USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > History of the colony of New Haven to its absorption into Connecticut > Part 10
USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > History of the colony of New Haven to its absorption into Connecticut > Part 10
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Next to the premises of Mr. Preston were those of Richard Mansfield, who came to Quinnipiac with the other planters as a steward for Mr. Marshall who was perhaps of London when he engaged in the enterprise,
' Mr. Malbon, Mr. Lamberton, and Mr. Evance contracted with the town in 1644, to " dig a channel which shall bring boats, at least, to the end of the street beside William Preston's house, at any time of the tide, except they meet with some invincible difficulty, which may hinder their digging the channel so deep."
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but afterward of Exeter. There was presumably no house on Mr. Mansfield's lot ; for he was at first in the service of Mr. Marshall, and afterward, when Mr. Marshall had abandoned the idea of coming, bought of him his lot at the corner of Elm and Church Streets. This became the Mansfield homestead, and a part of the land remained in possession of the family for sev- eral generations. It seems, however, from Mr. Mans- field's will, which was nuncupative, and declared by two of his neighbors, that at the time of his decease he was residing at his farm between East Rock and Quinnipiac River. Being asked if, according to English custom, he would give more to his elder than to his younger son, he replied in the negative, alleging that the former "was a wild boy, and the younger was of a better spirit."
Thomas Jeffrey, who lived next south of Mr. Mans- field's lot, was by trade a tanner, and doubtless had reference to his trade in choosing his home-lot ; for a stream of water flowed through his land at that time, though it has long since disappeared. At an early day he relinquished his trade, to become a mariner. In 1647, "Capt. Malbon propounded that the town hath been ill provided of sergeants, in regard that Sergeant Jeffrey is abroad much by reason of his occasions at sea, therefore whether the town will not see cause to appoint another sergeant in his room, and the rather seeing Sergeant Jeffrey hath earnestly desired it, as Lieut. Seeley and Sergeant Munson did testify in court. The captain also affirmed the same, and that he was unwilling to move for a change till that now he under- standeth Sergeant Jeffrey purposeth to employ himself more fully in sea affairs."
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George Lamberton, who lived next south of Sergeant Jeffrey, was one of the nine proprietors, who, in the schedule of 1641, are rated at one thousand pounds. Of these nine, however, five were non-resident, and soon ceased to pay rates. So that Lamberton was one of four planters who were excelled only by Theophilus Eaton in the amount of their estates. He was from his first appearance in the plantation a mariner, and lost his life in the ship which, under his command, left the harbor of New Haven in January, 1646, and was never afterward heard from. He is mentioned by Ezekiel Rogers in a letter to Gov. Winthrop, in a manner which suggests that he had been one of Rogers's flock. His influence as a man of mind and of substance may have principally occasioned the large secession of Yorkshire- men who refused to return to the Bay when sent for by Rogers.I
William Wilkes, who lived at the corner of State and George Streets, removed to Quinnipiac from Boston, where he had resided since 1633. He went to England in 1644, intending to return ; but, instead of returning, he sent for his wife to join him in England. She, em- barking in Lamberton's ship, was lost at sea. News of Mr. Wilkes's decease was probably received soon after ; for a will made by his wife was admitted to probate, which disposed of their whole estate. The house and orchard were sold for forty pounds; the house being appraised at thirty pounds, and the land at ten pounds.
Benjamin Fenn, proprietor of the lot on George Street, adjoining the premises of William Wilkes, re- moved to Milford with the other first planters of that
* See page 83.
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town. At this time he had but a small estate, and was in no way prominent ; but afterward he became one of the leading men in the colony.
Robert Seeley, the next grantee, sold, in 1646, " his house and house-lot " to John Basset, with two acres of upland out of his first division, and afterward resided on the west side of West Creek, as appears from a deed of gift which he made of "his dwelling-house with his orchard " to his son Nathaniel. He had removed from Watertown, now called Cambridge, Mass., with the first planters of Connecticut, and had been Capt. Mason's lieutenant in the attack on the Pequot fort at Mystic. Removing again, he came to Quinnipiac before its plant- ers had established their fundamental agreement, and was admitted a freeman on the day the court was organ- ized. He was by trade a shoemaker ; but being marshal of the court, lieutenant of the train-band, and captain of the artillery company, much of his time was employed in public affairs. In the autumn of 1646, about the time he sold his house in Mr. Lamberton's quarter, he had "liberty of the court to go for England, although a pub- lic officer." It appears, however, that he did not imme- diately use his liberty, for he was here in the following February. In 1649 he was minded to remove from the town, and offered his resignation ; but the court refused to receive it as long as he remained, and "the four ser- geants were desired to take some pains to see what men would underwrite " for the encouragement of Lieut. Seeley to remain. At a subsequent meeting, the ser- geants having accomplished but little, sixteen or seven- teen pounds were pledged by those present, and "the sergeants were desired to speak with those that are
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not present, to see what they will do." In 1659 ap- pears the alienation of another house, after which his name disappears for a time from the records, as if he were absent. In 1662 he had "returned from Eng- land ;" and " a motion was made in his behalf for some encouragement for his settling among us," which, how- ever, was ineffectual.
Roger Alling came to New Haven with Capt. Lam- berton, acting as steward during the last half of the voyage, the former steward having died. Judging from the wages allowed, viz., five pounds ten shillings for the whole voyage, one would conclude that the vessel came from a greater distance than the Bay. He was at this time unmarried, and of small estate. At an early date he became a member of the church and of the court. In 1661 he was chosen treasurer of the jurisdic- tion, and afterward a deacon of the church.
John Brockett was also, in 1643, unmarried, and of even smaller estate than his neighbor, Roger Alling. Like him he early became a member of the church and of the court. He was much employed by the court, as well as by individuals, in his profession as a surveyor.
Mr. Hickock's lot probably lay next to that of Brockett. Mr. Crane, his agent, surrendered it to the town in 1641, the proprietor having relinquished his intention of coming here to reside.
John Budd, the next proprietor, signed the funda- mental agreement before it was copied into the book, and remained here till he removed, about 1646, to Southold, L.I., where he acted a more prominent part than at New Haven. Soon after his removal he was appointed a lieutenant, and afterwards represented his
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town in the General Court of the Jurisdiction. During his absence in England another person was allowed and desired to exercise the company ; the General Court "understanding that he is a member of the church of Salem, and, had he letters of recommendation, might be admitted a freeman as others are." But he must take the oath of fidelity to the jurisdiction : otherwise the command must vest in the corporal of the company. Mr. Budd sold his house and lot, in New Haven, for a hogshead of sugar.
William Jeanes, who lived at the corner of Church and Chapel Streets, had been one of the first planters, but was not admitted a freeman till 1648. He sold this corner-lot the same year to John Meggs.1 Some years afterward he was at Northampton, whence he removed to Northfield with its first planters, and, though not an ordained minister, conducted the first public Christian worship in that town, preaching under an oak-tree.
Nicholas Elsey, who received his allotment on Chapel Street, adjoining that of Mr. Jeanes, was a cooper by trade. He was present at the ratification of the funda- mental agreement in Mr. Newman's barn, and a few years afterward was admitted a freeman.
Richard Hull, who lived on Chapel Street, between Nicholas Elsey and William Preston, signed the funda- mental agreement at the time when it was established, and at the first meeting of the court was admitted a
I See History of the Cutler Corner, by Henry White, in N. H. Col. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. i. Mr. White illustrates the relative inferiority in early times of that part of Chapel Street which lies between Church Street and State Street, by a quotation from the records in which it is called "the lane that leadeth to Zuriel Kimberley's house."
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freeman, as a member of some other church than that of New Haven.
Commencing the survey of the south-centre square, we find at its north-east corner, where the glebe build- ing now is, the house of Thomas Gregson. President Stiles records the tradition that Gregson's house was one of four which excelled in stateliness all other houses erected in New Haven by the first generation of its inhabitants ; the three which he groups with Gregson's belonging respectively to Mr. Theophilus Eaton, Mr. John Davenport, and Mr. Isaac Allerton.I Gregson was one of the most honored men in the community, intrusted with office continuously from 1640 till he embarked in 1646, with a commission from the Colony of New Haven to obtain, if possible, a charter from Parliament. Having been a merchant in London, he engaged in commerce after his arrival at Quinnipiac ; and the voyage in which he lost his life was primarily undertaken for commercial ends.
Next west of Mr. Gregson lived Stephen Goodyear, another of the London merchants originally associated together for the commencement of a plantation in New England. Here he was engaged in foreign commerce, sometimes in company with Eaton, Malbon, and Greg- son, and sometimes adventuring largely on his individ-
" As Isaac Allerton was not here at the time of which we are discours- ing, it may be appropriate to say that he was one of the voyagers in the Mayflower, and, that having fallen under censure at Plymouth, on account of some commercial transactions in which he was the agent of the colony, he removed first to Marblehead, then a part of Salem, and afterward to New Haven. A lot was granted him on the east side of Union Street: near Fair Street, where he built a "grand house with four porches."
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ual responsibility. Having lost his first wife in Lam- berton's ship, he married the widow of Lamberton, thus uniting two families in one home with advantage to the children of each. Second only to Eaton in the colonial government, his absence in England when Eaton died was a sufficient reason why he was not then advanced to the chief magistracy ; and his death in London not long afterward brought his useful and honorable career to an end.
The lot next west of that occupied by Mr. Goodyear extended to College Street, and had been assigned to Mr. Hawkins, one of the non-resident proprietors. He seems to have been a friend of Mr. Goodyear, into whose possession the land afterward passed when its first pro- prietor had relinquished his intention of residing in New Haven.
Fronting on College Street was a lot assigned to Samuel Bailey, who did not long remain in New Haven. His allotment was purchased by William Davis.
Fronting on George Street were six lots belonging to Thomas Buckingham, Thomas Welch, Jeremiah Whitnell, Richard Miles, Nathanael Axtell, and Henry Stonhill, respectively. Axtell, "intending to go home, died in a few weeks before embarking, at Boston." Of the remaining five, four, namely, Buckingham, Welch, Miles, and Stonhill, removed to Milford with the first planters of that town, leaving only Whitnell on that side of the square. Deacon Richard Miles, however, returned to New Haven in 1641.
According to the schedule of 1641, the proprietors of the south-west square were, at that time, William
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Fowler, Peter Prudden, James Prudden, Edmond Tapp, Widow Baldwin, An Elder, Richard Platt, Zachariah Whitman, and Thomas Osborne. The town records show that the lot reserved for an elder had been origi- nally assigned to Timothy Baldwin, who, removing to Milford, sold his allotment to the town. As no land within this square has been traced to Thomas Osborne, it may be inferred that he sold to Mr. Fowler at an early date, and before a record of alienation was re- quired. Mr. Osborne owned and occupied a house and tanyard on the south side of George Street, between Broad and Factory Streets, doubtless preferring this location to his original allotment because of the facili- ties it afforded for his vocation as a tanner. He after- ward became one of the first planters of Easthampton on Long Island ; but this property, being given to one of his sons, remained in the name of Osborne far into the nineteenth century. With the exception of Os- borne, the original grantees of this square removed to Milford. As they had all emigrated from Hereford- shire, or its vicinity, the square was for some years designated as the Herefordshire quarter.
The square next north of that occupied exclusively by Prudden and his friends from Hereford, had been assigned for the most part, if not wholly, to the York- shiremen who came with Ezekiel Rogers.
At the corner of Chapel and York Streets, a lot sur- rendered by Francis Parrot, one of the Yorkshiremen who returned to Massachusetts and settled at Rowley, was assigned by vote of the town, Nov. 3, 1639, to Thomas James, who, having been pastor of the church
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in Charlestown, Mass., had resigned his charge and come hither to reside. In 1642, in response to a call from Virginia for ministers from New England, Mr. James went with two of his clerical brethren to Vir- ginia. The mission was unsuccessful, not however for want of "loving and liberal entertainment," but because the colonial government would not allow them to remain unless they would conform to the Church of England. Mr. James afterward returned to the mother-country, and was a beneficed clergyman in Needham, County of Suffolk, till ejected in 1662 by the Act of Uniformity.
Widow Greene, who owned the lot on York Street, next north of the corner-lot of Mr. James, probably did not long remain at New Haven, as the name does not continue to appear on the records.
Thomas Yale, step-son of Gov. Eaton, owned the next lot, but probably never lived on it. Marrying a daughter of Capt. Turner, he engaged in husbandry, and appears to have made his home at a farm some miles north of the town-plot.I
Thomas Fugill, a Yorkshireman, and, as we learn from the autobiography of Rev. Thomas Shepard, a member, before his emigration, of the family of Sir Richard Darley at Buttercrambe, was one of the seven men selected by the planters of New Haven for their "foundation work." He was also "notary public," or secretary of the plantation, and when a colonial govern- ment was instituted by the union of New Haven, Mil-
I Thomas Yale has usually been reputed to be the father of Elihu Yale, the benefactor of Yale College; but Professor Dexter has conclu- sively proved that Elihu Yale was son of David Vale, a brother of Thomas.
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ford, and Guilford, was appointed secretary of the juris- diction. He wrote a neat, legible hand, and so far forth performed the work of his office well ; but the town, be- coming suspicious of the records, appointed a committee " to view all those orders which are of a lasting nature, and where they are defective, to mend them and then let them be read in the court that the court may con- firm or alter them as they see cause." The summary thus prepared is on record in the book kept by Fugill. Meanwhile another committee was investigating the result of a false entry by means of which Fugill had pos- sessed himself of fifty-two acres and thirteen rods in the second division of lands, "instead of twenty-four acres, his full proportion." When this committee re- ported, "some of the court and town propounded whether it were not requisite and necessary to choose another secretary, who might more faithfully enter and keep the town's records. The secretary confessed his unfitness for the place by reason of a low voice, a dull ear, and slow apprehensions. He was answered, the court had long taken notice of sundry miscarriages through weakness or neglect, yet in tender respect to himself and his family, they had continued him in the place (though with trouble to others) ; a review of or- ders, before these offences brake out, being upon that consideration thought necessary and ordered. But upon this discovery of unfaithfulness and falsifying of orders and records, they were called to lay aside those private respects for the public safety. By the court, therefore he was presently put out of his office of secretary for this plantation." Unable to sustain himself under the weight of this punishment and of the censure of the
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church which followed it, he sold his estate, left the town, and probably returned to England.
John Punderson, another of the Yorkshire company, and also one of the seven chosen for "foundation work," was Fugill's nearest neighbor on the north. Few men of that generation were so faithful in all public duties as entirely to avoid pecuniary mulct ; but there is no record of a fine imposed on John Punderson. A son and a grandson, both bearing the name of John, were deacons in the church which he helped to institute. Another grandson, Rev. Ebenezer Punderson, was one of the fathers of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut.
On the corner of York and Elm Streets lived John Johnson, also of the Yorkshire company, who after a few years removed to Rowley, selling his house to his brother Robert, from whom was descended Rev. Samuel Johnson, two years younger than Ebenezer Punderson, but earlier than he in the ministry of the Episcopal Church.
Corporal Abraham Bell lived on Elm Street, next east from Mr. Johnson's corner. In 1647 he sold his estate in New Haven to Job Hall, and removed to Charles- town, Mass.
John Evance, who had been a London merchant and a parishioner of Mr. Davenport at St. Stephen's, had a large lot on the corner of Elm and College Streets, part of it being held by him for his brother-in-law, Mr. Mayer, who had not yet emigrated, and, as it proved, never came. Mr. Evance, though less active and con- spicuous in civil affairs than some others, was inferior to few or none in commercial enterprise, drawing bills of exchange on Mr. Eldred for beaver and hides shipped
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to London, and sending shingles and clapboards to Bar- badoes in vessels to be freighted with sugar in return.
The lot on College Street, next south of that occu- pied by Mr. Evance, was owned by a widow bearing the Yorkshire name of Constable. The question has been raised, whether the husband of this woman were the Sir William Constable, who, according to Mather, proposed to follow Ezekiel Rogers to New England. This woman was plainly a widow, but not the widow of Sir William. Her husband was styled Mr .; her estate was small ; she emigrated apparently as early as Rogers, and prob- ably in his company ; while Sir William did not sail with Rogers, and could not have come afterward with- out impressing on the page of history some notice of his arrival. Both the name and the location of this family suggest that they belonged to Rogers's com- pany, and they may have been related to the knight who bore their . family name. Mrs. Constable after- ward became the wife of Deacon Richard Miles.
On the corner of College and Chapel Streets lived Joshua Atwater. He was born at Lenham, County of Kent, where he was baptized June 2, 1612. Having been a merchant in Ashford, in the same county, he emigrated in the company of Davenport and Eaton, and engaged in mercantile pursuits, first at New Haven, then at Milford, and afterward at Boston, where he died in 1676. He was treasurer of the juris- diction till he removed out of its bounds.
The lot on Chapel Street, next west of Mr. Atwater's, was assigned to John Cockerill, probably a Yorkshire- man, who built a house thereon, but shortly after re- moved, leaving his house and lands in charge of Thomas
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Fugill. The estate stands in the name of Fugill in the schedule ; but when after Fugill's departure the fences decayed, and the rates remained unpaid, it was ascer- tained that Cockerill had never alienated and still claimed it. Allen Ball, a brother-in-law of Fugill, and perhaps also related to Cockerill, was requested by the town to "take the house and land and improve them for defraying charges of rates and fencings ;" but he declined, saying that "the house was uncomfortable to live in." A curious record in regard to this property was made more than sixty years after Cockerill left it in the hands of Fugill ; viz., -
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"June 20, 1710. Capt. Nathan Andrews and Mr. John Todd, both of New Haven, testify and say that upon their certain knowl- edge, they formerly knew one Mr. John Fugill to be at New Haven above forty years since, who was reputed to be the son of Mr. Thomas Fugill formerly of New Haven, and that he did not, as they know of, lay any claim to the land 'in New Haven that was his father's."
Edward Wigglesworth, whose tombstone, marked E. W. 1653, was for a time supposed to distinguish the grave of Edward Whalley, one of the regicide judges, lived on the lot next west of Mr. Cockerill's. An auto- biographical paper by his son, Rev. Michael Wiggles- worth, printed in the appendix to this volume, gives a more distinct view of Quinnipiac and of one of its fami- lies than any other single document.
Thomas Powell lived to old age on the only remain- ing lot in the Yorkshire quarter.
Commencing the survey of the north-west square at
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its north-west corner, we find the corner occupied by Edward Tench, whose name was at first given to the quarter. He died in February, 1633. His wife, of whom he speaks in his will as "lying in the house with me, dangerously sick and near to death by a consump- tion, so that in the judgment of man she draweth near her change," probably survived him for some time, as his will was presented to the court nearly seven years afterward.
The lot on Grove Street, next east from Mr. Tench's corner, still remained, when the schedule was written, in the name of Mrs. Higginson, though that lady had died a few weeks before her neighbor Mr. Tench. She was the widow of Rev. Francis Higginson, the first minister of Salem, and probably a kinswoman of the Eatons, as the names Theophilus and Samuel had been given to two of her children, and one of the children was taken by the governor into his family after the death of Mrs. Higginson. In the settlement of the estate, no mention is made of any house on the home- lot ; but in 1647 Theophilus Higginson sold to " Chris- topher Todd his house and home-lot in New Haven lying betwixt the lot now William Judson's and Mr. Tench's." The inference is, that when Mrs. Higgin- son died, the family were still occupying a temporary habitation.
Henry Browning lived on the corner of Grove and College Streets. He does not appear to have been a freeman. In 1647 he " sold to Goodman William Jud- son all his real estate and commonage, together with a bedstead and trundle-bed, a pair of valance and a piece of blue darnix, a malt mill, a well bucket and chain, two
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loads of clay brought home, and the fence about the lot repaired." His name does not occur afterward on the records.
Francis Newman, the owner of the next lot, was ad- mitted a freeman in 1640, chosen ensign of the train- band in 1642, lieutenant of the artillery-company upon its formation in 1645, secretary of the plantation in 1647, and was finally advanced to the highest office in the jurisdiction, being chosen governor after Eaton's death.
John Caffinch, whose lot lay next south of Francis Newman's, probably sailed direct from England to Quinnipiac, arriving in 1639 with the first planters of Guilford, though not in the same ship with Whitfield. He was one of the six principal men chosen to re- ceive from the aboriginal proprietors of Guilford a deed in trust for the whole company of planters. For some reason he concluded to live at New Haven rather than at Guilford. He does not appear to have been a freeman.
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