. The last mentioned was reprieved at the time, but hung the next year .- Sewal, p. 231.
The Quakers were treated with great severity by the Puri- tans in general. They were compelled to attend the meetings of the people of " God's elect;" and when they assembled by themselves, though never so privately, their doors might be broken open ; a thing which Lord Chatham did not hesitate to say in parliament, the king could not and dare not do. It was not only dangerous to be a Quaker, but almost as dangerous to befriend them, as the fol- lowing case, extracted from the records of the general court of Mas- sachusetts, will show : In the year 1657, (during the reign of Endi- cott,) Lawrence Southwick and Cassandra, his wife, very aged members of the Church in Salem, for offering entertainment to two Quakers, were fined and imprisoned. They absented themselves from meeting, and in consequence were fined and whipped. A son and daughter of this aged, and, according to Puritan stundard, pious couple, were also fined for non-attendance at meeting, and not paying this fine, the general court by a special order empowered the treasurer TO SELL THEM AS SLAVES, "to any of the English nation at Virginia or Barbadoes." It is not wished to inculcate the idea, that the Quakers were without fault, but it must be admitted, that the severe laws of our forefathers against them cannot be jus- tified.
* All youths under twenty-one years of age were catechised pub- licly in the meeting-house once a week, in the Westminster cate- chism. During this exercise they were seated around in the front seats of the gallery, and each one in turn would rise and repeat the answer to the question put forth by the minister. The youth of those times looked forward with joyous anticipation to the time
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for the Sabbath. Hence the time on that day after 3 o'clock was called " the preparation," and was considered but a little less holy than the succeeding day. From this practice orig- inated the custom in New England, of keeping school but half the day on Saturday. The plan was evidently adopted + in imitation of the Jewish preparation. The practice, howev- ' er, was not peculiar to the colony of New Haven, but was adopted throughout New England. Concerning the subject of keeping Saturday night as holy time or as a part of their Sabbath, some difference of opinion existed among the first ministers of New England. Messrs. Hooker and Stone, of Hartford, considered that the day commenced at midnight, but their opinions were overruled by the Mosaic order, " that from even to even shall ye celebrate your Sabbaths."
On their Sabbath no one was excused from attending the public worship of the established church, (the Congrega- tional,) upon any plea except sickness. Non-attendance was punished by a fine of 4s., and sometimes by whipping. In proof of their severity on this subject, the following is given from the New Haven records :
In 1647, William Blayden was publicly and severely whipped for not attending meeting, although he plead that all the clothes he had were unfit to wear, being all wet through the preceding Satur- day, as he had been abroad after cattle in the woods in a violent rain, and on the Sunday had kept his bed.
It was formerly a very censurable act to eat an apple or nut on Sunday. No cooking was allowed to be done on that day ; food was to be prepared the day before, inasmuch as the Jews were ordered by Moses to gather a double portion of manna; and a man was stoned to death for gathering sticks on the Sabbath. No person might watch or keep cattle on Sunday in a common field, under the penalty of 10s. for each default. No one might travel on Sunday fur- ther than a "Sabbath's day journey," (about two miles,) ex- cept going to meeting. The remark of the venerable mar- tyralogist, John Fox, was truly apposite, that " the Puritans would not desist till they had brought all things into Jewish bondage."*
The Congregational church was established by law, and it
when they should be delivered from the thraldom. The practice 'was continued till about 1770.
* Fuller, page 106, in a letter of Fox's.
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was enacted that no person within the colony should em- body themselves into church-estate without the consent of the general court. . The law also prohibited any ministry to be attended by the inhabitants in any plantation distinct and separate from that which was established in the place, except by the approbation of the general court and the neighboring churches. One object of these laws was doubtless to pre- vent Baptists, and the Episcopalians, and others, from gaining a foothold. The rigid principles of the settlers of New England (as an able author remarks) led to many. : abstruse inquiries and minute distinctions on religious subjecte, which divided the opinions of the people; and churches were often rent asunder by speculative opinions that are not intelli- gible. This was the case especially in communities where they had no settled minister, as, for example, in Wethersfield, as already stated.
At the first settlement of the country, before bells were ob- tained, the time for the commencement of their meeting was announced by beating the drum or blowing a conch shell. This practice is alluded to in the following extract :
" New England's Sabbath day Is heaven-like, still, and pure. Then Israel walks the way, Up to the temple's door ; The time we tell, When there to come, By beat of drum, Or sounding shell."
The Puritans, in their worship, aimed to differ from the Ro- mish ceremonies as much as possible. Instead of kneeling at prayers they made it a point of propriety, if not of con- science, to stand, and they always sat while singing. Instru- mental music they excluded, notwithstanding the example of the temple-worship, because it was used by the Roman and English church. It was formerly the custom, when the min- ister entered at the commencement of the meeting, for the congregation to rise and continue standing till he was seated in the pulpit. While talking with a minister it was customary to take off the hat and hold it under the arm.
The influence of ministers was formerly very great. They were treated with the most profound reverence, and were looked up to as a superior order of beings. They were always consulted in cases of any emergency, and they even had a hand in the formation and execution of the civil laws.
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When a church was destitute of one it was said to be in a state of widowhood. The ordination of a minister was an occasion of much importance, when it was usual for every member of the society who was the head of a family, to make a feast, called ordination dinner, which was similar to thanks- giving dinner, as will be described.
Seating the meeting-house was a subject of much impor- tance. It was done by a committee appointed for the pur- pose, who stationed the people according to their lists of es- tate. It was no easy task to satisfy all, and generally a large number were displeased.
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The colonists for a time reckoned the days of the week and month by numbers 1, 2, 3, &c., which they considered more scriptural than the use of "heathen names;" but this plan they soon abandoned, because it was adopted by the Quakers.
The belief in witchcraft was formerly as common in the colony as in other parts of New England. A number of trials of persons accused of that imaginary crime are record- ed, but it is believed no one was executed. It has been ob- served, that our forefathers looked upon nature with more reverence and horror before the world was enlightened by learning and philosophy, and loved to astonish themselves with apprehensions of witchcraft, prodiges, ghosts, and en- chantments. That this is true we shall be convinced if we take into consideration the horror with which comets and the aurora borealis were formerly viewed, they being be- lieved to be infallible premonitors of war, pestilence, and famine. When the northern lights were first witnessed by the colonists, Dec. 11th, 1719, they were extremely alarmed with the apprehensions of the approach of "the last judg- ment !" During the French war they were uncommonly splendid, and were described by the amazed spectators as " moving swords of flame;" and their perverted imaginations depicted fiery steeds, helmeted warriors, and hosts of prancing cavalry engaged in fierce conflict in the northern sky.
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The early colonists observed a public fast in the spring, and a day of thanksgiving in the fall. Especial pains was taken that the fast should never be appointed on Good Friday, as that day is the annual fast of the church of England. When by modern innovation the state fast was first appointed on the objectionable day, some "groanings" escaped from under the Saybrook platform, and equaled only by those which
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have since been breathed forth when the end was made to the observance of the day being enforced by law. It was formerly considered a grievous sin to take the least food on that day, especially if it became known. The annual thanks- giving was intended to supply the place of Christmas, which was inhibited by public opinion from being in any way ob- served. All notice of the day was considered as rather antichristian. It has been said that minced pies were pro- scribed from the " bill of fare" of the Puritans, because they were customarily made by the Episcopalians on Christmas. Thanksgiving was celebrated with the greatest profusion. For three days previous all was bustle and preparation : the stall- ed ox was killed,-turkeys, hens, and geese innumerable, shared the fate of Charles the first,-a load of the best wal- nut wood was drawn for the thanksgiving fires, a barrel of the best cider was chosen, the best pumpkins were selected for pies, (to supply the place of minced,) and strong water was provided in moderation to assist the inspiration of the joyful occasion.
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